Atlantis: City of Mages

by M. Arcturus

  “That must have been when the engines fired up.”

  Giséi gave a slight head nod. Piecing together her observations, she got the gist of what happened, then started explaining it to the Lady. “When the stones are dislodged, there must be something about their vibration that makes everyone angry. So, once the stones all fell, this was the end result,” she gestured to the arguing phoenixes.

  “What about you? Weren’t you affected by all of this?”

  “I was at first, but I centered myself. I tried to stop the arguing, but it didn’t work. Once I noticed Selené was crying, I knew she needed me more, so I left it up to the others to solve the machine. I still have to center from time to time when I start getting edgy.”

  The Lady froze in place. Her mind was flooded with ideas. “Hold on; I think I have a plan. It should be here somewhere,” she said digging through Selené’s pockets. “There it is!” She pulled out the singing crystals, placing the crystal cluster in Selené’s hand. They started to hum in the most harmonious pitch. Giséi was in awe! The Lady took Selené from Giséi’s grip. Taking a seat on the floor, the Lady of Avalon had Selené sit in her lap as she leaned in close to Selené’s ear. “Trust in your heart, believe in yourself. You have the power to heal yourself.” The Lady of Avalon kept repeating it over and over again as she rocked her back and forth.

  It had been a while since Aros used energy work to ease Selené’s pain. The ringing in her ears had returned with a vengeance. The noise was loud and continuous. Beyond the ringing, she couldn’t hear a thing. She tried to open her eyes, but they refused. Her mind started playing tricks with her psyche. Maybe they didn’t refuse to open, what if someone was keeping them closed? She thrashed her body around trying to escape her captor, but the unfamiliar arms hugging her only squeezed tighter. Her heart started to beat faster as her mind became plagued with madness. She tried to still her thoughts, but it felt pointless. While more tears fell down her cheeks, it was as if she cried faster than what the tears could leave her eyes, for they seemed to be water-packed. Surely her friends were still with her. Someone was holding her, rocking her as if saying that she was not alone. Maybe it wasn’t a captor! Maybe it was one of her friends.

  Out of nowhere, a soft whisper started to tear through the ringing. “Trust in your heart, believe in yourself. You have the power to heal yourself.” The ringing in her ears was displaced by a soft, high-pitched hum and someone had wrapped her hands around an object that was cold, jagged and hard as a rock. Once again, the voice said, “Trust in your heart, believe in yourself. You have the power to heal yourself.” This time, the voice was louder and clearer. She could have sworn that she had heard that voice before. Was it? Oh, it couldn’t have been her! Selené listened intently just to be sure. No, she was right. It was the Lady of Avalon!

  The strange yet beautiful humming ceased, and the ringing in her ears stopped. She leaned in toward her friend’s embrace. Once she found her mental peace of mind, she folded her arms around her friend. “What happened to me? I can’t open my eyes.” Selené had calmed down, but her voice still sounded a little frantic.

  “Just breathe. You’ve been through a lot lately, fighting Ackrids, enduring spider poison, and worshiping the porcelain god for hours. Even your trip here to the palace had some casualties. Not to mention, the stress you’ve been under too,” responded the Lady.

  “I don’t understand? Casualties?”

  The Lady of Avalon looked at Aros. Even though he was not himself at the moment, she still didn’t have it in her to break his heart by telling Selené the details. If she were meant to know everything, Aros would tell her himself. “It’s a long story, but I will tell you this. When Aros fought the dragon on your way here to the palace, there was an accident. You were deafened, and your eyes were burnt shut.”

  “What? My eyes are burnt shut?” she asked, panicked.

  “Selené, please calm down.” Selené broke down into tears. “Selené, you’re not listening to me. Calm down!” Her sobs slowed. The Lady waited for a moment as Selené took a breath and calmed down. “I have placed in your hands the singing crystals. It’s obvious that they have healed your ears. There is no doubt that they can heal your eyes. Do you understand me?” Selené nodded her head. “Okay, what you need to do is fill your heart with love and positive light. Then direct that energy into the crystals. Once they start singing again, ask for your eyes to be healed.”

  Their peaceful vibrations started to fill the air with a delicate melody. They glowed with life, flashing their crystalline facets. The blisters on her eyes began to disappear. New flesh was revealed, and slowly, she blinked, opening her eyes. Setting the crystal cluster in her lap, she held her hands up to her face and just stared at them.

  “Selené, can you see?”

  “Yes, my vision is a little blurry, but I can see,” she said as she looked at her friends and gave them a hug.

  “In a few moments, your vision will be back to normal.”

  “Thank you for standing by me,” Selené smiled faintly.

  “How is your energy level?” The Lady hated to involve Selené in her plans so soon after her healing, but it had to happen.

  “I guess it’s okay. Why?”

  “See the argument over there?”

  “Yes? How could I miss it?”

  “That’s not normal for them. They usually work as a team. It seems that those dislodged stones cause discord. Even I’m starting to feel the effects. I need you and Giséi to combine your energy to phase me out of time so that I can figure out how the core works. If done correctly, you won’t even know that I left.” The Lady stood up and waited for them to proceed.

  “Giséi, I don’t know how to phase anyone out of time. How do we—what do we need to do?”

  “Leave everything up to me. Just send your energy down through your arms, out your hands, and into my body.”

  Giséi and Selené sat facing each other. They clasped hands and were about to start when Selené asked, “What does the core do?”

  The Lady opened her eyes, “Huh? Oh, it’s used for many things, but for the time being, we need to sink Atlantis.”

  “No, you can’t do that!”

  “You know me well enough by now to know that this was the last thing I wanted to do. Remember our talk near the marketplace?” Selené looked down in sorrow. The Lady continued, “A lot has happened since you were injured. Now please, understand that I need you to cooperate. Time is not our friend right now. The more time is wasted, the less of a chance we have to preserve our world.”

  Selené turned her attention back to Giséi. Everything grew dim, but the two girls kept their concentration. There was a moment when the energy of the room got so thick that no one could breathe. After that, the Lady of Avalon felt frozen and so stiff that she couldn’t even move. It was almost like she had been laminated. Once she saw that her whole body had become flattened, her thoughts became bleak. She had forgotten to mention that there was a good chance that she would not come back from the experience. She was sure that Giséi knew, but she still thought that she should have said goodbye to them. Then again, Selené probably wouldn’t have cooperated if she had known. There was a sucking sound and then a pop. Before she knew it, she had been displaced.

  The room had a soft orangish-brown lighting to it before the displacement, but now everything was in shades of blue. There were large, three-foot square panels lining the walls that were lit up on the inside, casting a white light. The Lady walked circles around everyone. They appeared to be standing still, but logic told her that they were just moving extremely slow. Studying the room, she looked for signs.

  For the most part, the miniature Stonehenge only had a few columns out of place. However, the stones that were out of place had obviously rolled around on the floor for quite some ways, smacking into each other. Some stones had pieces broken off. She approached one of the fu
lly constructed rock arches. Running toward the base of the rocks was a groove. It was like a small irrigation system coming from the perimeter of the room. The grooves started from a round hole in the ceiling, went down the wall, across the floor, to the base of the rocks, past the rocks to a large crystal in the middle of the room. The canals were jagged and widened as they stretched for the core stone.

  Right next to where the canals started on the ceiling was an intricate, unique marking. Each canal had a different marking. In fact, there was one on the wall next to the canal and one right where the rocks touched the groove on the floor. The rocks had a mark halfway down the backside, which was identical to the markings on the wall behind it. All they would have to do is match the markings. Even though they couldn’t be seen, she was sure there were markings on the tops and bottoms of the rocks to match the symbols on the ceiling and on the floor.

  The rocks forming the simple version of Stonehenge encased another circle consisting of six tall black crystals, which in turn surrounded the core stone. The crystalline structure of the six black crystals was similar in appearance to the column formation of a stibnite crystal. They were long, slender and looked like a whole bunch of columns tied together, reaching up toward the ceiling. The Lady walked up and put her back against one of the black crystals and stood there facing the core stone. As she stood there trying to get a new perspective of the surroundings, two more crystals shot up from the holes on the floor, one on each side of her. These two new crystals were about waist high and were flat on top, reaching out toward the core stone like arm rests. The crystal had become like a seat-less chair. Then she realized what it was. The crystals were designed to be a conductor of energy.

  She looked at the number of phoenixes in the room. They matched the number of black crystals. Each person would need to stand at a crystal and donate their energy to the crystal to charge the core stone, which stood ominously strong in the center of the room. Its Amethyst facets gleaned with power. One question remained: What does the core stone do?

  She walked up to the core stone and eyed the open hole in the ceiling, realizing where they were. They were in the heart of the dormant volcano they called home. She looked up into the volcano’s central vent, which seemed to go on for miles before opening up to the sky. Was the collected energy supposed to be released through the hole in the ceiling? She turned her attention back to the center crystal. Tears welled up in her eyes as she noted that the core stone crystal had a candle formation. This truly was the end.

  She walked around the core stone. Like all candle formations, it had many small terminations surrounding one large central point. She knew that crystals in a candle formation where used for healing and opening up heart chakras. They also emanated a gentle energy frequency to bring hope to those in despair. Most legends said that they contained the wisdom of ancient civilizations. Mostly those that had disappeared long ago and now the foreshadowing of the situation disclosed that Atlantis was going to be one of them. At least the core stone would bring peace and closure to the torn city, may it rest in peace. Countless tears fell down her cheeks.

  Wiping the tears from her eyes, she noticed that there was a spot where surrounding terminations were missing, and it was a big enough spot for one to stand in. This puzzled her. That spot was relevant somehow, but she just couldn’t put her finger on it. A hand touched her shoulder, and she jumped!

  “Don’t worry about it. That’s my place.” She turned to see Giséi.

  “But how,” the Lady asked, turning to where she had left Giséi with Selené. There was Selené sitting alone, hands out in front of her as if Giséi was still there.

  “There’s no time for explanations now. We had better get back,” the Lady of Avalon agreed, but Giséi seemed distant, almost as sad as she was. “Hang on,” she said as she grabbed the Lady’s hand, and in an instant, they were standing before the brawl. The Lady’s impatience overpowered her.

  “Just stop it!” shouted the Lady of Avalon. They stopped to look at her for one brief moment and were about to resume their argument when she stomped her foot, causing an energy burst, which sent them all back flying. “We need to match up the symbols like this!” She heaved with all of her might and set the closest stone back in place. Just that one stone lighted up the atmosphere immensely. They touched their heads and shook them lightly as if clearing their thoughts.

  “We’re sorry, Lady of Avalon,” said Aros approaching her, “I don’t know what happened to us.”

  “No apologies; just move more stones into place. Let’s go! We don’t have much time.” She turned to Aros, “Oh Aros, don’t mention it. It wasn’t your fault.” She turned away, opening up a mental bubble to contact Lord Oberon. He winced as he was pushing on something heavy and massive with all of his strength.

  “What is it?” He asked through clenched teeth.

  “We need you to buy us more time.”

  “I’m sorry, my love, we are all out of time. I can’t help you. We’re now at the mercy of the Universe.” A loud growl came through the mental link. She knew at once that the growl came from a dragon. Then she saw the huge metal wall he was trying to raise give way and slam into his temple. He was knocked out cold. The link instantly broke. Without him being conscious, the link could not be reopened. As he had told her, they were all on their own.

  Chapter Nine

  A Heros’ End

  In one hot flash, all was quiet. Darkness consumed his sight. Death started to plague his mind. Time seemed to stand still, and his mind arrived at memories of his family.

  His thoughts flickered to his wife and how beautifully she sat in the gardens as the sun lit up her deep red hair. Next, he remembered the birth of their child, and how happy he was to be a father. He recalled their fateful trip to the human world. They were separated, and yet his family met him here on Atlantis. The golden ships had new meaning now: reunion and ultimate joy. Every time he saw them, he would remember her sweet elven face staring down at him with joyful tears in her eyes. That same ship would also bless his daughter’s life with a new young friend, Selené.

  Scenes from their lives together sped up to the war on Atlantis. Still walking in his memories, Lord Oberon petted the beak of one of the young, proud gryphons. The gryphon stared back at him with its eagle-like eyes wielding an air of piercing precision. Its lion claws kneaded the sand beneath its feet, flexing them out of eagerness. They had long since been freed of their metal boxes, and their blindfolds had been removed. Though cruel to cage and blindfold them for the journey from Avalon to Atlantis, it was necessary. However, the metal boxes that brought them here to Atlantis were just the contraption they needed to capture the dragons. Buried under the sand, the traps had been set for quite some time. Now as they stretched their brilliant golden wings, the gryphons were determined and prepared for war.

  He looked over his shoulder at his daughter training with Seth on the beach. He hated to admit it, but they did make a great pair. They seemed to know each other’s thoughts and treated life like a dance. For the first time, he realized that Pandora was strong and capable. She was agile and quick to pick up the sword. He was proud of her.

  Like a ghost, he vicariously watched himself leave the gryphons in the brush, pick up a severed Ackrid arm on the shore, and present it to his daughter. He chuckled from behind the brush as he watched himself place the hand of the arm on her shoulder and she jumped when she saw what it was. As he observed the scene before him, mortality set in—oh, how he was going to miss his beautiful Pandora.

  His vision blurred in and out of focus. When his eyes adjusted, he found himself at the dragons’ arrival. The traps were all laid out and set; the archers were on the cliffs, bows cocked, arrows waiting to be ignited. One thing remained in their way. The fog that rolled onto shore was thick. The scouts had a hard time spotting the sinking boat, which had come to liberate Pandora from turmoil. This was the first sign of the dragons.<
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  Pandora and her friends were still gathered around the fire. No, she needs to get out of here, the dragons are nearly upon us! He burst through the brush, running toward her and shouting at the top of his lungs, but she acted like she didn’t hear him. “Pandora, you have got to take cover,” Oberon shouted, but it was all in vein. These were only his memories of the past. A moment later, the dragons broke through the fog and rained fire down on them. Seth grabbed her by the arm and ran for the tree line. At least she was safe, for now.

  Oberon passed him, and for a second, he did a double take. He was used to watching himself reenact his memories, but he wasn’t used to getting nearly knocked over. He could feel the fabric of the other Oberon’s sleeve as he brushed past. What type of dream was this?

  Disregarding his confusion, he followed his other self to the side of the cliffs. There, the elves were putting on finger-less leather gloves. About half of them were rubbing handfuls of chalky powder onto their hands in hopes to get better leverage on the ropes they would have to operate. They sat and waited for the signal. The archers shot flaming arrows at their worthy opponents. Sea dragons climbed up onto shore spitting acid. A few lucky arrows caught the acid on fire as it was leaving their mouths, which sent the flame straight to the back of the dragons’ throats. They screeched in pain as another wave of reinforcements broke through the sky and ocean waves.

  Dragons full of arrows fell out of the sky while others were scorching the elven archers. The troops on the ground, consisting of elves and pirates, scurried to the spears lying in the sand. Taking twelve people to lift one spear, they charged at the dragon brigade. Oberon watched himself stand there stern, all cocky, thinking for the most part that his plan was working. He let the Oberon from his past take action, barking orders, as he sat there humbled, watching the familiar events, wondering if there was another way, a different plan that would have been more effective and efficient.