by Mara Powers
Bavendrick stopped and turned back to watch. A flame of curiosity ignited his expression. The warriors urged him on, while the two who had separated to catch the twins sternly blocked the path where Bavendrick was being led, so no one could follow.
D'Vinid's heart descended with the prince as he was taken to the ship. Something dark had entered Atlantis, and it cast a shadow over everything he considered light and magic. For a long time he thought it was his own gloomy fog, but the feeling was beginning to seem more widespread. Perhaps the whole city felt it.
As D'Vinid watched the ship prepare to set sail, his eyes landed on a strange phenomenon along the horizon at sea. One of the clouds seemed to take the shape of a ghostly galleon rising out of a cloudbank. Magically, as if it were an image in a dream, the enormous cloud drifted ever near Poseidia. He fell into a trance. Focusing on the horizon, his eyes flashed orange as he quietly began singing words that appeared from nowhere, as words always did for him…
“On a ship of clouds and air
came she unto Atlantis fair.
Traveler from o'er the sea,
come to us and set us free.
For we are full of sorrow true.
Listen!
Atlantis calls to you!
The maiden of the moon is she,
the lover of Belial.
Seer of the shadow storm,
revealer of denial.
We shall wait to hear from you.
Listen!
Atlantis calls to you!
Where one rose grew are truly three,
and only one shall stand alone.
Its path begets the fourth and final,
fallen back to home.”
WAVES OF SUN-DRENCHED chestnut hair blew across the contours of Brigitte's face as she stood at the bow of a flying galleon. “Listen, Atlantis calls to you,” she whispered. Poseidia, in all its glimmering radiance and majestic elevations, rose like a gem in the sky as they approached.
Her brother Lukias stood at her side, noticing the glassiness of her stare. He melded with her mind, and heard a melody spinning in her head, one neither of them could remember having heard before. Dressed in the loose travel clothing of their clan, Lukias was short of stature. His amber dreamseer eyes revealed the depth of his perceptions. In many ways, the siblings looked alike, with the same high cheekbones and almond shaped eyes, though she kept herself impeccably groomed while he often neglected his appearance. A mass of tangled chestnut hair jutted out from beneath the hood of his coat, and a shadow of a beard covered the creases of his rugged face. Brigitte was a woman of exceptional beauty. Even the most charismatic of souls would become tongue tied when she appeared. Only Lukias remained immune to the spell she cast on everyone who gazed on her.
They had stayed on deck from the moment they sighted Poseidia. The ruling city of Atlantis was perfectly round, built into a mountain with alternating rings of land and water, forming a target pattern with each ring stacked higher toward the center. Magnificent terraces and impressive spires stretched into hazy heights, cradled by an expanse of rolling hills. As the galleon reached the gaping ocean entrance, they marveled at the massive golden gates, which marked the water channel leading through the outer city and up to the circular citadel.
Having been reconstructed in a golden age when wars with foreign lands were considered a thing of Atlantis's past, these gates remained open as a sign indicating all were welcome in her mighty ruling city. For five miles, the entry channel stretched across farm and trade communities known as the Outlands. Most sea commerce took place along those bustling banks until the channel opened into the citadel's rings.
Their long voyage had been escorted by oceanids, elemental sea people, who swam beneath the ship as they skimmed the water's surface, half flying, half floating. From the moment they left the dreamclan's shores, ethereal oceanid songs seemed to propel the ship ever forward. The voyage remained in favor with the Watcher Zephyr, his gusts of wind always filling their misty sails.
She gnawed on a thumbnail. A crosswind billowed the sails, pitching the hull abruptly. She slipped her hand across the rail, gripping tightly while widening her stance. Along their journey she had discovered the secret of sea legs, allowing herself to stumble in whatever direction the deck would present itself, in an always random sense of stable ground.
Brigitte wore breeches beneath a black shirt and long vest. A wide belt on her waist carved with a trident, their clan signet, and leather bracers around her forearms punctuated the flowing ensemble. She savored the moments remaining before she would adopt city fashions and take her place at the side of her betrothed. Her mind swelled passionately, wondering what man his young face had grown to become. His face had haunted her dreams since their meeting as children, when their fathers had made the pact joining them as life mates.
Obscured by elemental magic, the shifting ship of clouds went unnoticed by port authorities. The captain yelled out orders and the helmsman directed the ship into the sea. The vessel jolted as its hull found the water. A gust of wind immediately gathered the sails, propelling the ship forward. They skidded to a stop where the captain chose to furl the sails and drop anchor just offshore away from other vessels. The ship and its crew were from Yisra, one of the ten Atlantean kingdoms. Somehow they had won favor from the elementals, and had managed to turn a simple merchant ship into one of the legendary dreamships of Atlantis. Brigitte closed her eyes, trying to block out the memories of their last moments at home when the dreamship appeared to rescue them.
As they sailed away, the skies opened and the shadows arrived, swarming in a funnel made of the darkest human emotions. The heavens turned black, and the terrible buzzing of their movement tormented her ears. She tried not to cry as the shores of her home disappeared in the black shadowy mass.
Lukias touched her hand, and she startled back to the present. “Try and banish the memories, Brigitte,” her brother's voice echoed in her head.
She stifled the swell of emotion. “We will never see them again.” A tear slid down her cheek. “I still don't understand. Why did they attack our people?”
“I suspect they wanted to destroy us. You are the Moirae. I believe it was the alliance between Atlantis and the dreamclans they wanted to destroy. Atlantis would be vulnerable without our guidance. The only thing you can do in retaliation is stay alive and fulfill your destiny.”
The captain stood on the highest deck watching them with stunning chameleon eyes. Thick curls bounced from beneath the scarf she kept tied to her head. In a single acrobatic motion, she deftly moved from where she stood, down the stairs, and to the main deck. “The magi are almost prepared to send you to shore.” She looked at them searchingly as she spoke. “I am not sure I feel comfortable sending you two alone, though. I don't feel like my job is done until you get to the palace.”
Lukias glanced at his sister. “Captain Ofira Pazit, you have been a generous deliverer. The Watchers have chosen you wisely. They also directed me on this path. We must have faith in their guidance.”
Ofira nodded, expecting he would say something like this. “Then allow me to increase your list of allies.” She snapped her fingers in a spiral, and a vial of blue liquid appeared in her hand. “This will allow you to see the signs of the conclaves.”
Brigitte reached for the vial and examined it. “What's in here?”
“Various plant medicines with a base of sha'mana.”
“The Treasure of the Watchers.” Brigitte's eyes widened as she swirled the elixir. “Who are these conclaves?”
“There are those who call them the Children of One. They are the future of Atlantis emerged from the secrets of her past.” Ofira's expression illustrated her care toward the matter. The captain had demonstrated unwavering integrity in their short time together. She nodded toward the elixir. “This will allow your eyes to see the blue-dream frequency where they alone can tread.”
Brigitte nodded and swallowed the contents of the vial, trusting her instinct. Ofir
a produced one for Lukias, who followed his sister's lead in trusting the jaunty sea captain. Brigitte made sign to Poseidon, the patron of their dreamclan, who was the Watcher of the oceans. A tingling sensation spread through her body as the liquid slid down her throat.
They had been raised in the dreamclans, who made their home in the wilds of Atlantis along the border of Dreamtime, which was called the Dreamvale. As much as she wanted to be part of their clan, it was her job to learn about the ten kingdoms of Atlantis. Her tutor Indrius was an Atlantean, who kept her studies rigorous and intensive.
This was the moment for which she had prepared all her life, her arrival to Atlantis. Fear wanted to consume her. Dolphins and oceanids circled the ship's luminescent hull. Sea birds danced in and out of their misty obscurity. A circle of sulfur was drawn on deck. The magi awaited them, held entranced by their chanting. It was an ancient ritual performed only under arcane conditions. In the blink of an eye, it would teleport them to shore.
The crew of the dreamship gathered silently. Brigitte and Lukias exchanged telepathic respect and farewells with their brave deliverers. Brigitte nodded to the captain, and turned her eyes to the magi. She sucked in a deep breath as if preparing to leap into the ocean. Lukias took her by the hand, and they stepped together into the circle. The magi maintained their chanting cadence to will them to another place. The chanting escalated to a drone. Sunbeams bent inward around them, casting radiant rays to warmly brush their faces. Mist swirled in a vortex. The crew's droning escalated and gradually disappeared.
Fog poured around them, sweeping their vision into gray.
In the arms of prophet’s song
while singing words of destiny.
Free will is a shadow in the crying song of misery.
Once along a passing phase
in life and love and more.
Distant words of yesterdays appear there on the door.
AS THE GREY faded, Brigitte and Lukias found themselves inside a circle of standing stones where many road mounds intersected. In the center was a ten-foot tall obelisk made of solid quartz crystal. A ball of polished quartz balanced on its tip, held in place by a spiral of copper wiring. Sunbeams poured through patches of fog. Tiny particles of radiant light swarmed around their heads.
Brigitte lifted her face to behold the resplendent city of Poseidia across an easy distance. Quaint agricultural villages and winding roads dotted the rolling green fields around them. Known as the ancient ruling city of Atlantis, Poseidia housed the central government, ruling over the ten kingdoms, which had mostly deteriorated into island city-states in the Third Age of Atlantis. On the island of Poseidonis, the majority of the populace dwelled in the countryside. The central city was a citadel, with the outer ring serving the working classes. The central ring was reserved for learning and leisure, and the inner ring housed the opulent estates of mediators, those born to the ruling elite. The island apex of the target pattern was home to the royal palace and the Temple Sect.
They had not appeared far from the entry channel connecting the ocean and the canals of the citadel. Esplanades dotted with markets bordered both sides of the waterway, serving as a thoroughfare for land passage. Road mounds were carefully formed along natural telluric lines in the surface of Sophaiya. Using magnetic propulsion, Atlanteans were able to activate their levitation devices, allowing them to hover along the mounds and transport themselves, or carry loads of goods from place to place.
Brigitte and Lukias stared at the obelisk, knowing it was one of the nodes of the Crystal Grid that powered Atlantis. These were resonant capacitors, which stored the mindlight donations of the people so the Grid could be supplied with power. Brigitte placed her hand against the crystal surface, feeling its great age and the life force it exuded. Lukias did the same, and for the first time, both of them connected with the mighty Grid of Atlantis.
A hover-disc approached, holding aloft a lovely woman with flowing blond hair. Her yellow robes billowed in the wind created by the movement of the disc. Brigitte and Lukias quickly stepped into the mist and hid behind one of the standing stones. The woman reached the obelisk and came to a stop, carefully dismounting. Her fingers lightly tapped the disc, which immediately stopped its gentle humming, retracted its footholds, and lost its levitation. She tucked it carefully into a satchel strung over her shoulder.
Chanting a Lemurian incantation, she struck a thin crystal rod on the ground, initiating a high-pitched oscillating tone. “Yo mahnia sti-stu folya. Terra firma si allendio foleera,” she chanted softly.
“She is from the Temple Sect,” Lukias projected telepathically.
“Then why don’t we make ourselves known to her?” Brigitte replied with her mind. “She could take us to the palace.”
“She is not the one for this. It is not her fate. The Temple Sect have dispatched an entourage to greet us. But we will not even meet them,” Lukias whispered into her mind.
Brigitte squinted at the marble stones gleaming in the sun. Many road mounds intersected within the circle, and flat, standing stones enclosed them into a spoke converging at the ten-foot obelisk. She could feel the pulsing magnetic force emanating from the node.
Lukias nodded toward the priestess. “She’s gauging the frequency of the node so she can tune it for the evening.”
Her delicate hand wove in a serpentine motion over the mound intersection. The crystal rod vibrated, amplifying its resounding tone. The priestess placed the rod at a special notch in her belt beneath the yellow cloak and produced another utensil, this one shaped like a fork with many prongs.
“Now she’s tuning. The Grid-tuners go around every day to calibrate the resonant capacitor nodes. This affects entire areas of the surrounding land,” Lukias continued with his telepathic narrative.
All at once the magnetic pulse within the stones magnified. Blue electricity arched from the top of the node. Brigitte could feel her hair stand on end.
Finished at last, the priestess glanced over her shoulder toward them. “Hello?” she called out hesitantly.
Lukias motioned for Brigitte to remain silent. The mists swirled upward as he raised his hand, obscuring their forms into the invisibility of Dreamtime. His hood fell from his head, and Brigitte reached out to smooth his wild hair. He retreated from her hand with a frown.
The priestess stared in their direction for a few more moments, then placed her disc above the road mound and flicked it back to life. She climbed on top, still throwing confused looks over her shoulder as she floated off in another direction.
Lukias grabbed Brigitte’s arms and peered at her intently. “It has been a long road, sister. I barely know how to be strong for us anymore. Our people are gone,” he choked, “and I don’t know what to do without father here. But I said I would deliver you to Poseidia and be your protector, and so I shall.”
“Lukias, I have faith in your abilities.” She tossed a worried glance over her shoulder. “Do you think we’ve been followed by those shadows?”
“I don’t know, but I can feel something here. It’s in their Crystal Grid. A shadow has fallen over this land and it feels much like what came to destroy us.” He closed his eyes, banishing the memories. “Come,” he encouraged, attempting a smile. “Let’s get to the city as soon as possible. The Watchers will deliver us.”
The road mound they followed snaked through rolling emerald hills slanting toward the ocean, whose shifting surface sparkled in the sun. The rugged country was shadowed by towering green cliffs lifting skyward. Parcels of patchwork farmland and circular villas framed their destination. The round citadel gleamed like a complex formation of crystals. The entry waterway stretched in a straight line, wide enough to hold many ocean-going vessels. Some of them would dock along the outer ring of the citadel, or in marinas along the entry channel, while others would gain passage into the water rings through a vast lock system.
As they neared the city, Brigitte sank deeper into a trance state, allowing every breath to wind around her body. Fir
e burned at the base of her spine. Its flames reached into every blood pathway and every pore of her skin. The telluric energy of the road mound vibrated through her feet. “The spirit of the city is alive.” She threw her voice to Lukias’s earshot. “It courses like blood through the Grid.”
“The conduit of Atlantean power,” he mumbled in response. “The Grid connects the people empathically. This is how they are able to keep themselves in a state of order. There is no violence here. They cannot bear to hurt one another, because it hurts them.” Lukias turned his attention to the top of the citadel, the place where the Great Crystal lay at the heart of the Temple District. “I have seen it in my dreams,” he muttered. “Atlantis is entering into a convergence. It is time for another great cleansing.”
Brigitte shivered. She had been preparing for this fate all her life under the careful tutelage of Indrius, the Atlantean woman who had come to live with them in the Dreamvale. Soon she would be at the heart of the matter. All she could do was hope to remain true to her teachings, while maintaining balance and neutrality within it.
“What if someone were to separate from the Grid?” Lukias asked as if to himself.
“I suppose if someone wanted to create a state of disharmony in Atlantis,” Brigitte mused, “it would be a matter of making everyone separate from the Grid. But this should not be possible because the Grid does not function unless humans fuel it with mindlight.”
“What about the Temple Sect, then?” he asked hesitantly. “Since they maintain and regulate the Grid, wouldn’t it be possible for one of them to poison it?”
