by J. M. Rojas
CHAPTER 27: SUN GARDEN
The tremendous crash preceded a giant shock wave that rumbled through the ground and walls of the Chamber of Lore. It shook Layla and rattled the teeth in her head. This could only mean one thing: someone was using the Rings in the Training Hall.
“He has already taken to Thomas's memories like a fish to water,” Eleena said, following after Layla, “I think that's how the saying goes.”
“Using the Rings isn't exploring Thomas' vast abilities,” Layla replied, hastening to the doors to the Hall. She waited for another loud crash to finish its ringing, before turning to the other girl with a look of disgust. “Its just plain annoying.”
The double doors to the Hall of Training flew open and Layla and Eleena entered. Both were dressed in the clothing of their ancient culture: pale blue and deep green flowing garbs that looked like dresses but with billowy pant legs, all styled with oceanic patterns of fine detail.
In the center of the vast hall stood a haphazardly stacked pile of three large metallic rings. The biggest was almost thirty feet wide, and the other two were smaller so they could fit—Babushka doll style—inside each other. Beside the pile was the last piece: a cylinder of metal engraved with the Atlantean symbol of strength. Jack stood at the northern end of the hall; his body still and his eyes ablaze with white-fire.
“The idea is to fit the pieces neatly inside each other,” Layla said irritably, storming over to Jack, “without making such a racket!”
“Lower them down gently, Jack,” Eleena said, trying to be helpful.
“He can't hear us,” Layla said, throwing up her hands. “The Son of Toram is using all of his psychic power to levitate the rings, and has disconnected from the realm of the living. It seems like the Gaianar armour only triggered his fighting prowess, and neglected common sense.”
“Don't be too hard on him,” Eleena replied, watching as Jack's mind had already grabbed the centre piece and was holding it precariously above the pile of non-fitted rings. “I mean, I understand that spreading one's consciousness whilst using telekinesis should be mastered before the age of eight; but we are dealing with a late bloomer here. Did I get that right, is the term: late bloomer? Or late leaner? Late starter?”
“You got it right the first time,” Layla said, her temper restrained with an even voice and furrowed brow. She was like a bubbling stew that was somewhat contained by the pot's lid. “Regardless of that fact, I wanted to have a nice relaxing evening with Jack in the Sun Garden before we leave tomorrow. I wanted to enlighten him with Lemurian lore.”
Jack's eyes dispelled the white-fire and he turned to Layla, suddenly sensing her presence. “Lemurian what?”
His tender grasp on the metal cylinder disappeared, and it came crashing down. The center piece hit the smallest ring on an angle, emitting an ear-splitting sound and causing it and the one slightly bigger below to fly several feet up before falling perfectly down inside each other.
Layla's jaw dropped.
“Comical luck if ever I saw it,” Eleena laughed.
The half-Atlantean strolled over to the two young women and smiled sheepishly. “I think I'm getting the hang of it.”
Layla refrained from voicing her frustration and vitriol with gritted teeth. Finally, she managed to say calmly, “I came here to properly introduce you to my friend, Umni Isaleph. Her modern name is Eleena.”
“Oreus' daughter,” Jack said, holding out a hand to the pretty, young woman with blue eyes and black hair. The gloam dust on her skin gave her an ethereal glow. “I apologise for not speaking with you and your brother earlier. Mathias has got me camped in the Training Hall since this morning. I had to return the Gaianar armour to the armoury; he wants me to strengthen my mind and... body.”
His last comment was accompanied with a nod towards an assortment of Atlantean body weights laying in the northern corner of the hall. There were a series of small metallic rings, and organically, shaped metal plates with holes for hands to grasp.
“Not like the traditional dumbbells I use back home, but easy enough to get a handle of.”
“Dumbbells?” Eleena raised an eyebrow. “Strange word.”
“Well, now you have both met, and formalities sated, I ask for some time with the half-Atlantean,” Layla said to her friend with the side-glance of her eyes, indicating for her to leave.
“But we've just met,” Jack said, watching Eleena hurry out of the training room.
“Nice meeting you, Son of Thomas,” Eleena said, disappearing through the double doors, and pulling them close behind her.
“I didn't offend her, did I?”
“No,” Layla replied, “she's got other things to tend too. A young Osirian prince is still recovering from a few well placed punches and kicks, courtesy of you.”
Jack's confused face changed to one of bashful pride. “You're just teasing.”
“I do not tease, Jack.” Her eyes were serious.
“You're saying I seriously hurt Ramose? We sparred again, and he beat me... again!”
“You may not have won, but you did trade a few good blows without your weapons.”
“Yes!” Jack said, raising his hand for a high-five. When Layla didn't slap his hand, he used the hand to stroke his hair back.
“I know what a high five is,” Layla said, unimpressed. “I have read up a lot on your culture. I just don't think your adversary's bruised ribs is cause for excitement.”
“Give me time,” Jack said, feeling a strange new confidence radiating from him. “The third match, I will make that djinn know who is boss.”
Layla shook her head, covering her face with one hand. “Just remember, Ramose knocked you out cold the first time. You have a long way to go before that day will come. If it comes.”
“You're right,” Jack said, dropping his head, his enthusiasm extinguished by the reality of her words. “I have a lot to learn.”
Silence followed, before Layla lifted his chin up with a finger. When their eyes met he saw the harshness and judgment gone; replaced with kindness and regret. “I'm sorry for saying that. You did well. Now let's get out of here, okay?”
“Okay,” Jack said, and a smile slowly crept back onto his face.
It took fifteen minutes by skyjammer to reach the mighty Sun Garden at the centre of The Library.
Jack and Layla sat on a small hill under a gloam tree; the soft, golden light from its leaves and bark illuminated the natural darkness of the cavern about them, and filled the air with an aroma that Jack could only describe as the ocean.
Lamp-grass—another plant-life that Layla's people had brought from the past—blanketed the park's floor. The transparent, luminous grass, which channeled psychic power to a far lesser degree, swayed rhythmically from side to side, moving with the mood and thoughts of the people passing through it.
In the centre of the park there was a large clearing, where a circular, metallic plate a hundred feet wide rose up out of the lamp-grass. Its surface was silver in hue and its edge was patterned like a zodiac with ten symbols for the ten Great Nations of Lemuria. The symbol for Atlantis—three circles overlapping each other within a diamond shape—sat in the middle of the plate.
“Lemuria is a vast empire,” Layla said to Jack, hovering a hand over the lamp-grass. The luminous blades changed to a light, electric blue, and followed the movement of her hand. “It is made up of—”
“Ten lands,” Jack interrupted with a cheeky grin, “and the capital is situated on the Isle of Atlantis. Mathias told me.”
Layla was annoyed rather than surprised by Jack's sudden outburst of knowledge about her homeland, but she simply nodded, not wanting to be the impatient know-it-all.
“Yes,” she said slowly, “you are correct. Ten mighty kingdoms make up the Empire of Lemuria. We were once all separate for hundreds of years, until the coming of the House of Athesphar of Atlantis. That house brought about the unity needed to push back the Osirian and Rama invaders. It created a new balance where none previously existed. Lemur
ia became the weight in the centre of the arms of the scale. The Third Law.”
Jack sidled around the girth of the gloam so he was sitting closer to her. Layla's enticing scent, which overpowered the gloam's, filled his nostrils—it was a soft, sweet, spicy Atlantean perfume known as ashur'sah, which was made from the deep blue ashur flower he had heard Mathias speak of. The girl's dark brown hair stirred gently in subterranean breeze, occasionally sending stray strands to tickle against Jack's bare arms. His hand lay inches away from Layla's. The lamp-grass dancing between his fingers.
“You smell pretty,” Jack said, closing his eyes and letting the ashur'sah heavy breeze saturate his senses. He then realized what he said and his eyes shot open. “I mean, you smell different.”
“I'm back in civilization,” Layla answered, not reacting awkwardly to his comment, “back in the capital. I'm expected to smell nice, I suppose.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” Jack said, trying not to sound awkward himself. He couldn't let his emotions slip like that again. In a more neutral voice he said, “Tell me of your homeland. Tell me about your family.”
“Family,” Layla said the word wistfully. “What do you want to know?” She turned and faced him, her skin seemed softer and radiant somehow. The warmth of gloam's golden light perhaps.
“Everything,” Jack replied, catching her eyes. “Who is your father and mother? What did they do back in Atlantis? Did they approve of you joining the military?”
“There is a lot of detail in the required answer,” Layla replied, smiling. “So if you are willing to spend some time with me here, I will tell you everything you want to know.”
“I'm all ears,” Jack said.
“I never understood that saying,” Layla said, shaking her head. “I just imagine someone covered in ears. It is quite repulsive really.”
“Yeah that would be a terrible sight,” Jack laughed back.
The young woman crawled closer to him and suddenly grabbed his hand tightly. It was warm and her skin was as soft as silk. Her arm pressed against his, and she leaned her head on his shoulder.
“I suppose I have always wanted to know what your relationship with Will is?” Jack finally felt the confidence to ask. “Is he—”
“He is a distant cousin,” Layla answered, looking up into Jack's eyes. “Did you think we were something else?”
“Well, um, I wasn't quite sure to tell you the truth. You seemed rather close.”
“We have been close ever since we were children.”
Jack's sigh of relief gave away the internal turmoil he had been feeling for days, and Layla giggled, then stroked his cheek reassuringly. “Oh, dear. You thought we were together?”
“Possibly.”
“Eew!” Layla scrunched up her face, then burst into laughter. “No, no, no, definitely not.”
“I'm glad,” Jack managed to say with an amused smile. He had never seen the serious young woman laugh before.
“Will and I share a special bond,” Layla continued, “which not many of our kin know. I use to fear anyone knowing, without the consent of Mathias, but now... well, our world is no more, and the political structures no longer prevent me from speaking the truth.”
“What is the truth?” Jack asked, his curiosity growing.
Layla turned away for a moment, then looked back at him. He saw she was still a little scared of the topic, even though she said there was no repercussions in Jack's time period.
“You don't have to tell me if you don't want to,” Jack said softly, “or can't.”
“No, its alright. You see, long ago when I was a little girl I could have been killed—along with Will—if I was caught saying any of this. It is different now.
“Will and I are alurai, which means “secret ones”, and we are the true heirs of Atlantis and Hy-Bresail.”
“You are what?” Jack exclaimed, squeezing Layla's hand a little tighter in surprise.
The girl waited for Jack's grip to slacken before she continued. “Sometimes, when the lands of Lemuria were involved in their terrible wars against each other or against Osiria or Rama, the royal families would take special precautions in ensuring their blood lines lived on should there be any assassinations. This was where the alurai came in. The queen of each land would oftentimes give her second or third child to a Warder, a man of the court, who would secret it away to an unknowing peasant family to raise as their own. Should any assassination threaten to destroy that royal family, the Warder would go back to the peasant custodians and restore the child to the thrown.”
“So, that would make you the daughter of the last king and queen of Atlantis?” Jack asked, eyes wide.
“Yes,” Layla said, “my blood parents were King Amnaeus and Queen Seyd-Isuli Athesphar of Atlantis. However, the people who raised me my whole life were Kaetar and Semna Naraphaeus. They will always be my true parents.”
“What about siblings?” Jack asked, seeking more ancestral history from her to sate his own curiosity.
“I had three brothers and one sister. Sadly, they all died during the Fall. Izsulaen was the oldest and was the next in line to the thrown of Atlantis, and heir to all of Lemuria. She died protecting our brothers Rhan, Arlos and Phaed from Rama soldiers. They all died.”
Layla seemed to choke up on the last words she uttered, and melancholy descended on her like a shadow. Sensing her mood change, Jack pulled her close into a strong embrace, allowing her face to bury in the crook of his neck. Stroking her long, wavy hair, he felt a well of warm tears trickle down his shoulder and chest.
“I'm sorry, I didn't know. I shouldn't have asked—”
“No,” Layla quickly said, breaking away from his arms and casting her gaze somewhere amongst the trees. “It was an innocent question. I know Izsulaen would have been a great empress.” Jack wondered whether she felt ashamed of him seeing her emotions, whether she considered her tears a weakness. His hand never left hers.
“You said Will is alurai as well?” Jack asked, trying to steer the conversation away from Layla's brothers.
“Will's true name is Wilath,” Layla answered, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. “He is the son of Torloth Khaa'telion, the last king of Hy-Bresail. He was only made an alurai on request of Mathias.”
“Mathias,” Jack echoed the name of the Atlantean general. “Was he the Warder you spoke of?”
“Yes. Mathias felt danger would soon befall Lemuria, so he convinced Torloth to give his son over to a nameless widow. It was Mathias' plan to protect the bloodlines of Athesphar and Khaa'telion, for they run from the same vein. Both nations are blood-bound to the same forefathers, so we have always worked together. Sharing wealth, culture and arms.
“The Gaianar was my Warder. Mathias took me from Seyd-Isuli, my blood mother, at a time when Atlantis was prosperous. Seyd-Isuli was very sad to see me go, for I was her youngest daughter. I don't hold any resentment or blame against her. We healed that Breaking—a moment when the child is given to the Warder. Before we came here, we shared a brief time together and became friends.
“Well that was long ago.” She broke away from the reverie, her voice regaining its firmness. “I do not let such things linger in my thoughts for they can only bring unneeded distractions.”
Jack noticed that Layla was staring at him again. Her tears and vulnerability were gone; the emotionally resolute warrior had returned.
“I see we both share something in common then,” he finally said.
“And what's that?”
“We were close to our mothers but didn't have time to know our fathers. Thomas was always away—probably fighting to keep us safe—and yours was the distant ruler of an empire.”
“Our fathers also share something in common,” Layla said, drawing a confused look from Jack. “Thomas was in love with Queen Seyd-Isuli.”
Silence.
“My father was in love your mother?” Jack finally managed to say, sounding shocked and incredulous at the same time. “I-I don't believe
it!”
“It is true.”
“Why didn't you tell me this until now?”
Layla hid her amusement at the situation with a stern face. “You never asked.”
Jack didn't know what to say. The idea that his father was in love with someone other than his mother—Layla's mother of all people—hurt him just a little. However, it also seemed quite poetic that he had fallen for the queen's daughter.
“He loved her very much,” Layla said, and the look on her face, and the smile she gave him abated his conflicted thoughts. “And she loved him.”
Spontaneously, Jack pulled Layla against his body and kissed her soft lips, which parted in a short gasp of surprise. Slowly, the kiss became more passionate, and her arms snaked around his neck.
Caleb, I did it! Jack found himself thinking after the euphoric adrenaline rush flooded through his body. I kissed a girl!
Who is Caleb? Layla was hearing his thoughts loud and clear. Was this a dare? A bet?!
Oh... um... Caleb is my best friend—!
Layla pulled away from the kiss, and pushed Jack backwards with both hands, causing him to lose balance, and his hands to slide out from under him. Gripping the lamp-grass desperately, he tried to stop himself from tumbling down the hill. Unfortunately, the momentum was too fast, and the grass tore out of the soft ground in Jack's hands. A series of bright sparks crackled against his fingers, delivering a sharp pain, as he fell unceremoniously in a heap at the bottom of the hill. This was the grass' defence mechanism against its uprooting, and it worked well.
“Ouch!” Jack cried, leaping up to his feet and shaking his wounded hands vigorously. “It felt like the grass bit me!”
The blades near the patch he had ripped out flickered and then their luminous lights died out.
Layla watched Jack dancing around in pain with amusement. She giggled, then—unable to restrain herself—burst into loud bouts of laughter.
Jack stopped his dramatic display and started to laugh as well.
“I see the Desert Flower has learned the valuable lesson of leaving lamp-grass alone to avoid their nasty sting,” Cloak said mockingly, stepping out from behind a gloam and surprising the couple. He was now dressed in his Samatar clothes of a black leather tunic and pants with a black velvet cloak with silver trimming. On his vest was red-stitched symbols of a secret language only his people could read. “Let us hope that you are respectful towards the more dangerous plant life when we... go back.”
“What do you want, Cloak?” Layla asked, the humour in her face gone.
“Mathias wants you both back at the Chamber of Lore.” After passing on the message in a firm tone that left no room for debate, he wheeled away, walking to his skyjammer behind the gloams, the swish of his cloak obscuring his exit.
Jack was about to say something, but Layla pushed a finger against his lips. “Don't tell anyone about that kiss. It was... a mistake.”
The teenager's heart sunk.
“I let my guard slip, it won't happen again. I am a warrior of Atlantis first.” She then walked towards their own skyjammer. After a brief pause, she said over her shoulder to him, “You were my first kiss by the way. It was... nice. But..”
“But?” Jack asked, his hope slowly rising again like his pulse.
“But I can't promise you anything. Not now, anyway.” Layla suddenly winked, then briskly walked away.
Jack smiled, running after her. Later, perhaps. He thought, not fearing if she heard him.
