Shadows of Atlantis- Awakening

by Mara Powers

  They followed the road mound until Lukias pulled into a roundabout where carriages were parked. He looked over a series of terraced gardens to the road systems beyond. The mounds did not lead to where he knew they needed to go. He felt through the carriage and into the telluric consciousness of Sophaiya. He knew if he added power to the spin of the crystals, he could continue directly through. But that would take them off the mound.

  “We have to continue on foot if we must obey these laws,” he shrugged, feeling limited.

  Allondriss saw his line of thought, and looked at him with a quick warning. She was both concerned and impressed by how rapidly he had gained mastery of the craft. “The regulations are very strict for operating off-mound. We would almost certainly be waylaid,” she admitted.

  Brigitte immediately sprung to action, determined to continue on their tangent.

  With a sigh, Lukias followed. Allondriss accompanied them. Lukias’s dreamsight had captured her curiosity, as well. One of the warriors stayed in view of the carriage, while the others followed them at a distance. Their path led through the gardens to a courtyard, deserted but for two temple clergy, a woman wearing a purple robe, and a man in a yellow robe. At its center rose a ten-foot crystal obelisk, which the clergy were examining. Two warriors stood to block the entrance. Both were tall with fierce penetrating eyes. They were clothed in long leather coats emblazoned with a dragon emblem.

  “This is one of the nodeyards,” Brigitte remarked, knowing there were hundreds of these crystal-nodes around the city. These resonant capacitors created the nodesong, which called the people to illumination rituals. The nodes served to collect the psychic energy of the people and power the Grid.

  The sentries prepared to intercept them.

  “What is your purpose here, Dragon Warrior?” Lukias asked.

  “This node has been damaged.” The dragon answered defensively. “What is your purpose here?”

  “We are here for illumination rituals.” Lukias immediately regretted his feeble lie.

  The warrior glared at him. The miscalculation of lying to a dragon warrior became immediately clear. They were the warrior league who studied the arts of telepathic combat, and thus could detect lies with ease. “This nodeyard is closed.” The warrior’s eyes smoldered.

  “Wait!” The purple-robed priestess interrupted their standoff. She stepped out from behind the node. Her ice-blue eyes pierced them. Her psychic presence bridged their distance and fixed on Lukias, who threw a decisive glance at Brigitte, and met the woman’s telepathic incursion with more force than she could throw at him.

  “Let them pass,” she ordered the sentries. Brigitte and Allondriss followed him into the courtyard. The furies spread around the perimeter, ready to strike if necessary. The dragons watched carefully.

  “You have been led here, dreamseer. Why?” The temple woman scanned them in dreamsight. purple-robed temple clergy were the dreamseers of Atlantis. She was the first one Lukias had the honor of meeting.

  “I have sensed the murders that happened here last night,” Lukias impatiently blurted the truth. It was obvious they were following the same psychic trail. He could not hope to deceive a fellow dreamseer.

  “It is a high level of training to detect such a trail after it has dissipated overnight.” She scanned him deeper. “I know you’re not Atlantean Temple Sect . . . I could venture a guess.” She looked back at her companion.

  The yellow-robed priest stepped closer. His order were the Grid-tuners. “I would say dreamclans,” he referred to the clan sigil on Brigitte and Lukias’s arm bracers.

  “And you could be who we’ve been looking for,” the priestess bowed her head to Brigitte. “I would be honored to be the first to welcome you to Atlantis.”

  Brigitte stared transfixed into the crystal-node, melding with it telepathically. A terrible sense of loneliness reached out from its telluric consciousness. “This node is cut off from the Grid,” Brigitte pondered aloud.

  “Yes. We cannot be sure how this happened.” The priestess was now more interested in Brigitte. “We are downloading whatever has been imprinted in this node. However, it has been tampered with in ways only temple clergy know, though it was not done by our orders.” She produced a crystal, presumably a downloader of some sort, meant to absorb the information.

  Brigitte maintained her connection with the node. Her attention phased in and out of what was being said. Ghostly faces watched her from within. They seemed as though they were trapped as two-dimensional images in the obelisk’s shining façade. She looked closer, confused. Their faces were covered in blood and gashes. Their terror shimmered in waves as they reached out desperately for help.

  “ . . . Brigitte,” Lukias’s voice snapped her out of the vision.

  Fear gripped her throat. “What?” she answered, breathless.

  “I was introducing you.” A closer look registered the terror in her eyes, and he stepped into her line of sight.

  “I was looking into the node.” She shook her head. “They are trapped in there. What happened to these people?” She directed her question to the priestess, who watched them curiously.

  “You can see them?” The priestess lifted her eyebrow. “I don’t recommend you connect with them anymore. Their deaths were violent. Only those trained to speak with the dead should make contact.”

  But Brigitte was already sucked back in. She saw a vision of the same dark-haired woman who had spoken with D’Vinid the night before. Only her face was changed, twisted into rage and hatred as she tracked a group of temple clergy like a beast in the wilds. With a fierce howl, she jumped onto one of the priests, raking his eyes with her fingernails. Her teeth sank into the jugular vein on his neck, and blood spurted in all directions. The other clergy watched in stunned horror. She chased every one of them down, until no more were left alive.

  Brigitte felt a grip on her shoulder. She let out a startled cry, and jumped in recoil. But the kind concern of her brother was all that greeted her. Soon after, she realized her mistake, and threw her arms around him, sobbing.

  Allondriss placed her hand on Brigitte’s back. She felt a jolt from the servant’s touch, and suddenly her emotions disappeared. She looked back at Allondriss, surprised. “What was that?”

  “I disconnected you from the crystal. Your thoughts became one with those poor souls trapped in there,” Allondriss answered quietly.

  The other two clergy looked at Allondriss curiously. “Which order do you belong to?” the purple-robed priestess asked.

  “I am not of the Temple Sect,” Allondriss shied away.

  A shadow covered the courtyard. They all looked up with a start. But a cloud had simply blocked the sun.

  Brigitte’s gaze drifted back to the apparition of a bloodied priestess who had become trapped in the surface of the crystal, captured in the imprint of her terrifying death. A rush of fear seized her. She ripped her eyes away.

  Lukias stood still, now fixed on the node. This brought Brigitte comfort, knowing he would get the answers.

  Allondriss pointedly ignored the crystal-node. She seemed to notice everything else. If Pan had indeed raised this girl, Brigitte suspected he had taught her many things these temple clergy would never know. She copied Allondriss in ignoring the node, and set to the task of buying Lukias the time to discover pieces of the puzzle. The priest and priestess made ready to interrupt him.

  Brigitte barred their path. “My brother will discover what you have been searching for,” she eyed them commandingly.

  “But you must understand, this is delicate business,” the yellow-robed priest protested, distressed.

  “We understand you are trained specifically to work with the Grid.” Brigitte’s voice softened, but kept its force. “My brother is High Seer of our dreamclan. We are your allies, sent as envoys from the Watchers. We all follow the neutral laws of nature, do we not? So what would you have to hide from an ally who is here to help you? Is this not why you invited us into the nodeyard, anyway?�
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  The priest stiffened. “We have laws here, my lady. There is a reason why we cannot reveal our protocol.”

  “Yes, your protocol seems very specific. As I said, I know you have your ways. You, then, should understand we have ours, so you need not reveal your protocol to us. We have come to join with your city, and we have only found it to be tainted,” she gestured to the node. “I have been chased. My people have been destroyed. And I have now come to a place once rumored as the center of the world, now plagued by madness and violence. I have little interest in your protocol, because obviously it is not working, nor do I suspect your protocol will give me the answers I need.” She felt her temper flaring. The priest squirmed as if he had suddenly become uncomfortable in his skin. Brigitte looked away. She knew his discomfort was her fault, and she did not like to hurt people accidentally with the powers that flared with her emotions.

  Allondriss covered her mouth to stifle astonished laughter. Lukias continued his survey of the crystal.

  The priestess gestured to the dragon warriors, who immediately jumped to attention. “In the name of the king, I must request that you vacate this nodeyard immediately,” she demanded.

  “Excellent.” Brigitte clapped her hands together like Pan Aello. “Then take me to him. It is our right as dreamclan to request immediate audience with the king and the High Council.”

  The dragon warriors sent out a psychic blast. Brigitte felt insatiably compelled to leave the nodeyard. Allondriss began to leave. Lukias stood his ground, untouched by their collective psychic command. The fury warriors entered while the dragons focused on her. Brigitte turned her attention to them and broke out of the spell caused by the psychic blast. Stixxus approached Brigitte. She held up her hand toward him and faced the aggressors, who recoiled at her ability to resist their suggestion.

  Lukias pulled out of his trance. “Interesting.” he puzzled.

  Without warning, the crystal-node began to resonate. Its gentle humming penetrated the nodeyard. It captured the attention of the clergy.

  “Impossible,” the yellow-robed Grid-tuner gulped. “This node is detached from the resonators! And the nodesong has not been activated!” They backed away as if it would soon explode.

  Brigitte looked around while the others stared at the crystal obelisk. She opened her eyes to dreamsight. A ragtag group of figures wearing revelry disguises had surrounded them. They could not be seen easily, as they were hidden in a pocket of Dreamtime. She tugged at her brother’s sleeve. The figures all held small crystals to their lips, and were pointing them at the node while humming softly. Their humming magnified through the crystals, and seemed to be the cause of the rogue resonance. Among them, a buxom woman with many tiny braids of reddish hair held up her other hand in salute, noticing Brigitte’s attention.

  The dragon warriors sent a shock-wave attack outward in all directions. In tandem, the entire group faded deeper into Dreamtime, into a translucent blue mist. A woman’s voice echoed in Brigitte’s head. “Seek out the conclaves, dreamclan. There is an invisible war happening, and you will not find your answers among the Temple Sect. We are the Children of One.”

  Brigitte and Lukias melded psychically. Lukias reminded her of their final days on the ship, which brought them from their home. He spoke telepathically. “Remember the blue elixir the captain gave us?”

  Brigitte nodded. “She called it the blue-dream awakening. Said it would help us see these conclaves.” She answered with her mind. After what seemed like a short silence, Brigitte nodded to Lukias and turned to the clergy. “We can help you with your investigation.”

  “Are you in league with those people?” The priestess was almost speechless.

  “This is the first I have seen them,” said Lukias. “I wonder why you wouldn’t know who they are. Are they not Atlantean?”

  “They are Atlanteans, yes, but they possess temple skills. They were not of the Temple Sect. Yet they dreamwalk masterfully. They must be operating in secret. We must inform the Alta immediately.” The priestess was babbling in distress. Brigitte felt her respect for them slipping away.

  “Somehow I don’t think they are the problem,” said Brigitte. “I think you need to find the one who killed the temple contingent. Those poor murdered clergy whose spirits are trapped in the obelisk must be set free.”

  “Sister,” Lukias put his hand on her arm. “These apparitions are not spirits as you suggest. They are emotional constructs trapped in the Grid. They were created when each of those clergy died. They are made of fear. Nothing more. It would be wise to pay them no mind.” He turned to the priest and priestess. “My sister is right about one thing. We need to find the creature who killed them. I suggest you leave the dragon warriors to seal off the nodeyard, and come with us. We have our furies to protect us.” He reached out a hand to the priestess, beckoning her with encouraging eyes.

  The priestess’s eyes grew wide. She shook her head almost involuntarily. “We must report to our temple Alta. This would be a renegade investigation without their approval.”

  “Then we will go ourselves,” said Brigitte.

  Lukias moved to place his hands on the priestess’s shoulders and made the mental link, injecting his thoughts directly into her mindlight.

  The priestess began to tremble. “We will accompany you, My Lord High Seer,” her voice quaked.

  “Then we must waste no more time.” Lukias waited for everyone to fall into step. He shifted his vision to the frequency of Dreamtime where the trail left by the attacker was still visible, and together, they continued their journey.

  A GLOOMY CLOUD followed D’Vinid as if it had attached to him. Pan’s estate in all its opulent majesty could not raise his spirits. The idea of being trapped as a tool for the mediator’s plot was torturing his thoughts. He had finally escaped the twins, who were babbling about the conclaves. D’Vinid wanted no part in it. He was angry at the conclaves for creating a new avenue for Kyliron to put reins on him. But still, he was fascinated by the Golden Age of Atlantis, when the original Followers of One were at their height. He couldn’t help but think himself more suited to have lived when all existed in resonance with the city, the planet, and the cosmos. It was what Atlantis was intended for: unified evolution in harmony with Sophaiya.

  Wearing dark goggles and a black scarf around his face made D’Vinid seem less approachable, and it was times like these when he needed anonymity. Ultimately, he assumed the Watchers knew he would do the opposite of what they tried to force on him, to trick fate off course. But the defiance of their guidance only united him with Brigitte. It was a two-sided trick, and he had fallen into it.

  He fiddled with the tuning peg Pan Aello had given him, feeling torn about putting it back on. His dabrina only had eleven pegs. The twelfth had always been missing. It was the top peg, and the most prominent part of the instrument. He had never desired to replace it, because its absence represented the absence of his mother. His playing style on eleven strings was of his own devising, and it created chord patterns and melodic intervals interesting enough that many other musicians adopted it. He let the peg fall back against his chest with a thump.

  He shuffled along the Grand Esplanade leading up the entry waterway. Once he reached the citadel, he turned onto the road circumnavigating the rings. This was his neighborhood. The marina he had called home for many cycles was on the Outlands side of the outer water ring.

  Dafni’s Enigma was an older vessel, an oceangoing ship of great renown in her day. When Queen Dafni died, the ship was decommissioned, and D’Vinid’s father, having gained freedom from service to the royal family, prepared to leave on his own quest. D’Vinid was in the throes of his fight with Kyliron, and wanted to accompany his father. But he wanted to take the journey on his own, and asked D’Vinid to stay and help the first mate, Hanonin, with the ship. D’Vinid watched the horizon every day, knowing the waters of Atlantis did not take long to traverse. But Chaldeis, Captain of Dafni’s Enigma, had not returned. Given its age, t
he ship could not make a profit against other, more advanced passenger ships, and so Hanonin used its antique craftsmanship and notoriety to their advantage.

  He negotiated a permanent slip in the Outlands Harbor District, and made Dafni’s Enigma into a world famous elixir den. The marina had a lot of foot traffic, since it was close to a commons area where citizens viewed VC broadcasts and collected food from the public markets. D’Vinid built up his career as a performer on the stage of the Dafni’s main hall. He played not only for the courts, but for the people, and this was the main ingredient of his rise to fame as the Prophet Singer.

  The water was like glass. He watched it for a while, waiting for emerging fish or diving birds to disturb its perfection. Sounds of laughter drifted into earshot, and he knew it to be coming from his home. He padded through the docks, some of them built into multiple levels over their allotted slips. Dafni’s Enigma was the crown jewel of the marina.

  An intricate structure of stairs crisscrossed up three stories of open-aired decks bridging over the ship. Each level provided a view of the waterway and private seating for small groups. From the deck of the ship, one could see up into the spiral pattern created by the deliberate spacing of the patios and stairs. A group of young people caroused on one of the levels. Their laughter filled the air with abandoned propriety.

  The ship’s interior held a dark romance. The windows were changed from nautical portals to large crystal windows. In any given direction, one could behold a view of the city rings, or the sweeping plains of the Outlands along the entry channel. Its main hull had been gutted and redesigned. At the stern, the elixir bar was carved to look like the trunk of a tree. Stairways reached into the upper decks of the ship, and a balcony circled the room, all of which were a part of the carving. At the bow, a stage was framed by stylized branches.