Atlantis Rising

by James E. Wisher

  He walked over and raised a glowing hand. “Now, let’s have a look at what you’re hiding in there.”

  When his hand touched the first man’s forehead, light magic surged into his brain, taking Conryu’s consciousness along for the ride. He followed the soldier’s memories from the moment of the explosion backward. They’d arrived by plane and with the crystal’s power, passed easily through the floating island’s barrier.

  Conryu had sensed no change in the energy flow, so the crystals had done no lasting damage. That was good. He didn’t want an endless stream of unwelcome company falling out of the sky into his lap.

  The memories retreated further. There was a briefing where they were given orders to kill him. The soldier had been confident that they could complete the mission no problem. Taking out some inexperienced kid should be simple. Clearly this guy hadn’t paid attention when he was given background on his target, assuming they’d gotten a background briefing. When it came to combat, Conryu had seen more than his share.

  Conryu didn’t recognize the older man in uniform that gave the order, but then he hadn’t had much contact with the military. His name, according to the memory Conryu was reading, was General Smith. He ran the entire special operations department of the military. The memory of the old man held warmth and respect. The soldier held his commanding officer in high regard.

  A quick skim made it clear that the soldier had no idea where the crystals came from beyond the Research and Development division, which was held in considerably lower regard than the general. That was no help at all. Conryu suspected General Smith would have more useful information.

  He released the spell and after a moment of disorientation stepped away from the prisoner. He’d never used that particular spell before and wasn’t anxious to do so again. He couldn’t deny its usefulness but rummaging around in someone’s brain felt like the ultimate invasion of privacy.

  “Shall we kill them, Chosen?” one of the new ninjas asked.

  “Certainly not. We’re going to visit their boss. And it’s only polite to bring a gift when you go visiting.”

  Chapter 12

  Malice Kincade hobbled down the hall of the presidential residence toward the president’s private office. The white walls decorated with generic art didn’t interest her. Her cane tapped along on the gray marble floor, each impact making her grimace harder and hate it more. She had only started using the damn thing a few days after the madness of Morgana’s attack. Her hip kept slipping in and out and she nearly fell twice.

  Magical healing could do nothing for her. The light magic users said it was old age and there was no cure for it. Blithering idiots. There were always cures, just not in their discipline. She had some less moralistic wizards looking at several. For now, she was reduced to limping around like an invalid. At least her cane held enough magic to make anyone that thought her a weak target regret their stupidity, for the few seconds that remained of their life.

  Speaking of people that believed her weak, the president had called today’s meeting without informing her. Their relationship hadn’t been great before the attack and it was worse now. He wanted to replace her but didn’t dare. The government and Kincade Magical Industries were too deeply entwined. He needed her and he knew it. But he didn’t like it.

  Worse, as far as she was concerned, the Department of Research and Development was involved with a secret, magic-involved project and she knew next to nothing about it. Her people in the department were trying to ferret out what was going on, but so far, they’d come up empty.

  She suspected that whoever was in charge of security over there now had figured out whose true loyalty was to Malice and marginalized them. It spoke to their skill that she didn’t even know who that person was.

  But that was a problem for another time. She rounded a corner and limped toward the two soldiers on duty outside the office. They immediately snapped to attention.

  When she got closer, they shifted to block her. “The president is in a private meeting. He gave instructions not to be disturbed.”

  Malice looked from one to the other, but neither could meet her cold glare. Children, the both of them. Standing guard with their worthless rifles. Neither of them would have a hope in hell of stopping even a weak wizard, much less Malice.

  Unfortunately, satisfying as killing them both would be, it wouldn’t advance her cause today. “I’ll wait,” she said.

  A hard bench sat across the hall from the office door. She sat and closed her eyes. The office was warded against eavesdropping, but what Malice doubted anyone but her realized was that the one hired to perform the enchantment worked for a Kincade subsidiary. She knew exactly how the wards worked and exactly how to bypass them.

  Malice shifted her hands to her lap and subtly rubbed the gold ring on her right hand. The magic woven into the metal came to life, sending her awareness up and out of her body. The wards appeared as a maze of lines filling the air around the room. She concentrated and performed a precise gesture with her ethereal hands, a gesture that would have been difficult with her real hands given the arthritis twisting her knuckles.

  The lines bent out of her way and she flew through the gap. Inside she found the president, his hair more gray than brown now, seated at the head of a long table along with several cabinet members and other high-ranking advisors. Malice knew all of them and she knew they must all be wondering where she was.

  Another individual, this one a stranger to her, stood at the front of the room. He was dressed in a lab coat as though he’d come directly from his work. In truth she knew the scientists liked to wear those coats because they thought it convinced the higher-ups that they knew what they were talking about.

  It didn’t, but no one ever corrected them.

  On the white board beside him was a picture of a gray crystal shaped roughly like an obelisk. She’d never seen one and had no idea what it was or why it would be of any interest to the powerful men gathered here.

  “Have you made any progress in duplicating the crystal?” the president asked.

  The scientist looked everywhere but at his boss. “No, sir. We haven’t isolated how it works so we can’t duplicate the effect.”

  The president slammed his fist on the table. His frustration brought a smile to Malice’s ethereal face. “Gaining the ability to negate magic is the key to ending our dependence on wizards. After the attack, your budget was increased to basically unlimited and in two months you’ve made no progress. What the hell have you been spending those millions on, doughnuts?”

  “I’m sorry, sir. But without understanding the mechanism by which the crystal functions, we can’t even begin to guess how to copy it.”

  Malice had heard enough. Any amusement she might have felt at the president’s frustration was overshadowed by what he was attempting. Creating an artifact capable of negating magic was tantamount to declaring war on all the wizards in the world. No wonder he didn’t want Malice to know what he was working on. She would have done everything in her power to put a stop to it.

  The weight and pain of her worn-out body settled around her spirit and she stood.

  The guards shot her a nervous side-eye as she struggled to her feet. Malice ignored them and shuffled back the way she’d come. She might not have had her meeting, but she learned more than enough.

  If the president wanted to declare himself the enemy of all wizards, Malice wouldn’t take the threat lying down.

  As Tanidel led him through the silent crystal city, Merik couldn’t help wondering what Atlantis was like at the height of its power. He pictured tall, graceful people in white robes with crystals in their foreheads walking here and there, discussing matters of importance. There had to be workers as well. No culture could survive without industry, but he had trouble squaring that necessity with the wonder all around him.

  His guide finally turned off the street and angled toward a rosy pink tower. The building appeared to be solid crystal, but as they approached a door form
ed to allow them inside. The interior was every bit as remarkable as the outside. The chairs and tables appeared grown out of the floor. There was a desk to one side where a secretary would have sat had this been an office building. Instead the space was empty, just like everything else.

  “This way.” Tanidel walked over to a blank section of wall.

  As she approached, the wall opened just like the outside wall. It was a neat trick, but how would a visitor know where to go? Then again maybe that was intentional. At this point, a visitor wasn’t likely to be friendly so keeping them lost would be an advantage.

  Merik followed her into a large boardroom with a round table around which sat eleven people, all made of crystal like Tanidel. Everyone stood to greet them.

  “Merik,” Tanidel said. “Allow me to introduce the survivors of Atlantis.”

  He was struck momentarily dumb. Twelve people? There were only twelve survivors of Atlantis? How in the world could they hope to go to war with all the wizards in the world?

  “It is a pleasure to meet you, brother,” one of the male Atlanteans said.

  Merik shook his cold, hard hand. The men, he wasn’t even sure if they were men at this point, but close enough. They were built like Greek statues, with perfect crystal features. The same features, Merik realized. The seven men all looked exactly the same, as did the five women.

  “We are beyond grateful for what you’ve done,” one of the women said.

  “I’m glad I could help,” Merik said. “All my life I’ve felt like I didn’t really fit in. Now I know why. Are there others like me?”

  “Very few,” one of the men said. “When we’ve dealt with the wizards, we will find them and bring them into the fold.”

  “About that. Twelve against thousands doesn’t seem like a fair fight. How can you hope to defeat so many given your limited numbers?”

  “Our numbers may be limited,” a woman said. He was really going to have to learn their names, not that he could tell them apart. “But as you’ve seen, there are many in the world that hate, fear, or resent the wizards. If we offer them a way to defeat their enemy, finding people willing to fight will be easy. Please, sit with us.”

  At her invitation, two chairs grew out of the floor. Merik took one and Tanidel the other. Their chairs were every bit as hard as their flesh. Merik shuddered to think what he’d find when he went to sleep tonight.

  “Do you all have names?” Merik asked.

  “Of course,” one of the men said. “But we haven’t bothered with them since transitioning to our new forms. We recognize each other by our unique vibrations now. I’m sure for someone still of flesh and blood, this is a difficult concept to grasp. That is why we designated the one you know as Tanidel as our representative to our brothers and sisters in the human realm. She is perhaps the only one of us that still has a grasp of her old self.”

  “So how should I address you?” Merik asked.

  “It would be easiest if you simply asked your questions to the group and whoever has the answer will reply. Should you wish to speak with one of us in particular, focus on them and we will sense your desire through the crystal in your forehead.”

  This was going to take some getting used to. “What happens now?”

  “We wait. Until Atlantis has fully returned to the human realm, we can do nothing.”

  “And when it does?” Merik asked.

  “We will make contact with the potential allies you have found for us. They in turn will no doubt suggest others of like mind. We will build an army and hunt our enemies to extinction, just as they would have done to us.”

  And that was the crux of the matter. “How? There are a lot of wizards out there.”

  Another Atlantean said, “You know the crystal that renders you immune to magic? That was only a prototype, a crude artifact created at the end of the war. In the thousands of years since we have perfected the weapon. Now we can create entire zones where magic will not function. Each of us is now a magic-negating crystal able to project that effect over one hundred yards. We can protect a sizable force who will in turn cut down our foes.”

  “But you must be tired. Tanidel will take you to a place where you can rest. We will speak again soon.”

  They all stood.

  Merik had been to enough corporate meetings to know when he was being dismissed. Despite their claims of brotherhood, they clearly considered themselves superior to Merik. Perhaps because they were pure crystal and he was still flesh and blood.

  Either way, he followed Tanidel out of the boardroom feeling a good deal less confident than he had when he arrived.

  Chapter 13

  According to the information Conryu extracted from the commandos, General Smith was waiting for his assassins to report in at Jonny’s base in Florida. It was still dark when Conryu, Kai, her fellow ninjas, and their two prisoners appeared a quarter mile up the street from the base.

  Conryu cast a basic detection spell. Just as Kai warned him, the base was heavily warded against any kind of magical trespass. Someone had spent weeks if not months layering wards around the huge complex.

  Boy was whoever did that going to be pissed when he got done.

  Conryu took up his staff and the crystal instantly turned black as it sensed his desire. He channeled a huge quantity of dark magic into it before releasing the energy in a massive Dispel Magic blast. Like a wave hitting a sandcastle, his spell washed away every trace of magical protection around the base.

  He glanced at Kai. “Okay.”

  She and her fellow ninjas vanished into the borderland. They would keep a lookout there and deal with anyone that might be a threat to him. Not that he expected that to be an issue.

  Shifting from dark magic to earth magic, he wove several defensive spells, mingling them with light magic enhancements. By the time he finished, a tank blast wouldn’t scratch him. With his precautious taken, Conryu pointed at his bound prisoners. They floated off the ground and followed along at his heel like an obedient hound as he walked straight up to the main gate.

  A pair of guards raised their rifles as he approached. “Halt!” one of the men said. It would have been more impressive if his voice hadn’t quavered.

  Conryu obliged. “I’m here to see General Smith. He sent some trash to my house. I came to return it.”

  “N…Name?”

  “Conryu Koda. The general will want to see me. You shouldn’t keep him waiting.”

  The guards looked at each other and one finally ran to their shack to make a call. The second kept his rifle pointed at Conryu. Not that he was worried about a simple bullet, but just to be safe, Conryu used a tiny spark of dark magic to disintegrate the weapon’s firing pin.

  Minutes later a veritable military parade came rushing toward the gate. There were jeeps with machine guns mounted on them, soldiers with rocket launchers and flame throwers, and about two hundred infantry men armed with rifles identical to the one currently pointed at his chest. He spotted Jonny in the group of infantry but put him out of his mind. His friend had made his choice. Now he’d have to accept the consequences.

  If you ignored the fact that a thought from him would leave them all unarmed or dead, the display was impressive. When they had taken up position facing him, their useless weapons all focused his way, an officer in a tan uniform jumped out of a jeep and marched up to face him.

  “You’re under arrest,” the officer said.

  Conryu restrained a laugh. “On what charge?”

  “Trespassing on military property.”

  Conryu looked left and right. “I’m still outside the base. Look, I came here to talk to a general, not to a whatever you are. Why don’t you go get your boss so we can discuss our differences rationally?”

  “My orders are to take you into custody.”

  Conryu swallowed a sigh. “Go to sleep.”

  A pulse of light magic rushed out. The moment it hit the gathered soldiers they collapsed, out cold. In less than a second, only Conryu and the office
r were still standing. “Do you want to take me to him now or do you want to take a nap with your men while I search on my own?”

  All the blood had drained from the officer’s face. “General Smith isn’t going to be pleased if I bring you to him.”

  “Good. I’m not especially pleased that he sent three men to kill me. Now, I’m going to give you three seconds to start walking before I knock you out and do it myself. One.”

  “Okay, okay. It’ll probably mean my career but come along.”

  The officer set out and Conryu fell in behind him. They walked around the unconscious soldiers and headed deeper into the base. There were buildings and training areas everywhere. But no more soldiers presented themselves. That was good. He didn’t worry about Kai doing anything unfortunate, but the new girls were still killers at heart. If they thought he was in danger, they were likely to cut first and ask questions later.

  They finally reached a modest building near the center of the base. It wasn’t much bigger than the apartment where Conryu grew up. He sensed a single person inside, so no ambush. His guide rapped on the door and a moment later General Smith, looking exactly as he did in the memories Conryu saw, opened the door.

  “Major Evans,” the general said. “My order was clear was it not?”

  “Perfectly, sir. Unfortunately, I lack the means to carry them out. Our…visitor wishes to speak with you.”

  “And if I don’t wish to speak with him?”

  Conryu had had about enough of this.

  “Then you can shut up and listen.” He pointed and the bound soldiers landed in a heap in front of the general’s door. “Your stupidity already got one man killed. Had I been so inclined I could have dealt with these two the same way. Lucky for you, I’m not violent by nature.”

  “These men were wearing items of great value to the Alliance. Where are they?”