The Atlantean Chronicles - Shadow's of Enlightenment

by Kip Hartzell

“Hello, John, is something wrong?”

  “I will get to that, first, I would like to introduce you to our newest member, Rear Admiral Hernandez.”

  Her 3-D image faced the Admiral. “Ah, I can tell by the look on your face, you met Aidan. Ha, not such a pompous jackass now, are you?”

  “Why you arrogant sea witch-”

  “Good, that’s the leader I know, now, listen up,” she sighed at his turmoil, “look Rafael, take a few deep breaths, open your mind and just except it all. You can trust the Atlanteans.”

  He softened. “It is difficult. Atlanteans?”

  “Don’t worry, it gets worse.”

  “I was afraid of that.”

  “Colonel,” John interrupted, “the task force is near the Destroyer’s base. If this does not go well, make sure to relay all information to whom you deem worthy, and continue the fight.”

  “What about Shell, she’s no soldier.”

  “I have an escape plan for her, and Jay, not to worry.”

  “Very well, do you need support?”

  “Right now, no, I don’t want to give too much away. So, continue to monitor our progress.”

  “Understood.”

  “We will contact you with results.”

  “I have a meeting with the President tomorrow morning. I don’t know how it will go, but I will give it my best shot at convincing him.”

  “May the Great Creator be with you, and enlightenment guide you.”

  “Same to you, John, Masters, out.”

  “That helped,” Hernandez said. “Atlanteans?”

  “Actually,” Rhe-A said, from behind him, “this has gone much better than I expected. The indoctrination of books, television, and electronic media, over the last one hundred years, must have had a larger impact on the psyche of our Cousins. I’m not sure yet if this is good, or bad. The indoctrination has happened in a much shorter time span than originally calculated. If done right, we could get our Cousins to help us even more.”

  “That would greatly enhance our cause,” John answered.

  “Yes, but for this event to have occurred so soon.” Rhe-A looked at Jay for an answer she knew he couldn’t have. “It may invariably tie us together, whether we want it to or not.”

  “The universe just gets bigger and bigger,” Athene-A added.

  “Jay, could you brief the Admiral on our history, and cause, as quickly as possible,” John requested.

  “Of course, Admiral, sit right here, and we’ll get started.”

  He sat in front of a computer, looking back at Jay, he said, “Are you an alien?”

  Jay smiled. “No, Admiral, just an archeologist from Las Vegas. Now, let’s go through the computer functions. It should answer some of your questions, quickly.”

  John and Hernandez stood on the deck, looking out over the ocean. “As per your request, Captain, we are one mile away from your coordinates.” He was still a little pale from his experience.

  “Thank you, Admiral. Keep your fleet on high alert. I expect the Destroyers to attack.”

  “My fleet thinks they are in training to find an enemy sub. We have set up a perimeter around the area.”

  “Excellent, I will be in contact.” John went back to the ship, looking out over the water at the place he hadn’t ever wanted to go back. The memories were still vivid, and disturbing. He fought the fear back as he entered the ship, and made his way to the battle table. “We are in position, shall we try? I want all sensors trained on that power point. I want to know the sub-second anything changes. Draco, would you do the honors?”

  Draco reached into his jacket pocket and took out all the coins. He held them stacked in a flat palm. He eyed them for a second, and then tossed them in the middle of the table. None hit the table. They floated a few inches above and spun. The spinning lined up into a loose triangle, and suddenly they stopped at different intervals. The teardrop points all pointed in the same direction.

  “Athene-A, anything on sensors?” John anxiously asked.

  “Negative, no unusual activity.”

  “Really,” John said, to himself more than to anyone else. “Hum, where do they point?” He waved a hand, and a topographical hologram came into view. He simulated a line that ran Northeast, all the way around the world.

  “That doesn’t help much,” Shelly commented.

  Jay starred for a while in confusion. He studied it, leaning forward, one hand on the journal. He came to some epiphany, and opened the book. He flipped through it, matching up dissociated John’s travels to the red line. The only place that matched, was an obscure area in Romania, one hundred miles Southwest of Bucharest. “Looks like a hiking trip.” Jay looked up at John. “John, the mind bender showed us a wooden pyramid on top of a power point. Do you remember where it was?”

  John thought for less than a second, waved his hand, until a red dot appeared on the table where the hiking trip took place. “People, it looks like we have our next destination. Keep those sensors on full.”

  An hour later, John and Hernandez stood on the deck, again.

  “It seems our friends don’t want to come out and play,” Hernandez quipped, looking much more stable than he had been. “I guess we didn’t learn much. Should we send in some ordinance?”

  “No, but we did learn a great deal. The Destroyers are not ready for a full-on confrontation, yet. So, we still have time, relatively speaking. We must be on our way, thank you for all your help. Here’s your...laptop. It will help with all your questions, and keep you safe. Be careful who you trust. Abigail would be a good place to start.”

  “Abigail, humph. I’ll try. Stay in touch my alien friend.”

  “If you are my Cousin, what does that make you?” John smiled and walked toward the shuttle.

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Full Circle

  “Our round-about way of getting here, should throw off any observers for a while,” Aidan said. “Since, Apollo discovered they were tracking us by the alteration in dimensional spectral changes in our cloaking field. I’ll leave the cloak on at all times.”

  “The medallions are pointing to that castle ruin over there,” Draco said, pointing it out on the map. “It looks familiar, but I haven’t been in this part of the world in... a very long time.”

  “Draco, you take lead on this one,” John ordered. “Let’s go find that tracker skull.”

  The invisible hover car left the invisible shuttle, as the crescent moon passed over the trees. They weaved through the woods, the windshield turned night into day, as they zipped around and over any obstacles. John set the craft down in an open patch near the ruin’s main entrance. The roadway was overgrown, but the horseshoe shaped driveway left enough room for the vehicle to be unnoticed. They filed out and began more scanning. The dilapidated castle, or commune, entrance had stones strewn around like children’s building blocks. Graffiti covered most of them. They cautiously moved into its inner workings.

  “This would make a great party location for Halloween,” Jay whispered, trying to break the tension.

  Xen looked around, and unexpectedly said, “Yes, it would.”

  “Anything registering?” John asked.

  “Surprisingly, nothing unusual,” Rhe-A spoke up. “That should be worrisome in itself.”

  “Maybe we caught another break, like back there at the battle fleet,” Jay said, sounding more like wishful thinking.

  “Alright, everyone stay alert. Draco, any specific direction?” John’s voice echoed through the darkness.

  Draco had the coins in front of him. “That direction.” He pointed. “That entrance.”

  They made their way through a street with ruined buildings. Jay would’ve described the place as an abandoned town. They stopped in front of what looked like the remains of a Medieval Christian church, only three of the four walls stood. Roof debris and stone blocks littered the floor. Draco held out his hands, between them the medallions floated. They pointed to a wall to his right, and then he moved slowly in that direction. He onl
y got a few yards, when the coins dropped to the floor at the same time, making clinking noises in the silence.

  “What the-” Draco said. He looked around for answers, but got none. He picked up the medallions and put them in a purple silk bag, with a draw string. He was putting them in an inside pocket, when the everyone gathered around.

  “What direction were they last pointing?” Jay asked. Draco pointed to the wall on the right. Night vision glasses formed over his eyes, and he began to look around. He got to the wall and surveyed it. Nothing. He began to back track, looking down at the floor. He scooted dirt aside with his foot. The Archeologist in him took over. Forming an idea of how these people thought, as opposed to what they did in the past. He kneeled down and lightly scooped away more dirt. “Help me move these timbers and stone.” Before he could grab one, they started floating away. “Show offs.” He brushed at the floor lightly, until he came to stone. The more he cleared, the more a design appeared. Soon, the shadow outline of a pyramid, with a circle inside of it. He brushed it off, and then blew the loose dirt away.

  Xen knelt beside him. “Is that what we’re looking for?” Xen asked, as he tried to help.

  “I think so. The marking is not that old, I mean, not as old as the building. See, these grooves were made by a machine tool. Unless, you guys were doing this sort of thing back in the dark ages.”

  They looked guiltily at each other.

  “Never mind,” Jay said, “It’s recent, archeologically speaking.” He finished cleaning out the outline in a slab stone three feet by five feet. He stood up and looked at the finished product. “Well, it’s not up, or to the left or right. Looks like we’re going down. Jay put a foot on a stone, it sank slightly, and then another, it did the same. He then lifted the first foot and stepped on the same stone three quick times. The slab broke loose, and hinged upward until it was forty-five degrees. The others took pieces of timber and reinforced the slab. A stairwell led down into more darkness.

  Aidan started down the steps, and was stopped by Jay’s comment. “Okay, does anyone else think this is a trap?”

  “A valid deduction,” John said, as he started down. “Maybe you should go back to the ship and monitor the situation.”

  “No way, I’ve come this far. I want to finish.”

  “The male ego is alive and well,” Rhe-A commented on her way by. Following Aidan as he disappeared down the tunnel.

  John smirked. “Stay close.”

  The tunnel was large enough for two abreast. Aidan and Draco were up front followed by Xen and John, and then Jay and Rhe-A. Maya covered the rear. The stairs continued down. Most could see in the dark, but Jay and Aidan needed their suit goggles.

  “Anything on your sensors?” John’s voice echoed in tunnel.

  “Nothing,” Rhe-A responded. “Dead space.”

  Jay glanced at her. “Really?”

  She looked confused about what she had said.

  He was shaking his head as they came to the landing. The high ceiling tunnel made a sharp right. Draco’s familiarity with this type of architecture, led them around several traps. Others were already sprung with skeletal remains as a result. The tunnel came to a four-way intersection. Jay studied the walls. A triangle with a teardrop inside pointed straight ahead. They agreed to proceed further down the tunnel. More steps led them further down into the Earth. There didn’t seem to be any more traps, at this point. They reached another landing that continued straight.

  “We’ve lost communication with the shuttle,” Rhe-A emotionlessly informed.

  “We should keep going,” Draco echoed in the tunnel.

  “Proceed,” John un-assuredly said.

  Another right turn abruptly stopped at a large door. John and Rhe-A moved to it. They concentrated, and the door unlatched. Draco studied for traps and found none, that were operational. It took some effort to get the door to open. A large square room awaited them, with a pedestal in the center, the only thing in the room. Jay quickly moved to it, to the chagrin of John. The rest spread out throughout the room, waiting for an attack, or trap.

  Jay looked down on the pedestal. Nothing was there, but a purple piece of cloth that hung over the flat surface of the podium by a few inches. “We’re too late,” Jay sadly announced. “The tracker skull is gone. From the dust collection, it’s been quite a while.”

  John, and the others, made sure of no traps or ambush points, and then gathered around. John studied it. He bent down and looked at it eye level. “Look at this, the indentions are not of a crystal skull, but are round.”

  Draco pulled out his medallion pouch and took out a medallion. John took it and set it over the spot. It was the same size. “I would say we weren’t looking for the skull, but more medallions. There were three here.”

  “I guess this was a bust,” Jay said. “But I think we need to find more medallions somewhere else.”

  John sighed. “Alright, looks like we’ll have to continue the search elsewhere. Back to the ship.”

  Draco moved away from the group, and stared at the far wall. Maya moved forward to get a better look at what he was focused on. The others slowly began to notice and followed suit. An image started to form, the wispy movement of steam swirled around. It coalesced into a humanoid form at first, and then into the shape of a woman. Her hair was dark, skin pale. The red velvet dress, the young lady wore, was 17th century Europe, with a very low neckline. She floated near the wall with slight transparency.

  “Great,” Jay said, “vampires, werewolves, minotaur’s, of course we would have ghosts.”

  “Ghosts, are somewhat relative,” John said, staring at the phantasm.

  She gave a beckoning smile, and backed through the wall, disappearing faster than she had arrived.

  “The image,” Draco explained, “was that of Gloria, my sister.”

  “My daughter, Gloria,” Maya said, under her breath. “She disappeared, just as you did Draco. Oh, she looks so refined.”

  “And, she has a medallion around her neck,” Draco said.

  “It looked as if she wanted us to follow her.” Xen piped up.

  They moved to the wall, carefully. Jay examined the stone structure.

  “Alright, everyone, stand back,” John said. “Rhe-A, and I, will blast it open.”

  “Hold on a second,” Jay said with a hand up. “No use bringing this place down on our heads.” He looked in recognition, and then pushed the two stones that were diagonal from each other at the same time. A stone door popped open. Jay turned, and smiled in triumph.

  “Show off,” Rhe-A said, as she pushed the door fully open.

  The tunnel was now only wide enough for single file. Aidan had to stoop a little as he led them through.

  Jay looked wary about going in. “Did I mention a trap, earlier, cause I am now.”

  “We have to see this through, also. Stay here,” John’s voice echoed down the tunnel.

  Jay looked around at the creepy, empty room. “Uh, strength in numbers.” He followed.

  They didn’t get far before the stairs led them down, again. Brushing cob webs aside, they eased further down. Aidan stepped into another large room with only one other door to their right. Creature comforts were spaced around. Carpet murals on the floor and walls. Couches, and chairs, all were from the 17th and 18th centuries.

  “Now, I remember,” Draco started, as he walked around. “Gloria helped me through the dark times, after...your interference, Mother. I spent time here. This is what gave me the idea for my own lair back in Chichen Itza. Gloria, show yourself!”

  The large wooden side door slowly creaked open. The ghostly figure was now as solid as they were. The dark hair, pale face, woman, gracefully strolled out. Behind her was a dark cavernous cave. The hair stood up on the back of Jay’s neck.

  “John,” Rhe-A said, staring into space, “I’m getting that feeling again, Destroyers.”

  “I know. I feel them, too.”

  “Gloria,” Maya said, and moved to embrace her.
Jay grabbed her arm to stop her. She turned, and gave him a killing look.

  “That’s not Gloria, Maya,” Jay sadly said. He saw the double vision of two beings overlapping upon each other. “It’s a Destroyer.”

  The creature focused on Jay, who, gracefully backed up.

  Maya realized the truth. “What have you done with Gloria?” Maya angrily asked, as she stepped forward.

  “Experiment one, complete. Experiment two, in process,” the voice sounded as mechanical as Pandor-A when the Inquisitors took over.

  “Set her free, Demon,” Maya said, as fangs and rage built up.

  “The experiment wishes to interact,” the hollow voice echoed.

  “No, the experiment wishes to rip your throat out. Release Gloria.”

  “You are referencing the vessel I inhabit. That is not possible.”

  During the exchange, Draco, silently, and gracefully moved around behind the possessed woman.

  “Do you have a name, Destroyer?” John asked.

  “Another interaction, parameters are expanding. Primary focus is on subject who can differentiate between the dimensional veil.”

  “Jay,” John said, looking over at Jay, figuring out what the creature meant, “They want you. We need to get you out of here.”

  All, but Maya and Draco, circled around Jay. Rhe-A, had a painful look on her face. “No, stay out of my head.” She dropped to her knees with both hands squeezing her head.

  “Stop it,” John said, to the Gloria figure. “Don’t I know you?” John was trying to distract her. “We’ve met during your other experiments, haven’t we?” He drew her attention to him.

  “Yes, experiment one-one, one-five, one-nine, two-five, three-six-”

  “-And yet, I still don’t know your name.”

  It took a few seconds, but it realized it was being distracted. Her focus went back to Jay. “Introduction of too many variables. Closer examination warranted.”

  Rhe-A screamed. Jay put his hands on hers, and looked her in the eyes. “Rhe-A, you can fight this. Look at me.” She did, and calmed herself a little.

  “I don’t want to be a Titan again.” Her eyes glazed over, she stood up and grabbed Jay. Picking him up off the floor, she began to carry him toward the Gloria/Destroyer. The group tried to stop her, but mental powers pushed them all away.