Ch.1 In The Beginning

The sound of the gulls flying above stirred Cielot from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes as he checked his clock on the wall in front of him. Surely what felt like an eternity could not have been only a few hours? Hoping that he can finally go back to sleep, he barely closed his eyes when he heard frantic knocking on his door. Cielot was so sore that just to move felt like agony after trekking across Atlantis' capital to get home upon The Guardian's final, and hopefully last, completion. As he motioned his hand to the left, the door slid in that direction, revealing his friend and fellow project leader Parthalus.

"What matter is so urgent that you wake me so soon after completing the Guardian?" asked Cielot. It was not very often Parthalus stopped by in such a manner, but something seemed…off, even for this situation. Parthalus did not fear much, so whatever spooked him must have been pretty bad. Cielot could not help but notice that his friends' right hand had been bandaged and wondered if something had gone wrong.

"Something does not seem right, old friend. We ran the main tests while you were out and …something about the Guardian is worrying me down to my soul, as I fear…" stopped Parthalus.

"Fear what?"

"I fear…I fear that our creation may be an unpredictable and uncontrollable one. It has not responded to any of the stimuli we used from the Shadow. We have tried scent, sound, and even presented a hatchling to it! All the Guardian did was gaze at it. The lack of so much as a growl has me concerned because of the lack of will to fight. Unfortunately, we must also consider the possibility that it may become a threat itself." Noticing his friend's concerned look at its mention, he added, "Don't worry, the hatchling was killed right after the experiment."

Worriedly, Cielot asked, "Have you used…?"

"The bonding amulets?" Parthalus interrupted. "Every trial we ran with them, they would shatter and our peers wielding them suffered some sort of backlash from it. That is why my hand is bandaged, because when I tried, it cut halfway to the bone. But it appears that, for the moment, the amulets are a futile way of working with the Guardian It could be the materials, or it could be the mana flowing through us and the amulet's conduits. For all I know, it could be both."

Cielot was taken aback at the news. There was no way, after so many times, after so many failures, that their last opportunity to present King Archaeus with a weapon to save Atlantis from any and all threats was for nothing. They did not have the resources to recreate another, nor the King's patience to sit through anymore trial-and error creations. It was bad enough the rest of the original team had vanished like ghosts, of course not without his suspicions. They have already seen what the Shadow was capable of, and needed an answer fast. With their military a mere shadow of its former glory, they would need something much bigger and stronger then the… an idea flickered in the Atlantean's mind as he may have just found the most ludicrous answer possible.

Rubbing his temples, Cielot told Parthalus to meet with him in roughly 7 hours at the Palace. He was out of options; there had to be something, anything, that could save Atlantis from impending destruction, and the idea he just had was sure to have him imprisoned or worse for it endangered everything he and Parthalus had been working so hard to protect.


Author's Note: I would like to apologize again for how short the story in its earlier chapters is. Don't worry though, Rise will quickly pick up the pace soon enough.

This is SpanishBulldog63 signing out and saying Happy Readings!