Chapter Eight - Legends of Old

"Hey!" She snapped. "Let go of me! Get off!"

"Father, what is the meaning of this?" demanded Orm.

"It was a surface attack. How do you think they knew where to attack?"

Aurelia scoffed. "You're joking, right? How could I head this attack, I didn't even know about this meeting until this morning."

"She's right, it's impossible," Orm continued to defend her.

"Impossible is a strong word," cautioned Orvax. "Use it wisely."

"Perhaps, but this is ridiculous."

"Yeah, even if I could do something like that, I would never. I mean, sure, I'm not the biggest fan of Atlantis, but I wouldn't attack you guys. Besides, the surface has a right to attack, you attacked first, with no warning! Not that they would though, cause they don't believe you exist."

"Father, that's enough, let her go-"

"You are not king yet, boy," hissed Orvax with sudden venom. "Learn your place!"

Orm visibly flinched. "I'm sorry, Father. Forgive me. But please, let her go."

With a brief nod from the king the guards did so, though Orvax continued to eye her. "I'll be keeping close watch on you, human."

Orm still looked shaken from being snapped at. "My apologies, Aurelia."

With everyone mostly recovered, the group returned to the palace.

"Orm-" Aurelia tried to push her way to the front of the crowd. "Stop, please. Now can we discuss the whole attack-on-the-surface thing?"

"Now isn't a good time, I'm afraid. We must talk business now that we are in an alliance."

"Don't do this, please. You can't just attack the surface-"

"They just attacked us."

"Did they?"

He sighed. "I promise we'll talk after this meeting."

"Promise?"

"Yes. You have my word."

She nodded.

"I'm sorry, but that is the best I can do at the moment."

Large, stone, double-doors slamming in her face and rippling the water around her were her answer.

That attack seemed coincidental, almost. Too perfect in timing and place.

That hadn't been a surface attack, and she was going to prove it.

That evening, with the alliance meeting still going on, Mera came and found Aurelia. "Come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"Shh." Mera lowered her voice. "Safe-house."

"Okay..."

"Just follow me, and be quiet."

"Okay..." She did as she was told, and followed Mera out of the palace and down to some old ruins.

"Here we are." Mera swam towards a sunken ship.

"And where is 'here'?"

"Safe-house." They stepped through a large hole in the ship's side. Immediately, they were out of the water and 'on land'.

"What's this?"

"We use this air pocket as an extra layer of precaution," Mera explained. "Only highborns can breath air as well as water."

"Plus, it keeps the animals out, they can get kind of messy." Aurelia jumped - Vulko and Aria were already inside the ship. Vulko picked up a fish that had found its way into the air pocket, flinging it by the tail back into the water, where it promptly swam away.

"What's all this about?" Aurelia asked. "Secret meeting of our own? Oh wait, let me guess: the 'surface' attack." She made air quotations. "I honestly don't know anything about how or why that happened."

"We know. But now Orm will have his war."

"Well, he started it. He attacked first."

"That wasn't an attack. What Orm did to your surface world was merely a warning," said Vulko.

"Well it was a pretty intense warning. Didn't seem like much of one to me."

"He got his point across."

"Still, it was unprovoked."

"Not exactly. The Atlantean animosity towards the surface has been brewing for centuries," Aria explained. "Only now is someone acting upon that."

"Yes, and now Xebel sides with Atlantis, giving Orm a fleet big enough to force the other two kingdoms to join him."

"It seemed like your father wasn't very convinced of Orm's plans," Aurelia told Mera.

"He wasn't, until Orm's show of leadership and action."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that. I went back to the Old City afterwards, to the attack site. There was no one aboard that sub, no one directing it. Which means someone sent it straight to us, knew we were meeting, when and where. And it's highly unlikely that it was surface dwellers, I mean they don't even believe in Atlantis, they think it's a fairytale. It doesn't make sense."

"Are you saying the attack was staged?" said Mera.

"Maybe." Aurelia nodded. "Orm really wanted your father's loyalty, and Nereus wasn't convinced until Orm took out the sub. And old Orvax seemed way to calm and quiet the whole time."

"So you think Orm set it up?"

"Maybe. Orvax seems more likely, though. Test his son, while putting everyone else at risk like he doesn't give a damn, which he probably doesn't."

"The shot was aimed towards you." Aria added.

"If he killed me in the process, well, not like he would have minded all that much." Aurelia shrugged.

"Well, whether or not it was staged, it achieved what Orm and Orvax want: war. We're running out of time - if we are going to prevent this war before it is underway, you must dethrone him now," Vulko told Aurelia firmly.

"How many times do I have to tell you?! I don't want to be Queen!" She threw up her arms in exasperation.

"You don't understand," said Mera.

"So you've told me."

"We cannot under any circumstances let Orm become Ocean Master-" Mera rolled her eyes when Aurelia's lips twitched up into a grin.

"Oh come on, it sounds kind of ridiculous, doesn't it?" She turned back to Vulko and Aria, now feeling slightly panicked. "I'm from the surface - you've seen how the people here treat me. No one will take me seriously-"

"Like how you don't take us seriously," put-in Mera.

" I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"By winning the hearts and minds of the people," Vulko told her as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"And how do you expect me to do that?"

"With your obvious charm," sneered Mera.

"You need to prove to them that you are worthy," Vulko continued. "And you will need to retrieve this-" He unrolled a scroll out onto the table. On it was a faded sketch of a trident.

"Already got one of those." Aurelia jerked her thumb back towards her mother's trident, which she took to bringing along just in case, especially with Orvax 'keeping a close eye on her'.

"Not like this one you don't." Vulko smirked.

"Okay, and what's so special about this one?" Aurelia asked. Mera scoffed. "What? I don't know a lot about Atlantis, okay."

"Obviously not."

"This is the great Lost Trident of Atlan, the first ruler of Atlantis."

"Oh good, more stories."

"You know it?"

"Yeah, my mom told it to me a long time ago. It's one of my few memories of her."

"Then you know the legend: the trident was forged by the greatest weapons masters in history, crafted from Posidon's steel. The legend says the trident was imbued with the power to command the sea-"

"So it's magic too?"

"Yes, it is."

"What happened to it?"

"Stop interrupting and he'll tell you," muttered Mera.

"To know that, you have to go back to a time before the Great Fall, when King Atlan ruled over all there was, when the kingdoms of Atlantis were one. It was a time of great prosperity and technological advancement. We had unlocked the secret of unlimited energy at a time when the rest of the world still thought the Earth was flat. But we became too ambitious, too hungry for power - much like the rulers today. The ocean swallowed us, and Atlantis sank. But the very power that collapsed our civilization also paved the way for our future. It gave us the ability to breathe underwater, and so we evolved. Others regressed, became savage, and King Atlan lived out the remainder of his days in self-imposed exile. Neither he, nor the trident, were ever seen again."

"Well hidden."

"Yes."

"Well, story-time has been great, but I have to go meet Orm. He promised we could talk."

"Aurelia-"

"Stop trying to shove all this on me! I told you I was coming to visit by request of the king. I did not say I would secretly plot against him, and take control with some magical trident. I did not agree to this."

"Orvax is looking for it, he has our archaeological teams searching far and wide for it."

"You guys have archaeological teams? Cool."

"Yes, and we have something he doesn't: it's an ancient recording dating back to the First Dynasty. Based on these markings, I believe it contains Atlan's final message and the whereabouts of the sacred trident."

"Who would his final message be to?"

"To his people, the real heart and soul of Atlantis."

"So what's it say?"

"We don't know, the technology's too old," said Mera.

"Of course it is."

"The cylinder bears the markings of the Deserter Kingdom." Aria ran her finger along the edge. "You must take it there and retrieve the message. The clue to Atlan's final resting place is inside of this."

Aurelia reached out to take the cylinder. Mera jumped in. "Perhaps I'll hang onto this."

"Yeah, yeah, that's probably best."

"Especially since you're going on a date with Orm."

"It's not a date."

Mera shrugged. "If you say so."

Big reveal in the next chapter! ;) so excited!

Haha, Mera's already so done with Aurelia! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)