Episode 19: Part 1

The flickering lights of Joe and Kara's Keyrunes lit the path as Professor Bishop and the Vanguard Rangers made their way from the building's atrium to a short passageway outside. As the 7 stepped out of the dark building, they looked about in wonder finding themselves in the center of the ancient city. Buildings made of ornate stone and crystalline glass towered over the wide boulevards that continued to be dimly lit by the reflective blue light crystals.

"How is this possible?" Joe murmured in awe, "I mean, how can we be breathing air here?"

The Gold Ranger tapped his shoulder and pointed upwards. Everyone looked to the heavens and saw a faint shimmering light that rippled and illuminated in the dark blue skies. "It seems the city had been warded with powerful magic," Kara explained as she observed the sight with a thoughtful look, "It looks like some sort of shield. I'm guessing that's what kept the city intact when it fell."

Claire swallowed a fearful lump in her throat, "If that's true, then that shield is the only thing keeping us from getting crushed and drowned by the ocean above us."

"Gee. That's a real comforting thought right now Claire," Danny sarcastically muttered as he nudged her slightly, "Thanks for sharing that."

"Still feeling seasick?" the Red Ranger asked turning to his own roommate with a grim smile.

Nick gave Joe a scowl and raised a fist in mild threat, "That's not funny man."

Bishop cleared his throat, "Everyone? Let's focus here. Jaral is out there doing God knows what right now. Kara, is there a place in the city where the Empyrian citizens would have stored valuable information? A Library, or a Treasury perhaps?"

Kara furrowed her brows in thought for a moment, "If Atlantis is designed like most of the other cities on Eden were, then there should be a Grand Temple not far from here. They often had great stores of records and artifacts in their vaults.

The other Rangers looked to one another and shrugged. It sounded reasonable enough. "Lead the way then sister," Izzy prompted falling in line behind the Gold Ranger and urging her forward.

While the Vanguard Rangers continued to walk down the wide city walkways, they couldn't help but think how alien and eerie this whole place was. Without any sort of wind, the hollow sounds of the Rangers' footfalls echoed in the air. Even more unsettling was how the dark city was so empty and lifeless, save for the remnants of the glowing light crystals and their Keyrunes. Despite the beautiful architecture and the impressive structures around them, the Rangers couldn't help but feel like they were in a perfectly preserved underwater tomb… and in some ways, they were.

After a short hike through the deserted streets, Kara led the others to a large building with marble steps and towering Corinthian columns on the façade. In the dark, it somewhat resembled a giant Byzantine cathedral like the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. "This must be it… the Grand Temple," the Gold Ranger said quietly as she led them up the steps. Once inside, the seven explorers walked a large gallery with polished floors, marble statues of great figures, and rich paintings along the walls.

"Amazing," Bishop said quietly as he looked about with excitement. For an ancient History professor, he was beside himself with curiosity and glee. He ambled over towards some of the tables with assorted artifacts, stoneware, small crafts, and jewelry. His students followed him as he looked over the items and turned to Kara with a hopeful expression.

The Gold Ranger simply shrugged, "Take them if you want Professor. It doesn't matter much to me, or the original people who left them here."

While Bishop began stuffing his backpack with as many unique artifacts as he could, Joe paced around the gallery getting a better look with his magical torch, "If this is a temple, then there must have been priests here. Is it possible they'd keep records or something about these Greater Powers that Jaral was after?"

Kara gave another pensive look and had the Rangers follow her deeper until they reached what looked to be a High Altar. As they gathered around, Bishop looked around the decorative stone slab for a moment, before locating a secret tab on the side.

"Hello, what have we here?" Nick asked curiously as he stooped over to get a better look, "Looks like some kind of secret switch. Think we should try opening it?"

"Are you really sure that's a good idea?" Izzy asked fearfully as she stepped slightly behind Danny, "We have no idea what could happen. For all we know it could be a trap."

Danny frowned slightly as the Pink Ranger cowered behind him, "So you're standing there to make sure I get killed first, huh?"

She slapped his arm back lightly, "Ever hear of the word chivalry, Danny? You know, protecting fair ladies from harm?"

The Red Ranger sighed and shook his head at the others for a moment before crossing his arms pensively, "Izzy has a point... I mean, we're already going all Raiders of the Lost Ark here. But then again, we don't have a lot of time or options either."

Bishop shrugged and pushed the tab in, "Well, here goes nothing then."

The Rangers watched curiously as the stone altar shifted slightly with a loud noise and a secret compartment opened up revealing several canisters with large thick scrolls inside. After waiting several long moments for anything else to happen, Professor Bishop reached into the open altar that had converted into a treasure chest and removed the canisters.

"Look at all this information," he exclaimed with a grin, "I think we just hit the jackpot!"

Claire looked about the empty temple impatiently, "That's great and all Professor, but do any of them have clues about what we're after here?"

The other Rangers stood guard and waited for several minutes while Kara quickly opened some of the scrolls and skimmed over the writing, seeing as how she was the only one who could quickly read the ancient script.

"Here it is! I found something!" The Gold Ranger finally exclaimed with unusual excitement in her voice. "This last scroll in the chronology was written by Commander Auriel himself."

Everyone stopped and glanced at Joe's Red Keyrune for a moment, recalling that the previous holder of it was perhaps Eden's greatest hero during the ancient days. Kara cleared her throat and continued, "According to this, Atlantis was the only city to remain intact after the Great War with the Cambion demons. A great magic seal was placed around the city and protected it when it fell into the ocean. After the last survivors of the Empyrian race had evacuated to the mainland, he and the other four heroes who had defeat Gideon returned here one last time."

"Why would they do that?" Danny asked curiously trying to peek over her shoulder.

Kara gave him a sharp elbow in mild annoyance, "That is where this scroll becomes vague. Auriel begins to speak at length of the fives' Greater Power, and the need for responsibility, and their legacy being protected should their human cousins ever become ready to inherit it."

"I guess that means us," Nick said idly looking at his own Keyrune, "Does that mean those five heroes stored away some kind of weapon that they used when they defeated Gideon before?"

Kara shrugged, "I can only guess. If that is indeed the case, then now is as good a time as any to reclaim those powers."

Claire chimed in curiously, "Does the scroll say anything about where Auriel and the others had put these powers?"

The Gold Ranger looked back to the scroll and studied it before nodding again, "If I'm reading this correctly, then we'll need to head to a plaza near the city's Treasury building."

After Bishop quickly collected the rest of the scrolls and stuffed them into his pack, the Rangers hurried from the temple and made their way back into the dark city streets to their destination. As they all jogged together, they could feel their pulses quicken in their chests. Whether it was from the excitement of discovery, the fear of Atlantis's ancient secrets, or the threat of possibly seeing Jaral again, the six heroes could not be certain.

After following Kara's directions, the 7 explorers found themselves in a wide plaza with a large building in front of them. Presumably, it was the city Treasury, and most likely empty at this point too. In the center of the plaza was a large pointed obelisk made of stone that towered high into the air. It was decorated with intricate sigils carved all around the structure. All around the obelisk were intricate grooves also carved into the ground circling the object.

"Well this is a bit unusual," the Blue Ranger commented as he began to pace around the edge of the plaza, "What do you make of all this?"

Nick sat back looking at the obelisk and scratching his chin thoughtfully, "Don't you guys think that everything here looks a little familiar somehow?"

As he did, the Green Ranger looked at his Keyrune again, then back to the plaza. That was when the realization slowly dawned on him, "Everyone! Look! Doesn't that obelisk sort of remind of a giant Keyrune?"

Everyone stopped and looked closely, realizing that Nick was on to something. The tower somewhat bore a resemblance to a Keyrune with its carved writing and the puzzle-like grooves in the street around it.

"Good call big guy!" Claire ginned giving him a happy pat on the arm, "Now if only we could figure out what it meant. I'll bet if we were able to find the right sigil combination, that will lead us to our next clue."

"Well, I think I know a place we could start," Bishop called as he walked carefully around the plaza. "Take a look at these five platforms at different points in the plaza. Do you notice how each has a different symbol carved into it?"

The Rangers observed the ground and saw their teacher was in fact correct.

"I recognize these symbols," Bishop said, "These five roughly translate to the elements of fire, water, earth, ice, and wind. Those are the elements you each possess so I'm thinking this part has something to do with you five."

Nick turned to the White Ranger and shrugged, "Well short stuff, I guess it's worth a try, right?"

With Bishop and Kara's directions, each of the five Rangers took their places on the five platforms and different spots in the plaza. Holding their Keyrunes up, they watched in wonder as their morphing artifacts resonated with the platforms and the obelist. Amid the glowing lights of the Keyrunes, the ground around the platforms began to shift and turn as if a giant underground puzzle was working itself out. At the center of the plaza, the obelisk turned gently with the shifting grooves on the ground, much like a key turning a colossal lock.

From their positions, the five Rangers and their allies watched in awe as the giant obelisk sunk into the ground and the grooves gave way to a large stone stairwell underground.

"Wow..." Joe said quietly as he led the others toward the stairs and lit the way, "That was actually pretty awesome."

"Uh, let's just hope that whatever treasure is down there is more awesome," Claire said hesitantly touching his arm and looking into the gloom below. The Red Ranger gave a reassuring nod and surprised her by taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.

"Come on everyone," he said to the others with an encouraging voice as he continued to walk forward still holding Claire's hand, "We're almost there."

While the seven made their way down the deep dark stairs to the secret lower levels of the city, Danny noted the Red and White Rangers up front with a grin before turning to Izzy, "Hey Iz, you're not feeling scared too, are you?"

The Pink Ranger sighed and jabbed him in the side, "The only thing that's creeping me out down here, is you."

When they reached the bottom of the passage, the Rangers' banter was silenced as they saw their path open up to a wider cavern that almost looked like the entrance to a grand underground vault. Again their Keyrunes resonated and the Rangers saw several torch stands ringing the cavern spring to life, bathing the wide room in dim flickering light. In the near distance, just ahead were two giant doors with some strange locks on them.

"Do you think that's where the original heroes sealed their powers?" Kara asked curiously.

"I'll be damned if that's not the vault," Bishop replied stepping forward to try and get a better look.

He froze as a familiar voice suddenly echoed from the stairs behind them, "That's far enough Rangers."

The seven turned to see the devilish grin of the Cambion warrior Jaral walking down the foot of the stairs. "I have to thank you for leading me to this vault. I really couldn't have done it without you."

"Jaral, we should have known you'd be lurking in the shadows like a cowardly snake," Kara growled.

Jaral gave a calm smirk, "Kara, I'm hurt. As much as I'd love to exchange pleasantries with you and your friends, I have a job to do."

"I thought your job was just to secure the Atlantis gate for Gideon," Nick called out with a suspicious frown.

"It was," Jaral laughed, "But why stop there? If I can claim the Greater Powers for myself, I could overthrow Gideon and be the undisputed master of the earth and the Abyss."

The Red Ranger leveled his Keyrune on the demon and growled, "Our ancestors left us their duty to protect their legacy. We're not going to let you take it without a fight. Rangers?"

The other five brandished their Keyrunes and stepped forward to confront their foe. Jaral shook his head and hefted his own mace as he strode forward, "Then so be it."

A/N:
If anyone has picked up on it, I'm a huge fan of the shows Stargate SG1 and Atlantis, so those two have been big influences in this series as well as this chapter in particular. Hope you're finding it interesting too.