Chapter 3: Atlantis
Among the various districts in the city, the most heavily guarded one was the District of Atlantis. Not only was it protected by a mechanical creature nicknamed the Leviathan, but also watched by several armed warriors wielding hooked spears and wearing giant masks that covered their entire bodies. Among these patrolling sentries was Kida, who normally didn't do this but was forced to because a group of invaders had recently slipped past the Leviathan and were making their way through the district's maze-like highway which was filled with pitfalls roadblocks and other creatures of unfathomable danger.
This included a hive of unusual fireflies, who didn't react well to light and had the ability to set things on fire when agitated. So when the caravan of invaders set up camp near the hive, which was under an archway made of stone, someone shined a flashlight on it causing the fireflies inside to swarm over the camp and set it ablaze. Kida and the others watched this from afar, but they did nothing to interfere as the invaders tried to get away from the fireflies in their trucks and other vehicles. Then for some reason, the hive collapsed onto the stone bridge the invaders were driving on causing their vehicles to fall into the hole below along with the people inside them. Immediately, Kida and the others made their way down into the hole through a secret passage where they came across one person lying on a pile of rocks.
It was a young man with short brown hair and round glasses who was wearing a green undershirt and brown pants with a satchel on his back. He had an obvious wound on his shoulder, and appeared to be knocked out. But when one of the warriors prodded his glasses, he woke up and looked at the giant faces that surrounded him in surprise. So Kida stepped forward and knelt before the frightened young man removing her mask in the process. The two stared at each other in silence, before Kida examined the young man's bleeding wound.
As the young man stuttered, Kida held up the crystal she wore around her neck which glowed a bright blue in the darkness and traced it around the wound. Next, she pressed her hand against the wound causing a flash of light. When she removed her hand, the wound healed itself much to the young man's amazement. Then as Kida put her mask back on, a loud rumbling sound echoed from behind causing her and the other warriors to leap away.
"Hey!" The young man called, following Kida and the others. "Wait a minute! Who are you? Where are you going?"
Further up the tunnel, the warriors and Kida scattered while the young man and several other people emerged onto a cliff facing a tropical landscape decorated in waterfalls and stones that gave off a natural glow in place of sunlight. Then in the distance, a city made of carved stones stood surrounded by an inland sea and tall moss-covered statues.
"Holy Mother Jefferson Davis!" Exclaimed an elderly man in a Western drawl.
"It's beautiful," said a teenage girl of Hispanic heritage wearing blue overalls.
"I don't know how you did it, Milo, but you really came through," responded a tall African-American man as he put an arm around the bespectacled young man Kida healed.
Then Kida and the other warriors surrounded the individuals from the cave entrance, forcing them to move towards the edge of the cliff.
"Who are these guys?" Demanded a middle-aged man with silver streaks in his hair as he and a blonde-haired woman with a crooked eyebrow reached for their gun holsters.
"They got to be Atlanteans," exclaimed the bespectacled young man named Milo.
"What?" The blonde-haired woman with the crooked eyebrow exclaimed.
"I've seen this back with the Lakota," the elderly man murmured. "They can smell fear just by looking at'cha. So be quiet."
Kida paused and then she said in English, "No one is allowed to enter Atlantis without permission from the District Head, so turn back now and forget you saw anything."
"You're kind of blocking the way, though," said a short man wearing funny-looking goggles.
"If you agree to leave this place at once, we shall let you walk past us out of this tunnel!" Kida insisted, stamping her spear into the ground.
"You won't tell the authorities on us, will you?" Asked Milo, who stepped forward sheepishly. "We're a privately funded archaeological expedition, you see, and we heard rumors of an ancient city buried beneath the District of Atlantis. Is that it behind us?"
Kida removed her mask and stared at Milo. "Why have you come here? In secret, no less, when you could have just asked for permission."
"We heard that it's…difficult to get permission to visit this district," Milo answered.
"That still doesn't excuse your expedition for breaking several laws and risking your own lives just to get to this place," Kida argued.
"Then let's make a deal with the District Head," Milo offered.
"What kind of deal?" Kida asked.
"If we agree to not say anything about this place to anyone else, will you let us stay?" Milo said in a pleading tone.
After a pause, Kida grabbed Milo's hand. "Come. You must speak with my father."
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Crossing a wooden bridge, Kida and the other Atlantean warriors escorted Milo and his colleagues into the stone city which they were amazed by. Then they made their way into the centermost building, where two large guards opened the double doors which led into a throne-room where a circular pool stood in the center while beyond it was a set of stairs leading up to a bearded man lying upon a lounge chair who had the same white hair and dark brown skin that Kida had but with different blue-colored tattoos.
"My father, the District Head of Atlantis," Kida said in native Atlantean. "We have caught the invaders, who are members of a privately funded archaeological expedition. They've agreed to swear to secrecy, if they are allowed to stay in our district."
"We cannot allow them to stay here," the bearded man responded in Atlantean as he sat up in his lounge chair. "They have broken into this district without permission, and reached our true home beneath the surface world."
"If you allow them to leave, they will no doubt tell others what they saw here," Kida argued. "So they cannot go, unless we're sure they won't say anything."
"Then you should have killed them when you had the chance," Kida's father claimed.
"But Father, their deaths will only bring more attention to us. Perhaps if you gave them a chance, they may be able to help us."
"We do not need their help."
"Oh, Father—
"Enough, Kida! We will speak about this later."
"Your majesty," said the middle-aged man, stepping forward. "I mean, assuming you're the District Head of Atlantis, I must say it is an honor to be welcomed into this city."
"Excuse me, Commander Rourke," Milo whispered out loud to the middle-aged man.
"What makes you think you are welcome here?" Kida's father asked, now speaking English.
"Sir, we've come a long way," the middle-aged man named Rourke claimed. "Our benefactor, Preston Whitmore, is a very rich man in Washington, D.C., who sent us here to—
"I know what you seek," Kida's father interrupted. "And you will not find it here. Your journey has been in vain."
"But we are peaceful explorers, men of science," Rourke claimed.
Kida's father chuckled. "And yet you bring weapons."
"Our weapons allow us to remove…obstacles we may encounter," replied Rourke.
"Some obstacles cannot be removed," Kida's father declared standing with the aid of his staff. "Return to your people. You must leave Atlantis…at once!"
"Please, be reasonable," Rourke pleaded. Then Milo whispered something to him and Rourke paused. "May I respectfully request that we speak to the city's Mayor about this, sir? Surely, we can work something out that'll allow us to get what we want and satisfy your people's desire for privacy regarding this district."
Grumbling, Kida's father said, "Very well. You shall stay the night here, and I will speak to the Mayor about your offer. That is all."
"Thank you," Rourke bowed and turned away.
While the others followed him, Milo looked back at Kida who sighed as the double doors closed behind him and the others.
"Your heart has softened, Kida," Kida's father remarked, still speaking in English. "A thousand years ago, you would have slain them."
"A thousand years ago the streets were lit!" Kida snapped, also in English, walking towards her father who was lying back down on the lounge chair. "And our people did not have to scavenge for food at the edge of a crumbling city, let alone look for jobs above ground!"
"The people are content," Kida's father claimed.
"They do not know any better! We were once a great people and now we live in ruins!" Kida took a clean cloth, dipped it in water, and rubbed it against her father's forehead. "The Kings of our past would weep if they could see how far we have fallen."
"Kida…"
"If these outsiders can unlock the secrets of our past, perhaps we can save our future."
"What they have to teach us…we have already learned."
"Our way of life is dying!"
"No, our way of life is preserved." Kida's father paused and then said, "Kida, when you take the throne you will understand."
End of Chapter 3