Chapter 19: The Crystal

In the underground city of Atlantis, which was beneath the district of the same name, Kida and Milo were standing near a lake with fireflies buzzing around. Milo was in the process of catching some of them to put into a glass bowl that was attached to a staff Kida was holding.

"You know, when I started this expedition with Rourke and the others I thought we were just going to find a bunch of rocks and abandoned ruins," Milo said as he caught one firefly in his hands. "But instead, we find the true home of Atlantis' district still thriving like it did thousands of years ago. Heh-heh, these fireflies are actually kind of cute when they're not flying in a fiery column of death."

As Milo placed the firefly he caught into the bowl, Kida sealed it up and responded, "We are not thriving. True, our people live but our culture is dying. Like a stone that the ocean beats against, a little more of us gets swept away with each passing year."

Milo looked concerned. "Is there something I can do?"

"I brought you to this place to ask you for your help," Kida explained. "There is a mural here with writing all around the pictures."

"Okay, let's start here." Milo placed the staff with the bowl of fireflies next to a felled stone column that had Atlantean writing on it.

While this was going on, Kida removed her clothes down to her blue underwear and matching strapless bra. Seeing Milo looking confused, she said, "You do swim, right?"

"Oh, I swim pretty girl — pretty good," Milo muttered.

"Good, it's a fair distance to where we are going."

So as Kida waded into the lake, Milo stripped down to his boxers and said, "Hey, you are talking to the bellyflop champion—

Kida then snickered as air filled Milo's boxers when he entered the water, causing them to poof out. Embarrassed, he removed the air and dove in.

However, Milo came back up a moment later. "Um, why don't you lead the way because…I have no idea where we're going."

After taking a deep breath, Kida dove down followed by Milo. They swam to the bottom of the lake and entered a cave that had an air pocket inside allowing them to surface.

"You all right?" Kida asked, seeing Milo panting after they resurfaced.

"Well, I didn't drown," Milo replied wearily.

"Fine, follow me." Kida dove again after taking another breath while Milo did the same.

Heading vertically downward, they found a large stone mural that depicted many images including statues with glowing eyes and a large crystal. These were surrounded by Atlantean words, which Milo read using Kida's luminescent crystal as a source of light. After reading some of the words, the two of them swam back up to the air pocket.

"Amazing…a complete history of Atlantis," Milo remarked. "It's just like the way Plato described it, though he did leave out a lot of details—

"But the light I saw," Kida interrupted. "What does the writing say about that?"

"I'm not sure, but we're gonna find out."

Milo took another deep breath and dove back down along with Kida. He read more words from the mural and seemed surprised after resurfacing. "It's the heart of Atlantis…"

"What?" Kida flinched.

"There's a passage in the Shepherd's Journal about something called 'The heart of Atlantis,' and I think this is what it was talking about," Milo elaborated. "The power source I've been looking for and the bright light you remember, they're the same thing."

"It cannot be." Kida shook her head. "What does this 'Heart of Atlantis' even look like?"

Without warning, Milo picked up Kida's glowing crystal and held it up. "It's some kind of crystal. Only this one is what keeps the smaller crystals you and all of Atlantis alive."

"So where is it now? Does the journal reveal its location?"

"You would think that, but I didn't find anything past the passage that mentioned the heart except…a missing page."

###

Upon reaching the surface of the lake, Kida saw several men in gas masks pointing their guns at her and Milo. But before she had time to react, she was grabbed by the hair and thrown onto the ground. Instinctively, she threw the man into the lake and beat back the masked gunmen that came towards her. Kida even managed to pin one to the ground and removed a hidden blade that was attached to a leather strap around her leg. However, it was shot out of her hand causing her to look back and see Rourke holding a smoking handgun. Behind him stood Helga Vinny Mole Cookie Packard Sweet and Audrey, who all carried different kinds of guns in their hands. Then two masked gunmen grabbed Kida's arms and dragged her away just as she kicked the guy who was still on the ground.

"Sorry about that, Kida," Rourke apologized, though he didn't sound sincere. "These guys aren't exactly the most delicate when it comes to handling targets."

"You mean mercenaries?" Milo frowned. "Because that's all you are."

"Mercenary?" Rourke smirked, waving a piece of old parchment in his hand. "I prefer the term 'adventure capitalist'. Besides, you're the one who got us here and led us straight to the crystal."

This caused Milo to get out of the water and shout, "You don't know what you're tampering with, Rourke!"

"What's there to know? It's big, shiny, and gonna make us all rich."

"You think it's some kind of diamond and I thought it was some kind of battery, but we're both wrong! It's their life-force. That crystal is what's keeping the Atlanteans alive, so if you take it away they'll die!"

"Well, that changes things," Rourke responded and turned to Helga. "What do you think we should do about it?"

"Knowing that, I'd double the price," Helga answered.

"I was thinking of tripling it, actually," replied Rourke.

"Why are you doing this?" Milo asked. "Is Mr. Whitmore supporting this too?"

"No, he knows nothing about what we're doing here," Rourke claimed. "But if you think about it, most the artifacts you see in museums today were probably stolen. So you could call this a service to the archeological community, even if a few hands were dirtied along the way."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to be a part of it," Milo argued.

"Then I guess you're an idealist, just like your grandfather." When Milo didn't answer, Rourke said, "Would it kill you to not be like him and do the smart thing for once?"

Again, Milo said nothing. So Rourke snapped his finger, causing the masked gunman the held Kida to drop her to the ground and put a gun against her head.

"Now, let's try this again." Rourke held up the parchment, revealing a picture of a glowing crystal with stone faces circling it which Kida figured was the missing page Milo referred to.

End of Chapter 19