Chapter 27: Kings of the Past
While the city above was getting destroyed by the Cyclops, Rourke and his colleagues were forcefully escorting Kida and Milo into the throne room where Kida's father sat. His two bodyguards immediately held up their spears and stood in a defensive position.
"Tell them to drop their weapons, now!" Helga demanded, pointing a gun at Kida's head.
Kida's father then told the bodyguards to stand down in Atlantean, so they dropped their spears reluctantly. This allowed Rourke and the others to search around the throne room for any signs of the Crystal described on the missing page of the Shepard's Journal.
"Come on, kid, there's got to be something else," Rourke complained to Milo as he shoved the journal in the boy's face.
"But there's not!" Milo argued, looking at the passage Rourke pointed to. "It just says, 'The Heart of Atlantis lies in the Eyes of Our King.'"
"So maybe King Cole over here can fill in the blanks," Rourke decided and signaled two of his masked men to bring Kida's father over. Once Kida's father stood in front of him, Rourke said, "How about it, Chief? Where's the Crystal chamber?"
"You will destroy yourselves," Kida's father insisted, speaking English.
"Maybe I'm not being clear." Rourke then punched Kida's father in the gut, while Kida swore in Atlantean as she struggled against Helga's grasp.
"Rourke, this was not part of the plan," Sweet insisted, walking over to assist Kida's father as he was struggling to stand while leaning on his staff.
"Plans change, Doc," Rourke claimed and then he took out his gun pointing it at Kida's father. "Now I'm going to count to ten, and you're going to tell me where the Crystal is. One…two…nine…"
It was then that Rourke looked at the eye-shaped symbol on the journal and then at the pool which had a similar shape that was partially visible beneath the water.
"'The Heart of Atlantis lies in the Eyes of Our King,'" Rourke recited, looking at the pool intensely. "This is it! We're in!"
As Rourke immediately entered the pool, Helga dragged Kida over while Milo followed.
"For the last time, Rourke, you've gotta listen to me," Milo said in an exasperated tone. "You don't have the slightest idea where these powers came from!"
"True, but there are plenty of countries out there would be willing to pay anything to find out," Helga responded.
Once the four were standing in the pool, the bottom of it started to move downward like an elevator. This also caused the water to drain, as the four were taken down to an underground cavern with a blue glowing object floating high above a deep lake that was covered in large stones depicting various faces.
"Jackpot," Rourke remarked, once the platform stopped moving.
While the others stared up at the glowing object in awe, Kida looked at the faces.
"Oh," Kida realized, feeling tears in her eyes. "The kings of our past…"
Kida then bowed and made several heartfelt apologies in Atlantean. While Rourke seemed annoyed, Milo got down and stroked Kida's back in a comforting manner.
"Kida, I'm sorry," Milo said.
Meanwhile, Rourke kicked a stone into the lake which made the blue glowing object turn red as beams projected out from behind the stone faces.
"I don't like this place," Helga shivered. "Let's just get this Crystal out and go home."
"Yeah, so how do we do that?" Rourke asked Milo, shoving the journal into Milo's hands.
After flipping through the book, Milo shook his head. "I…don't know how to remove it from here. Heck, I'm not even sure how it's floating."
One of the red beams then shone on Kida, turning blue as her crystal floated upwards. She was strangely comforted by this, as her body suddenly moved on its own. Waking across the surface of the lake, she stood beneath the Crystal itself as a single beam of blue light shone upon her. Closing her eyes, her body became lighter as it floated up toward the Crystal and merged with it. From there, a flood of images came through Kida's mind as she saw the past present and future all at once. She even saw the faces of those who came before her, and gained so much knowledge that her human mind could barely process all of it.
What she could understand, though, is that the Crystal was a living thing which thrived on the collective emotions of everyone in Atlantis who ever lived. Thus, it provided various services for its people including power, longevity, and protection. But in exchange, a host of royal blood would be chosen to bond with the Crystal in times of danger to protect itself and the people of Atlantis. It was for this reason that her mother disappeared all those years ago, when Atlantis sank due to her father's arrogance as he tried to use the Crystal's power as a weapon of war. However, the Crystal's power overwhelmed them and led to the city's destruction. So when the city's remains fell underneath the area that would be occupied by the modern city above, Kida's father decided to hide the Crystal to keep history from repeating itself.
Kida then saw visions that she couldn't tell were of the future or happening in the present. They depicted several things, including her father dying, her peoples' crystals light dying, small planes flying around a long chasm along with vehicles resembling the fish-like one she found, Milo picking up a shard of energized glass and slicing Rourke's arm. Not only did it made his entire body crystalize, but also explode when exposed to the blades of the hot air balloon he was flying. But the balloon exploded as well, causing the floor to be filled with lava as this chasm was actually the base of a dormant volcano. She saw Milo and the others flying out the chasm and back into the city of Atlantis, seeing herself floating upward with the stone statues circling around her.
Firing several beams at the stone statues along the edge of the inner sea, they came to life and created energy shields which blocked the lava as it washed harmlessly over the city. The lava then hardened and fell apart, followed by steam as Kida's body suddenly felt heavier and her eyes opened up. She was in Milo's arms, who looked relieved.
"Milo," Kida murmured, then felt something gripped in her right hand. Looking down, she saw a bracelet that she remembered wearing as a child which her mother took when she was chosen by the Crystal.
Without saying anything, Kida hugged Milo.
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"Atlantis will honor your names forever," Kida said as she gave each of Milo's comrades a crystal to wear. "I just wish there was more we could do."
"Nah, I think we got it good," Vinny responded, looking back at a large sawshark-shaped vehicle that was being loaded with gold.
"It'll take you as far as Washington, D. C.," Milo said to Vinny.
"We're really going to miss you, Milo," Audrey replied.
"Now are you sure you want to stay?" Sweet asked. "Because Mr. Whitmore would be very interested in meeting the hero who discovered the true dwelling of Atlantis."
Milo shrugged. "I don't think the world needs another hero. Besides, I hear there's an opening here for an expert in gibberish."
"Then take care of yourself." Sweet then picked up Milo and hugged him tightly.
Immediately, the others followed as Cookie presented a jar of bacon grease from the trip, Audrey jokingly punched Milo's shoulder, Vinny offered to send flowers from his shop back home, and Mole got a pat on his head by Milo. Afterwards, they decided to take a group picture in front of the sawshark with Milo and Kida near the center.
End of Chapter 27