~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What Lies Beneath

by

~Miriah~of~the~Wind~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 8: Questions Answered

(A/N: Okay a lot of this story is taken from the game Atlantis: The Lost Tales. This game is the production of Cryco and DREAMCATCHER games. Yet it shows something we should all think about so I include it in this story. Plus isn't it fun to play out the game and pretend it to be something like Invader Zim?)

"How do you know about the lost city of Atlantis?" Zim asked.

"And how did you know that we would know of it?" Vio also asked. Dib pulled out the piece of paper and took off the necklace. He put them both side by side.

"See? The symbol on the centerpiece of the necklace is the same as the symbol on this wall! I knew that you weren't from another planet so I figured that Atlantis wasn't a city created by my race but maybe it's yours or Shland's." Dib replied.

"I knew it." Shland said, "Zim they're after it."

"You don't mean..." Zim said and Shland nodded her head.

"But that can't be....They would have to find the Dark......." Vio trailed on.

"What's going on?" Dib asked.

Shland sighed and started another tale, "Long ago Vio and Zim's people and my people considered them selves the same race. We don't know much of our history any earlier of that point. We do know that we once lived on an island called Atlantis. We did notice that we were two separate species because we could not breed one Irken with one Cosovian. Sometimes Cosovians and Irkens would just get married anyway and then adopt a child. Atlantis was a small island, but it is said that is how are ancestors wish it to be. Are ancestors had no idea why they came here and where they were from, they had no knowledge of their history. There were also another kind of race." Shland took out her a large slate that had the picture of a prehistoric man and a prehistoric woman. "We think that this race is your race Dib!" Shland said excitedly smiling.

"What did you call our race?" Gaz asked curious. Shland smile faded from her face and she look at Vio and Zim for support.

"You should tell them the truth." Vio said solemnly.

Shland looked at Gaz and Dib, "Our ancestors didn't record any names except one; Barbarians. I'm sorry." Dib hopes were crushed even before his people knew about other alien races they were considered savages.

"Did your people live in a palace?" Gaz asked.

"Yes. In those times it was the oldest building. It was the greatest and most epicurean. Unfortunately our ancestors made no records of it's structure. It had many amazing rules including a throne room, a library and the legendary Dolphin room. Our ancestors also built two towers. One Tower was dedicated to the Moon where the eternal Tree of the First. The other is dedicated to the Sun where the Flyers are moored. The city of Atlantis didn't believe it to be necessary to change. They never built unless they absolutely needed to. They say that there were secret room and passage ways into the palace built by the first Queen and Consort." Shland said.

"Queen? You guys were once ruled by a queen. I thought you were and empress?" Dib asked.

"I am but once our people were ruled by a Queen, a Cosovian to be precise. An Irken would be her Consort, a male Irken that is. Although both Cosovians and Irken are considered equal, for some strange reason a Female Cosovian and a Male Irken were always the leaders of Atlantis. There has been no record of an armed conflict between any other race and Zim and my peoples so the duties were purely for honor. Atlantis required very little government. Our people were always content to live in Harmony. Everyone had an occupation, shelter, food, clothing, and care."

"Is that all your race did? Live in harmony? Didn't your ancestors ever have any fun?" Gaz asked.

Shland thought for a second and replied, "Well there were the festivals that were recorded. There were two Lunar festivals and one

Solar festival. The royal consort's status is challenged every 7 years. On the Solar festival is the Summer games, which male Irkens compete to be champion. The winner of the Summer games goes on to defeat the consort in a different special game. It was called 'The Challenge' although nobody knows what the challenge is, we do know it was held in a secret room in the palace and if the consort won he would be consort for another 7 years and if he emerges victorious after that then he'd be consort for another 7 years until he loses. If the champion wins he becomes the Consort and the cycle starts over again."

"Wait a minute. Your people has all these things about the sun and moon. Did your peoples once worship them?" Dib asked.

Shland smiled and said, "Yes. The Atlanteans worshiped one god and one goddess; Ammu and Sa'at. Ammu is the moon goddess her cult is organized by women. This religion is about peace and understanding. The priestesses live not only on Atlantis but all around the world. There are or, were, priests of Sa'at. They organize both the Sun games and 'The Challenge'. They say that Ammu was a Cosovian herself and she created my people and Sa'at, her consort, created Irkens and that he was and Irken. According to legend Ammu and Sa'at were trying to create one more being but they did not know whose image it should be of, so they combined both of their images. It did not mix well and that is how the Ancient Cosovians and Irken think your people came about, Dib and that is why they also believed that they could not have children. A Cosovian and Irken I mean. Another legend says that Sa'at created boats that could sail through the air and Ammu created a type of Crystal Energy to navigate and control them. Another says that in the beginning before either race was created, Sa'at went off alone to hunt without telling Ammu. He came across a great monster, a great and hideous creature of unlimited strength. Sa'at was sure he could tame the beast, but soon found himself trapped in the monster's powerful tentacles. Sa'at may have lost his life if Ammu hadn't come looking for him. She vanquish the creature and sent it back into the cosmic ocean. Sa'at had been changed by the battle and was sometimes prone to acts of violence. Ammu sent him away to fight a beast she was sure that Sa'at would be able to defeat. This is were some races, even today, believe that all Cosovians are calm and wise and all Irkens are vicious and violent although this isn't true. This is all our Mythology now. We believe in a being that came to every race spreading the same religion on every planet. He took the form of those creatures, always being born from a virgin. His name was Jesus Christ."



(A/N: Please don't be mad at me. I'm a Catholic and that's how I came up with Irk and Cosovia's current religion. I didn't mean to offend any Muslims, Jews, Bundists, or anyone else with religious or non religious beliefs. When I mean non religious I mean you believe we're just born and we just die. No Reincarnation or Heaven or Hell or anything.)

Gaz and Dib's mouths dropped open. They suddenly regained themselves and Gaz asked, "What's a Flyer and what's Crystal Energy?"

"A Flyer is like a wooden boat our people used to observe the rest of the world by air. They would be seen flying through the sky day and night. The Crystal Energy is a precious crystal that the piolets used. Nobody knows where the precious Crystals came from or if there are hidden reserves somewhere tucked in the deep corners of the universe. The only Crystal that now known to exist is this one." Shland held up a necklace like Dib's except Dib's was wooden and much smaller. Dib's was the size of a close, tight fist. Shland's was around the size of an open extended hand. Shland took a deep breath and continued. "On Atlantis, there is a limited and dwindling number of them, some large and some small. The small ones belong to families and were handed down from generation to generation. The larger Crystals were found on the Flyers. The Crystals cannot be manufactured during the days of Atlantis and cannot be manufactured now and nobody knows where new ones can be found. Training to be a piolet is a long and difficult journey. It is written that you had to harmonize and once you did that you had to learn different symbols that stand for different parts of the world. Once you learned them, so did your Crystal."

"How is it that you have all the records yet your people have been away from this planet for so long that you've forgot where it is yet have all the records and what do any of them say about, our people? I mean, Gaz's people? I mean my people? What about the Human Race?" Dib asked.

"It is said that one day, the Cosovians and Irkens did not get along as usual and their was a fight. It angered a inactive but not yet extinct volcano and the volcano erupted. Many of our people drowned. Yet most of us escaped and we used the last of our crystal power to transport us to two planets that revolved around triplet suns and both planets shared 75 moons. One planet was purple and it would soon be known to the universe as Cosovia. The other planet was red and would be know as Irk. They say as soon as they settled on that planet. The first Cosovian child born was Jesus Christ. He preached to us about God and started our current religion. Three days after he died he was born and Irken and he preached to them. It says every time he died, three days later he would be born again among a different race, spreading his wisdom."

"Yeah that's kind of what we had, except when he died on our planet he is said to have descended to Heaven." Dib replied.

Shland nodded, "One of the people saved was a scribe who brought all his recordings with him and he did record things about your race Dib. The Atlanteans thought it would be for the best to avoid contact with the rest of the world, and prefer all other people to reamin in complete ignorance of the existence of their island and their civilization. The reason for this is not that they were jealous of their relativity advanced knowledge, their architecture, Crystal Energy, or Flyers. It is because they believed it would be irresponsible to interfere in the development of the rest of humanity. Our ancestors once believed that they had no right to tamper in a race's progress. Once."

"Is that why your parents were killed? For the Crystal Energy?" Dib asked.

Shland sighed and a ink-black tear rolled down her cheek, "If only it were that simple, but no. What they are really after is the Hidden Knowledge."

"What's the Hidden Knowledge?" Gaz asked.

"It's Knowledge's most powerful form. There is no answer in the world that it couldn't answer. The whereabouts of it are buried with Atlantis. I'm afraid that as long as it is remained a secret the more luring it becomes to the wrong hands. The only way we can save the universe from tempting destruction is to go to Irk. There The Almighty Tallest can secure a room in which we could go back in time and secure it before anyone else can. Zim, you could take us back to your home planet can't you?"

"Yes."

"Good. I can use my crystal to adjust your voot-crusier's speed. The sooner we get to Irk the better."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~