Chapter 9

I wish you the best of luck my friends. I'm sure the crimson shadow forces will have met their match.



"Where will you be, Asterite?" asked Ecco.

The Asterite seemed to quiver. I shall try and make it to your Home Bay, Ecco, where your pod is. I must rest first, though...these time consistencies are linked with me, remember. I doubt I can travel far in my current condition...I am weakened.



Nobody bothered to ask why, as they were in a hurry. "Thank you, Asterite," Trellia said.

One...one more thing, young singers. As you pass through Lunar Bay, you'll notice the moon is part full. As with the Vortex, the sky warns of danger there. You have only...until...the next harvest moon...to...find...the Glyph Caller's...scion. Go.



"The next harvest moon...that's in just three days! We must hurry!" called Kitnee.
The four singers started up the canyon. Ecco stopped to look back.

Don't stop Ecco, GO!



Ecco nodded and powered up after his friends and descendant.

Time was short...in record time, Ecco and the others reached the borders to Lunar Bay. As they swam onward, Trellia noticed the Glyphs taking on a heavy glow. They seemed to be crying out, like back in her time. The nervousness was stressful for everyone. Ecco wondered whether or not he'd accomplish anything this time. Trellia worried much for her family, her friends, the Sky Killers, and Tiderider. Will she ever look into his humorous, gentle eyes again?

Tara grew more concerned by the day. How can Ecco and Trellia have prophetic dreams, whilst I have nothing to go by, she thought. Kitnee wondered mostly about the well being of his friends and about the Orcas of the future, out of curiosity.

Finally, they could see the moon looming over the bay, larger than any celestial body Trellia had seen; before the dark clouds.

"Lunar Bay. Stay close..." Ecco started to warn, when suddenly a dolphin swam up and surprised them. It was the mysterious Shadow Ecco, created in Ecco's likeness by the Asterite to tell him before of the Asterite's breaking apart. However, he became more lifelike, demanding fish from Ecco whenever they met again. Shadow Ecco was more like Ecco's doppelganger.
"Let me pass!" demanded Ecco.

"Give me a fish!" said his copy, in the same tone of voice.

Ecco sighed. He swam down and returned again with a small blue fish, the only kind the imitator seemed to favor.

Shadow Ecco charged and grabbed the fish, and then swam off.
"Impolite, isn't he?" asked Tara.

"Pay no mind to him, we must move on," Ecco pointed out.
The singers swam for a little distance before they came upon another dolphin pod. Ecco was surprised a pod could live in such a place as Lunar Bay.

"Greetings, fellow singers!" Ecco called out. The dolphins stopped leaping and stared with surprise. When they saw Kitnee, they had the urge to scatter...as they saw Trellia, they were bound by curiosity.

The leader swam up to the singers. "I am Lonus, leader of this small band of Lunar Cast Singers."

"Lunar Cast?" asked Tara with some skepticism.

"Yes. Named so because we only live here in Lunar Bay."

Indeed, these singers were different. Each had dark indigo skin and markings of magenta on the fin tips and flank. Their singing sounded like the dolphins of Atlantis...remainder of an ancient type. There were four present.

"I have never heard of such singers. My name is Ecco, and this is Tara, Trellia, and Kitnee."

Lonus bowed. "The great Ecco, in our presence. Honored we are. And forgive us for not telling you of our origin...we used to be descendants of the Atlantean dolphins...but along the line was a break."

Ecco interrupted. "Atlantis? Then you may be able to help us. We come in search of a singer able to wield an ancient song, the Caller's Song. And we must find him before the harvest moon, the Asterite sent us."

Lonus's eyes widened. "The Caller's Song? I was told of the Glyph Caller's melody...I know of it, I'm a direct descendant. I used to belong back in the Pacific...near Home Bay."

"Hold on, we never heard of you," accused Tara.

"Indeed. I lived there around the time of the 500-year storm. I was separated from my kind, and never found my mate since. I hear songs of her's and my unborn calf's health, but I never found them again."

Ecco had a funny feeling of this dolphin. "Just curious, but if you don't mind me asking, who is your mate?"

Lonus closed his eyes. "Her name is Enuia."

Ecco clicked. "I know of her! She and her son are part of my pod! She joined after I defeated the Vortex for the last time. She claimed she was lost..."

Lonus was surprised. "Enuia's alive? And my calf is a male? And you know her..." the dolphin was about to faint.

"Take it easy, old one. Yeah, we know of her, and that troublesome calf of hers," said Tara.

"My calf...what's his name?" asked Lonus eagerly.

"Radero," said Ecco.

Lonus smiled. "Take me to them."

"How? We can't go back to Home Bay within three days, that's crazy!" Tara cried.

"I know how we can get back within one day," said Lonus.

All was quiet. "How?" asked Trellia.

"There's a way from Atlantis. Follow us."
With no time left to spare, the singers followed the pod of Lunar Cast Singers to nearby Atlantis.

Atlantis was not far off, a few miles or so, but the singers were showing impatience. They had much to do.

In the lead was Lonus, leader of the Lunar Cast Singers. He and his band led the others. Trellia hung above the surface and watched her ancestor, Ecco, and Tara as they swam alongside them.
The sun was high in the sky now; so much so that it cast a great amount of light upon the ocean surface. Trellia could easily see Kitnee's strong, black body as he swam along, graceful and powerful as the others, maybe more. His tall dorsal fin cut through the surface; he could have been mistaken for a Hungry One at a distance.

After a moment, Lonus was a bit bored. He glanced above the surface.

"Trellia, I hope you don't think me rude for asking, but what singer are you?" he asked.

Trellia snapped out of her somber state. "I come from the future. Every singer will evolve as I have, to fly free of the waves. I am scion of Ecco, long into time."

Lonus nodded his head. "I could have guessed you were descended of Ecco by the lone star on your head...a marking much like his. Bottlenose Singers of his kind are rare, but I heard that they were plentiful in Atlantis. Each class of Singer had their own powers. Sadly, he is but of the few left with such abilities. You and he are quite special."

Trellia blushed, but kept going without another word. Lonus too went back to business.

"Ecco, is Atlantis really as you say?" asked Trellia.

"Yes. You'll see."
Suddenly, the amulet Ecco carried around his neck started to glow. A Glyph in the area, which seemed to be breaking, healed slightly. Lonus called the singers to stop, and a great golden gate appeared right in front of them.

"Singers, I present to you the lost city of Atlantis!" he announced.

"Open it already!" yelled Tara. Kitnee swam forward, and Trellia leapt back into the water. The singers gathered, and Lonus turned to the gate.

He started to sing. The melody slowly opened the doors. Then, every singer who had never seen Atlantis previously had wide eyes. They beheld it, finally.

The dolphins toured the ruins. Below them, labyrinths of marble and coral lined the sea. Above them, great walls of gold towered above them like castles on land...noble, powerful, majestic. HieroGlyphics lined the walls and told cryptic tales of the ancient past.

Trellia was held at most awe. The surface was still as stone, except when interrupted by wind. She saw the fish, which gave a golden amber hue. She gazed at the buildings and stone lining every inch of the bay for hundreds of yards. How such a place couldn't last forever stuck in her mind.

Kitnee had never entered Atlantis before either, and wondered whether Orcas were even allowed in such a peaceful place. He then remembered when he was young the tale his mother told him about living in bays alongside dolphins. How she met his Transient father, how the Resies and Transies went to war, how his mother and father went off on their own, how when they returned few members of both pods were left. How he was born to them, how his mother died when he was young. Kitnee kept swimming as Trellia, head full of thought.

The singers had to swim for a few minutes before Lonus got them to their destination.
"Listen up everyone. Ecco, Trellia, Tara, and...Oh, Kitnee, come with me inside this chamber. My pod, stay here. It may not be safe."

The other four Lunar Cast Singers swam off, while Lonus used his songs to open the chamber. Once inside, they came upon a great portal, similar to the ones Ecco swam through to teleport him, but much bigger.

"This portal will take us to wherever you please. Just sing to that Glyph to tell it, that's where we'll go," Lonus informed.

"Your show, Ecco, you take us back," said Tara.

"And please be careful," Trellia added.

Ecco swam up. As he did, the amulet once again started to glow. The Glyph stopped glowing, enough for Ecco to start the process. A blast of song, and the portal started to turn.
"Everyone inside, quickly!" ordered Lonus. Ecco and Tara swam in first. Trellia nervously followed, then Kitnee, then finally Lonus. The portal closed, and they started back towards home.