Chapter 12- The Baited Trap
A dull throbbing of pain eventually brought Allen out of unconsciousness. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a dark red sky stirring above him. He lowered his gaze slightly and saw the remaining portion of wall above him and then noticed with relief that he had somehow managed not to get crushed by the falling debris. He groaned as he tried to assess his situation. His sword arm was broken and moving it slightly was very painful. He could feel bruises on his hip and legs, but besides that, he was in one piece. Very carefully, he used his good arm to slowly push himself up in to a sitting position.
"How long have I been here?" He thought to himself. A few strands of his long, blond hair were stuck to his face and he slowly pushed them aside, now grateful that the rest of it was tied back. He had to get out of here and back to the castle. He needed medical attention and if a roan dragon or beast smelled his blood from the few nasty cuts he acquired, he would become easy prey. He spotted his sword lying a few feet away from him. As he began to shift his weight around, his eyes caught a slight movement to his side. What he originally thought were rocks suddenly sat up on its haunches and looked at him with deep, blue eyes.
"Shit!" Allen said as he quickly pushed himself back. A large wolf had been right there all along. His fear made him forget the pain, but as he stood up pain laced through his right leg and his sword arm throbbed in agony. Pushing the pain away with his will, he jumped towards his sword, grabbed it, pulled it out of his with his other arm, and turned to face the wolf. His mind was trying to picture all the scenarios that could happen: he could try to scare it away, attack first before it had a chance, use the sword to prevent a leap….but Allen continued to face down a rather calm looking wolf, still seated.
"What?" Allen said, nervously backing up. The wolf opened its mouth and its tongue hung out, as if panting. Allen had the strangest feeling that the wolf was laughing at him! He cautiously lowered his sword and the wolf continued to sit there. "Okay," Allen said out loud, "you're either so confident that I'm an easy kill and you're toying with me or you aren't hungry and I'm just an entertaining curiosity to you." The wolf's ears twitched at this and Allen didn't know what to think any more. He scanned his surroundings, without trying to be too obvious, and saw the way he was backing up was completely blocked by fallen debris and natural outcroppings. The only path out of this newly made enclosure was directly behind the wolf. Allen kept his sword partially lowered and slowly started heading towards the path. The wolf just continued to watch and just as Allen though he might make it, the wolf stopped panting and its ears pressed flat against its head. Allen stopped and his eyes dashed back and forth between the wolf and the path. The wolf barked once and Allen raised his sword again.
If I make a run for it, I might just make it. He thought as he continued to inch closer. At that point the wolf jumped up and before he could blink, the wolf was right in front of the exit. Allen gripped his sword more firmly, preparing himself to fight his way through. He didn't have any choice. He could feel the blood running down his leg and it would be dark soon. He had to make his way back.
Allen took another step closer and the wolf raised its hackles and started to growl. Allen didn't like the way things were looking and decided he need to rethink his plan. He took a few steps back and started to look for things he could throw at the wolf, maybe to distract it or scare it off. However, it was at that moment that Allen stopped in his tracks as he glanced at the wolf again. The wolf's hackles were down and it had stopped growling. Following a hunch, Allen took a few steps forward. The wolf started growling again. Allen stepped back. The wolf stopped growling. Allen took more steps backwards and the wolf sat down again. Allen was too stunned to even begin to think why a wolf was acting like this.
"COMMANDER SCHEZAR! ARE YOU THERE?" A voice from above yelled.
"What?" Allen said, shocked. Keeping an eye on the still seated wolf, he raised his head and replied.
"YES! I'M HERE! WHO'S THERE?"
"IT'S GADDESS, SIR." Sure enough, Allen could make out Gaddess leaning over the edge of the ruined wall, surrounded by a few other men.
"I ORDERED YOU TO RETREAT BACK TO TOWN!" Allen said, anger building up inside. How could Gaddess disobey a direct order and endanger himself and others?
A rope was then lowered down the side of the wall and Gaddess called back a reply.
"YOUR ORDERS WERE FOLLOWED, COMMANDER. I CAME BACK AS SOON AS I COULD WITH OFF DUTY VOLUNTEERS." Allen shook his head, partly with frustration and partly with pride. "ARE YOU INJURED, SIR?" Gaddess continued to yell. "DO YOU NEED SOMEONE TO CLIMB DOWN AND ASSIST YOU?"
"NO!" Allen shouted back. "I CAN'T CLIMB THE ROBE BUT I WILL TIE MYSELF TO IT SO YOU CAN PULL ME UP." Allen's next thought was hopefully the wolf would let him, but as he quickly turned his head toward the entrance, he saw that the wolf was gone. Allen shuffled over to the entrance and peered out into the woods. There was no sign of the wolf or any sounds of its departure. Allen just shook his head and carefully walked back to the rope and began to tie it around him.
"I must have bumped my head." He thought as he painfully tied the rope. "To forget that I had a potentially dangerous enemy nearby, I must have." Allen finished and yelled up that he was ready. The rope went rigid and slowly began to pull him up. Allen tried to muffle his grunts of pain as he slowly rose higher. He used his good arm to keep as much of the pressure off his waist as possible. After what seemed like hours, he finally reached the top and strong arms helped him up. Gaddess was grinning like a fool, which just made Allen scowl.
"Before you dress me down, sir," Gaddess started. "We have to get you to safety and into the hands of a doctor." Gaddess reached over and quickly untied the knot Allen had made and quickly looked him over. "You'll ride in the stretcher we brought with us. It looks as though you've hurt your leg."
"No, I can walk." Allen said sharply as he tried to hide his discomfort.
"What! And leave me to get a tongue lashing from the doctor and all his nurses. Not a chance! You could make the injury even worse and I think it's safe to say we can get there faster carrying you then walking beside you." Allen just scowled but allowed Gaddess to help him into the stretcher. As he lay down, he could feel the exhaustion and pain overpower his consciousness. His last thoughts before he passed out as he looked at the faded moon were of that mysterious wolf.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Kylenia raced towards the water with her school friends, laughing and shouting the entire way. They jumped in and started splashing and playing. It was everyone's favourite part of day. After their school lessons, they were always taken to the beach to learn more about swimming or to play; today was a play day. Lavan, a fellow ten year old, called out for volunteers to play Speed Divers. Kylenia shouted her eagerness right away and moved towards Lavan. Speed Divers was one of her favourite games. One player would stand in shallow water and throw ball-shaped weights out for the others to go after; the last one who returned was the loser and it became their turn to throw the balls.
Kylenia lined up beside the other children and waited for Lavan to throw the balls. Lavan counted down and then threw them as hard as he could. She watched the balls spread out in the air and she picked one and started to swim to the point where she had seen it go under. Kylenia sped along the top of the water, fuelled by the excitement of the game. Shortly after, she took a deep breath and dove under the surface. She dared a glance around and saw that she had gone out deeper than the others, but that was okay since she was a better diver. She could just make out the glow of the orb, sitting on the sand-covered floor. Nearing the ball, she became distracted by a light in front of her and looked up to see a large pair of blue eyes watching her.
She jerked in surprise and watched as a face and body appeared to complete the image and she realized what she was seeing: the goddess. Described in stories told to her by her grandmother, Kylenia had no trouble recognizing her. The goddess stood stationary in the water, hovering above the sand. She was translucent and seemed to be wearing a dress of light. Part of Kylenia wanted to scream and run from the very tall, mystical woman standing in the water, as if the currents didn't affect her at all; but the other part wanted to stay and gaze in to those eyes forever. Everyone Kylenia knew had blue eyes, but nothing like the blue of the goddess. There was nothing threatening at all about them, just love and wisdom. The goddess's hair floated around her body as if a gentle breeze was stirring around her. She reached out a hand towards Kylenia and Kylenia swam the short distance between them and clasped her hand.
As soon as the goddess's hand closed about hers, it was like time had come to a stop. She too was now standing in the ocean as if there was a solid surface below her feet and no currents to push her around. Her lungs no longer burned for air and everything was quiet.
'My daughter,' the goddess said in to her mind, 'I have chosen you….'
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Do you need anything, Kylenia?" Amano asked quietly.
"No thank you, I'm fine. I'll be sure to ask when I do though." Kylenia answered.
"Okay. Just remember, you need to sleep too." As if triggered by the word sleep, Amano yawned and shivered in the cool, night breeze. "I'll go tell Hitomi to come up and sit with you." Kylenia nodded and listened to Amano's fading footsteps.
She sighed and returned to the memories of her childhood, which she had been thinking of before Amano had distracted her. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she was playing on the beach. Ever since she had been chosen by the Goddess to be a Mystic, she had been learning and studying constantly. Some days she missed the carefree days of her childhood, but she served the Goddess now and had important work to do.
Kylenia had now been standing on the front deck of the boat since they left Japan around noon. It was necessary for her to be there to keep the boat moving at incredible speeds to find Atlantis in time. The sun set not too long ago and Kylenia periodically admired the beautiful stars and moon overhead. Most of her attention was focused on her inner eye, watching the intricate and delicate patterns of energies all around her. She used her powers as a Mystic to find the best currents for the boat to follow and to track the ocean floor and distant land masses. She could 'see' their distant goal, the Suez Canal. She wasn't very sore or tired, since she was using her magic to feed off the energies to replenish herself, but she knew she would have to stop soon to rest. She would need to conserve all the energy she could once they found Atlantis.
Hitomi walked up the stairs to the deck holding a steaming cup of coffee in her hands. She stopped when she reached the top to enjoy a deep breath of sea air before she pulled her sweater tightly around her. Her eyes traveled over the night sky and to the moon and for the millionth time she wondered where Gaea was and how it was doing. Pulling her attention away from the night sky, she turned her eyes toward Kylenia. Kylenia was so mysterious. She seemed to have appeared out of no where to help them solve all their problems. Since the initial meeting in the Sanctuary, Hitomi had learned a little more about her and her purpose, but Hitomi had a gut feeling Kylenia was leaving something important out. She always hesitated and changed the subject when Hitomi tried to understand why Kylenia had to come with them. Plus, Kylenia and the other mystics didn't seem to want to discuss their powers with her. Hitomi was a little annoyed, but she really couldn't blame them. She wasn't part of their culture and they didn't share most things with their own people, just their fellow mystics.
Hitomi walked over to stand near Kylenia and leaned over the rail and looked down. They were cutting through the water at tremendous speeds that Hitomi could barely comprehend. She couldn't look down for too long because she got queasy if she did. She was just glad it didn't feel like they were going that fast. The journey had definitely started out interesting, earlier that day. They pulled in to the garage at the docks and had little trouble finding Amano's parents' boat. Once Kylenia had deemed they were far enough out to sea and away from any peering eyes, she had removed the small pendant from her around her neck and in a flash of blue light she and her staff had returned to their original states. The dazzling azure jewel that crowned the top off the staff towered above their heads and Kylenia was no longer in the sundress Yukuri had leant her, but back in her shimmering robes of blue and silver with her long, blue hair hanging freely down her back. She had asked Amano to turn off the engines and the others backed away to give her room as she moved to the front of the boat. Hitomi, Van, Amano, and Yukari had watched as Kylenia planted her staff in front of her, held it firmly, and started to chant. It was a strange, almost musical language, and after a moment, a very translucent pattern of light blue formed below Kylenia. Hitomi had thought she recognized a few symbols in the pattern from the Sanctuary, but the pattern vanished suddenly and the entire boat started to glow in the same colour. A bubble had also appeared to cover the ship, but it was hard to see because it was also very translucent. Slowly, Keshia had lifted her staff up and then down to touch the surface of the water. As soon as it did, they felt a jolt and the boat started to move on its own. Kylenia brought her staff back up and put it back in front of her. The others had gasped in amazement as they watched the boat speed up. While continuing to face forward, Kylenia explained that the shield she put around the boat would prevent them from being affected by the speed or by being seen by anything else. She also had told them that she would have to stay where she was to continue to work her magic. That was when Hitomi and the others had decided that at least one person would stay with Kylenia at all times, in case she needed something or something happened.
"How much longer are you going to continue?" Hitomi asked, looking over at Kylenia.
"A few more hours, then I'll get some sleep. I'll continue again in the morning." Kylenia answered.
"Do you know where we are right now?" Hitomi asked.
"Yes. Bring me the map and I'll try to find it for you." Kylenia said, slowly turning towards Hitomi. Hitomi walked over to the chair where the map had been left and opened it up for Kylenia to see. Kylenia studied it for a few moments and then pointed to the center of the Arabian Sea.
Hitomi's eyes widened in amazement. "We're there already! That's amazing! We're half way there!"
"This first leg of the journey wasn't too bad. The deep waters and currents make it very easy to work the spell. Plus, it was helpful that there was thunderstorm around…," Kylenia glanced at the map, "Mal-ay-sia, making it simpler to hide our passing."
"Will we be able to make speed like this tomorrow?" Hitomi asked.
"Not as good, because we will have to be very careful at the place called Suez Canal. I want to travel through it tomorrow morning so I can call a fog to further hide us. Our speed will reduce some as we travel through this sea," Kylenia said pointing to the Mediterranean Sea, "since it is not as deep as the ocean.'
"I guess once we get there we'll find out if Atlantis is near Greece or if we have to continue on towards Portugal."
"Have you used your pendant again to try to find out?"
"Yeah, just before Amano came to get me. I didn't learn anything new though. It does feel like we are getting closer, but it still doesn't point to either one clearly."
"Then we will have to wait for tomorrow." Kylenia said calmly as she turned to face forward again and Hitomi took this as a signal that she needed to get back to work. Hitomi sat down on the chair and settled in.
Van sat nervously beside Hitomi as his head darted in all directions. Every few moments he would pick up sounds of ships or horns or voices coming from the fog that surrounded the boat. Sometimes, they would even see a quick glimmer of a ship, but it was gone before he blinked.
Earlier that morning, they had all gathered below and Kylenia told them that they would be crossing the Suez Canal in a few hours. She had said she would need to focus all her attention on moving through it, without being spotted. Van glanced over at Kylenia again. She was once again staring straight ahead with her eyes glazed over and out of focus. Van knew she was using magic or her inner eye, but it was a little disturbing to see it. Van also saw droplets of sweat rolling down her forehead every so often, so it was obviously she was in deep concentration.
Amano and Yukuri were sitting nearby, looking just as nervous as Van felt. Hitomi was fiddling with her pendant and Van knew she was going over things to do in her head if they were spotted or if Kylenia needed help.
The boat jolted suddenly forwards and Van gripped the arm rests of his chair. Kylenia's eyes had narrowed and she was frowning. Van told himself not to panic. As long as Kylenia wasn't worried or panicking, he would stay put. The boat swayed to the left a little and then strongly to the right. For a second, Van thought he saw something very large to his right, but then the boat put on another burst of speed and Van couldn't see it anymore. Time ticked slowly by but eventually the boat slowed down, or at least they couldn't feel the speed anymore. The four of them heard Kylenia sigh and then she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were back to normal and she was looking over her shoulder at them.
"I hope no one was hurt." She said. Everyone shook their heads no and Kylenia smiled. "Good, I was afraid about that, but luckily, no harm done."
"What happened?" Van asked. "Where are we?"
"We have just cleared the Suez Canal and are in the Sea of Mediterranean, heading towards the island of Santorini. I had to put on a burst of speed back there because there was a large ship about to go through the narrowest point. It was moving very slowly and I didn't want to get stuck behind it, since it's better to keep moving to stay camouflaged. So, I sped up and cut in front of it, just in time. I'm afraid I did a bit of splashing, but I got us away quickly enough and now we are back to open sea."
"How long until we are in sight of Santorini?" Hitomi asked eagerly.
"Hmmm..." Kylenia said as her eyes unfocused again and she looked forward for a moment before turning back and looking at then normally again. "Less than an hour, I believe. There are lots of boats around those islands so we will have to be very cautious."
Hitomi looked over at Van with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. He reached over and gave her hand a squeeze.
The hour past excruciatingly slow. Hitomi started pacing the deck and Amano and Yukuri went below to find something to clean. Van took turns staring out at sea to watching Hitomi pace.
Finally, Van began to sense the boat slowing down and then things seemed to return to normal as the boat came to a stop and bounced lightly with the waves. Kylenia left her spot on the front of the boat and came over to Van and Hitomi.
"You can try using the pendant now. Santorini is just beyond the horizon, but this should be more than close enough." Hitomi nodded nervously as she sat on her knees and spread out the map on the floor as Yukuri and Amano came upstairs to join them. They formed a small circle around Hitomi as they watched her hold the pendant over the map and close her eyes. She started swinging the pendant in a circle over the area where they currently were. A few moments passed and then the pendant jerked suddenly and fixed itself to the map near Santorini.
"YES!" Hitomi cried out. "Atlantis is over there!" Hitomi bent down and examined the map more closely. "It's just behind the island, if we circle around this way-" Hitomi broke off talking as the jewel on top of Kylenia's staff started pulsing light. Hitomi stared at it in confusion when the brightness filled her vision.
Hitomi was looking through the water at the sea floor, not looking down, but looking across as if she was standing on the sea floor. A small orb caught her attention. It was emitting a strange darkness and Hitomi could sense two familiar sensations about it. When it finally dawned on her why the dark orb felt familiar, she realized it was a trap, but she was too late. The darkness reached out and surrounded her.
Van gasped along with Yukuri and Amano as Hitomi and Kylenia suddenly stiffened and stared unblinkingly towards the brightly shining Ocean's Heart jewel. Van was beside Hitomi in a second and had his arm wrapped gently around her shoulders, not sure what to do next.
"NO!" Kylenia yelled without warning. The light from the jewel had gone out and Kylenia had snapped out of her trance and turned towards Hitomi, looking terrified.
"Use your pendant! FIGHT IT!" Kylenia screamed, almost hysterically.
Without hesitating, Van grabbed the pendant off the map with one hand and Hitomi's limp hand with his other, and slapped the pendant into her hand and closed her hand over it and held it tight with his own hands. A few seconds passed and Van could see a pink glow peering through the cracks in her fingers. He looked back into Hitomi's eyes, which continued to stare into nothing.
Hitomi couldn't see and she was having trouble breathing.
"…must stop you…" an eerie voice whispered around her.
"Hello? Is somewhere there?" She said.
"…too close…must stop…" it continued to whisper.
"Who must stop? Me? I can't! I'm trying to save Gaea."
The pressure around Hitomi's throat increased. She felt like she was being strangled. She started gasping and tried to take deep breaths.
"…must stop you…must…kill you…" The voice whispered and Hitomi started to panic as she fought for breath.
"FIGHT IT!" She heard a female voice in the distance yell. Before Hitomi knew what was happening she was surrounded by a familiar and warm pink light. The pressure on her throat fell away immediately but Hitomi's gasp was caused by what she saw. Still surrounded by darkness, the pink light had revealed a shadowy image of a decrepit, old man with long, dirty white hair, looking at Hitomi with anger burning deep in his eyes. He snarled and vanished before Hitomi could see more. The darkness was gone and she was once again looking at the dark orb sitting on the sea floor. Without understanding why, Hitomi called her pink light to attack the dark orb. She watched as pink flashes raced out and collided with the orb. She could see the orb starting to pulse and Hitomi increased the attack. Finally, the orb cracked and shattered in to a million pieces before fading away to nothing.
Left where the orb had been was a small, pink stone attached to a delicate gold chain. Hitomi gasped in amazement as she realized it looked identical to her very own pendant. But before she could do anything else, it slowly dissolved before her eyes. Then, a blue brightness filled her eyes again and she felt a gentle tugging to leave and she didn't resist.
Van held on to Hitomi as her body relaxed and fell in to his. Hitomi's eyes fluttered a little before they opened and she looked over in surprise to first Van, then Kylenia, then back to Van.
"What happened?" She asked.
"I don't know." Van said. "You appeared to fall in to a trance and then Kylenia was yelling something about your pendant and-"
"My pendant?" Hitomi said, puzzled to find herself clasping the pendant. "Pendant…? Oh! There was another one! And an old man! I think he tried to kill me!"
"What?" said Van with a growl.
"Time out, time out." Amano said making a T-shape with his hands. "Can we start from the beginning, please? I believe things started to get weird when that jewel started pulsing." Amano said, motioning to Kylenia's staff.
"It was a warning." Kylenia said softly as the others listened intently. "It was warning me that what Hitomi had found was false. Atlantis is not near Santorini. When my jewel started pulsing, I was in the process of opening my inner eye and letting the jewel guide my sight to what it had sensed, and for some reason, it took Hitomi along too."
"You were there?" Hitomi asked. "I couldn't see you or anything…all I saw was, well, I was standing at the bottom of the sea and I was looking at this thing, this glowing dark orb. It seemed familiar and when I remembered it was the same sort of thing that attacked us in the air ship, it kind of reached out and swallowed me."
"What!" Van said.
"I saw it happen and immediately recognized it for dark magic." Kylenia said. "I came out of the trance to try to warn you. You fought it off before and you needed your pendant to do it again."
"I think I heard you yell something." Hitomi said. "But I'm getting ahead of myself." Hitomi finished telling them the rest of the story, including the appearance of the weird, old man, and the other pendant.
"Didn't you once tell me you had a vision of Atlantis, when we first went to Freid, and you said the people in the vision had pendants, just like your?" Van asked.
"Yes." Hitomi answered, her mind racing. "Maybe by placing another pendant over here, a piece of Atlantis, perhaps my pendant would sense it and led me to it, mistaking it for Atlantis."
"Hmmm…." Kylenia said. "It sounds like this...wizard wanted to lure you away from the real location of Atlantis."
"Does that mean it's really near Portugal?" Yukari asked. Hitomi looked down at her hand and was again surprised to feel the pendant twitching in her hand. She opened her fingers and the pendant flew out and pinned it's self to the map, in the Atlantic Ocean near Portugal.
"I guess that means yes." Said Yukari.