New, NEW record! One day! One freakin' day to get this chapter out! I'm so happy! WOOt!
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh…(damn) nor do I own Tales of Symphonia, which this fic was inspired by. (double damn)
"Grandpa! I'm home!" a girl called.
She ran into her house and shut the large wooden door, jogging into the kitchen; the young blonde haired girl placed her purse on the table and straightened out her dress. She was dressed in a medium length pale pink dress with short sleeves and a little bit of lace at the collar and her long yellow hair reaching down to her mid back. The adolescent child ran back into the main hallway and went to the down to the stairs leading into the basement, her brown sandals clicking the whole way.
"Grandfather? Are you down here?" she called, halfway down the steps.
"Yes, Rebecca, I'm in the laboratory." an older male voice answered.
Rebecca walked completely down the stairs and down the new hallway, and turned in the first door on her right, leaning in cautiously on the doorframe.
"Grandpa?" she asked with dubious tone in her voice.
"It's all right, Rebecca, you may come in."
Cautiously, the girl slowly walked into her grandfather's laboratory, looking at all of the gizmos and gadgets that covered it. Her grandfather was an inventor and a scholar, he was always tampering with things to see how they worked and to try and find our more things about them. Recently, a certain rumor from the sailors in the port reached his ears about a city that was claimed by the sea.
"Grandpa? Are you still looking for that 'lost city'?" she asked.
"Rebecca, do not take that tone with me, I believe that the Lost City exists out there in the ocean somewhere. Now I just need to find it," her grandfather replied.
He was sitting at a writing desk with one of those new "electric lamps" providing light in the room. The man was hunched over a map of what looked like the sea floor.
"Grandpa, you know it doesn't exist. It's just one of those sailor's tales, like the ones about women that live in the ocean with fins instead of legs. Or giant snakes living beneath the waters, or even the ones about women who live on abandon islands and draw sailors in to their dooms. They're not real." Rebecca said with persistence in her voice.
"Now Rebecca, the Lost City of Atlantis is real. The priests say that it was a paradise created by Undine, the Water Goddess. She was jealous of Koudo, the Earth God, of having all of the mortals, so she built this utopia on earth. She gave the Atlantians a lot of technology she received from Volt, the Thunder God, creator of technology, and Atlantis soon became the most advanced city in the world." Her grandfather recited the legend.
"Then what happened?"
Rebecca's grandpa's faced turned from one of excitement, to one of despair, "It is said that the other gods were envious of her perfect utopia, think that she had gone too far, almost making mortals as strong as the gods. So, all of the other gods came together and destroyed Atlantis, sinking it into the sea."
"That's horrible!" Rebecca shouted, "Why would the gods do that?"
"It is said that the gods became angry at the humans. There is a fine line that separates mortal from god and they wish it to stay that way. When the Atlantians had all of this technology, they rivaled the gods' power and they were not at all pleased about that. The gods are what they are- great deities that rule over humans, and not the other way around." the old man explained.
"Still," Rebecca thought angrily, "Why would they destroy an entire civilization?"
"We are not quite sure, but it is said that they tried to find another way, without the loss of life, but when none was found they had to. In an ancient scripture I had found with the church it said, 'And thine gods looked upon the utopia with grief stained eyes as they raised their hands unto the heavens. Judgment came down upon Atlantis as it sank into the sea. Undine, her shining majesty, sent her people to their ships built with wood and tried to guide them safely to thy mainland. When Judgment had passed, thine Goddess looked upon her broken city and wept for weeks, rivers and lakes flooding thy land.'" he declaimed.
"Good! They should be sad for what they did to Undine and the people of Atlantis!" the girl cried.
"Rebecca! Watch your tongue! You know that the gods can always hear you!" her grandfather scolded.
The little girl pouted and puffed out her bottom lip. Her arms were crossed tightly across her chest, but she wouldn't say anymore.
"Professor! Professor Arthur Hawkins!" a voice called sharply from up the stairs.
Professor Hawkins sat up straight in his chair as he heard the strange voice call to him. He quickly stood up, almost knocking his chair over as he ran up the stairs with his granddaughter following not to far behind.
Rebecca saw a messenger at the door, standing in the doorway wearing simple workers clothes while holding a piece of parchment. Now that her grandfather was in the light of day, she could see that he was wearing simple brown overalls and a gray dress shirt, which was pretty wrinkly from ill care.
"Yes, what is it?" asked the professor.
"A message from High Priestess of the Church: Priestess Ishizu." the courier said quickly, holding out the parchment.
"From High Priestess Ishizu?" questioned Arthur as he took the paper and unfurled it, hastily reading the writing inside.
"Oh Gods! Tell her I'll be there right away!" he yelled zealously, handing the document back to the messenger and sending him with the message back to the church.
Hawkins quickly ran into his bedroom on the second floor, up a flight of stairs and hastily found his brown dress coat. While struggling to put both of his arms in their proper sleeves, he almost tripped while flying down the stairs and into his study on the first floor. The Professor found his briefcase on the desk and rapidly stuffed papers he found on the table into it whilst Rebecca came into the room.
"Grandfather? What is it? What is the matter?" she inquired, trying to catch his attention.
"Priestess Ishizu and the priests of the Church of Mana found a tablet in the storm days past. It has hieroglyphs from the Lost City of Atlantis! She wishes me to come over to the church to try and translate it immediately!" Arthur said excitedly.
"That's great, Grandfather, but do you expect to go out looking like that?" she giggled, pointing at his clothes.
The old man looked down at himself, standing like a cross. He shirt wasn't tucked in, his dress coat was inside out, his belt wasn't buckled, he had on one gray sock and his old shoes with holes in them were on the wrong feet as well with his gray hair sticking out everywhere.
"No, I guess I shouldn't go out in public like this." he chuckled nervously.
"Let me help you, Grandfather." Rebecca sighed.
With his granddaughter's help, Professor Hawkins had all of his clothes facing the right way, his old shoes were replaced with polished black loafers, his short gray hair was combed and oiled as well as wearing a dark red tie, tied together properly under his buttoned coat.
"Much better!" Rebecca complimented, stepping back to look at her work.
"Once again, you have saved me from utter embarrassment. How could I live with out you?" her grandpa asked with a bit of joyful teasing in his voice.
The schoolgirl walked closer and pulled the professor's tie a little tighter with smiling, "You couldn't. With the way you dress, the Governor and the court or the church for that matter were never accept your ideas and you would be a bum."
"Rebecca!" he cried in surprise, even though he knew her statements would be true.
"You had better be going, Grandpa." she said, looking at the grandfather clock, leaning against the wall.
"Right." he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek, "I will probably be home late, so you should eat with out me."
"Ok…"
"I love you, Rebecca."
"I love you too!" she called, before he slammed the door shut.
She stared at the door for a moment before sighing and walking into the kitchen. From her purse, Rebecca took out her homework from school and placed it on the table, getting a pencil from her bag as well and started on her math work.
Professor Hawkins ran through the streets of Escaine, often dodging out of the way of other people or horse drawn carts. Once, he ran into a plump woman carrying a basket of fruit. The melons and apples rolled everywhere, so he stopped and picked up every last one, apologizing and bowing repeatedly. At first the lady was angry, but when she saw it was the hard-worked professor, she smiled and waved it off. Everyone in the district knew how hard Hawkins worked on his research.
As he headed further into the town, the houses became bigger, bigger than his own mansion, and the townsfolk became better dressed in richer clothing. At last, Arthur reached the General Square, where the Governor's Office, Royal Court of Escaine and the holy Church of Mana were.
On his left was the Governor's Office, decorated with all kinds of pillars, two identical ones on either side of the doors dedicated to each of the gods, the ones of Undine, the most important goddess in the area were right beside the doors.
About a block down from that was the Royal Court of Escaine, where the criminal charges and town meetings were sometimes held, either there or the Governor's Office or the Church, depending on the situation. The Court was decorated with pillars of well, kind of like the ones from the White House or other places of office.
Instead of heading to either of those, Hawkins took a right, walking to a grand building with a great steeple with a cross on top it, along with smaller steeples as well. Like with the Governor's Office, there was a steeple for each of the eight gods and goddesses on top of the great church, meaning that it prayed to every god, with the Great Kind of Gods, Aska, in the middle.
Arthur paced through the luxurious oak double doors, carved with many holy runes in the wood. He walked forward and entered the main room of the church with many pews for the many people of the city to pray in. He strolled up to the podium and bowed, offering his prayers to the gods.
Then he looked up at the sculptures, Aska, the Great King and Undine were in the middle, Aska was spreading out his great arms, as almost to embrace every mortal and protect them, while Undine had her arms below her, holding a small hovering globe of the world with all the other gods in line beside them.
"Professor Hawkins?" a soft feminine voice called.
He turned around to see a rather tan woman in beige robes. Her long black hair went down to about her butt and she had two sets of square bangs on the side of her face. She also had a golden headdress to show people of her importance.
"Ah High Priestess Ishizu." the professor bowed.
"Professor Arthur Hawkins, I'm glad you made it in one piece." she teased, shortly bowing back.
Arthur smiled lightly and gripped his brief case tighter out of anxiousness. The priestess looked over and smiled at the display.
"Let us delay no further. Shall we?" she asked, and the professor stepped closer, "Follow me please, Arthur."
Ishizu walked calmly while Professor Hawkins trotted briskly after her, hardly being able to hold in his excitement any longer. The walked out of the main room and down a hallway, passing lesser priests who nodded their heads at the professor.
The priestess led him to a large door and opened it and stood aside, letting Arthur walk into the room and she followed soon after him, shutting the door behind her.
Professor Hawkins into the room as Ishizu lit the various lamps around the room. Soon the room was brightly lit and the giant stone slab was clearly viewed to the professor.
"Amazing…" he spoke in awe.
The stone was a grayish blue color and had hundreds of carvings in it. Upon closer examination, on the wedge of rock it showed a magnificent city, the people were all happy around the metropolis, using pieces of technology he had never seen before. Further down the stone it displayed how the gods stood in a circle, arms raised to the heavens, and then the city disappeared underneath the waves. In the last part of the hieroglyphs, Undine was seen, bent over crying, as her tears became the great rain that almost drowned the world.
"Astounding! Absolutely amazing!" gasped Arthur.
"Yes," replied the priestess, walking over to him, "Some sailors found it on a beach nearby after the storm earlier. It does truly show the real story of Atlantis, the Atlantians grew too powerful and therefore the gods were forced to destroy them. In response, Undine cried the Great Rains which almost flooded the earth, supposedly setting the mainland's technology back about a hundred years."
"Incredible!" gaped the professor.
"Yes, do you wish to get a closer look?"
"Of course, if I'm allowed to."
"Don't worry at all professor," reassured Ishizu, "I have the fullest confidence in you."
"Thank you Priestess."
Professor Hawkins set his briefcase down on a nearby table and opened it, grabbing a few tools, like a brush, pick and magnifying glass. He stepped towards the great slab and slowly examined it up close under the magnifying glass, taking in every detail and wrote it down on a piece of parchment.
After several hours working, Professor Hawkins finally packed up his suitcase and headed home, all of his findings written down on parchment at the church, as well as a copy for himself to study at home.
When he turned the key in his front door, Arthur sighed, finally slipping off his shoes on the rug by the door. Seeing as all of the lamps weren't lit or the electric lights weren't on, he guessed that Rebecca had already gone to sleep. Hawkins walked into the kitchen and saw a piece of steak with broccoli on a plate with a spoiled glass of milk. He smiled and shook his head and threw the food away, making it look like he ate it for when she woke up.
The old man wearily walked up the steps to the second floor and stopped at his granddaughter's bedroom before moving to his own. He walked in and saw her asleep in a comfy chair with a small lamp burning, a book laying open in her lap. The grandfather picked her up and carried her over to her bed, pulling up the covers and wrapping them tightly around her.
He leaned back and felt something in his back crack. I'm getting too old for this, he thought as he placed the book on Rebecca's night table and blew out the oil lamp.
Hawkins finally walked into his room and looked at the grandfather clock in the corner, it read 12:26. He sighed and collapsed onto his bed, falling asleep on his four-poster bed (1) instantly.
Undine slowly opened her eyes; she was in her master bedroom in her Temple of Water. The whole room was a blue color that often changed due to the reflection of the light flowing through. She woke up and felt her silky sheet float to the floor as she stood up and stretched. The goddess looked out her liquid window at all of the underwater life swimming around.
The deity flowed out of her bedroom and out into the ocean, swimming through the great waters and admiring the sight before her. Two dolphins glided over to their master and circled around her, clicking cheerfully. She gently and lovingly petted their bearskin backs but frowned almost instantly. There was a welt on one's skin and a rash on the other; both had red spots all over their body, which itched them terribly.
They swam up and nuzzled against her face, trying to reassure her, and Undine put a fake smile on her face. It satisfied the dolphins, for they swam up to the surface of the water and performed their tricks gracefully and happily, the goddess on the other hand unmasked her fear, despair and hatred. The humans put their poisons in her oceans and lakes and streams. Her dolphins were becoming sick and dying and none of them cared, about them or all of the other life in the sea, slowly becoming extinct from the toxins.
The Water Goddess was about to travel to the heavens, when she felt like someone was praying to her, this happened often, but she could tell when a special or important prayer was being sent. Instead of going to heaven, she flew to her temple, located on an island not too far from Escaine.
Undine appeared in a blue swirl of water as she sat upon her blue granite throne in the temple. The shrine was composed of one giant pale blue room with many secret passages and pillars decorating the room, telling many different stories and legends. The pillars showed dolphins leaping playfully through the air and horrible sea snakes down at the bottom of the ocean, along with many other tales.
The goddess, however, ignored that, seeing it countless times and instead focused on the woman on the floor. She was sitting on her knees with her hands pressed together in prayer, her golden headdress shined as well as made the watery walls around her glow yellow.
"O Great Maiden of the Mist, please hear my prayer," Priestess Ishizu spoke, her voice echoing off of the walls, "We have found the tablet which shows the story of Atlantis. We wish to examine it, learning from the past so that we are not doomed to repeat it. Please bare us no hatred, as we know how you cried the Great Rains. We wish for you to bare no more sadness, please let us be in peace under your rulings."
Undine gripped the armrests firmly, her knuckles turning white, and then made herself visible to the priestess. All of the gods knew Priestess Ishizu; they had made her the chosen High Priestess, because before her birth, they had realized her loyalty and sincerity. She would carry out all of the gods' orders respectfully and firmly.
"Priestess."
"Milady." Ishizu bowed, her head touching the cold tile.
"Be not worried, Ishizu. My wrath will not be taken out on you, I know of your devotion and I am grateful. No, my wrath will be taken out on the ones who caused the destruction of Atlantis. You and your mortals have done me well in creating such a magnificent city. But be warned, I fear the others will grow jealous and they will try to destroy Escaine as they did Atlantis. Do not let this happen." Undine preached.
"Of course Milady." responded the priestess.
"I am indebted to all you have done for us Priestess. For that, I give you my blessing."
"Thank you my lord."
Undine nodded and transformed into a swirling blue light, which floated to the ceiling of the temple, and then seeped through the brick, flying up into the heavens.
Ishizu lowered her head in prayer before standing up, and bowing before the altar. Then, she turned and left, walking down the stone path, which lead to a small dock, where a boat was waiting for her. In it was her stepbrother Odion, holding an oar in his hand. As the priestess got into the boat, Odion offered her his hand, which she accepted gratefully.
She sat down on a bench in the small fishing boat as her brother set the sails, pushing away from the dock with the oar. After the boat got far enough out to sea, the wind hit the sails, making them speed over the water and soon enough saw the faint image of Escaine on the horizon.
"Praised be Sylph for this wind." she quickly prayed and Odion bowed his head.
The invisible goddess wink as she flew beside the boat before flapping her golden wings and flying higher into the sky as the boat was virtually at the docks. Though not seen, Ishizu still knew of the gesture.
Odion folded up the sails as the momentum pushed the boat into the harbor and from there he paddled to the dock. He speedily tied a rope to a post and let Ishizu off the vessel, lifting her with his tan muscular arms. She gave him a quick peek on the cheek before walking so nobly back to the city and to the church, leaving her brother to finish with the boat.
As Odion went about tying up the boat to the dock he felt the bow lower from weight, meaning someone stepped on board. He quietly placed the rope in his hands on the floor and sneaked up to the bow, before he pounced.
"Odion! Odion! I get it! Let me go!" a boy cried.
"I don't think so little brother!"
He had a tan late teen boy being squished in his bear hug. The boy had dark, sandy blonde hair and lavender eyes, wearing a black muscle shirt and gray pants with a few bands on his arms.
"I'm your stepbrother!" he shouted.
"So, Malik? Stepbrother or not, you are still my little brother. Now where is your twin?" Odion asked, finally release the boy.
"Probably in his room." Malik shrugged, sitting down on the dock and watch Odion below him as he continued his work.
The sailor said nothing as he carried on his labor by winding cord around his arm, into a circle. The teenager above him tilted his head as he looked up and down the boat; there were no nets inside, nor any fish.
"Was sister going to the Temple of Water again?" he asked.
Odion nodded, packing away the rope and making sure everything else was battened down before jumping up onto the dock, sitting in a crouch like stance. He then stood up and offered his brother a hand, which the arrogant boy didn't accept, getting up by his own two feet.
"Let's get some lunch!" Malik declared.
Odion wasn't one to argue, he patted his stomach jokingly as the two walked down the boardwalk and onto the city streets, looking for a good restaurant, their stomachs growling in anticipation.
Ha ha! Malik!
Malik- Hikari…guess what that means!
1-I have no idea what the hell a four-poster bed looks like!
P.S.- I hate Rebecca Hawkins like I loath Tea Gardner, I'm not sure if Tea will be in yet, but there for sure will be Rebecca bashing! Muahahaha!
Please review!
