Well, after a lot of begging and pleading, i managed to get my mom to let me borrow her computer so i can upload my latest chapter. so sit back, elax, as I tell the tale of...

THE LOST CONTINENT

"The Dark Rift," Carlos mused to himself as he watched Maria sleep peacefully, "I sure hope this works."

It had been two days since they had left port. The Surprise had managed to discover a way into the Rift, through a Vortex they had discovered near Esperanza.

Maria had stayed asleep ever since they had Carlos had placed her in her dreamless slumber, waiting until the opportune moment when a Black Moonstone was found.

A knock on his door got Carlos's attention.

"It's open," he called as he went back to the report he had been writing to pass the time.

The large metal door swung open a tad, revealing one Lord Blakeney as he peeped in.

"Captain Meridian?"

Carlos looked up and smiled at the one armed boy, "Yes Mr. Blakeney? What can I help you with?"

Blakeney's eyes darted to Maria and back, a slight blush tinting his cheeks.

"I…I just wondered how our passenger was doing sir."

Carlos smiled as he beckoned him in, "Come see for yourself. She's been asleep since we left."

Blakeney looked over at the sleep girl, looking slightly apprehensive.

Carlos chuckled, "She's not going to bite you, you know."

Blakeney glanced nervously from his commanding officer back to Maria, "Oh I know that sir it's just…" he drifted off as he adjusted his armour, "She…She always seemed so nice sir. Quite and innocent…not that I haven't ever talked to her before, I just…observed from afar…"

Without much thought he gently sat down on the edge of the bed, gazing fondly at Maria, "I can't believe something so horrible can happen to someone so…so…"

"Perfect?" Carlos offered, a knowing smile on his face.

Blakeney blinked, before flushing a deep crimson. "Sir I erm…You won't tell Dr. Maturin will you?"

Carlos gently patted him on the shoulder, "Not until you do Mr. Blakeney."

Blakeney smiled slightly, before going back to watching Maria with a dreamy expression on his face.

"Captain Meridian?" Mowett's voice echoed into the room from the wall mounted radio, "Um, Sir? I think you might want to come here. We've found something."

Carlos nodded to himself, "Very well Mr. Mowett I'll there momentarily."

He glanced over at Blakeney as he donned his armour, raising an eyebrow slightly as the young Midshipman gently moved a bit of blond hair from her face, before smiling to himself and leaving the two of them alone.

"Have you ever seen anything like it sir?" Mowett whispered in awe as they gazed through the Bridge window.

"No Mr. Mowett I can safely say I've never seen something as extraordinary as this," Carlos breathed.

The Surprise had come out into a large area of calm, and upon a sight anyone on board ship had thought they would see.

Before them lay what could only be described as a continent. A dark continent, easily the size Valua, stretched out before them, not to mention the various other islands that appeared to be dotted about. But that wasn't the most incredible thing about this place, for on the main island, was a city.

The city was completely black, the only way you could see was from the luminous sickly green rocks that seemed to surround it. Huge, tall, crooked spires reached up into the swirling clouds that surrounded the islands.

"Could this be…The Black Continent?" Stephen muttered to himself.

"There is a good possibility," Carlos agreed.

"Does that mean we're in the centre of the Dark Rift?"

Carlos shook his head, "I don't think so. According to legends, The Dark Rift revolves around the Black Crystal…or the Black Gigas, Aidacra, depending on which you believe. If this is The Continent of the Black Civilisation, Then the centre can't be far off."

"Begging your pardon sir," Bonden the Helmsman piped up from his console, "But wouldn't a Black Moonstone be down there?"

"It does make sense sir," Mowett agreed, "Black Civilisation, Black Moonstone, they may have some in storage."

"Hmm," Carlos frowned down at the city, The Surprise's searchlights shining down on the cragged spires, "Very well. Have a lifeboat prepared. I will take a small team down and see what we can find. Myself, Captain Howard and the marines will go down to the city and see if we can find this elusive Moonstone."

"It's quiet sir," Howard murmured as the landing party crept slowly through the streets, "Too quiet,"

"Bite your tongue man," Carlos hissed, "the moment someone says that something bad is bound to happen!"

"Sorry sir,"

Carlos gritted his teeth as he looked warily through the buildings. The Spires pointed high into the sky, causing the Surprise overhead to be divided by a long black stripe.

"Still nothing to report sir," A soldier reported as he ran up to the two officers, "To be completely honest sir, we can hardly see in all this darkness, and we aren't even sure what it is exactly we're looking for,"

"A black Moonstone," Carlos was beginning to sound exasperated, "It's a Moonstone that's black, It looks like any other Moonstone, except it's black. How hard is…"

"Captain Meridian!"

Carlos turned his attention to another soldier as he ran up to him, saluting smartly.

"Sir, I think We've found a power source. It might be powered by a Black Moonstone!"

Carlos breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank the Moons, lead on!"

Carlos looked around the small room with interest.

"Can anyone find a way we could light this up?" He called out to the soldiers.

"Just a few more moments sir and…Yes!"

An auditable groan echoed around the room as what sounded like turbines whirred to life. Another Minute later and the entire room suddenly exploded into light.

All around the city, the towering spires were suddenly brought to life as a string of lights seemed to shoot from the bottom to their tips, almost blinding the crew of the Surprise as this once dark city suddenly illuminated.

AS soon as Carlos's eyes adjusted to the light, he gazed around in awe at his surroundings.

He, and around three other soldiers including Captain Howard, appeared to be in a small control room, over-looking what appeared to be twelve giant turbines, stretching out to the far side of the room, each appearing to glow a dark purple.

"Amazing," Carlos mused to himself as he gazed over the turbines, "A truly remarkable feat of engineering!"

"Commander!"

Carlos turned to Howard with surprise, looking at the fear evident in his eyes.

"Captain?"

Howard could only point a shaky finger towards the door.

Carlos blinked in surprise at what he saw.

It was a young woman, no older then he was. Her skin was pale and white, with long black hair that fell around her shoulders and deep dark blue eyes. She wore what appeared to be a long sleeved turtle-neck, yet it was cropped, revealing her pale midriff, as well as a long black cloak with a hood. Below this she wore a simple pair of black trousers, melding slowly into flat black sandals. Tied to her wrists where two strips of material, which in turn were connected to her waist.

On her forehead, standing out black against her pale skin, was a single small circle, with a large X going through the middle.

Her Blue eyes widened at the sight of Carlos.

"Tannir?" she whispered, taking a step closer.

The young commander frowned, "I'm sorry, are you talking to me?"

The girl took another step forward, "You are Tannir, son of Tomias and Tanen?"

Carlos shook his head slightly, very aware of how close this mysterious girl was, "No, I am Carlos, son of Jonathan and Maria Meridian."

The girl frowned as she came to a stop, directly toe to toe with him.

"You look…like me…a male me," she seemed to say to herself as she gently raised a hand to his face and tracing his jaw line, "Yet you claim not to be Tannir of the House of Silvairian?"

Carlos's frown deepened, partly because this girl was closer then he liked and partly because she had brought up one of the Houses of the Old World.

So many questions floated round his head as the girl continued to trace parts of his face with her finger, until one of them finally got to his mouth, "Who are you?"

The girl suddenly stopped what she was doing and took one step back, allowing him to see her properly.

She smiled at him, before bowing slightly.

"I am Rinnat," she said calmly, "Daughter of Saimot and Nenat, of The House of…Blakoshan, but my brother calls me Rin"

Carlos raised an eyebrow in intrigue.

"The House of Blakoshan? As in the Black Civilisation?" Howard gasped.

Rin nodded her head, not looking at the Marine Captain, "Judging by your friends reaction to me, I am to assume you know of the story told by Silvites about us and our House?" she asked.

"They know alright," another, voice came from the shadows of the doorway.

Suddenly another figure appeared in the doorway. He was dressed similarly to Rin, only he wore a full turtle neck and had no material connected to his wrists and waist. His hair was platinum blond, and his eyes were a vivid aquatic green. He also didn't appear to be any older than twelve at most.

Rin sighed impatiently as she walked towards the newcomer.

"Anif," she sighed, "I told you to wait outside,"

"But they are outsiders Rin," the boy protested, They shouldn't be here."

"I'm sorry if we intruded," Carlos stepped forward, "However we were not aware that the Black Civilisation still existed. We thought the city was abandoned."

"What were you going to do? Steal from us?" the boy asked scornfully.

"Anif!" Rin scolded, before turning back to Carlos, "It is true, the Black Civilisation as you call it is no more. My brother and I are the only two left, My Mother and Father were captured by men a few years ago, we do not know where they are."

Carlos frowned, before another question arose in his head, "You called me Tannir. Why?"

Rin smiled slightly, "You must forgive me. You see, The House of Silvairian has…had, a dark secret that it never wrote down, because it was too disgusted with the very thought of it. You see, The House of Silvairian and the House of Blakoshan are linked. No one remembers how. All that is known is that for every boy born of Silver blood, A girl is born of the Dark Moon. For every girl that is born of Silvites pure, A boy of Blackite Parentage is born.

"Fifteen years ago, A boy was Silvite born. His name was Tannir. At the same time, I was brought into this world, and was named Rinnat. I am what we call Tannir's Dark Sister. The Blakoshan form of Tannir. A couple of years later, Anif was born, for a girl named Fina was born of Silvite parentage. He is her Dark Brother."

"You call yourselves Dark," Carlos mused, "Does that mean you're…evil?"

Rin shook her head, "We are dark because we were born under the Dark Moon. The House of Blakoshan is…was…a peaceful race. We did not create a Gigas of our own until the End of the War, despite what Silvites want you to believe.

They make it sound like they are the heroes, however When they created the Silver Gigas, we knew we must create our own to counter what they were going to do. We named it Aidacra, but before we could use it, A Priest of the Silver Moon foiled our plan. My civilisation managed to created the Dark rift by ploughing Aidacra into an ordinary rift that surrounded our Continent of Sitlos, before most of the House escaped into the sky, while a few scattered throughout the world to…"

"Enough!" Anif bellowed, causing everyone to jump, before walking up to Carlos, staring determinately at the Commander, "You know too much Outsider!" he unsheathed a sword from his belt, a sword whose blade was blacker than night, "Let's see you defeat me!"

"Anif don't!" Rin looked horrified.

"Stay out of this Rin!" Anif shouted at his sister, before holding up his sword offensively, "Come and fight me Outsider! Win, You live and you get what you came for, lose, and you die a horrible and painful death."

Carlos stared stonily down at the boy, "You've got spunk kid, reminds me of me when I was your age, but I won't fight you. I won't fight a minor."

Anif's nostrils flared.

"THEN PERISH OUTSIDER!"
With a defining cry, Anif held his sword high over his head, charging towards Carlos, a burning passion in his eyes.

Howard stepped quickly out of the way, for fear of what the small boy was going to do with such a large weapon. Carlos however, unsheathed his sword.

In one simple movement, he blocked the charging Blakoshan sword, before sending it clattering across the room.

Anif's eyes widened in surprise. He had obviously not been expecting a defeat so quickly.

Without a word, Carlos pointed his Serpent Strike under the smaller boy's chin, "Yield?"

Anif nodded grimly, "I yield. You may not be Silvite, but you sure fight like one."

Carlos smirked, "I'll take that as a compliment."

He turned back to Rin, his face grave once again, "I came down here to search for a Moonstone of the Black Moon. I need it for a complex spell to…"
Rin held up a hand to silence him, before standing up close to him, their faces barely a hand width away.

Very carefully, she gently raised a hand and gently placed two fingers on his forehead.

She closed her eyes, the strange tattoo on her forehead glowing slightly, Carlos trying to ignore how cool her touch felt to him.

"You friend Maria has the corrupt essence of Admiral Jefferson Mendosa within her. You require the spell to remove the essence…"

She faded off as she removed her fingers, looking calmly at the Commander.

"I am well versed in the Magic of the Dark moon," she said calmly, "I will help you remove Admiral Mendosa."

You like? Oh and on a side note, all members of the crew of the Surprise (Except for Carlos) were abducted from Master and Commander: the far side of the world, so i don't own them.

Keep on reviewing!