Chapter Eleven
Ghosts
It was a most teary farewell to Sage, even Sage finding it impossible to withhold any tears, and instead allowed them to shed and shared the weeping with the pod. After three days travel, feeding his aching belly full and learning new songs of honour, bravery and strength, Sage felt as if he'd spent a lifetime with the Marble Gate pod, and did not wish to leave.
But Sage still yearned for home. His longing for the cold waters, barking of seals and songs of the ancient frozen dialect called in his heart, and he knew he must move on.
Before him lay the marble gates to the sunken city, a place rich with history and origins of things lost to the song and forgotten but to a select few. Many songs of the hero Ecco sung of this city called Atlantis, sunken city of man to the world, a place of peaceful quiet and deathly silence.
With the tidings of Wind and Gale, and even a farewell from the shy Medivo, Sage left the pod feeling all that much fuller in spirit. With his own parting from the song-master Foxin, Sage wished a healthy birth and strong calf to her, and she, a fulfilling and safe journey, to him.
Still with their cacophonic callings ringing within his inner ears, Sage pressed forward, through the large pillars of marble. Once, long ago, they may have shined and glittered, but not, they lay half buried by the sand, between the two walls of stone that entrapped the ancient city within. Long kelp draped over the gates of stone, as moss and barnacles clung to it for life, the decay of time setting in.
As Sage pushed forward, the sounds of the sea, the scrabbling of crabs, the snapping of eels and the cries of all life around ended. It wasn't a gradual fade; it just suddenly stopped, as if some protective aura over the city preventing them from the dangers of sound.
Venturing forward through the passage of stone, Sage passed the ruins of pillars and of statues, lying broken, lost, buried and forgotten, with shards of crystals everywhere over the stone walls and buried in the sands… Nothing grew over them, instead leaving a sense of emptiness and dread lingering over the entire surrounding area.
"Is this place entirely dead?" Sage asked out loud, instantly regretting his rash action.
Suddenly, eerie voices called out, protesting from the sound, words that were not words. They were next to him, far away, close and distanced for miles. Voices of thousands of slow, haunting songs, protesting against the sound. Sage spun around, sonaring for a source of the sound, but no echo returned. There was no one anywhere, but the voices protested louder at the incidents of more sound in their waters.
Shaking in fear, Sage continued to spin around, seeking a source of the sound, but seeing nothing no matter where he turned. Alarmed greatly, Sage sped up, attempting to flee these demons that trailed along behind him, hoping the city may house some sanctuary of some sort.
As the passage opened, Sage became aware of the structures before him, and continued his mad dash, blotting out the voices in his head. As he drew close, he noticed the structures were also decayed with time, crumbling and collapsing upon them-selves.
Pausing to rise for a breath, Sage calmed for a second as he became aware, that the ghostly songs were now gone, and that the waters once more reigned of silence. His thumping heart began to slow, as Sage glanced about, observing the city in the growing twilight of the night.
Red sparkled over the cities' marbled structures, as they lay in ruins, the structures spreading for many, many miles before him. As Sage began to swim towards the structures, he glanced over the decaying of time and age, from these constructions of a long since forgotten age.
Such beauty and care had gone into the construction of these relics, carvings carefully removed and scooped from the mould, leaving messages in the form of pictures and symbols that Sage did not understand. Bricks and statues and pillars and pots and many, many more items of the race that built Atlantis littered the waters, covered with the sands of time, and resting eternally in their places, undisturbed by any creature from the deserted city.
As Sage slowly ghosted alone in-between the buildings and structures and pillars, careful not to disturb even the slightest grain of sand, he came near a building, larger than any of the others, and unlike the others that had crumbled in upon them-selves, this building remained mostly intact.
Giving a whistle of admiration of the city, the wraithlike songs cursed again, calling for silence and peace in their imagery song that was not of song. Sage panicked again, crying out in terror, spinning around as he began to feel thousands of beings watching him, as if…
As if the ghosts of the city, ghosts of singers and creatures long since passed from this world remained here, watching, waiting, ready to pounce and seize Sage as one of their own…
Panicking, Sage gave screams of horror, and the voices screamed back, wanting silence.
Then, Sage understood a single word in the ethereal song.
"Library… Library…"
Sage turned around, seeking the origin of this voice. It was another ghostly song, but one that he understood. His eyes darted around the darkening, twilight waters. "Who--Who are you? What do you want?" Sage stammered, his song faltering in fear.
"Library… Answers… Leave city in peace…" the voices all sung in unison. The ghostly hum of thousands of years of silence interrupted with the intrusion of sound. Then, as Sage glanced about seeking the owners, as the ghostly voices hummed the same words over, he saw the walls of the buildings studded with shards of gemstones and more shards in the sands.
As Sage watched, the crystals vibrated and resonated, slowly decreasing until the crystals came to a complete stop and the supernatural songs ended. Blinking in thought, Sage let out one low note and the crystals began to tremble, the voices begun once again.
Giving a bark of laughter, Sage realized the ghosts were in fact, voices from these crystal shards, which reacted to the sound of his song.
But, they had told him to go to the… library? Turning to the building he'd seen before as he rose for a breath, he considered the thought… Was this the library? It remained near intact, but the opening mouth, a pitch black maw awaited, the kelp slowly flapping over it, taunting Sage to move forward, into the stomach of this monster and learn the wisdom hidden within…
Rising for a deep breath, filling his lungs bloated with the sweet air, Sage dived, venturing into the darkness of the orifice of the library, sweeping his sonar across the waters, and seeing a world that his eyes could not. The ringing of the ghostly songs Sage ignored, instead concentrating upon seeing his world around him with his song.
The passage was long, wide and linear. Shimmering jewels seemed to shine upon the walls in the darkness, only source of tiny specks of light. Turning the corner, the chamber erupted into a large, gaping chamber, with a pocket of air in the surface and a large gemstone in the centre. The ceiling opened to the heavens, the darkness of night beginning to set as the light of the moon illuminated the earth.
His lungs aching slightly, Sage rose, sucking in the slightly stale air, before returning to examine the glowing crystal, resting upon the podium in the centre of the room.
"What are you?" he sung in wonder, a rhetorical question to the treasure.
We are the glyphs…
Startled, Sage released several bubbles. The crystal had spoke! Similar to the smaller shards, only this crystal had a louder song, of more power, authority and strength. But, in addition to that, it sung in the exact same song as he, note for note! Sage swam around it, admiring it in wonder, before asking, "You--You can talk?"
Glyphs… Crystals containing encoded messages. Certain songs reflect the message back…
Tilting his head in curiosity, Sage listened to the words. The glyphs reflected messages back, depending on what was sung to them. If he were to sing about fish, perhaps it would reflect any messages about fish it understood.
Perhaps they may know about…
"Ecco," Sage sung to the crystal, hoping and praying.
Ecco, a dolphin of the future, destined to greatness.
Travelled to Planet Vortex to end an eternal cycle of death and loss.
Harnessed the powers of the glyphs and the Asterite to combat the Vortex.
Travelled the streams of time, becoming the stone that split the stream.
Protected the Asterite from the Vortex Queen.
Traversed the past, securing the future.
Travelled to two futures to right the correct flow of time.
Rallied the singers of the world to stand the Vortex threat.
Defender of Earth's future.
Forever disappeared into the machine of time.
As the voice ended, the light of the crystal faded. Sage sung to it again, "Asterite! Tell me about the Asterite!" But the glyph remained stony silent. "Please," Sage pleaded. "Tell me about the Asterite! Or the Big Blue! Or--Or the Vortex!"
But try as he might, the glyph remained still.
Growling in frustration, Sage knew he'd learnt more about Ecco, but did not understand why he couldn't learn anymore from the glyph before it died. Blowing in frustration, Sage turned from the glyph, heading towards the exit and out of the city, deciding to leave ghosts of the past to rest, and instead learn from the living.
But, as he left from the building, he became deafened of the sudden shrill screaming of the shattered and scattered glyph shards as another song cried out in pain, loss and despair, somewhere within the sunken city, drowned by the screaming ghost glyphs.