It was the power of the gods in its purest form. An emerald bolt of energy streaking across the sky, entering the palace before the guards even had time to sound an alarm.
Speeding along the corridors the massive green ball of light wove its way through the building until it entered the throne room. Once there it slowed to a stop, and the arching bolts of energy began to fade, revealing something, that was either dressed in green furs or had a thick pelt of green fur covering it from head to toe holding a glowing green box.
"You wished to speak to me King Pontkus?"
"Yes I did Risia," said the king of the first city with a smile. "I must admit though I had expected you to arrive yesterday."
"My apologies my friend, but I had to destroy a tribe of the large ice demons that inhabit my homeland first," said Risia as the green furs began to shift into what most of the women of the court were wearing, revealing a human woman, or perhaps a young girl on her way to transforming into a woman. She was small, only reaching the height of the smaller young women who hadn't fled the court. Even if she had been the same height as the other women her light skin and golden hair would have marked her as an outsider when everyone in the city had dark hair and richly tanned skin. It was her eyes that attracted the most attention though, for her eyes still crackled with the same bright green power that had transported her into the building.
"Understood, and as the threat our seers have predicted has not yet arrived there is no need for an apology, not harm as been done," said King Pontkus as he stood from his throne. "I have had a room prepared for you for as long as you wish to stay."
"Thank you," said Risia as she followed the king. "So what exactly is the threat supposed to be? The dream your mystics sent to me was lacking in detail."
"Pure chaos," said King Pontkus as he quickly made his way to a private chamber, some things were better discussed in private rather than open court. "From what my advisors tell me this won't be the result of a plot by demons so there is no way to prevent this from coming to pass. If what I have been told is true, this needs to happen. We simply need to contain the taint and make sure the destructive forces don't spread too far."
"Contain the taint? This doesn't sound like the words of someone that raced me to fight a group of grathmnt demons."
"If you remember I was almost killed because I rushed in. If your scream hadn't caused their heads to explode my younger sister would be ruling this city instead of me."
"True," said Risia with a smile. "So I'll trust you when you say that this can't be prevented, but do you have any idea what will cause this disaster?"
"Has caused, not will cause. Every mystic on the island says that this is a result of the war between the Gods and Demons, like the dark portals that lead to the home dimensions of the demons."
"And the gods still refuse to show themselves. At times like this it's truly difficult to believe that they haven't left us, or have died."
"They live, but perhaps they now live in another land. I've heard that there are gods in a land where the sands are like the ocean, perhaps they are there."
"I've been there Pontkus. There are beings of power there, but I would not call them gods. The god Pontus supposedly created your oceans by dousing the fires of the demons with his body, the power of water personified, but the half animal beings I encountered in the land of sand were too human. I would believe my cousin Wodan a god before I think the beings I met as the gods whose stories I was raised on."
"You may be right, but I will still pray before we go into battle."
"That's your choice, but I've found something that works better than prayer for me," said Risia as she indicated the stone medallion that hung around her neck.
"Yes, the true source of your powers. You never did explain what that meant."
"It's an oath," said Risia as her fingers traced the design on the circular medallion. "It was an oath that I made to myself, and to every human in this world."
Pontkus didn't say anything, but silently indicated that she should go on. This was the first time Risia had talked about this without being drunk and it looked like she was going to say more sober then she ever did when they were in the taverns together.
"When I first found the green ore while exploring a cave in my homelands, my greatest wish was to leave my tribe to find a place where I wasn't the smallest one around. The ore granted that wish and took me to the moon in a flash of emerald light. I saw the world as the gods see it that day, and it looked as vulnerable as the pomegranate its shape reminded me of.
"That day I made an oath to protect as much of the world as I could, from the top," indicating the horizontal line at the top of the circle, "to the bottom," said Risia while she pointed at the horizontal line on the bottom of the circle.
A line, then a circle just as wide under it, and under that another line. It was Risia's symbol, and now Pontkus knew what it meant.
"Get some rest Risia," said Pontkus. "Tomorrow we save Atlantis, and possibly the world."