Gotc: HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack!
Ace: Oh no….
Gotc: Well people, I am glad to say that I have found some time in my days to write again!!!!
Ace: Actually, your parents are out and won't see you writing this.
Gotc: Shut it. Anyway, I'm working on top of a proverbial time bomb, so let's get right to the fic. Squeaky!!!!
Squeaky: Squeak! (JL not owned by Gotc, and hopefully she'll live long enough to finish this story before her parents catch her.)
Gotc: Well put. On to the fic!!!!!!!!!!
Rise of the Guardian: Ancient Power, Modern Age
CHAPTER 5: Hali
It was impossible to tell where the sky ended and the water began. The darkness seemed to close around Diana with every mile. J'onn had tried talking to her during the first part of the trip, but the closer they got to Theymascara, the harder it was to keep her mind off of the possibility of what may await them. She was banished, and returning held a steep penalty, death.
"Even so," she reminded herself, "many lives depend on what we are here to find."
Still, it was impossible to keep the memory of the event that had led her and J'onn to leave the rest of the League without telling them, and head into a possible suicide mission.
"Renhi tunhec Argon dacreli se comen nitu hali."
The words echoed in her head, from her last encounter with Ace. The phrase was Atlantean, though Diana had only been able to pick out one word. Hali. Monster. Demon.
The last time she had heard it, she was only a child, out on the white sands of her home, with her mother. The sun had just begun to rise, when she had spotted something drifting on the horizon. She watched as her mother pulled a young woman to shore.
Deep lines creased her face, her eyes were wide and wild with terror, and dipite her apparent age, her hair had been bleached snow white. She was weak with hunger and thirst, but before any more help could arrive, only a single word managed to escape her lips before life left her body. Hali.
It was only later that, Diana learned that the woman had been one of the fabled Atlanteans, after the remains of her clothing had been examined, and the meaning of her last word. The whole island had been alive with the news for days, until her mother had put an end to the rumors with a proper burial of the woman. No one spoke another word of it after that, as if some great evil would be reawakened by speaking of it.
"Diana!" J'onn yelled for the third time.
"Sorry," she apologized, "I was just thinking."
"I could tell," J'onn said, "But we are here."
Just ahead of them lay the faint glow of torchlights, illuminating the ancient Greek island. Diana sucked in a deep breath to try and steady herself. Even the sight of her home brought emotions to the surface that she would have preferred stayed buried.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" J'onn asked, "I could go alone."
"But you wouldn't know what you'd be looking for," She said shaking off the feeling.
"A small journal, brown, roughly the size of my hand and written in a language lost to mankind for nearly 10,000 years," J'onn said with a smirk
"You've been hanging out with Flash too much," she chuckled, before turning back to the looming island, "No, I'll be ok, but we'll have to hurry. There's always guards on watch for intruders, we only have a few hours to find what we need and get out."
"Then let's not waste any time."
Diana tossed another dusty tome on to the ever-growing pile next to her, and ran her hand though her hair in frustration.
"All good things come with time," J'onn said patiently picking up a missed book.
"Unfortunately, time is something we don't have." Diana sighed, "I knew it would be difficult to find, but this?"
"Is there anything else about this journal you can remember?" J'onn asked, waving his hand at the piles of seemingly identical books next to him, "Your description appears to fit most of this library."
The "library" was a massive room hidden beneath one of the temples on the island. Row after row of ancient and crumbling scrolls, tome, and books, stretched out in orderly rows, covered in a thick layer of dust, dimly illuminated by J'onn and Diana's torches.
"No," she said sadly, " I remember my mother always coming down here and coming back with this one journal. She said it was probably the last Atlantean transcript on Earth."
"But you never seen where it was kept?"
"Afraid not. I was never allowed down here."
"Why not?"
"There's more than just history and knowledge in these books," Diana said gesturing towards a darker section of the library, "there are powerful magics, spells and seals here as well. Some are even rumored to have the power to unleash the end of the world. That was why the library was hidden here on Theymascara, to prevent any of that kind of magic from falling into the wrong hands."
J'onn opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the sound of faint footsteps.
"Someone's coming!" he hissed, shoving one pile of books behind a shelf and blowing out his torch, before melting into the wall.
Diana did the same, and leapt behind a row, hardly daring to breathe as the footsteps drew closer.
A single torchlight lit up the entrance of the room, and the last person on Earth Diana wanted to see. Queen Hipolyeta.
Her sharp eyes scanned the room with scrutiny, examining every detail of the room. With a sigh she placed her torch in a holder on the wall, and turned to face Diana's hiding spot.
"I know you're down here," she said in a commanding tone, "so you may as well come out before I call guards to flush you out."
Diana's heart fell like a stone. Her mother never made hollow threats, and if the guards were called down they would find her and J'onn in a matter of minutes. Slowly, she got to her feet, not daring to meet her mother's eyes, and praying to whatever god was listening that maybe the dim light would conceal her identity.
"I must say Diana, I am surprised to find you here," Hipolyeta said crushing Diana's hopes, "Tell your friend to come out too. I believe we have a lot to talk about."
Ace crept along from shadow to shadow, blending seamlessly into the darkness. His hand went to his pocket, and touched the small bottle inside. A rundown house lay in front of him with one light burning in the window. Ace sprinted across the open space between him and the house, and slid onto the porch. Gently, he took the orange bottle from his pocket and set it in front of the door. As he turned to leave, the old wood porch creaked under his feet.
The front door flung open flooding the porch with light, and a thin, pale woman appeared in the doorway, clutching her worn nightgown.
"Hello?" She called out into the darkness, but no reply came.
She was about to go inside when she noticed the medicine bottle at her feet. Gingerly she picked it up, as if touching it would cause it to shatter. She stared at the bottle in disbelief for a moment, when a small voice behind her brought her to her senses.
"Mommy? Is someone there? I heard a noise."
"No, Anna, it must have been the wind," She said gently, "Go back to bed."
She gazed into the darkness one more time before turning to go back into the house.
"Thank you," She whispered into the night, then shut the door behind her.
Ace peered over the roof, let out a sigh and got to his feet. He landed silently next to the house, kicking up a small swirl of dust about his feet, before heading back towards the city to gather up a few important things from his apartment. He was almost out of sight of the house, when he stopped for a moment and glance over his shoulder at the little house.
"You're welcome," Ace murmured, and disappeared into the shadows.
Gotc: WOOT!!!!!!! Not a bad chap if I do say so myself.
Ace: We'd prefer if you didn't.
Gotc: T-T Nobody loves me……Oh well, life rolls on. Remember to R&R and be expecting the next chappie to be up soon peoples! Let the Summer of Updates begin!!!!!!!!!!!