Liechtenstein opened her eyes and found herself lying on some hard ground. Her body was so freezing cold it helped her out of her numbness and move—it took her a little time to realize she was soaked. Her head was spinning, but, thankfully, it didn't last too long and could get up after a few minutes.
She was in what seemed like a cavern, a mighty big one, in which she was nothing but an insignificant fleck. Natural light descended from a hole on the ceiling, so high she couldn't see sky. Bathed by that light, a tall throne of stone with carvings decorated with a shiny golden metal, a tangled mess of tubes hanging above the seat. At its feet, concentric circles chiseled on the ground, with the throne as center.
How cold was it in there! And being soaked to the bones didn't help...
"H-Hello?" She called aloud, even though she wasn't very sure it was a good idea.
Her voice echoed trough the chamber. When it extinguished, she could only hear water dripping down the rock walls.
She would have thought she was alone, until she turned her head and saw her, the pale girl, out of the halo of light.
"Did you bring me here?"
Liechtenstein didn't get an answer, but supposed that the answer was a yes.
"Why?" Was what she really wanted to know.
The girl merely stared at her.
"...Who are you?"
She didn't reply. It seemed to Liechtenstein that she didn't speak her language.
"Liechtenstein." She slowly introduced herself, placing a hand on her chest.
The other seemed to understand. Her lips curved into a tiny smile, and mimicked the gesture.
"Atlantis." Her voice was like a metallic echo in the emptiness.
"Atlantis? Is that your name?"
She knew that name. She had read it on books, heard it on movies, from the lips of storytellers.
A legendary civilization. The most advanced the world had ever seen—or so they said. Older than time. Liechtenstein, adopting her brother's refusal to believe in anything she couldn't touch, had thought she was just a myth. «Just a fairytale Helas used to tell», he said.
And she was now in front of her.
So Portugal had really found her...He had reasons to be proud and spread the word around, indeed: many had looked for her remains for centuries and none had found a single clue. Thus why it was questionable that she had ever existed in the first place.
But she's alive, and she's real...She's been alive all along!
Liechtenstein wanted to ask her quite a few things, but was overwhelmed and words never came out. Atlantis seemed amused by her bewilderment. She caressed Liechtenstein's face with that cold hand of hers, gazed at her like admiring her features. She said something, but Liechtenstein didn't understand what.
She didn't speak any modern languages, for what it seemed. That made things difficult...
"It's very nice to meet you, Atlantis, really, but I need to—"
Atlantis rose a hand to tell her to be quiet, and then walked to the throne. She sat on it and placed both her arms on the structure, raising her head to the big hole on the ceiling. Instantly, all those wires descended and the tips, which seemed like needles, introduced into the veins of her arms. A reddish liquid started flowing from the tubes into her bloodstream. Liechtenstein looked at all of this with a confused quietness. Atlantis first closed her eyes and remained sat and quiet for some time, then opened her eyes, looked at Liechtenstein and smiled, saying something calmly.
Perhaps she was sick and this was her treatment, a kind of transfusion? Couldn't she eat and had to get nourishment that way? Anyway, it seemed to her that Atlantis was telling her there was nothing to worry about.
Atlantis knocked at the arm of the stone throne with the ring around her finger, which echoed like an explosion. Liechtenstein soon found that they were not as alone as she had thought, when a man entered the room, running, from what she had thought was just darkness and proved to be a tunnel. Panting, he dropped on the floor, kissing it, his arms open to salute Atlantis. She didn't even look at him. She just told him something in that language of hers Liechtenstein didn't understand while shaking her hand dismissively. But the man understood perfectly and he got up, bowing a thousands time more before running away. Liechtenstein noted that he was dressing in a modern fashion, unlike Atlantis. Their gazes met and Atlantis smiled at her.
Three middle-aged women walked in, doing the same exaggerated reverences the man had done earlier. They looked at Liechtenstein with contained surprise. Liechtenstein also looked at them with much curiosity: they looked sickly, their clothes were damaged and dirty and had bruises all over their bodies. Atlantis pointed at Liechtenstein like speaking. Liechtenstein didn't understand but it seemed the women did. They removed the robe she was wearing, the nightgown—how cold was it in there!, the child trembled from heads to toes—and one of the women started measuring her with a tape while the other two rushed out of the room and returned soon with their arms full of rich fabric of several colors.
"Which one do you prefer, miss?" One asked her in French.
Liechtenstein didn't know what they meant.
"The Queen is offering you a new dress."
"Oh! But I don't need one. I've got plenty enough at home."
"Which one you do prefer, miss?" Another one, the oldest of the group, repeated, marking her words, the veins of her wrinkled neck tensing.
Liechtenstein turned her head to Atlantis. She was watching attentively.
"...This one." She chose a light purple fabric, matching her ribbon.
The three women bowed again to Atlantis and ran out of the chamber without making one more sound.
"Uh...Thank you, Atlantis. You're very kind." Liechtenstein told her, bowing her head a little bit and placing a hand on her chest.
Atlantis nodded, understanding and meaning to say it was fine.
She gestured at her to approach and sit at her feet. Liechtenstein obeyed. Atlantis then started caressing her hair, combing it with her fingers, admiring its softness and color, evaluating its styling. She tilted her head and removed the ribbon, throwing it aside.
"No! ...That's special..."
Atlantis didn't understand or care. She said something while trying to style her hair, attempting to braid it, tie it in ponytails and buns. Such a short hair didn't allow much creativity. Perhaps that was what she was talking about, the convenience of letting her hair grow.
"Listen! Uh...It's been nice meeting you. It's incredible that you really exist, and I'm flattered that you've wanted to spend time with me. But I must find Oskar and go home. I shouldn't be here. Everybody must be worried sick. You can come whenever you like, I will make you flower crowns and give you our cheese to taste. I'm very good at making them. But, uh..."
She was interrupted by a tremor that shook the entire gallery, making some rocks come off the walls. Liechtenstein jumped on her feet, gasping, when not only one but nine colossuses walked into the cave.
"Look out!"
But Atlantis only needed to raise a hand for them to stop.
A long silence followed; Liechtenstein and Atlantis gazed at one another.
"...You...command them?" Liechtenstein shook, not just because of the cold.
Atlantis was smiling. She was smiling.
"You...are behind all of this...? It was you who...?"
She felt she was going to faint, her head started to spin again. Atlantis, on the other hand, seemed to find her reaction funny.
"...W-What did you do to my brother?" Liechtenstein asked with trembling voice, daring to take a wobbly step towards her. "H-His name is Switzerland...He was in Venice when your gigants...Suisse, Schweiz, Svizzera, Svizra...? Please, I need to know, where is he? Is he alright?"
But Atlantis didn't seem to be listening. She looked around, at her colossuses, with a satisfied smile.
However, it froze when she counted them.
She opened her hands and the tubes ascended again. She got up and inspected her titans. What conclusion she reached, what she was thinking about, Liechtenstein ignored it.
"Please..." She attempted to say, and Atlantis gave her what seemed like a bad word, gesturing again at her to shut up.
She then closed her eyes and remained silent and still for very long. When she opened her eyes again, she seemed in a better mood, though still annoyed. She made a gesture with her hand and the colossuses moved to different corners around the throne, in circle, and there they stood, so quiet they didn't seem alive. Atlantis's throat produced something which seemed like a mixture between a grunt and a sigh. She approached the throne to knock at it again with her ring. The man Liechtenstein had seen before returned, and bowed in the same way he did. Atlantis gave him some instructions, and he disappeared. Another man would return. This one was much younger, Liechtenstein would say he was somewhere in his twenties or early thirties. He had a pretty long dark hair and sleeve tattoos or many different things, like a heart with a safety pin, a mermaid, a hand doing the sign of the horns. Liechtenstein blushed when she found this one was completely naked. She was not as half as cold as he had to be.
Atlantis walked to his encounter and started kissing and licking his neck, grabbed her hand and drove it to very intimate places. Liechtenstein didn't feel so cold anymore, and tried to look away. Didn't she realize she was in front of them? The young man did, he didn't take his eyes off of her, and didn't seem to like the idea of her being around to witness those inappropriate things. But he didn't open his mouth unless to kiss Atlantis back and do things to her Liechtenstein didn't want to see. Switzerland had always sheltered her from that kind of things, and had punched everyone who had tried to suggest that she was too old to be a child. How awkward this was! And Atlantis didn't mind about it! She seemed to have forgotten about her and was having fun, drowning whatever bad thought she just had on this man's touch. No, she had not forgotten...From time to time, her eyes turned to her and smiled, she smiled...Liechtenstein looked away, at the walls, at the throne, the colossuses, anywhere, and tried to ignore the moans, anything at all. Not even France had ever done such an inappropriate thing...Her brother would be furious when he knew about this...
When he knew...If...
Her eyes met the man's quite a few times. In spite of what he was doing, she would have said his whole attention was on her. She saw in his eyes the same distress she had seen in the butler, and those three women.
And Atlantis looked at her from time to time. Like saying: 'watch and learn, are you having fun?'.
Liechtenstein understood. She wasn't going to let her go. She had kept her as a pet.
"Alloy unknown."
South Korea frowned. "What?!"
The chief of the scientist team left the papers on the desk and shrugged a little bit.
"Is that all?!" He took the papers and took a look at them himself.
"We have detected traces of diamond, tungsten, bronze and some other materials we haven't been able to identify." The scientist elaborated.
"So...We still got no answers." South Korea groaned, dropping the file and walking around in circles, his hands on his hips.
"I told you they are aliens." North Korea said.
"Aliens! Cool!" Sealand exclaimed. He was in a corner of the room, eating the rice Japan had given to him to eat. Hanatamago was also eating dog food at his feet.
"No, not cool! Those things are destroying the Earth!"
"And what were you trying to do, with all those nuclear bombs? I watch the news, for your information!"
"I wasn't trying to blow the whole planet up or destroy people! Uh, why am I arguing with you? You're not even a real country!"
"Oh, yeah? Well, all those bombs and rockets and things didn't help you avoid your buttocks getting kicked!"
North Korea rolled up his sleeves and would have beaten Sealand up if it wasn't for his brother stopping him.
"No electrical components? Nothing?" Japan asked his scientist.
"Absolutely none, sir. It all seems to be crafted by hand, and the system which made the titan move..., it seems to be based on the pressure of water."
"Interesting..."
"No, it's not! We're not here to admire the engineering, we are trying to prevent them from erasing us all!" North Korea said.
"Any idea of who crafted them?" South Korea asked.
"Such traditional proceedings...It seemed like nothing modern, so we made a radiocarbon tasting on it to confirm our suspicions, and...this is very interesting." The scientist looked for a paper in his folder and showed it at them when he found it. "That piece is around 12,000 years old."
"Twelve th—!" South Korea almost said a profanity, and contained himself remembering that Sealand was around. "Even older than China, the old coot!"
"How can something so ancient be operative?" North Korea asked.
"We have seen," the scientist removed his glasses, "by the organisms attached to its surface, that it has been underwater for a very long time. Instead of damaging it, it may have protected it..."
"There must be something else...There is no way a machine can move without electric components."
"There are records about non-electrical automatons, from as early as Renaissance, which could do simple tasks." Japan said.
"But targeting a certain kind of people! How do they do that?"
"I don't know...I wish there was a way to follow the trace of whoever sent them."
"Ah, that's easy, they'll be here soon." Sealand shrugged, while getting his mouth full of rice. "You broke their toy, and I bet they're angry."
Silence fell upon the group. Yes, that was true...Though they didn't like the idea...
"Perhaps..." The scientist said in a low voice, "we have a tiny clue..."
"Which?" Japan turned his head at him to ask.
"The liquid which made the titan move was water, yes, but we found a very, very tiny trace of something else." He shot his nation a penetrating gaze. "Blood!"
It would be better not to attract much attention. Therefore, only three would go to the island and inspect. Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica.
"Tell us everything you find, okay?" Argentina made him promise before he left the American continent.
"Sure."
Australia's boss had attempted to stop him from the moment he heard about his decision until he saw him putting the helmet on and sitting on his plane.
"We've got an army, trained soldiers, you don't need to—!"
"We need them more here, protecting the people. I will just go there, take a look and be right back."
"Please, Australia..."
"Sorry, Richie. I've had enough sitting here while the world burnt."
The president hung his head in defeat.
"...Be very, very careful, alright?" After what had happened to the other nations, he couldn't resist it and gave him a hug.
"I promise..."
New Zealand also hugged his boss just in case and prepared to leave. Romania watched him go.
"Everything will be alright, Romania, you will see. We gotta be a little optimistic." He turned around to say.
And he ran away before he could hear him prophesy some catastrophe again. Which he did.
"...They're making a big mistake...Now I'm sure everything will go to hell..." Romania sighed, and walked into New Zealand's house.
Moldova watched New Zealand go, then followed his brother.
"Big bro...Is...Atlantis so bad?"
Romania turned his eyes at him.
"So bad? Well...Imagine how bad you have to be for the gods to smite you..."