Years later

MY DIARY! I have found you! I heard murmurings about a book written in a strange tongue that nobody could recognize.

It could have been anything, but I knew.

Somehow I knew.

I have just reread all of what I’d written as a young man. Such naïveté! Such idealism! Well, I admit I am still the same man, albeit older, and I am drawn to continuing what I started.

So, dear Diary, here is what happened. Please be prepared, old friend—for after I tell you I must destroy you, so you do not end up in the wrong hands. You see, nowadays I am living a life untethered to my former self.

The better to track down my brother, Massarym, and what he stole.

Now then. The night of the fish storm, I sneaked through the rain to the Great Onyx Circle and found my way to Mother’s beloved Heptakiklos, where the seven deadly Loculi rested.

By now, dear Diary, perhaps you have forgotten the circular ridge, which has since risen up to form the proper volcano known as Mount Onyx. Now the maze through the woods has become a labyrinth through a mountain. But to my story!

I sought my pet vizzeet—what was his name?—Kav’i! Kav’i had vanished from his cage during the chaos of the day. So I was on my own in the maze.

I remember the spring was especially full, glowing with wisps of bluish smoke that seemed to have a luminescence of their own. When I reached the waterfall I stopped to plunge my hands deep, splashing some on my face. It was cold and revitalizing.

Pinpricks of mist dotted my skin as I approached the Heptakiklos.

Eephus—the griffin I had trained painstakingly to protect my mother’s invention—was sleeping next to it. He raised his fearsome head, instantly alert as I approached. I spoke gently to him, murmuring reassurance as I moved toward the very objects he was supposed to protect.

Rain pelted me as I stepped closer. The Heptakiklos was dark under the overcast sky, but the Loculi glowed faintly with their own power, and were further lit by the thick streams of blue vapor that issued from cracks all around us.

The Loculi rested in their indentations—but only six glowing spheres. Had the Loculus of Invisibility completely vanished? Before I’d been able to see its flowing energy. The handle of a sword was wedged deep into the middle of the Heptakiklos. I bent down to pick up the invisible orb. My hand touched . . . nothing.

With the Loculus of Invisibility, as you know, one can feel the surface, and then one becomes invisible. But no, Diary—nothing was there!

Behind me the air shifted imperceptibly. In that moment I knew exactly what had happened.

I stood and turned. “M-M-Massarym?”

“A pity, I thought you’d lost that stutter,” my brother’s voice rang out. “You are terrible at secret plots too, Karai. While you sneaked here, f-f-fumbling and b-b-bumbling your way, I woke Mother and told her of your plans. Do you know what? She didn’t want me to throw you and Father in jail for treason against the Crown, where you should be! She argued for you, Karai.” Massarym laughed bitterly. Two quick footsteps sounded on the stone floor and then I felt my arm being twisted behind my back.

My heart pounded in my chest. I chose not to struggle against him, knowing he was the stronger of us. My thoughts raced. Mother had defended me? I took comfort in that. Perhaps she’d come around.

My shoulder was beginning to throb. “I will go f-freely, Massarym. Let us approach Mother together. Please p-p-put the Loculus back—”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Massarym said, tightening his grip on my arm. “And I’m afraid a meeting with Mother is not in the plan.”

“But—”

“I went looking for you, but you were nowhere on the continent,” Massarym said. “Clever, eh? You think you’re the smart one, brother, because you love books, because you used magic and wizardry to teach yourself Akkadian, but you’re not.”

Sharp pain stabbed through my shoulder.

“My brother, the power is changing you,” I said, “but you must come to your senses. This is not a question of who is smarter—”

Massarym’s hand shoved me down to one knee. “I heard you and Father, acting like holy men, pretending you know anything about Mother’s invention. You think the Loculi are responsible for the weather, for the flying fish? Well, you may be right, you may be wrong, but think, Karai. You’re a scientist. What does a scientist do but refine and change? The Loculi are a work in progress. And you cannot stop progress!”

“What does Mother say now, Massarym?” I pleaded. “Have you spoken to her after what happened this afternoon?”

“I have told her you want to destroy the Loculi,” Massarym plowed on. “She said this was an act of treason. And she asked me to come after you.”

“Mother would not have said that!” I shouted, struggling to free myself. “Traitors to Atlantis are killed. She knows I just want to protect us all!”

“What is the matter, sad that you won’t be king?” Massarym said. “You expected to lead a nation after such a traitorous plan?”

He was a madman. The Loculi had changed him. In my panic I was seeing things with extreme clarity.

Massarym hadn’t spoken to Mother at all. Of course. She wouldn’t have sent him alone to get me. If she had really wanted to stop me, she would have come herself.

Nobody knew we were here. Which was terrifying.

I jumped into action, kicking at the mass behind me, guessing where Massarym’s legs were. I heard a thump and a cry and my arm was free! I swung my arms wildly at the patch of air that was my brother, connecting again and again. Then my hand hit something hard, and Massarym popped into view. I heard the soft thud of the Loculus landing invisibly on the floor. I saw the slight, slick furrow in the mud as it rolled away.

“Ah well, at least my hands are free,” Massarym said with a grin as he lunged at me.

He was far stronger, Diary. As he grabbed me, I twisted in his grip, trying to knee him or butt him with my head. My fists pummeled the air helplessly as he squeezed my arms to my side. He shoved me backward to the wall of the cave, when my foot hit something, something round—the invisible Loculus! I stumbled over it and lost my balance. As my brother and I fell to the ground, my head hit stone, and everything went black.

I don’t remember how much time went by before I came to, with a throbbing pain in my head. It felt like the earth was moving beneath me.

I blinked my eyes and realized the earth was moving beneath me.

Nevertheless I struggled to my feet and swung my arms around, trying to find Massarym, trying to continue the fight that was unfortunately long over. “Show yourself and fight me, you coward!” I screamed.

Then I saw the Heptakiklos. It was completely empty.

All seven Loculi gone.

“Massarym?”

My heart rose to my mouth. I scanned the area helplessly. I don’t know how long I was out, but it was still dark and still raining. As I tried to think what to do, a violent tremor shook the earth and I fell to my knees.

Eephus the griffin trumpeted in panic. He shifted his weight from side to side, extending and folding his gigantic wings. His eyes rolled back in his head like a panicked horse. That Massarym managed to evade the beast somehow did not surprise me.

A massive creaking noise echoed above me, and I looked up to see a gigantic rock tip slowly from the top of the great ridge, which seemed at least ten feet higher than it had been moments ago.

“Eephus!” I cried out. The creature looked up and tried to fly away, but the rock rolled down the ridge and pinned his right wing to the floor.

He screeched in pain, flapping his opposite wing and scrabbling against the boulder with his talons. I ran to him, looking into his huge eyes, which were wide with terror. I spoke soothing words, trying to calm him. I reached a hand out to the wounded wing, and with a cry he lashed out with his beak, slicing into my arm. As I leaped away, the beast snapped at me, straining against the boulder.

The next rock that fell was in flames, and it landed in a patch of scrub that was dry enough to catch fire.

The ground shook again. The ridge lurched upward like a growing creature. A crack appeared in the ground, opening into a black chasm. I had to leave the area or I knew I would die.

I wanted to save the griffin. I racked my brain about ways to dislodge it and drag it away.

Don’t be foolish. Save yourself, or you’ll both die.

“I have to go, Eephus,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

As I ran for a little-used tunnel, I heard a shriek and looked over my shoulder. Eephus had ripped his wing out from under the massive boulder. He was following me, dragging the injured wing at his side. There was nothing but fury in his eyes.

No time to think. I sped away, bleeding, hearing Eephus’s screams behind me. I nearly fell into a hidden hole. A spring-loaded arrow missed my head by inches. Where had that come from?

I ignored the maze that had been cut through the forest. My ankles were lashed with thorns as I ran blindly toward the opposite side of the ridge. Toward home.

As I emerged into the flat lands, I tripped on a root and fell.

With a snort, Eephus emerged from the forest behind me.

He was not alone.

My jaw dropped open. Trees were tilting left and right, crashing down hard on the soaked soil. From their midst came a creature like nothing I’d seen before. It seemed to be gaining mass from the soil, the roots and trunks and leaves themselves—a face, mouth, a ring of eyes that billowed and bulged into an amorphous mass of glowing green. It groaned as it grew, casting its cold, hungry eyes in all directions.

What on earth was this thing of horror? What had we unleashed in our foolish quest for power? I did not want to know.

Eephus screeched, half running on its spindly legs, half flying. I ran away, toward the safety of the kingdom. Above me I saw a great swooping bird.

No. It was no griffin but Massarym, heading downward for me.

I felt him grab my shoulder and I was lifted upward. In the dim moonlight I saw a sack around his shoulders. “Th-thank you!” I shouted.

He did not reply. Instead he carried me up . . . up . . . until the tops of the trees were far beneath us. Now safely in the distance, I could see the green mountain creature making a swath of destruction through the jungle. Fireballs fell from the sky as if thrown by the gods themselves. As we swung over the harbor I could see the ships rocking placidly in their moorings.

“I—I’m sorry,” Massarym said, and before I could ask him to explain, he let me go.

I remember falling. I remember thinking I was going to die. I know I woke up floating in the sea and commandeering a ship with the first wave of Atlanteans who fled the destruction. And I remember seeing the fireball that fell like a planet, consuming Atlantis in flames before my eyes.

I’ve been told ours was the only surviving ship, but I hope this is not true.

Please forgive me, Diary, for not being able to write more. It is a vision quite too painful to remember.

I still do not know how you ended up here, Diary, in the land of the Phoenicians, where I have taken refuge. Is it possible my mother or father survived with a few choice mementos? Will I find them? I wish you could tell me!

Well.

There is a knock at the door. I hear my name being called. Maybe this . . .

By the gods, Diary, I know this voice.

Could it be?

Or is my brother just heavy on my mind now?

Let me check. I will return in—

[Editor’s note: This is where the text ends. A search is ongoing for any other remnants of the writing of Karai of Atlantis.]