Present Day
Atlantis
Olympian Spaceship
Zeus steered the spaceship into Earth’s atmosphere. Ares cloaked the spaceship so they wouldn’t be seen by the people investigating the city. Hades, Athena, Poseidon, and Demeter quietly sat in their seats, each trying to remember where everything was on Atlantis so they could perform their necessary duties in order to drive the people on Earth away.
Silence hung thickly in the air as they waited for a suitable view of Atlantis to emerge before them. Zeus was the first to see it. He cleared his throat when he saw planes and ships heading for Atlantis. Their approach would not be an easy one, even if they were cloaked.
Zeus scanned the city, noting that the military personnel were beginning to fight amongst themselves over who would claim the rights to Atlantis and its technology. “That’s interesting,” he said thoughtfully. “Perhaps we won’t have the difficult battle we feared.”
Ares grunted in disappointment. “It’s been so long since I’ve been able to employ my war strategies. What good is being the god of war if you never get to exercise your role?”
“Relax, Ares,” Athena quickly assured him. “Though it would be preferable if none of these people were here, we should still send them away. They shouldn’t take any of the technology from this place. It will be a curse to them, though they won’t realize it until it’s too late.”
Ares’ countenance brightened.
“Is there a good place we can land this thing?” Zeus asked Ares.
Ares scanned the area beneath them. “There is a spot in the northwestern side of the city that is currently vacant.”
“The old shopping district,” Athena thought aloud. “We can easily get to the arc through that narrow alley between the clothing store and the entertainment store.”
“I’ll take this thing in then,” Zeus said as he steered the spacecraft effortlessly between two planes.
“After all this time, it still looks as magnificent as the day it sank,” Demeter replied in awe. “Hephaestus certainly did an impressive job.”
“Too bad none of us appreciated it back then,” Hades grumbled.
“Must you always be so sour?” Demeter asked him.
“If I weren’t, you might actually approve of me, and we can’t have that, can we?”
“Your sarcasm is repulsive.”
He gave a nonchalant shrug.
“Thank goodness I mostly keep to myself,” Poseidon commented. “If this bickering is all you people know how to do, I’d rather deal with the sea creatures.”
“Get ready for the landing,” Zeus called out.
They grew silent again and took a deep breath. All of them were anxious to get this over with so they could return to their comfortable lives on Olympia.
Zeus landed the spaceship between two buildings that were out of the way from the Earthlings.
“Hades,” Ares began, “you will have to go to the Underworld through the dome entrance.”
“Nonsense,” Hades protested as he stood up. “I’ll go from my office.”
“But that’s all the way in the arc,” Athena argued.
“Exactly. I have a tunnel that goes from my office to the Underworld.”
“Why didn’t we ever know about this?” Zeus asked, looking at him in surprise.
“I was entitled to my secrets,” Hades replied. “Besides, it was a nice way to slip in and see Persephone while she was above ground.”
Demeter gasped in shock. “So that’s why no one could see through your office window. You are a sly and abhorrent man.”
“Yet more clever than you,” Hades retorted.
“Can we save our lives instead of bickering about things that no longer matter?” Zeus barked, clearly annoyed by their behavior. “I swear, you two are nonstop. I’m glad Hades is confined to the Underworld on Olympia. You two are worse than Aphrodite and Ares when they argue. At least, they occasionally get along.”
“We’ll enter the arc through the secret entrance in the north side,” Ares said, deciding to ignore Zeus’ comment. “We can reach our offices from the separate staircase once we’re there. We shouldn’t have to worry about anyone finding us.”
“It sounds like they’re more interested in fighting each other at this point anyway,” Athena pointed out, listening to the gunfire in the distance.
Poseidon rolled his eyes. “Amazing. No one has claimed Atlantis yet, and people are already dying for it.”
“Even if we aren’t going to die, I don’t want to get hurt in the middle of all this chaos,” Zeus replied, handing everyone a gun for protection. “Let’s get this over with.”
As they exited the spaceship, Athena quickly pulled Hades aside. “Are you still able to sneak up from the Underworld to see Persephone when her mother isn’t aware of it?”
Hades grinned. “You’re a smart woman. You figure it out.”
Athena shook her head as he left the spaceship. “I’m beginning to think I didn’t give you enough credit for being wise.” She closed the door behind her and followed the rest of the gods down the alley.
***
Thousands of years in the past
Atlantis
Amanda sighed with relief when she heard the knocking on her hotel door. She ran to open it, glad to see Pallid. “I was beginning to think you decided to leave me behind.”
“And give you the pleasure of not having to associate with me anymore? I’m not quite ready for that,” he joked.
She grinned, despite herself. She walked to the hallway and closed the door to the room. “You’re in a better mood than before. Sleep must agree with you.”
“I don’t sleep. I just rest.”
“How can you get by without sleeping?”
“The Stone of Immortality enables me to keep going. I can sleep if I want to, but it gets in the way of productive thinking.”
“Oh. Well, I like to sleep. I usually have good dreams.”
“It’s a fortunate thing to be able to say that.”
“Why? Don’t you?”
“Not often enough to make sleep enjoyable.”
She was ready to ask him what his dreams were about but decided against it. She had learned he liked to keep a lot of things to himself.
As they went outside, she cringed at the dirty puddles on the streets. She didn’t relish the idea of getting messy. She imagined that Pallid’s white pants and shoes would have to be thrown out after this. For sure, she’d be getting rid of her shoes and dress once this ordeal was over.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“We’re going to Avar’s apartment,” he replied.
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “You’re really going to go through with your plan?”
“I fully intend to.”
“Even now. After everything we discussed?”
“This is the only home I’ve got. How would you feel if Raz was destroyed and you couldn’t go back to it?”
She considered his question as they walked slowly around the puddles. “I would miss Raz,” she admitted. “It would be hard to accept its destruction. But if Raz was endangering the lives of the people living on it, then I would have no choice but to let it perish.”
He seemed displeased by her answer. “Are you going to stop me?” he finally asked her as they approached an elaborate apartment building with a beautiful miniature sculpture of the city in front of it.
She hadn’t considered that option, though she realized it was something she had to consider. “It seems like I won’t have a choice. My duty is to protect the Olympians and Augurs, regardless of how I feel about you. If you are to become my enemy, then it will happen. The Augurs are right when they say Atlantis must be destroyed.”
“And how will you defeat me since I’m immortal?”
“I don’t know.” She knew she had to, but the details wouldn’t come to her. She suddenly felt inadequate in her role as queen. How was she going to rule her planet if she couldn’t make decisions quickly and easily?
He put his hand on the door of the building, ready to enter.
“Wait,” she said, putting her hand on his arm. “What if this isn’t supposed to be your home anymore? What if you are meant to be somewhere else now?”
He shook his head. “There is no other place for me.”
“You’re wrong,” Gaius interrupted them.
With a jerk, she looked over her shoulder and saw Gaius, Octavia, and Julius. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Helping you prevent him from making a horrible mistake,” Gaius replied. “Infer, we come from the same future that you and Queen Amanda do.”
Pallid looked uneasy but took his hand off the door. He walked to the side of the building with them so they could have some privacy.
“You know we don’t lie,” Gaius reminded him.
“Yes. I know,” Pallid agreed.
“The change you propose to make will be detrimental to those who live in the Underworld. Take your mirror and see for yourself. I’m sure you will be as alarmed by what you see as we were when we saw it.”
Pallid hesitated for a long moment, glancing from each Augur then to Amanda who encouraged him to do what they wanted. Despite his reluctance, he took the mirror out of his jacket pocket. He selected the alternative future he was about to create in the mirror. Curious, Amanda stepped close to him so she could see what would happen if he followed through with his plan.
As the images played in front of them, her heart sped up in dread. It went from bad to worse. When it got to the point where the leaders voted to euthanize everyone in the Underworld, she felt sick to her stomach.
If her sister lived in this kind of world, she would also be condemned to death. And for what reason? Just because she wasn’t as beautiful as they thought she should be? She continued to watch the scene, tears filling her eyes as she watched countless numbers of people being injected with poison so they would no longer be a problem. It was a scene of death and despair. Their protests and cries to live tormented her the most. How could the leaders and citizens of the above ground nations justify such madness?
“I can’t watch anymore,” she finally cried out as she turned away.
Pallid didn’t say a word as he stopped the program. His face was unusually pale.
“Despite what you think,” Gaius softly began, “you do have a home where you belong. There is a place waiting for you that is much better than this city.”
“And that would be…?” Pallid asked.
“Up to you to find out,” Gaius replied.
“Even after all these years, you Augurs are hard to deal with,” Pallid muttered.
“We cannot reveal too much, or else we’ll disrupt the balance of time. Things must not be altered. They must continue as before, unless the change is for the better of others.”
Pallid nodded. “I expected that kind of answer from an Augur.” He sighed. “You win. I will not follow through with my plan.”
Amanda breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Pallid,” she said, feeling better now that those people wouldn’t die.
“What now?” Pallid asked the Augurs.
“Get Katherine and Jake and go to the location of the replacements,” Gaius instructed him. “The password will stop their development.”
“What password?”
“The one all Infers were entrusted with.”
“That’s the problem. I had no idea there were even replacements. How am I supposed to know the password?”
“Look carefully at the replacements’ incubators. We do not know the password, but we know the leaders embedded the clue in there and revealed this information to the Infers. They did not reveal it to anyone else, and they cannot remember it like you can.”
“I’ve seen the replacements developing, and no password came to my mind.”
Gaius smiled, as if he’d expected such a response. “You will. You cannot help Amanda destroy Atlantis without remembering the password, and we have seen her succeed in her mission.”
Amanda gulped nervously. Suddenly, she wasn’t as confident as she had been before. She began to doubt whether she could actually do this great feat or not. What if they were wrong about her? What if she did something along the way to change the course of history? After all, the future wasn’t written in stone. It could be changed at any time.
“We will get Katherine and Jake then,” Pallid said, finally accepting what Gaius was telling him.
Amanda’s thoughts returned to the matter at hand. “Yes. We should do that.”
“Our work here is done,” Gaius replied. “We must return to Aug. The Olympians will be waiting for you when you return to the future. They have already begun to drive the Earthlings away from this city so that when you return, you will not risk killing anyone.”
The Augurs left, quietly and discretely. It seemed that no one else noticed them. Amanda marveled at their ability to blend so easily into the crowd of people.
“To the Underworld we go then,” Pallid said as he turned from the building.
“Your sacrifice will not be in vain,” she quickly assured him. “You will find another place to call home. The Augur said so.”
“Yes, I suppose I will.”
They walked in silence down the streets. Amanda hated the way the puddles felt as she walked through them. Her feet and the hem of her dress were completely soaked.
“It’s really not a big deal after all,” Pallid spoke up. “I was actually disappointed to be here.”
She glanced at him in surprise.
“It’s hard to explain,” he continued. “Let’s just say that I am seeing this city for what it really was. It’s a selfish place.”
She paused before making her own confession. “I can’t blame you for wanting to be here. I was enchanted with this place when we first arrived here. I mean, it really is beautiful. I can’t think of any other place that is so breathtaking. Well, besides Aug, but Aug is a replica of this city.” She cleared her throat when she realized she was rambling. “Anyway, I was flattered so many men were interested in me. I didn’t even care that my own sister was overlooked. I wish I could say I wasn’t that way on Raz, but the sad truth is I secretly liked the fact that all the available men pursued me instead of her. How is that for selfish?”
He stopped to take a good look at her.
She stopped, too, wondering if her confession disgusted him.
Instead of rejecting her, though, he smiled at her. “You might be alright after all.”
She grinned. “Everyone is entitled to their moments.”
“It’s more than that. You’ve come a long way in a short amount of time. You just might be a good queen after all.”
She blushed. “I appreciate the compliment.”
They started walking again, this time in silence.
She was beginning to see Pallid in a whole new light. He wasn’t easily impressed by her looks and charm, as other men had been. He was more interested in who she was, and that made her realize he was better than the others. For the first time, she considered the possibility of taking him to Raz with her and making him the king. Her feelings were so new, though, that she didn’t dare speak them out loud in case the spell between them would break. She just wanted to enjoy this time when they were actually getting along.