Chapter Twenty-One

Theron had returned and was talking to Ian when I entered the living room in my long rainbow dress. I was glad to note there was no lingering tension between them. They seemed to be in a conspiratorial mood and were talking in low tones.

Joining them, I said, “I’m ready to go down to the Pradnium, I guess.”

Theron’s eyes filled with unusual tenderness as he looked at my face. My discouragement must have been obvious because he remarked, “There’s nothing like the feeling of going to war without a weapon, right?”

I gave him a nod.

Ian stood up. “I’ll walk you down,” he said.

“Thanks,” I replied as we headed for the door, “but I’d rather go alone. I need to get my thoughts together.”

“I’m not mad at you anymore,” he whispered. “Well…maybe I’m a little mad, but I’ll get over it.”

“I will never keep stuff from you again,” I promised.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he replied with a small smile. Wrapping his arms around me, he added, “At the moment, I wish I was the Thane clan chief. Not that I’d like it if my parents were dead, but so I could vote against the Vasitass’ offer.”

Laying my head in the crook of his neck, I closed my eyes and breathed in his minty scent. “We’d make a good team,” I remarked.

He kissed me lightly and stepped back.

“Thanks…both of you,” I said. “For supporting me.”

Theron gave me a salute. “Good luck, Alison,” he replied. “We’ll be here when you get back.”

The Arx was strangely quiet as I went down the stairs. My eyes were drawn to the glass ceiling and a view of gray clouds billowing across the sky. Rain swirled in the wind and pounded down on the glass. The tumultuous storm mirrored my internal feelings.

The stairs suddenly seemed like a great place to think. Since no one was around, I sat down and tucked a stray hair behind my ear. My mind turned to what I knew about our history.

I’d been told humans and dewing shared an ancestor in the distance past, but at some point, evolutionary speed picked up on our side of the family tree. We quickly outpaced them physiologically, intellectually, and socially, which put us in a position of dominance. But the dewing developed a strong moral conscience along with everything else, so they abided by the law Ian mentioned…dewing didn’t interfere with human life or free will.

According to everything I’d read, the people of Atlantis lived a peaceful existence for thousands of years. They sailed to port cities to trade with humans, but mostly they kept to themselves. By all accounts, they led happy lives. There were no rich people or poor people among them. Everyone had food to eat and a place to lay their head at night. They were devoted to their families and used their remarkable intelligence to create, discover, and innovate for the greater good.

Then one day, a dewing named Tenebroses came along. No one knew why, but there was something about him that seemed a bit off. His fellow dewing noticed it and weren’t particularly surprised when he packed up his satchel, or whatever they used to travel with back then, and left the island to tour around the Mediterranean.

The reality of living among humans must have been a slap in the face after growing up in egalitarian Atlantis. Humans lived dangerous and uncomfortable lives. Tenebroses made an important observation about that time. Wealthy humans lived easier lives. He liked the easy way and knew exactly how to make a lot of money.

He was a sensationmaker, which meant he could join humans’ minds and give them feelings of euphoria. They could get addicted to those feelings, which turned him into a sort of drug dealer. He used his joining and was soon indispensable to several of the wealthiest people in Greece.

He was doing quite well for himself when he had another lightbulb moment. He realized that if he could live well off one or two humans, he could get rich beyond his wildest dreams off a city of them. In his mind, dewing were the superior race anyway, so manipulating and controlling humans was just the natural order of things. He was sure he could convince the clan chiefs of Atlantis of the same thing.

By this time, he could afford better luggage, so he packed up his designer Greek satchel and sailed home. There he started preaching the benefits of mentally enslaving humans. He gained enough supporters to have his idea put to a vote, but it didn’t pass.

Still, he’d gained a substantial number of supporters. A band of readers, sensationmakers, drawers, futureseers, thoughtreaders, shapeshifters, thoughtseers, and thoughtmakers accompanied him back to Greece, where they began manipulating generals in the military. Soon they had control over a sizable Athenian force.

Tenebroses ordered several ships loaded with soldiers back to Atlantis, where he planned to overthrow the chiefs and make himself king. The peaceful people on the island never anticipated he’d go so far. Taken unawares, they didn’t have time to rally or defend themselves against the invaders. After a great slaughter, Tenebroses gained his ambition.

A lot of dewing were forced off the island. Calling themselves the Rorelent, they gathered in Cornwall. It quickly became clear to them that Tenebroses wasn’t content ruling over Atlantis. He planned to become emperor of the known world. Fearing for themselves and humankind, they debated what to do.

There was a brilliant scientist among them who’d learned how to produce energy by splitting the atom. He’d developed the technology as a forerunner of electricity but knew it could also be applied to weaponry. He was given permission to build a bomb that would destroy Tenebroses and his followers…but there was a catch. The island of Atlantis would likely be destroyed by it, too.

The Rorelent weighed their options and made a hard choice. They waited until Tenebroses ordered the majority of his human force back to Greece, and then they launched a nuclear bomb at their beautiful home. When the dust cleared, Tenebroses, his followers, and Atlantis were gone.

All that death and devastation came about because Tenebroses used humans to further his self-interests. It seemed to me, things were coming full circle. Creating hybrids would bring us right back to where Tenebroses left off, and this time, it would probably mean our final destruction.

With that happy thought in mind, I got to my feet.

Looking up at the ceiling again, I whispered to myself, “How can I possibly stop this from happening?”

Remember, I told you destiny hadn’t decided everything, I heard my mother say. The outcome of this roundtable meeting will depend on your willingness to sacrifice for the greater good.

Feeling like the fate of my entire species rested on my shoulders, I stumbled across the foyer to face whatever destiny had in store.