Part 20 (1/2)

Okay, I guess I can get hurt in this dream world too, I think wincing at the spray of salt water stinging my new wound.

I kneel, getting up...again, still clutching my injured arm, and notice that I'm only a couple of feet from the newly formed end of the pier.

All the while the other three elders are still attempting to hold back...the storm? Can they do that?

Kneel before your new king! A voice booms across the water, originating from out in the maelstrom, one I've heard before, in my head. It's both familiar and dreadful.

Gritting my teeth to stand, I look to the water and see him.

Nannot is airborne, hovering about twenty feet over the thras.h.i.+ng surf. His robes billow in the whirling air. His black robes. His eyes are blood red and well...bleeding. ”Just like Rhonar's,” I say out loud. The words come out mute though, the raging wind drowning out my voice.

Then I notice his skin. It's jet black as well, whereas the three elders are a healthy tan complexion. It's like the wickedness deep within him has shown its hold over him on the outside.

We shall never call you king, brother. We serve our one true king!

Do they mean Thoth? It has to be. The realization finally dawns on me! The three, their hands raised in battle, the fourth confronting them on the coastline and the freakish weather. It all makes sense.

I'm reliving the end of Atlantis.

The cavern that my team and I are currently exploring is under where the actual city of Atlantis once stood. Its obliteration, and... I look over to Nannot, understanding why I'm being shown this. HE is responsible for the island nation's devastation. HE destroyed it all, killed thousands and is attempting to eradicate countless more.

Do not stand in my way traitors. You cannot defeat me! The Priests of An'tala are finished.

An'tala? Priests? The elders were Thoth's personal advisors and it would also look like his bodyguards.

An'tala is what we called our home. You have since renamed it Atlantis, says an elder...or should I say Atlantean priest. I know by saying you he means modern man and not actually me.

CRA-KOOM!.

Another incredibly large crimson lightning bolt hits the section of pier I'm standing on, decimating it, throwing me through the air and into the freezing water.

38.

I surface nearby, to see the pier completely gone. Obliterated. The three defenders of An'tala are hovering in mid-air, just like Nannot, arms still raised in defiance.

A wave rolls over me and pulls me under. I try to kick to the surface, but get rolled again and again...and again. I'm about to pa.s.s out when my head breaks the surface. As I find my bearings, I can still hear the four combatants conversing.

We may not be able to defeat you-only the chosen can achieve that-but we can delay you. Either way, that body does not belong to you.

The body doesn't belong to him? I think to myself while trying not go under again.

As I wade in the chilling seawater, a flash of what looks like green energy streaks across the sky and strikes Nannot in the chest. A wave crests and falls over my head, but I don't go completely under. It does make me struggle against the cras.h.i.+ng waves, which are intense. I kick hard and clear it, sucking in another gulp of air. Through stinging, salt-filled eyes, I see the three priests with their fists outstretched in front of them. They let loose another attack, each sending an energy beam into Nannot. Then they send another volley, and another. The blasts must have severely weakened Nannot because, the wind slowly lowers him towards the now calming ocean, threatening to envelope him.

I look around, seeing no sign of the present day priests, the ones who brought me here. So they can leave but I can't! I think. So not right.

These three approach slowly, ch.o.r.eographing their moves. They surround Nannot, forming a triangle, and discharge more of the electric force at him all at once. And this time they pour it on, not letting up.

The black-clad twin wails in agony, his head tilted back and his arms and legs outstretched, cursing his brothers.

That's when I notice the water level around me start to drop. I continue to kick hard through the now lowering tide and try to stay afloat, but the surf is too strong. I slip beneath the waves a couple more times, almost not making it back to the surface. Every time I come back up I see less and less water, and more and more...sand.

Nannot's agonizing screams fill my head and intensify until he explodes and is turned to dust. I'm not sure what I just witnessed. Did they just kill their brother? Or was it just his physical body that was destroyed? Either way, Nannot is gone. The three warrior priests bow their heads, defeated.

My feet hit solid ground the same time his body is incinerated. I'm a hundred feet below where the pier was and where the coastline still is. I guess it's more of a cliff face now, I think taking in my new surroundings.

The elders turn and move inland, sailing through the air at an incredible speed, disappearing from sight. A loud sonic boom echoes from behind me as they break the sound barrier.

I turn and see the three priests from my time standing behind me.

”What was that? What happened to him?” I ask.

The middle one answers, That was not his true form, but a tool of his corruption. He has taken many in the past, but never used them like this. He holds out his hands, motioning to the current state of things.

I look around, fully taking in the devastation. The water is gone, evaporated maybe. Or maybe it found a new home in an undiscovered fissure in the seabed?

Our abilities are strong, says the middle one again, obviously reading my thoughts.

”You did this?” I say shocked.

The three of them all lower their heads, as if shamed for what they did.

Yes, but we had no other way of halting his advances. He wanted to destroy it all, every living thing. And who he didn't execute, he would enslave and experiment on. We could not allow this to come to pa.s.s no matter the consequences.

”Like the destruction of your home?”

He doesn't answer.

They look up together, Every few generations, he takes another and tries again. Each one is stronger than the last.

”Takes another?” I ask.

All three of them lift their hands and point their long fingers at me.

I get it. He takes another human, another host.

”Why humans?”

Humanity is naturally...unkind to one another. He uses their wants and ambitions against them. He gives them unlimited strength, and promises the world. What human would say no to that?

It's a bait question. They're expecting me to answer and say that I wouldn't. I mean, of course I wouldn't, but it would be nice to be asked these things instead of them being a.s.sumed of you.

”The Great Deceiver,” I say to myself.