Dome of Atlantis

Chapter 13

     The water enveloped my surroundings and the darkness faded to a beautiful luminescent blue. My eyes adjusted to see how the mermaids saw in the water.

     Proteus still held my hand and watched as I looked around like a little kid at Christmas. I was filled with wonder and curiosity as a creature I had never seen before swam next to us. The creature looked like a massive neon green sea slug with hot pink outlines surrounding the creatures body.

     I turned my head the other way and could see Ben standing on the beach waving for us to leave. In the distance were two figures heading for the ship wreck.

     "I'm afraid we'll have to take our leave from this spot here my lady," Proteus spoke to me. His voice sounded the same as in the tank, but with much more energy.

     He's happy to be free, I thought.

     He slid his free hand behind my waist and helped me swim swiftly away from the ship wreck. He couldn't hide his smile while I tried to stop him a few times to look at other creatures.

     "Where are we going?" I asked Proteus.

     "Somewhere amazing. It's been a while since I've been able to stretch out like this.

     I thought about how cramped he must have been in his tank.

He let go of my waist to swim in front of me and face me. He slowly raised his free hand out for me to take it.

I took his free hand with mine and he pulled me up.

We swam straight up into a water filled cave.

Neon yellow coral surrounded the entrance along with amethyst rocks jutting out the sides of the rock in the cave. Schools of fish swam along the outside of the cave. They swam glittered in the corner of the cave.

Proteus pulled me over to the corner of the cave where everything glittered.

There in the corner lay a stone that looked like a throne and lots of treasure next to it. Precious gems and pottery decorated the cave's corner.

Proteus swam to one of the pottery and pulled a glittery object out, but hid it behind his back before he swam back to me. He motioned me to sit down on the rock.

I raised an eyebrow and slowly swam over to the throne. "What is it?" I asked with a chuckle before I sat down.

"Take a seat and I will show you."

I sat down on the throne and Proteus pulled out a beautiful crown behind his back.

"Humor me my lady," he said and swam close to me.

"Are you to be my loyal subject?" I asked.

"If it be thy will Vivian," he said and slowly placed the beautiful crown on my head.

The crown was filled with diamonds and contained some emerald and amethyst gems in it as well.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"It was my playground growing up. I was rarely allowed here. Brother wouldn't let me around Mother's stuff, but now that I'm older, I can do whatever I want."

"This was your mother's crown? Was she a queen?" I asked.

"She was actually," he said and then grew silent.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

"It's alright, It's my fault for bringing you here anyway. Brother wouldn't talk about Mother much anyway after she passed away. Father left after I was born, so she was the one who raised me and my brother."

"I'm sorry."

"You apologize too much. The past is the past and we have wonderful memories. Come I would like you to see another wonderful area."

He took my hand and waist again to bring me outside of the cave. A school of fish greeted us once we were outside of the cave by swimming around us. A large splash sounded above us and a pelican swept down under the water.

I watched as the pelican turned it's head to look at us before grabbing a fish and exiting the water above us. I turned my head to see if Proteus saw the pelican and he smiled to let me know he was watching too.

"Just a little farther and then we'll be there," he said.

I nodded and let Proteus guide me to an obsidian structure under the water.

"It was made from an extinct volcano," Proteus said and helped me into the structure. It was a building of sorts inside. He brought me in front of a broken mirror and wiped the algae off for me to look at the crown I wore. I looked like a beautiful sea princess, while my hair floated around me. I looked close to my neck and touched the gills that protruded from both sides. My eyes were silver like Edric's.

I turned around to look at Proteus. "My eyes are a different color."

"Yes, I believe the saliva from that slug that bit you earlier changed some of your anatomy to make you better equipped to survive under the water."

"I wonder why my eyes changed color."

Proteus laughed. "You're curious about your eye color when you have gills that opened up on the sides of your neck and you can withstand the pressure under the ocean?"

I looked over at him. "It's still curious. I wonder how it changed me like that."

A noise could be heard in the distance. It sounded almost like a whale call, but my arms started to shiver from the vibrations of the water.

"Brother's calling everyone back to the palace for a meeting," Proteus said. He folded his arms and looked at me. "Would you like to come?"

I felt nervous. What if they try to kill me or attack me like the elves, I thought. "Proteus, can I ask you a question.

He turned to look at me. "Of course."

"I'm sorry to be blunt, but I still haven't figured out who to trust yet. I'm afraid if I go, some of your people might try to kill me."

"Kill you?" he asked shocked.

"Elves say you guys want to eat my heart to collapse the dome on their island and you guys say elves want to eat my heart to trap you guys in lakes and kill you off. I'm just afraid that someone will try and kill me to stop anything bad from happening."

"We will not let that happen. You are too important, besides, the elves are the ones that want to eat your heart. We'll protect you from them, so would you like to come meet my brother?" Proteus asked.

I nodded and took the crown off. "I don't think I should wear this anymore." I handed the crown over to Proteus.

He smiled and took the crown. "You'll get more chances to wear this. Let's get going." He placed the crown on a seaweed-looking bed and reached his hand out for mine to bring me to meet his brother."