Shadows of Atlantis Part One: Awakening

Chapter 10

10

Once more to resonate among the hills so fair.

Those who suffer blindly must force themselves to care.

For once the winds begin to blow,

and transfer words that all must know,

aloft upon the highest hill,

the mother must redeem them still.

In the queen's garden, meandering paths converged on a nodeyard. The obelisk reached toward the stars, a celestial antenna in the eerie light of crystal-illuminators. The air was filled with a chorus of singing insects. Allondriss sat on the ground beside a meditation bench. Her pale face was fixed in a trance at the sky. Lukias approached the scene quietly. She didn't seem to notice.

The node was not much taller than Lukias. It glowed translucent blue under the towering moon. A perfect sphere of clear quartz lined with copper filaments balanced impossibly on the point of the obelisk. It was built into an elaborate fountain made into a mound of amethyst, rose and clear quartz. Water trickled a smooth flow from the base of the obelisk, its gentle spill constantly purifying the crystals. Canals trailed away from it, fashioned into winding streams traversed by low foot bridges. The bed of the canal was smooth, white marble, and at various junctions along the paths, gushed through smaller fountains.

Lukias sat on the bench beside Allondriss. Her eyes were focused ahead as if in dreamsight. Tears rolled down her face, and yet she showed no signs of emotion. He dared not disturb the meditation.

"Lukias." She blinked out of the trance, but remained fixed on the node.

"What do you see in there?"

"It's not what I see." She nervously scratched the marble. Her eyes darted around, avoiding contact with any one thing. "It's where I go." Finally she looked toward him. The intensity of her gaze fell short of the space he occupied. Struck speechless by her luminosity, he reached for her hand. But her fingers remained limp in his grip. "This is where I belong." Her attention gravitated back to the node.

"Allondriss." He squeezed her hand harder.

"Ouch!" she cried out. Awareness dawned in her eyes. After a few unsettled moments, she finally bounced back into awareness, and tightened her grip on his hand.

Something sparked between them, an understanding from a dream long forgotten.

"I try and stay away from the nodes." She looked downward in an effort to hide her discomfort. "They suck me into the Grid. Someday I feel like I won't come back. I don't know why I came out here. It was as if the Grid summoned me." She struggled to her feet. He reached to help her up. "I must get back to my bed chamber." Shyly, she looked away. He offered to escort her by wordlessly presenting his elbow.

"The elementals have a message," she remarked, hooking her arm through his. She shook her head, trying to break out of the swirling confusion as he guided her along the moonlit path. "Something about the oceanids. They bring a gift for the arrival of the Moirae to Atlantis. I don't know this word Moirae."

"That is what my sister is called in our dreamclan. She is a Watcher in human form, chosen to judge the Fates of Atlantis. You would never know it, though. She has chosen to focus on the experience of being human. Her powers are not yet awakened."

In her heart she was surprised that Brigitte was a Watcher, and yet she had released her ability to react to emotions long ago. She stared ahead. Silence consumed them as they walked slowly through the garden.