Atlantis Hunted

Chapter 3

I was handed a small piece of metal that looked like silver and weighed nothing at all. The mercenary showed me how to place it over my mouth, it attached on its own like a suction cup.  I should have thought before doing it but I noticed that there were four mercenaries doing the same.  I realized when the door was opened liquid flooded the bay room it was cool and warm at the same time. Small tingles ran up and down my body as I noticed my skirt and shirt were rising. I quickly tucked my shirt into my skirt and pulled the skirt from the back between my legs and tucked it in front. No peep show today ladies and gentlemen! I held my breath as long as I could before I started to panic. I thrashed as my lungs started to burn, a hand landed on my shoulder before I could start to claw at the thing on my face.

"Breath, the apparatus we gave to you allows for breathing underwater." So this was water. It was the most perfect water I had ever seen, not that I had much to go by. I lifted my hand lazily swishing it through the water relishing the feel. I had always loved bathing, the amount of water on Chronos 8 didn't give you much time to enjoy the sensation. Showers were regulated along with drinking water. I wonder what they drank here. Before I could really start enjoying the water I noticed a group of creatures standing before us. Crustacean like in a way that most of their bodies were covered with a hard shell with spines all over. The face is what drew me in, so child like as if the outer body was protecting a small body inside. Perfect oval faces with black beady eyes soft lips I could almost reach out to touch. If not for the shear size of these creatures who towered over the mercenaries and I by at least eight feet.

I was shoved forward again but this time was not followed. Claw like hands grasped me gently scratching my skin a little as they held me. One of the creatures handed the mercenaries a crate which took the four of them to haul inside. I wondered what that was, water supplies, gold maybe?  As soon as it was in the door shut and the vortex opened again. With no good-bye the ship that was oddly shaped like a rock was gone. I was turned before the vortex stopped and marched forward past peering eyes  from building that sparkled brightly in a sun that was not apparent in the sky. Strange buildings that had no definite shape almost as if they grew from some deep part of this world. I walked along a road of sorts but noticed each side did not connect to anything in particular. The water got darker blue the farther down, the bottom nowhere in sight.

No contact was made other than keeping a firm but gentle grip on my shoulder to guide me.  No deviation from the path was taken until we reached a wall covered in small pieces of stones. If I was correct they were rubies, sapphires, emeralds, all precious clear stones molded into a huge wall surrounding an area of this place. I walked sluggishly through the water, my limbs beginning to tire due to the heaviness of the water.  Low gravity I could do but the water added a weight I was unused to. I stumbled when my leg did not come up enough to clear the ground. The claw like hand that was holding my shoulder tightened cutting into my shirt and flesh. I tried to gasp with the breathing apparatus but it didn't quite work the same. Red tinged the water when I straightened, small curls of red dissipated before my eyes, mixing with the cool blues and greens leaving a small area of murkiness.

I was pulled from the ground and hefted into the arms of one of the creatures curling its hands over my body to keep me from rolling. The spines sticking me here and there but not enough to pierce the skin.  The creatures continued walking for some distance to a gate in the stone wall. One of the creatures walked forward clicking what seemed like a finger in a sequence on the bars of the gate. They looked like gold but the sharp claw left no marks. Vibrations produced from the sequence rumbled through the water and the gate opened. Behind this grand wall was a palace beyond anything I had ever seen, real or otherwise.  The walls were cylindrical appearing to be made of mother of pearl or real pearls I could not guess after all the wonders I had seen so far. The tops were covered with glass like domes, I realized they did not reflect the light but the light was emanating from them. What seemed to be towers connected with walls circled each other. I count at least ten such circles leading inwards towards the palace each one a little higher than the last.