Intergalactic

CHAPTER 10: Stabs of Truth

Nothing.
Total emptiness.
Silence all around.
"Where the hell did everybody go?" I ask Daròn in shock.
He stands there with the wind brushing his face, looking forward in the horizon, his white clumps of hair following the wind.
"The Lake." He finally utters, very slowly, just as if he knew this would happen.
I look at him in question, without braking the silence. He then turns to me and explains:
"The king said he would make a sacrifice."
"A sacrifice?" Why would he want to do that? And why now? "What kind of sacrifice?"
"After putting you in jail..."
"...to get me out of the way, apparently. Because if he didn't want to kill me, he wanted me to not get involved to something. Something big."
"Right. He said that the force field is losing its power."
"Meaning he was losing power."
"Exactly. And that they had to make a sacrifice to make it stronger."
"But why wouldn't he sacrifice me? I'm an outsider. Who else would he sacrifice?"
"Someone who probably is the core of the power, of the force field."
"That doesn't make sense. Aren't the crystals the center of everything? The source of your life?"
"Maybe he meant the one who created the force field. Probably the crystals are the ones to whom he sacrifices the person, they existed before everything."
"And who is he going to sacrifice?"
"I'm guessing..."  Daròn looks down and then suddenly lifts his head up. He looks at me in awe. "The one who was our leader before him!" He says amazed. "He wants to get him, or her, out of the way because he's getting power from the loop as well, and he wants it all for himself."
"If what you're saying is true...what was he waiting for? Why hasn't he already done that?"
With a sigh Daròn continues making theories: "I suppose he wanted to assure that nobody would get in the way, meaning you. And now that he, supposedly, took care of you he is free to kill our actual king and have everything for himself."
"First question: Why did he put me in jail and didn't just kill me?"
"I don't know that..."
"Okay. Second question: If he kills the real king...isn't the loop going to brake?"
"No..." He stands there, deep into his thoughts. He turns back at me with a serious look. "Conversely, by killing him there's nobody to stop it. Heather, if he dies...we are all over." He's voice starts shaking. "My father gets all of the power, and the loop becomes unbreakable."
Unbreakable...this word echoes in my head. 'It becomes unbreakable'...I start thinking, and then I smile.
"So...it is breakable." 

All of the Atlantean citizens are standing around the crystals, there, where Aquamarine turned me into an Atlantean. The area there is huge, fitting each and every Atlantean. There, in the center stands the king - the fake one, if our theories are right and there is a real one as well. Behind him there's a cage, inside it a woman, a very crumbling woman. I look around me, taking notice of guards standing in each corner, reminding myself that I'm a prisoner and I have to hide from them. In one of the corners, a guard is holding Nyla. Why? She looks very upset. I turn to Daròn to ask, realizing that he has taken the same expression with his sister.
"Mother..." he whispers with a tear running down his cheek. I look at the cage again. Why? What does his mother have to do with this?
The king had been talking, and now my attention is captured by his words, after adapting to the situation.
"...You all know the story, my people: 
      Big storm, high waves
      People running , it's all it takes
      Until the city drowns its mistakes"
Everyone follows the king's words, even Daròn:
     'A force made by a queen, caring and strong,
      protects her people from what they've done wrong.'
So that's how they 'remember' what happened. They had this poem defining them, telling them how they ended up here. A story, filling up all of their existential questions. They were dragged by the Bermuda Triangle, thinking they were being punished for something. But the queen, Daròn's mother, both of whom had no idea of all this...made the force field. She is the one who took the help of the crystals to protect her people. But with the force field came the loop. Unwillingly, I suppose. But it was unstoppable for them, because they didn't even know its existence. And how can someone solve a problem when he doesn't know what it is, what's more, if there is one. And they just continued living their lives everyday without realizing that they were reliving it over and over again.
And this is where the aliens from Andromeda get in. They sent this jerk to save them, to brake the loop...you know the rest. What we don't know...is how do I solve this.
"My dear Atlanteans, this woman is the reason we all are alive. But, in order for us to remain that way we should keep her creation safe. Unfortunately, this can only be done with the mix of the crystals and the blood of the one who created the force that's protecting us."
I notice Nyla from far away. She is so powerless, so not herself. So unable to do anything, no matter how much she wants to. However, there's someone else who can. Someone who is not held by guards. 
That someone, very determined and angry leaves by my side and goes towards the king. I don't know why I didn't stop him. I couldn't. They would see me. I tried whispering his name 'Daròn', or grabbing his hand to hold him back, but he wasn't to be stopped.