Atlantis

Mind

ATTENTION please go back and read the chapters Pranks and Dreams or nightmares. If you dont do this you may have trouble understanding this chapter. I am trying to make things work out towards my ending but you'll have to be patient with me. So read those chapters again and enjoy the new one! :)

A wet, warm, and rough tongue woke me up from my sleep forcing me to open my eyes. It was Rahn but I had no idea where I was or how I had gotten there. The windows were boarded shut with grainy wood rotten in some places. I was on a table covered in a heavy coat of coal soot. The rest of the room was empty with only a barely attached door towards the right of me.

Rahn stood on his hind legs so he could stand by the table to wake me. I was stiff but after a little flexing my body managed to sit along the edge of the table. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Rahn said just before the table fell over dumping me onto a dirty floor.

I moaned rolling over to lean against the overturned table. "Thanks for warning me." I groaned sarcastically.

"My pleasure." he purred sitting back on his hind quarters.

"Where are we?" I said rubbing my head and eyes trying to clear some of the dirt off my face. It was no use the soot covered every inch of my except the parts where Rahn had licked me. "The last thing I remember was a red.. Jerry! Death!" I turned to Rahn who purred mischievously.

"Where are we indeed?" he said transforming into his human form eyes dancing dangerously in the dark. I glared back but a rumble that shook the whole ground distracted me from taking the cat out. "Still?" he said standing while looking out the cracks in the window. I wanted to look as well so I tried to stand falling back down as my legs gave out under me. Rahn caught me before I had the chance to relax against the table again.

"Put me down!" I said wiggling in his arms. His face turned sour and he transferred me to his shoulder. "Hey!"

"Shut up!" he snapped kicking the door open.

"No!" I hit his back and then silenced as the world came cascading down around me. Right behind the hovel of a house was a massive volcano erupting with red hot lava spewing out of the top. Ash covered the top and filled the sky while falling to ground as black snow. In school they had always said volcanos were one of the worst natural disasters. No one told me they could be so overwhelming though.

The light was dull and overall cast an eternal twilight throughout the endless land around us. Compacted dirt terrain stretched out to the horizon in front of us while the sloping mount of the volcano touched the sky behind us. My jaw went slack as the sight slowly imprinted itself in my mind. "Oh that's Mount Viper." Rahn said picking up the pace to a loping jog. "Can you grab my neck? It's easier to run as a cat unless," he let the word drag. "You wish to stay for the eruption?"

"You mean this is dormant?!" I asked my voice edged with fear. I heard a small laugh and swung myself around just in time to sit on the large cat form of Rahn. "Maybe this is the wrong thing to ask in this situation but why would you take me to a volcano about to erupt?"

"When transporting outsiders to our half of the world we, as denizens, must fill out certain paperwork to access the Gate. I happen to know the Gate is not the only way in. Lining our Realm are numerous volcanos such as Viper, these volcanos provide a weak enough fissure in the Rift that outsiders can get in. That is if you have enough power to create a sub-transport gate." Rahn said trying to explain. I couldn't understand half of it so he simplified it for me. "I took you through the back door."

"Oh!" I leaned further down too tired to hold myself up any longer. "Still doesn't make sense." I closed my eyes then coughed as a rancid stench filled my nose and lungs.