Atlantis Excavated [ᴏᴘᴇɴ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟʟᴀ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇsᴛ 2020]

• ᴜɴᴇᴀʀᴛʜᴇᴅ •

"If you dig deep into the dirt, you'll pull out a soul"

«ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ»

Arch Reed always knew he was different. Somehow, at the tender age of three, he could feel his difference coursing through his bones and along with the network of veins spiraling on his tiny body.

The first time his difference manifested was in the form of stormy grey clouds and cool gusts of wind that carried whispers spoken in a language foreign to him but of that, he could understand. He was eight years old.

It was a slightly chilly morning in Durban with warm rays of the shy sun hiding behind the clouds. He was clad in a green polo neck and the same colored gloves, a beanie and a scarf as well as black tracksuit pants.

He was playing hide and seek with his cousins at an old abandoned park near their home that no one visited anymore. He was the seeker and his little cousins, Beatrice and Thomas were the hiders.

There weren't a lot of places to hide except for the short bushes surrounding the area, behind the old yellow slide or inside the decaying jungle gym that looked about ready to fall apart at any given moment if so much as a gust of wind blew on it. Despite its appearance, it was pretty steady, or at least they were pretty lucky that they haven't been injured by the old thing yet.

Just as he finished counting to ten and shouted the custom ready or not, the wind picked up and the whispers started. He suddenly had a strong feeling that something terrible was about to happen and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

ψυχή...

The wind whispered gently as it gradually picked up speed. A moment later, a pitter-patter of rain was heard.

ψυχή... παγιδευμένοι

It continued to whisper almost harshly now. The rain fell steadily and Beatrice, annoyed by the falling water, came out of her hiding place which happened to be behind the yellow slide and made her way under the big Oak tree that was situated near the entrance of the park.

“Are you just going to stand there and let the rain soak you?” She shouted at him and he tilted his head a bit to look at her.

“Where's Thomas? I have to find him before I quit the game. You know how he is.” Arch shouted back and she just nodded in understanding and wrapped her scrawny arms around her torso, trying to keep warm.

Beatrice's twin brother, Thomas, didn't like it when a game was left unfinished. Even if it was raining thunder, he would still want it to end before they stopped playing.

Arch searched through the short bushes and didn't find anything and tried to ignore the whispers being carried by the wind that were getting louder and louder the more he ignored them.

He didn't have time to get distracted when the rain was already starting to pour harder and the wind getting colder and harsher.

He searched everywhere he could and was finally left with only one place to search: The Jungle Gym.
He was a bit wry to climb the disaster looking structure but really had no choice if he wanted to end this game by finding Thomas and getting away from the rain.

He hesitated when the whispers suddenly fell silent then winced when he was attacked by them screaming loudly inside his head and giving him a splitting headache.

They were gone as fast as they came and he clutched the side of his head when dizziness assaulted his senses. He took a deep breath and shook his head to dismiss it and looked at the wooden ladder with determination.

But before he could firmly plant his little foot on the eroded ladder, a bolt of lightning struck the old structure, separating it in two and a piercing boom was heard.

Arch was thrown away by the force and landed hard on his back, his head painfully ringing but he could somehow still hear the angry whispers of the wind.

Ελευθερώστε το!!!

They demanded and somehow, his body took over before his mind could and made it's way to the damaged jungle gym. As the ringing cleared in his ears he could clearly hear Beatrice's cries and shouts for Thomas who wasn't responding and panic settled in Arch's chest.

Where once laid the old, wooden structure was now nothing more than a pile of scorched rocks and rubble that he forced his body to ignore for now to instead search for his cousin.

He found Thomas mangled at the corner of the half split gym, looking unharmed and just unconscious which Arch made sure was the right assumption, by placing his ear on his chest to hear his heartbeat. Thank heavens his mother forced him to watch those medical drama shows. He really hoped his cousin was alright.

After that, he made his way to the blackened ground and his body once again took over and he knelt down and began to dig with his hands. He didn't know what he was digging for but his body felt compelled to do so.

Lately, he had been interested in a lot of medical books but mostly those that dealt with the human body and skeleton. His mother was only happy to provide him with the books he was interested in from the large collection she had in her bedroom library. Perks of being a doctor he had guessed.

Arch was not normal. He, himself knew that. He felt his difference coursing through the marrow of his bones and through the network of veins that covered his tiny body.

That's why he wasn't surprised when, after digging for more than ten minutes, he came across a structure of human bones that looked very old and very small. Almost smaller than him.

The whispers in the wind finally calmed when the skeleton of what appeared to be of a young child was in view and Arch could almost feel relief from the wind, which was strange because the wind was not a living entity and definitely did not feel.

Ελεύθερος...

The wind whispered softly before it went silent and the storm clouds cleared taking with them the rain.

Arch always knew he was different and on that day, he finally knew why.