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  “They must be at the back,” Zac said to Valeria, closing the door behind him. He led Valeria through the darkened hall into the bright kitchen, but there was nobody.

  “Grandma? Grandpa?” Zac called out loudly, his voice echoing through the rooms of the ground floor, but all he was greeted by was the hollow silence of the large dwelling.

  “I only arrived yesterday,” Zac turned to tell Valeria, who had made herself comfortable on the dinner table. “I really don’t know my way around this house. They could be anywhere.”

  Valeria was still panting from all the running they were doing earlier. She was content just to sit down comfortably and catch her breath.

  “I’ll go fetch them,” said Zac.

  “I’ll be right here,” said Valeria.

  Zac set off to the stairwell Grandma had used the previous night when they went looking for Grandpa.

  They’re probably up there, Zac said to himself, making his way to the stairwell. What is up there, anyway?

  Zac realized that he would eventually find out what was up there when he had climbed the rungs to the third floor. The familiar banging and crashing noises he had heard from the previous night was now audible. This time, the sounds were louder and much scarier, considering he was so close to the source.

  He opened the door to the third floor from the stairwell, creeping into the darkened rooms and making his way to the door at the far end of the hallway. Upon opening the door, more darkness greeted him.

  He just realized his mistake as he walked through the door.

  I haven’t carried any light source, he thought to himself as he started walking down the hallway. The scratching and crashing noises were well audible now. He could stride to the door to the room from which the sounds were emanating from.

  “Grandma? Grandpa?” Zac called out into the darkness, and suddenly, the crashing and scratching noises halted. It was so sudden that Zac stopped right in his tracks, just as sudden as the noises had stopped.

  “Grandma? Grandpa?”

  The darkness was eerie and startling, and he could not see anything that was before him. But he knew that there was something there lurking in the darkness.

  Was it not his grandparents?

  He took one more step forward, then realized, to his horror, that there was something breathing very heavily right in front of him. Whoever it was, it was breathing with the kind of pants that a dog makes on a hot day.

  What the hell? Zac thought to himself.

  Fear was already spiraling through Zac’s body, and he could not understand the shock of the situation that he was facing. It was now clear to him that his grandparents were not there.

  He turned around on the spot, and, blindly, without a second’s hesitation, he took to his heels.

  The door to the darkened room was only a few feet away, and he suddenly heard the alarming sounds of movement right behind him.

  Oh God, he thought to himself.

  He burst into the dark room, realizing that there was somebody or something right on his heels.

  “Valeria!” He shouted, reaching the door to the stairwell. However, a strong hand grabbed his foot, with a strong vice grip that made Zac lose his balance and topple heavily to the dusty floor.

  All Zac could do at that point was to scream at the top of his lungs.

  Chapter 14

  Zac felt his body floating, higher and higher into the sky. He was enjoying the trance-like feeling because it made him feel calm and at peace with himself and with the white puffy clouds swooshing past him.

  Then, he started to come down.

  Fast.

  The swooshing clouds began to climb higher and higher with increasing speed as Zac plummeted, and he felt irritated that his comfort would now have to be taken away from him. He closed his eyes in an attempt to take himself back to the trance-like feeling, but when he opened his eyes, he was back at home.

  He was standing right in the middle of the kitchen at his family’s familiar squeezed house. He could not understand what he was doing there, but the sounds of shouting and screaming outside prompted him to open the tiny back door and step into the rainy street.

  There were people running and screaming everywhere, with a group of people clutching their possessions trying to make it as fast as possible through the drenched streets.

  Zac stood there and watched as everybody scrambled about, wondering what was causing all the mayhem in this beautiful kingdom he called home. Vandals were breaking windows, and shops were being looted.

  But what set Zac in motion through the damaged streets was the distinct clamor of conflict. He could hear people fighting in the distance, canons, and guns going off, and the clanking of swords.

  There was a battle somewhere, and he needed to see what was going on. He ambled determinedly through the streets, passing a screaming child left in the middle of the road, crying with tears streaming down her beautiful face and clutching a small toy rattle in her hand.

  Zac stopped there for a moment, looking at the crying little girl and wondering what she had done to deserve this fate. He threw a quick glance about him, trying to locate where the parents of the crying baby would be, but everybody around him either did not notice the crying baby or simply chose to ignore her.

  Zac bent over to try and reach for the baby, but just as he did, a horses’ carriage zoomed past, narrowly missing Zac’s outstretched hand by inches, but managing to trample squarely over the little baby.

  Even before Zac had noticed, he was suddenly drenched in blood, and that specific section of the road was swiftly given a blaring new color in the sheeting rainfall.

  Nobody around him seemed to notice the abrupt tragedy—with everybody focused on their own problems.

  Zac turned and started walking slowly in the direction of the mayhem.

  Zac stretched out his arms to allow the blood that had splattered all over him to drip down systematically. He did not want to think much about the incident, and so he continued slowly down the street, the rain doing its job to clean him up.

  By the time he got to the lower section of the street, he watched in amazement as two groups of people fought in the valley below. In the distance, he could see the famous port that led away from the kingdom—Poseidon.

  It was the busiest freight city in the kingdom, and on this occasion, there happened to be a dozen black-painted ships anchored in its harbors.

  A group of warriors from the ships were streaming onto the island, and they were magnificent black people. They were met with heavy resistance on the peripheries of the port from the familiar helmet-clad defense forces of the kingdom.

  The invaders wielded all sorts of weapons, from large machetes and knives to miniature pistols and rifles. They were dressed in all-black overalls, whereas the defense forces of the kingdom were dressed in white armor. There was a desperate fight for supremacy, with both sides contesting for the control of the harbor.

  Behind the invaders, on their ships, there were large cannons supporting the invasion and blasting away any signs of civilization within range.

  The invaders appeared to be achieving a superior position, causing the kingdom’s defense forces to back away from the battlefield and taking full control of the port’s spacious landing areas.

  The invaders were shouting at the top of their lungs and inspiring their colleagues to destroy the port and kill the enemy. The kingdom’s defense forces were genuinely looking overwhelmed, and Zac started to wonder where the Order of magicians was.

  The heavy rainfall was not helping matters, and it made the battleground dangerously slick and slippery. The corpses were significant in numbers on the ground, and there was also a lot of blood everywhere that Zac could lay his eyes on.

  As a youngster, he had been taught in school that the kingdom did have a defense force charged with the protection of the kingdom from foreign attackers. Additionally, he was taught that there was an Order of magicians in the kingdom, exclusively appointed by the King to
act as the guardians of the kingdom.

  Zac knew that Atlantis was a magical kingdom. Yet he could not understand why no magic was being used to expel what appeared to be a formidable foreign attack on the kingdom.

  Where is the Order of magicians? Zac wondered to himself, watching as the slaughter of the kingdom’s defense forces peaked.

  There was a loud roar of joy and exaltation from the invaders as the kingdom’s defense forces started to retreat. The intensity of the battle was well against their favor, and it just so happened that this specific battleground worked to the favor of the better-prepared invaders.

  As the kingdom’s defense forces continued to sustain a shielded retreat, a new significant problem emerged: Large, black pipes had been thrown onto the harbor from the invaders’ ships, and they were snaking through the battlefield that was already disgustingly littered with corpses.

  What Zac could not see was that the pipes were pouring a thick, black liquid onto the port, and before long, the mixture of rainwater and the dark fluid had caused it to spread almost everywhere.

  Then, without warning, from nothing, the entire port started dancing and crackling in flames.

  Chapter 15

  The horrid unpleasantness of the fire manifested itself in screams and destruction as it swept throughout the largest port city in Atlantis. The invaders had marked a clear victory, and now they retreated back into their ships as the port was slowly consumed by the flames.

  Zac watched in horror and then felt himself moving once again, moving so quickly and yet having no control of the rapid motion.

  It then became apparent to him that his motion was being guided by an individual. Only when he was close behind him did he notice, to his surprise, who he was actually following.

  The king’s son? Zac thought to himself.

  In the middle of the city, on a narrow path preserved exclusively for the royal family, Romanus strode briskly to the King’s Court.

  The building before him was one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture on the island of Atlantis, and there were two guards armed with spears opening the huge mahogany doors for him.

  When he had gotten up the stairs to the King’s personal chambers, the door was being held open for him, and he was somewhat surprised by the sight that greeted him.

  The room was dark, and the only source of illumination was a fire crackling in the middle of the room.

  “Ah, my son is finally here,” boomed the flamboyant voice of Apollos, the King.

  There were about fourteen people, including the King, seated around the fire. The strangest thing was that the fire seemed to be floating on its own above the concrete floor of the room. Each person around the fire was holding a large wooden mug, and there seemed to be a certain tension in the room that Romanus could not describe.

  Zac was following slowly and quietly. He looked around slowly in surprise, recognizing the fact that it was his first time in this room.

  “Come, join us,” said Apollos, pointing to a chair next to him.

  Just as Romanus was walking across the room to take his seat, a loud banging noise surprised everybody, and it was followed by a large flash of light from outside, bright enough to illuminate the darkest corners of the room even from behind closed drapes.

  Apollos burst out laughing. The other people in the room remained silent.

  “That’s the sign of the gods’ approval, my people,” Apollos said just as Romanus took his seat. Zac strode over to stand beside him.

  “Approval for what?”

  All the eyes in the room now turned to Rosa, all except the King who kept on laughing.

  “Ah, Rosa,” said the King, interrupting his mirth by chugging his drink, “you’re always too serious.”

  Rosa had a serious expression transfixed on her face—the black mascara on her visage was befitting to her dark mood. She got to her feet and slowly walked across the room towards the window. She opened the drapes and flung open the windows.

  There was a fire raging just below the King’s Court, and the sounds of screaming and disaster unexpectedly floated into the room.

  “We are the King’s Court, but we choose to make decisions behind closed drapes,” said Rosa, with her back turned on the rest of the people in the room.

  The King now frowned and put his drink down.

  “Careful, Rosa,” he growled.

  “Now that your son is here,” said Rosa, turning and walking back to her seat, “tell us why you have summoned us.”

  The King turned to Romanus. As Rosa took her seat, Romanus got to his feet.

  “I would like to thank my father for this opportunity to speak to the Court,” he said, “I am still new to the kingdom, but my life outside the island has taught me that there is still much to explore out there.”

  “How long have you been in Atlantis?” Came a voice from the other side of the fire. It was Lazarus’.

  “I just arrived on the island last night,” he said, “but I have no regrets. I feel that my father’s decision to have me raised away from Atlantis was a good decision because I am ready to save the kingdom.”

  “What’s a boy who’s never lived in Atlantis going to know about saving this glorious island?” Came another voice. It was Mila’s.

  Romanus turned to her.

  “I have managed to gain wisdom beyond measure.”

  “What is that supposed to mean to the rest of us?” Came another voice. It was Octavia’s.

  Romanus turned to her. “The defense of the kingdom is in my foremost priority, and despite what some of you might know or not know about me, I intend to secure the assistance of every member of the Order for the successful defense of the kingdom.”

  There was an ominous silence hanging in the room. Zac could tell that they were all nervous about speaking their minds, particularly in the presence of the King.

  “I think that’s settled, then,” said the King in his booming voice. “My son will use all your help in defense of the kingdom. Give him your support, all of you. He will lead the kingdom’s defense.”

  The King pushed himself to his feet and slowly shuffled to the door, a big smile still plastered on his face while clutching his large wooden cup. Everybody in the room bowed their heads as he shuffled for the door, and once the door behind him had been banged shut, everybody in the room started talking all at once.

  Romanus remained standing next to his seat, watching as everybody chattered and took to their wooden cups.

  Suddenly, Rosa shot to her feet, commanding the attention of everybody in the room. Romanus’ eyes appeared to narrow down as he looked at Rosa, who had managed to shut everybody up.

  “You’re a very lucky young boy,” she said, pointing directly at Romanus with her half-empty cup. “You get to live.”

  “Careful, Rosa,” said Octavius, motioning to Rosa to sit down. “He’s still the King’s son.”

  Rosa had a big frown on her face. “I guess that makes you lucky, then,” she said, addressing Romanus. “I can’t figure out why the rest of us must remain so cool, yet your father has murdered all our sons.”

  Romanus did not say anything, instead choosing to remain silent. The room was now deathly quiet, with the only sounds floating into the room being of those from the decimated kingdom.

  “Just to let you know,” said Rosa, coldly, with Zac watching in amazement from Romanus’ side. “If you don’t successfully defend the kingdom, I’ll sacrifice you to the gods myself.”

  Chapter 16

  There was a haze of darkness that was interspersed with moments of distant shouting and moments of freezing cold. However, Zac could not tell exactly where he was until a bright flash of light jarred him back to what he assumed was the reality.

  Before him, a great battle was raging. Unlike the battle earlier in the port of Poseidon, he noticed that this was a comprehensive battle that involved both the defending forces of the kingdom alongside the Order of the magicians.

  The scene was truly amaz
ing and impressive for Zac.

  In the sky, a group of ten men and women floated about, aiming their wands strategically into the battlefield. Above them, dark rain clouds hovered about, declaring their intent with the menacing lightning and thunderstorms illuminating different sections of the charcoal sky.

  Below them, there was a full-scale clash between the defense forces and the invading forces, and the battle truly looked horrific. The highest sections of the battle were fought on top of a mountain of dead corpses, and the surrounding buildings and structures that once made up the capital city of Poseidon had all been leveled.

  There was thick glutinous smoke hovering over the fighters and an acrid smell that was a mixture of blood, sweat, and gunpowder rent the air. There was horrendous screaming everywhere, and this time, the battle tide seemed to be in favor of the defenders.

  They fought off the invaders valiantly who clearly had a firepower and moral advantage. They were well prepared for the war, using their ships anchored in the waters to control the port town and offer support to the fighters on land.

  From where Zac was, he could see that a significant section of the kingdom seemed to be on fire. The once peaceful and beautiful home that he had left under mysterious circumstances only a few hours ago seemed to be falling apart entirely.

  Then, in the midst of the battle, he saw a sight that surprised and relieved him at the same time.

  Up in the sky, linking up with the other Order magicians who were waging war on the defenders, Zac saw his father and Dolores, pointing their wands down below and joining the fight.

  Zac called out to his father but realized that his voice was not audible, even to himself. He attempted to shout and scream in his father’s direction, but he stopped, grasping that his efforts truly were in vain.

  The invaders were getting pushed back, and they seemed incapable of mounting a stern resistance against the defenders who were backed by the Order magicians from above.