Atlantis 2.0

Atlantis 2.0

"Please, pretty Goddess lady, you promised!" Coral huffed, tugging on the long wool sleeve of a simple black dress.

"Did I?" Lilith asked, looking down at her tiny companion. Lilith had spent hundreds of years sleeping within the Sacred Glade. She had spent nearly sixty years wandering the continent aimlessly. In all that time, Lilith never understood the desire to have a smaller version of oneself. However, this tiny thing, no taller than her hip, did bring her some sense of happiness she hadn't felt in a long time.

"You did. You promised!" Coral pouted, scrunching up her little eyes and nose, pulling with such ferocity Lilith thought her dress might slip off her shoulder. "You said in a fortnight. That's today! You promised you would come to the Castle." Coral's mouth had begun to pucker up just as much as her eyebrows.

"Castles are so dull, my dear. There is little to learn from balls and dancing." Lilith stated, freeing her arm from the little gremlin. Lilith lived a modest life. She preferred to stay home with her books, sometimes perfecting her trade.

"Balls are fun. Dancing is Fun! I will convince you, Goddess lady." Coral declared with each statement rising in flair. The innocent naivety of a child believing her view of the world was how every soul felt. The privilege of a pampered baby never told no in her life.

"Souls much more convincing than you have tried." Lilith quipped back as she nodded for the girl to follow. Lilith had been picking leaves from her tea garden when Coral suddenly appeared moments earlier. Lilith's best friend was an avid dancer. She had spent years trying to convince Lilith of the fun of a ball.

Pushing the door to her modest home open, Lilith couldn't help but trace her fingers along an image she had painted herself. It was a tall obsidian tree with wispy thin leaves half silver, half crimson red. It was a small piece of the home she missed terribly.

"I am Princess of Atlantis. I can be very convincing." Coral chuckled as a bloated ego from her title made the tiny thing stand nearly four inches taller. The minion followed Lilith into her home.

Lilith didn't need much to survive. Like everything in Atlantis, her home was enchanted ice formed to the owner's will. For Lilith, this meant a three-room blue rectangle her neighbors loved to remind Lilith was hideous. The room they entered through the door was nothing special. Obsidian cabinets and bookshelves lined every wall. There was a table and four chairs where she would entertain the few guests she did receive.

To each side were two open rectangle entryways. To the left, something people told her was a "kitchen?" A place to prepare meals for consumption. Lilith no longer consumed such things. All she needed was any of the hundred bottles of thick red fluid native to the Obsidian Wail. Lilith had carved rows of cylinder holes into the ice walls from the ceiling to the floor. Lilith filled each gap with identical bottles of the same mystery fluid.

On the other side was her "bedroom." Lilith no longer needed sleep to function like she once had; in her mind, she had slept enough. Instead, this room was where Lilith perfected her trade and made her living in Atlantis. Lilith had made her clothes since she was a child. While she couldn't stand ornate frilly things, she had made plenty, and the Atlantis people did pay well for pointless frilly or jeweled things.

"Your title, little Princess, only convinces those unfortunate souls that fear your father, the King, or the Or-Ne-Dra," Lilith announced as she calmly walked to a cabinet across the room.

"Wha.." Coral lost her newly acquired four inches, exhaling heavily and slumping her shoulders.

"I fear neither of these things, little Madling! Tea?" Lilith asked, opening the cabinet and retrieving a large bowl of ice. She couldn't help but smile slightly as Coral slumped over to grab the bowl defeated. Lilith flicked her wrist and hand to shoo the little beast away. Coral had learned through many visits to Lilith that "Tea?" wasn't a request.

Nearly two moon cycles had passed since Coral first entered her home requesting her services. When Coral arrived on the first day, she told Lilith that collecting water from the well was "servants' work." Lilith had to inform the tiny beast that "servants' work" was used by people that didn't live life to the fullest. Misguided souls that believed their titles or wealth allowed them to have others live for them. Lilith didn't respect souls unwilling to live life to the fullest.

The first four days passed, with Lilith having tea with a polite young squire. A young woman who believed fully in the doctrine of the Or-Ne-Dra. Ignoring Coral completely as the servant squire of the Or-Ne-Dra returned each day from the wells, Lilith would listen to the squires' tales. Fantasies of knights and paladins fighting nobly in the Vermilion Wasteland to reclaim the remains of the dragon Ultima, their god. Such a waste of life. Blood had stained the sands red in their endless crusade.

To Lilith's surprise, on the fifth day, Coral arrived alone. Free of her delightful, if not misguided, squire. That day Coral politely asked for a cup of tea and fetched the water without any complaint. This moment was the first time Lilith had hope for the little gremlin princess. Since that day, Coral had returned every morning to have tea with Lilith. During tea, Lilith would delight Coral with tales of her home land.

Coral had laughed away the idea that the Obsidian Wail was a sea of shimmering silver once long ago. The Or-Ne-Dra and her father had told her that the Obsidian Wail was a demonic hellscape devoid of anything redeemable since she was born. The day Lilith told Coral that she was ancient and a creature born in the Obsidian Wail, Coral called her a liar. "You are too pretty and nice," the naive Madling told her that day. Lilith assumed the blood swirl eyes gave her away instantly. That changed since the day Lilith swirled a wine glass of her imported liquid into a myriad of shapes.

Since that day, Coral has spent more and more of her day with Lilith. Coral would bombard Lilith with childish questions like "can you make it a rose?" When she asked a meaningful question like "Do you miss home?" Lilith would regale Coral with fantasy tales of a naive girl not so unlike herself. In the girl's ambitious journey to save a loved one from death, she unknowingly unleashed a plague upon her home. Coral had cried when Lilith told her the girl's only prize for success was more pain, more death.

Today Coral retrieved the water as requested in silence and sat in one of the wooden chairs. Coral ruffled her heavy leather skirt as she lifted herself to a chair designed for a much taller Lilith. Magic had advanced so far since Lilith had joined civilization. She used to need to make a fire to brew her tea. Now all she needed was a silly stone to heat the kettle.

It hadn't escaped Lilith's notice that magic was a way of life in Atlantis. They utilized it for everything. Everything in Atlantis was enchanted with magic in some way, from the violet crystals they used to light their homes to the ice-carved tunnel walls that would never melt. Lilith somehow felt sad seeing people disconnect from the simple things in life. The simple joy of growing your tea leaves. Boiling those leaves you harvested fresh into a beautiful pot of tea. Then enjoying that tea with a person whose company she cherished. Coral had become one such little Madling.

"Clear the dishes, dear. Then I shall let you lead the way." Lilith said, snapping the book she had been reading shut. Coral had been patient and knew not to start Lilith on a tale of her home. She could talk of the Obsidian Wail for hours. She missed her homeland. The Obsidian Wail belonged to the sons of Cayn now. She was no longer welcome in her beautiful forest. There were still a few alive that understood what she was. Maybe she could return once their power lust empire ate away a few generations.

Coral instantly perked up again, gaining back her much-earned four inches of height. Lilith didn't even have time to grab the veil she wore in public before the girl completed her task. Her eyes were no more than a quirk in Atlantis, yet her time in the Wasteland taught her to be careful regardless. A simple wool cloak hood and a thin veil were enough to avoid awkward interactions with the Or-Ne-Dra faithful. They wouldn't outright make a scene, but they were not happy she had been spending so much time with their Princess.

Traversing Atlantis meant traveling by foot through thin twisty tunnels. Over the years, four distinct districts had formed within the iceberg. Most of the "servants" tended to the docks in the lower districts where Lilith resided. Here most of the commerce took place. Sailors (pirates) import goods from both the Wasteland and the Wail. The docks were also Atlantis' first line of defense. As such, you would often find well-armored soldiers patrolling the lower districts. Tensions would generally run relatively high in the lower section as pirates were not too fond of the strict laws of the Or-Ne-Dra.

Traveling horizontally through the ice, you would come across the central chamber. The Castle was in this chamber, and most of the more well-off among the populous lived there. Here the wealthy felt safe enough to be little marionettes. Lilith hated being in the central chamber. Every dress had the same frilly ugly design, most made by Lilith. Every painted face was the same palette of pale blues. Each hairstyle was the same swirl of beehive they called hair. She wasn't a judge of fashion, just an advocate of individual thought and identity. Importing rain from a forest of demons was expensive. Lilith would milk these sheep dry if she could keep the Madlings at bay.

Following the tunnels to the west of the Castle, you will fall into the district controlled by the Or-Ne-Dra. These poor souls had taken the tale of Gaia and Ultima and twisted it into a full-blown religion. There was so much wrong with their retelling of the event. Their emblem of a silver dragon was misnamed and wrong. Their crusade to resurrect a dragon that didn't exist was ridiculous. Lilith couldn't understand how these zealots had so much control over Atlantis that many argued the actual seat of power lay in the Cathedral. Luckily, Lilith had no reason to remind the Or-Ne-Dra of her existence. She left them alone, and they pretended she didn't exist. This union worked for Lilith.

Though Lilith had yet to make her way there personally, she had heard of an exciting place at the end of the eastern tunnels. This place was known as the foundry, where exceptional people melded magic with what they called "science?" creating spectacular things like her self-heating kettle stone. Potion Masters would have the elixir for any ailment you had, while magicians would meld elements together to form violet crystal lights and other wonders. As a child, it never occurred to her to trap lightning energy within a crystal to illuminate an area. If Coral wanted Lilith to be excited, they should visit here, not a stuffy Ice Castle.

As soon as they entered the central district, all the beehive women and their suitors began to bow and curtsy calling to Coral. Many would call out well wishes to her. Many others offered her treats and frilly dresses. At the same time, a few others bowed multiple times before slithering off as fast as they could. Realizing Lilith was getting annoyed, Coral ran to catch up with her. To prevent the little gremlin from losing sight of the goal, Lilith walked off without Coral toward the inner chamber.

"Wait, they were showing love and respect for the crown." Coral huffed as she raced to catch up to her long-legged teacher.

"These people neither love nor respect you, little Madling." Lilith snapped back at Coral without looking at her or slowing her pace. "You are a sprout new to this world. You have done nothing to earn their respect." Lilith stopped to point for her little companion to gaze at the sea of onlookers. "Half of these souls blindly adore your Royal title. They seek favor by showering you with gifts. The other half fears your title because they or someone close to them didn't "love and respect" your crown at one point in their journeys. Both sides believe you hold power over them that you do not." Lilith stated again, nodding for Coral to follow.

"I... I don't understand. They smile and tell me they love me." Coral said with the genuine innocence of a soul devoid of much turmoil in life. Lilith imagined Coral had had little experience with the duality of a human heart. Each person had the capability of excellent good and great evil.

"Sometimes lost souls put on a dishonest face to the world. Sometimes, people will lie to you, little Madling, to serve their desires. Better you learn this lesson before it costs you everything, Princess." Lilith spoke from personal experience. Long ago, Lilith gained what she believed was her greatest triumph. She only created a monster who used her power to slaughter thousands. A sin so great it stained her home crimson, and then it banished her to wander the world alone.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Coral gasps as they breach the second ring of the inner chamber. From here, the majesty of Atlantis Castle was on full display. A massive structure of pristine crystal shined in the moonlight. Few areas in Atlantis had visible access to the sky above them, none near as large as the circle Lilith now peered through. It was as if she was gazing through a telescope at the heavens above. Lilith couldn't help but be amazed by the night sky. Very rarely had she seen it as a child.

Not to be undone, the real jewel was the Castle itself. Skilled crafters had littered the walls with ornate cut prisms of ice. These unique jewels were either blue or silver, the colors of the Or-Ne-Dra. The crystal blue structure had a circular design like the opening above them. Three finger-like spires rose to reach out to the stars. Three towers representing the three districts it supposedly watched over. Each massive spire curled inward as the towers rose high above the ground. The most astonishing thing was the prism dragon that somehow was suspended and twirled in the space between the claw-like rises. Even more miraculous to Lilith was the moonlight funneling through the skybox directly into the dragon prism. The effect illuminated the entire inner circle of Atlantis in a faint silver glow. Everything from the stained glass windows depicting an ancient battle to the frilly drapes adorning each entry is meticulously handcrafted to attract your eye. Even the garden surrounding the Castle, Lilith thought, was pruned to an unnatural stillness. Perhaps by magic?

The stunning display of craftsmanship paralyzed Lilith. So many questions had begun to swirl in Lilith's head about how all this was possible. First, it was still early afternoon, so how was moonlight stationary and funneled into the chamber? Second this dim silver glow, this light was so similar to her home within the Obsidian Wail. Was this just a coincidence? Lilith jostled out of number three (how was the dragon prism suspended in the air?) as again Coral was tugging upon the sleeve of her dress.

"Come on, before they see you!" Coral stated with a bit more urgency than Lilith expected. Was she not supposed to be here? Before Lilith could respond, Coral had looped around her and was now pushing Lilith's butt as hard as she could. Of course, this was the highest the little beast could reach. "Hurry!" Coral whispered but with more urgency than the statement previous.

Coral had done as Lilith requested, fetching water for their tea. Lilith was silent as Coral led her through the massive archway into the Castle. She remained still as Coral had to distract her squire protector, who had shared tea with Lilith weeks prior. For whatever reason, the little Madling wanted none to know Lilith was within the Castle. Thus, it was only fair Lilith returned the respect afforded to her. Regardless of how tiny she was, this was Coral's home. Miraculously the two made it undetected as they climbed the western town. Coral resided in the tower designated for the members of the court representing the Or-Ne-Dra. Was this the source of the secrecy? As Lilith finally followed her tiny companion into her bed chamber, she didn't understand. The Or-Ne-Dra didn't like her, but she had become relatively known among the locals, especially in the lower district. Lilith understood even less when Coral began to secure multiple heavy locks on her door.

"Little Madling, why have you brought me here?" Lilith asked as she sat on the foot of a pillowy mattress far too big for herself, let alone this child. The bed was the only piece of furniture large enough to support Lilith, so it would have to do. Tiny chairs no taller than her knee somehow weren't going to work, Lilith thought.

"I want to show you something. It's my greatest secret treasure!" Coral proclaimed, too excited now to hold back her childish joy. The girl had spent plenty of days listening to Lilith's stories. Lilith figured it was only fair she patiently sat while Coral retrieved her "greatest secret treasure." Lilith was surprised when Coral returned from a side room moments later, dragging a large silver frame nearly taller than herself. Whatever organ still pumped fluid through Lilith's veins violently seized as Coral turned the painting so Lilith could see it. "This is my ancient ancestor. Isn't she pretty?" Coral asked, jolting her head back and forth between Lilith and the blue-haired regal woman. "Look, look, she has your eyes, Goddess lady. She is like you." Coral was now pointing vigorously at the eyes of the woman.

"Little Madling, who is this woman?" Lilith asked with urgency, not unlike the one the little Madling employed as they snuck through the Castle. Lilith couldn't believe the image before her. A gorgeous woman stared back at her, a woman with vibrant blue hair. She was adorned with jewelry and wore an obsidian black crown atop her elegantly curled sea-blue hair. The woman took pride in her appearance as she wore a black dress embellished with a silver dragon starting from the woman's breast and swirling down to her toes. Lilith knew the dress. She made it! This face was familiar to Lilith as well in every way but one. This image wasn't correct! Why did this woman stare back at Lilith with her own eyes?

"She was the very first Queen of Atlantis," Coral answered, beaming with pride that she finally had information Lilith found exciting. "My mother told me that she was raped and taken as the first wife of the blood god Cayn. I don't know what that means, but mother said it was terrible." Coral continued as Lilith forcefully swallowed down the bile, trying to escape her mouth. "Mother said she spent nearly a hundred years married to Cayn before she rebelled against him leading the original Atlantians into the ice. She then spent almost a hundred more years as Queen." Coral was shaking with excitement as she recited her story to Lilith.

"Why is this your greatest secret?" Lilith asked, doing her best to keep her voice calm. Pins were now drilling into Lilith's neck in a rising tension Lilith hadn't felt in nearly sixty years. "Why have I never heard of this woman if she developed your nation?" Lilith took a series of deep breaths as she asked her question.

"The Or-Ne-Dra proclaimed her a heretic, forced her to abolish the crown, and then..." Coral hesitated as she looked away from both Lilith and the painting.

"Then what child?" Lilith pushed Coral to finish her story.

"They purged her of her sins. Burned her alive in front of the Cathedral. She spoke against the belief that the original nether dragon would return to free us all from the binds of the world. Mother said it was a message to any that denied Ultima as the one true god." As Coral continued, Lilith couldn't believe this child was reciting doctrine that validated a woman being burned alive.

"What happened to the body?" Lilith again pushed for information as her head uncontrollably snapped to the right. A quirk Lilith was never able to break.

"Thrown into the Vermilion Sea, every heretic is returned to the sea. There they can transgress for their sins and hopefully be reborn in the light of Ultima." Coral again recited scripture taught to her that justified the senseless loss of life. "Look at her eyes. They are the same as yours, see? I'm not supposed to talk about her. Father would be upset if he knew I still had this picture. Mother said the First Queen was a brave woman who was too important to be lost to history." Coral's eyes lower to the ground as she sighs. "With Mother gone, I can't even remember her name." Coral was hugging the corner of the frame as if she had lost something precious to her that would never return.

"Morgan." Responded Lilith, not realizing that a thin line of black fluid was slowly leaving her cheek. Luckily thanks to the veil, Coral hadn't noticed the blood tears streaming down Lilith's cheek.

"Wha?" Coral's head bursts up to look at Lilith with renewed curiosity.

"Her name was Morgan. She is my oldest and dearest friend." Lilith rose from her seat upon Coral's bed. Helping return Coral's treasure to its hiding place Lilith wished she could ignore the now starry-eyed Madling grasping tightly to her leg. Again Coral was too small to reach much higher than her upper thigh.

"I knew it. I knew your eyes were unique! I knew you could help me." Coral somehow had managed to clamp even tighter to Lilith's thigh. Lilith wasn't sure how to help the Madling, but Coral seemed convinced she could.

"We will speak more tomorrow, little Madling. We have much to discuss over tea." Lilith left Coral alone in her bedroom soon after she returned the painting. Lilith didn't bother to sneak her way back out of the Castle. She only saw one living soul along her path to the exit.

"Good evening, my lady." The polite squire once again bowed to Lilith as if she was born to the role.

"What is your name, young one? You never told me." Lilith had spoken with the squire for four days, yet never once had the woman divulged a name.

"Helen, my lady. Singular, no surname, no family." Helen stood at attention as if this was resighted rigorously in reflective glass.

"Right... Accompany the Princess for tea tomorrow Helen singular, no surname, no family. Tell the little gremlin, I insist. I have much I want to discuss with you as well." Lilith had already begun to walk away from the young squire with jet-black hair as she spoke.

"Forgive me, my lady. My commander stationed me here to wait for you." Helen called to Lilith, whose long legs had carried her halfway to the entrance before Helen could bow her apology.

"Tell me Helen singular, no surname, no family. What was of such importance you have stood here waiting?" Lilith turned to face the woman but couldn't retrace her steps. Lilith wasn't surprised someone knew she was in the Castle. She, after all, was a tall obsidian willow among a sea of crystal blue.

"Highlord Vesper has ordered your presence within the Cathedral. I am to accompany you there, my lady" Another bow from the dutiful child puppet.

"Should I choose to refuse your offer," The tension in Lilith's neck had begun to swell again. It had been many ages since Lilith felt anything akin to anger. "What then, child of Ultima?" Lilith's head snapped to the right as the tiny thing drew a cheap, two-handed blade. This squire baby Madling just fucking drew a sword on her!

"My lady, you have been kind. I don't want to, but I have orders from the Highlord!" Helen gripped her sword with unwavering devotion. The only thing she had to protect her. This measly squire child was in nothing more than a tonic. The baby Madling had no armor for her skinny body that didn't eat enough. The Or-Ne-Dra had claimed this orphan of war early in life, and she now blindly followed the orders of misguided souls.

"So you're willing to die then? Helen, singular, no surname, no family!" Lilith's voice was shaking into a guttural growl. Her face was stained black with blood tears, each uncontrollable twitch of her left eye sending more thick fluid down her face. Slowly removing her hood and tearing the veil from her face Lilith had enough of the games. The Or-Ne-Dra burned her best friend alive. They threw her corpse into the sea like she was trash. Now they send a fledgling squire to demand her presence.

"If I must die today, it was Ultima's will." Helen again proclaimed with the unwavering zealotry of an Or-Ne-Dra faithful. Helen was gripping her hilt so tight her hands began to bleed. Studded hilts were punishment disguised as penance to this foolish Madling. Yet still, the girls' eyes were unwavering as the nightmare unfolded.

"She is lost, my Madlings, this blind creature Helen" Lilith said in a trance, a state of mind familiar to her now. Lilith snapped as a large tendril of blood burst from Lilith's left wrist, wrapping around Helen's sword. Lilith grabbed the tentacle of blood in her left palm as if it was a living extension of her body. Flicking her whip of blood, she discarded Helen's sword like the toy it was. To Lilith's surprise, Helen used this moment not to cower but to advance on Lilith.

Closing the distance between them in a heartbeat, Helen clenched her hands, riddled with punctures from her blade, into tight fists. Expelling more of her blood across the floor, she struck firmly in the center of Lilith's chest. Unphased, Lilith let out another guttural wail bearing eight large fangs as her cry echoed through the Castle. With a flick of a wrist, Lilith used Helens' blood to bind Helens' wrists. With another wiggle of her fingers, Lilith suspended Helen in the air dangling from the blood binding upon her wrists.

"Final eulogy? Helen, misguided Madling of the Or-Ne-Dra." Lilith's voice was tranquil once again. As swiftly as it had burst from her skin, the blood whip changed form to a simple blade with a razor-thin edge. Lilith pressed the blade tip against Helens' throat just enough to draw blood. Lilith could always do more than "make a rose." Helen stared into the swirling mass of blood that was Lilith's eyes unflinching. This fledgling nobody was staring death in the face, just as Morgan had eons ago.

"Thank you for the tea, my lady," Helen said, never breaking Lilith's piercing gaze. Helen was faithful, fearless, polite, and well-mannered on death's door. Lilith knew this young Madling had potential.

"Stop! Please, pretty lady! Don't hurt her!" Coral cried out as she rushed down the staircase from the western tower her bed chamber resided in. Lilith was making a ridiculous scene, and the first one to confront her was a child. The rumors she was hearing were true. This place was a crypt. So many questions were spiraling into Lilith's brain. Questions that would have to wait as the gremlin child once again tugged on her sleeve.

"Such lack of faith, little Madling. You have disappointed me, Princess." Lilith sighed as every drop of blood spilled on the castle floors dissolved in the wind. Helen's bindings the blade in Lilith's hand, the bloodlines that stained Lilith's face. It just dried to a powder and blew away in a breeze. "A fortnight of lessons, and you have learned so little. If you two are to have any hope of surviving, you have so much to learn." Lilith said, removing her cloak from the floor and hooking it around her neck again. "I expect both of you gremlins at tea tomorrow." Lilith was tired. New knowledge had broken her brain. She had always assumed Morgan lived out her days in the Obsidian Wail. Now she knew the truth. If only the Sacred Glade had freed her sooner.

"Forgive me, my lady?" Helen interrupted Lilith's spiral of self-hatred and regret.

"Yes?" Lilith asked.

"The Highlord, my lady?" Helen asked. All that nonsense and Helens' priority is still duty. Lilith changed her mind. Both of them had learned nothing and were useless.

"Offer your Highlord my gracious invitation of tea. Tell him to take any precaution he deems necessary. I have plenty of tea leaves to share." Lilith smiled, thinking she had cultivated quite the little garden for herself. Before either useless Madling could distract her again, Lilith turned and left the Castle.

Lilith had time to reflect on her day as she traversed alone back home without incident. How much did the Highlord know about her? Her best friend had lived an entire existence while she slept. The Or-Ne-Dra were more invested in her than she realized. So many unknowns Lilith couldn't quite add together. All these years she had lived, Lilith was still a naive girl.

Finally, Lilith was alone in her ugly home with a wine glass full of blood and a book. She sighed deeply, relieved, knowing this was not her story. Lilith's story had already been written and told. Lilith was now simply a mentor to a tiny gremlin. The gremlin Princess of Atlantis will set out on a journey to end a senseless war and free her home from the oppressive control of the Or-Ne-Dra.

"Madlings. Do not seek hope in this story." Lilith again spoke in her trance state. "Coral's destiny is one of failure, or so she believed the night of Vesper's mutiny." Lilith grinned and swirled her glass of blood into a rose. "I taught the little Madling and her protector well. They made me proud that night." Consuming the last of her crimson liquid, Lilith closed her book. Lilith walked a few steps into her workshop. She pushed aside a giant pile of cloth off the hard mattress before collapsing into it, still in her cloak and day dress. For the first time in months, Lilith slept.