Atlantis Lost: The Vanishing Paradise Read online

how hard he looked the island of Atlantis was gone.

  The dream replayed itself in Damascus’ mind back to something he didn’t think was important until recently. Damascus was jolted awake by the thought. He raced to find Adair.

  “I know how we’re going to get to the original dimension,” he proclaimed to a slouching Adair.

  “Do tell, sleepyhead,” her foot rested lazily on the computer console. She was still annoyed at the secrets he was keeping from her.

  “The crystal skulls, they have…” Damascus was cut off by Adair.

  “They have the coordinates to where Atlantis is hiding…I already know,” Adair rested like a statue in her seat.

  “How?” Damascus began to ask.

  “Someone sent out a mental distress signal, it seems as if a Deltorian space pirate is out searching for them, he already has three of them. If he gets the other three well…I think we should get the other three before dealing with him first,” Adair said lazily.

  Adair and Damascus sat quietly aboard the stolen spacecraft and stared at the pictures of the palace before them. Images of schematics as well as live footage of the interior flipped through the screen as Adair pressed a button on the console. The bridge was dark yet the ship's temperature was warm. Damascus tried to make sure Adair was comfortable, it had been too long since he experienced what it felt like to feel the cold he always overcompensated the temperature. But Adair didn't mind, Atlantis did not have weather, everyday was just like the last.

  Several videos and images popped up on the screen accompanied by the computer sounds of whistles. Adair broke the silence with her sullen tone, "Genius. It looks like a palace but it's built like a fortress." She began to wrap her thick wavy hair in a small band.

  "I'm sure we can get inside there with no problem," Damascus stood by her side with confidence; the tall creature beside her was her first successful creation. Adair was solely responsible for the existence of vampires in an effort to give the human race a fighting chance against the Bilal. The Bilal are Atlantians who believe that all other creatures of the universe are meant to be destroyed or enslaved. The lowest on the totem pole to a Bilal is a human being.

  Adair loved humans, when she lived on Atlantis she would watch them. She and a small group of others walked among the humans and taught them what they could without giving them the answers. Atlantians like Adair thought of themselves as muses. They enjoyed watching what the humans would do next. Adair was not soulless but because of the frailty of humans she and others believed that their emotions were more poignant than their own. Emotions like love, happiness, fear and sadness were valued among certain Atlantians, they envied humans because of their capability to experience these emotions to the fullest.

  Damascus' was Adair's first weapon for the human race, a young Roman man she found dying on the side of the shore one night with his crew members. He had been attacked by a Bilal and left for dead. While healing the young man, Adair thought that if she made him invincible that he would be able to fight off the Bilal for the next time. In her attempt to save him, he died. She then turned to alchemy to restore the young man by using the blood of the others who were too weak to save.

  "I never said we couldn't get inside, I just said that it was a palace built like a fortress. Did you take care of our new friends?" Adair asked.

  "Yes, ma'am." The creature of the night answered gruffly. Damascus was referring to the brand new vampires that he created when they escaped Paradise, Texas.

  Adair sighed as she remembered the night she created Damascus; it wasn't too long after that night before Adair's travesty was discovered. She was viewed as an enemy of the human race and was imprisoned for it. After years of being trapped in a liquid prison Adair was able to reach out to the minds of other creatures until she finally made her way to Earth. She had to choose the right Earth in the right dimension in order for her to find Damascus again. Damascus did his best to explain what happened to Atlantis and how it disappeared but the details weren't clear enough for Adair to conclusively say what exactly happened.

  Damascus looked over to Adair as she stared at the same images on the large screen before them, "Ma'am are we going to move in?"

  Adair rolled her eyes, "Don’t call me that!”

  “Yes, ma’ – I mean Adair.” Damascus corrected himself mid-sentence but Adair ignored him.

  “It's only a matter of time before Tobias finds his ship. Adair thought for a moment before grinning, "I can't believe they just let us steal their spaceship like that," she said before a small giggle fit.

  "I don't think the intention was to let us take their ship...” Damascus started to say before Adair stopped laughing.

  "Come on Damascus, let's go," Adair got out of her seat and threw on a pair of black and silver sunglasses as she made her way to the back of the ship's bridge, she sighed, "Just because you're dead doesn't mean that your sense of humor should be too."

  She and Damascus placed their right hand on the back panel of the bridge before disappearing. The two reappeared in the main hall of the palace startling the guards. In the time it took Adair to fight off two of the men dressed in suits and ties. Damascus had taken out the other five without killing any of them.

  "We can always leave," Damascus had made it known earlier that he did not like the plan his creator laid out.

  "Shush up! You’re the one who came to me telling me about the skulls. Why are you changing your mind? You know what? Never mind. We're doing this, I'm not going to be around forever and you need some kind of contingency plan set in place!" Adair whipped her brown hair around to walk down the long hallway. The inside of the palace was white trimmed with gold. Accents of crystal and floral designs appeared all around.

  Adair looked out of place, her brown leather jacket and black leather boots did not match the soft and light decor around her. Damascus' eyes darted from left to right as he followed behind her; he seemed to glide through the hall behind her in his long wool coat.

  An ear splitting growl emanated through the palace, after the initial shock Adair listened closely to what the being was saying. Damascus furrowed his brow before asking, "What was that about?"

  Adair laughed, "She wants to know who dare enters her palace without permission,” Adair walked into the large bath as if she owned the place.

  "I dare enter!" She beamed, "Sup, chick!” Adair announced as she walked into a light filled room.

  She faced a woman in a bath with men surrounding her as they washed her back and fed her as if she were a kind of goddess. Adair sighed, "This is a bit much isn't it?"

  The woman with the stone grey flowing and hissing hair stared at Adair for a moment as if she were focusing on something.

  "What is it Medusa cat got your tongue?” Adair's beaming mood subsided.

  The creature's lizard like eyes blinked for a second before she responded, "I haven't spoken English in centuries and even then it was barely a language, I needed a moment to adjust, what is it that you want?"

  "I need you to pass along a message to you and the other cowards," Adair continued to walk closer to the creature in the bubble bath.

  "Cowards?" Medusa hissed.

  Adair chuckled, "Your English isn't that rusty, you know what I'm saying."

  "You are saying you no longer wish to live!" Medusa screeched at Adair. The servants backed away as she started to stand up, two servants standing at the side of the room rushed over to cover up their leader.

  Adair stood with her hands in her pockets determined not to be intimidated, she couldn't be sure but Adair was sure she could see the walls move. She began to think that those guards that she and Damascus took out weren't the only ones they had to deal with. Damascus had already seen the creature lurking in the walls before Adair had.

  "How long do you expect to hide out here? My pawns are in place and..." before Adair could finish Medusa began to laugh.

  "Your deformities, your reta...�
� before Medusa could finish Adair shouted.

  "Watch your mouth!" Adair could feel the anger rolling off of her and Damascus could sense that this was not at all going the way that it should. The creature swirled within the walls before becoming very still. Adair sighed, "The war is coming...the Bilal..."

  "I do not fear the Bilal! I hold the power!" Medusa shouted.

  "Even with the skull you should be afraid. They've done something, the Yikar Machines are not behaving as they should, the Bilal have found a way to turn them off. And with everyone that goes off a dimensional drift happens. And you know what that means," Adair tilted her head to the side.

  "Why do you need this Yikar Machine now, dimensions were fine..."

  "Yes, dimensions were fine without it until we lost Atlantis, with no stable anchor dimensions will crash into one another, we have to put it back where it was or every dimension will drift into one another until Atlantis drifts to where it belongs, my true body is trapped somewhere else, I was able to reach out with my mind take on other forms and create the Yikar Machine to stabilize the dimensions but it was a temporary fix to buy us time..." Adair held her right hand out as if she were pushing something down.

  "There is no us! I am neither Bilal or of the First Law!" Medusa screeched and hissed.

  "The First Law?" Adair asked.

  "The First Law is to protect the human race at all costs, I thought they would have made