Daughter of Atlantis

“Listen little Maiken,” Maiken's mother scorned, “all this magic that you speak of, it's just pretend. You see? A fantasy.”

"But they were speaking to me. I promise!"

“Just tell me you don’t believe in this!” her mother hissed.

“Now. You've got to get over this soon. It's almost your eighth birthday! You are growing up now little Maiken, it's time to face the world as it is, real, and as beautiful as it is real.”

Maiken's mother was beautiful with long dark hair and green eyes, Unlike Maiken who had short curly blonde hair and grey blue eyes. Maiken loved her mother, but could not get over the constant fears that ached within her. Her heart pounded steadily. They never believed in me...she thought to herself...well I'll prove that they are wrong somehow. I know the stones were speaking.

Maiken walked along the bridge where the sparkling blue water trickled silently like a shiny serpent. Her eyes were full of tears. These tears that looked similar to the shining pool of water. Water, their beloved life and their home upon The Island of the sea. Here Maiken lived in the home she called Atlantis, a town far from the sacred hills where destiny was said to lurk and pebble eyes were said to watch your every move.

Mornina, Maiken's mother, had a chosen home closer to the water than any other of the Atlantians did. There they lived at the edge of the pool of life beside the sparkling glistening waters that gave them their immortal breath. The waters that bred both life and despair, confusion and mystery... for these waters were enchanted.

Maiken's strong sense of self-identity had sprung there where she ventured into the lost circle of stones..she would pray there as she would listen to the stones whispering. Sometimes she thought she had heard the devil's eyes speaking. She feared of them possessing her soul. Questions she asked were answered there and because of this strange allure, she came again and again.

Awakened with another start, Maiken peered over the bedside. everything looked so huge in the moonlight glow. Things were towering all around her. She could hear the effervescent stream licking the edge of their castle as she got up, stirred once again by the dark monsters who appeared to her, calling out softly. Red bolts of lightening flashed across the black sky suddenly.

"Come Maiken come Maiken come Maiken" the stones chanted.



Was she half asleep? She couldnt be awake...but the red lightning from across the river painted the sky with a warm glow. She panted breathlessly. “Come Maiken” they seemed to call. Suddenly a gush of wind pulled her into the river, something grabbed her ankle. "Ah!...." she could barely stifle a yelp before she was submerged beneath the water.

“Maaaiiken”, she heard the slithering of a serpents call. she was dragged by the feet up the hill higher and further from her home. the pain from the stones caused bloody sores and bruises. she was surrounded by men. They looked at her under dark furry brows. The Dae were the people who took her away from her home. She couldn't tell what they were saying, but she knew at once that it was true- there were people who lived in those hills. This was the tribe of Dae.

Maiken was tied up and put onto a plank. Shall I be burned at the stake? she began to become so afraid. they carried her on their shoulders up the hills...at least she didn’t hurt...but the ropes were tight. she could barely breath as she wanted to scream out- she'd be screaming and screaming if it weren’t for the rope around her mouth. She would have screamed until it hurt. she would have screamed until she would lose her voice.
Her pain and desperation got the better of her wits. It was useless to fight. Useless to cry for help. All was at a bitter loss. No one would ever find her.

They reached the top of the mountain, and there she saw a glittering village of jade domes where the civilization no one had recalled gathered their victims. These so called victims of the river...she was trapped now and helpless.

They untied the rope at the foot of Darshme. Maiken lay down at her side then half crawled to her feet.
"Maiken." The woman who looked like a tree said..."Maiken." she repeated, as they gathered white robes and put them around her.
A man approached her and spoke whispering, “Maiken come with us. join us. Help us to save the world child! You don’t know but you were a gift, you have a gift…and you’re the daughter of..”

“That’s all for now”, Darshme shushed the man…”But Maiken, do not be afraid of us we’ll not…”

“Amoris!” Darshme yelled. “Do not speak with my child.”




They took the girl to Darshme’s home and set her a bed. The girl was kept there for three days where she was taught the ways of the tribe.

“Let me tell you about the great shadow.” Darshme sat with little Maiken by the firelight in her circular dome. Let me tell you here about the Shadow.

“He is the ghost of the world to come. You know the history of Atlantis. The ocean swelled with starlight, even the earth is alive here. But the shadow came from a humanity far from this world, a humanity so ignorant to their actions that their blood is spilling into our world. The shadow, is evil, my dear Maiken. The shadow is what we are here to fight. It will spread disease and destruction to our world.”

“there is a girl who can speak to the stones, and not only that but the to the very living earth itself. She is a girl who has the gift similar to that of the immortal waters that we drink upon to sustain ourselves. She is the daughter of Atlantis. She has the gift of healing for more powerful than any being. Now that beasts have formed in the waters, who knows what will happen to us. We will no longer be able to drink for immortality. We will have to rely on each other.”

“Eventually we will have to come down from the mountains and gather up anyone we can. We must spread the news of this destructing force. The prophecy is that Atlantis will be destroyed, and we are the ones who are supposed to save it. It is a threat to the very existence of our world. You came to us Maiken, you came to Us.”

Darshme taught Maiken the art of healing. Her uncles would kidnap people from the village and take her to Maiken. the victoms were wounded or dying and Maiken used her magic to heal them. Maiken’s powers were so great, almost every victim was restored to health and taken into their tribe which was growing and growing. The victims would be converted to the path of the Dae. And they would follow it for the fate of Atlantis.









~*~

Maiken looked upon the child with hatred in her eyes. The hatred was of jealousy of the boy. He had not been her age when he was kidnapped, he was older now and much more equipped to handle this what a child and now she, a helpless prisoner, was commanded to heal this wound purposely inflicted upon him.

She held her hand over the wound, but felt nothing but pure hatred and envy. She focused on the hatred and then…at last, she burst out in a rage. She knelt down beside him as he opened his eye slits, tears rolled gently from him. “You witch!” He stammered.

But Maiken pressed her hand to his knees, she went to the other table then got the cloth, a cloth soaked with their water…the water of the village, she put the water upon his poor blood-soaked leg and pressed, the blood soaked into the rag, she mopped and cleaned and pressed, and pressed the wound until the skin formed along the bone. She kept healing him until he began to cry and yell and cry.

But Maiken quickly took some alcohol and poured it on the wound.
“You witch! You’ve murdered me! Ow!”

She wrapped his leg with a towel. “I’ll never be healed. You cant do it. You’re not a tribal healer…you’re just like me. Don’t you want to go home. You have demon eyes. Maiken’s heart suddenly began to race really fast as did the boys. “No! No no no!”

The girl lay down on the floor. I wont let him die! She cried out to the godess.” No more, please let his suffering alone- the ghost replied. Leave him be.”

Maiken left him in the healing dome and went to join the others.

“How’s the boy?” Is he well… that’s what they wanted to know. “He’s in pain.” Maiken said. “He’s in pain.” They heard shrieks of rage then, ooooooow! No! the uncle ran to the boy’s side and did everything he could for the boy. The boy yelled out in pain. Maiken cried and cried. She thought she had done wrong. She thought he would die. She knew it would be weakness to pray but she couldn’t help but see his pale lifeless form, empty eyes…

The boy lived but poor Maiken was weakened. She grew weary. She had cursed him hadn’t she?

“Maiken! You did the right thing. You listened to your inner spirit. You were right.” Her uncle told her. But Maiken felt wrong.

“I have to leave the village.”

The boy was well now and playing along with the other children- kidnapped children that is. But Maiken knew, Maiken knew how desperate the poor boy was to find his family. Maiken approached the boy alone one sunset.

“Hello.” Maiken called to the boy.

“Hello. My mistress of evil” he said appealingly.

“You don’t have to call me that.”

“Ok you’re a witch.” He joked.

Maiken knew the desperation the boy had felt. She knew what rights had been performed upon the boy. She knew he would be brainwashed to be like the rest of the healers.

“I’ll let you in on a secret.” Maiken said to the boy.

“The healing power is within you, not me.”

The boy was perplexed and also fearful of the statement.

“What are you saying…” “I can draw energy from the living.”

“Like a vampire.” The boy said, hiding his tears.

“Well. Yes.” Maiken replied.

“You Witch!” He said laughing.

“Don’t taunt me.” Maiken laughed. “I am not a witch, boy, I don’t know your name…”

“Arias.” The boy said…”You were brought here but you weren’t. You came here yourself.”

“I came here.” She began to cry, tears streaming down her face.

“My my my mother, do you know my mother?”

“No.” The boy said. But he did know. He knew who she was.

“They aren’t dead.” Maiken asked.

“Your parents disappeared along with you Maiken. Your whole family disappeared. Everyone.”

“No. Your lying!”

They both knew the truth. They both knew what this meant Arias approached Maiken and began to hold her, he held her gently BUT Her body went cold, her ears filling with an encompassing sound, then her vision blurred. There it was/ the thing that seemed to start it all. His heart pulsed and then weakened.

An image of a circle of blinding light pierced her retina, pulling her further and further down. She couldn’t breathe, but she kept thinking and still thinking as she fed into herself just trying to stay...stay.

She couldn't speak, but she would hang on to this piercing as long as it might be loud enough to keep her alive, no matter how painful. She’d use their own weapon against them, by saving herself. The chilling consumed, but slowly, steadily it lengthened, she didn’t hold on…couldn’t hold on.

“I have to let go.” Maiken said. “Im not allowed love in this place.”

Maiken knew out of fear that she would be found out. After all everyone on the island had the gift of insight....she flung herself out of his arms and ran and ran out of them to join the others.

"Maiken!" shouted the boy, at first she thought it was the boy then she realized it was her uncle. "Maiken!" her uncle yelled with anger.. "You cant." "You know you cant." Because Maiken was meant to be betrothed to one of her own. Arias was a farm boy, a villager, but in truth, an immortal son of the water.

















~*~The Dream

Maiken moved as a body but without actual solid recognition and remembered when she flew her hand in front of her face and moved it with such incredible speed, had went to turn the light on but was pulled by some invisible cord back into her bed. She began to recall lucid dreaming, her mother had mentioned it once, Before she had met the dark skinned men.

She looked over to him as he lay there. She sprang to her feet, surprising even herself and ran as fast as she could towards the suspended body. When face to face she knelt her lips to his and kissed his chapped lips, his tongue was cold and dead, she kissed him hard and with incredible strength, and innocence. His eyes peered open, through jade pupils and he gazed up at her as if seeing an angel.

Then he looked up and stroked her arms, she leaned over once more and kissed him, but he struggled to push her away.

“I am safe here”, he said.

"You are so far away Arias," She answered.

" But I still am here."

"No, you are just half asleep," She said. She smiled, her eyes glittering with tears.

Then he closed his eyes. Maiken had fallen in love. Soon Maiken would discover the hidden secret powers of even Arias. Soon the tribe would discover that the two were meant for love and Arial would be born, a daughter to Maiken and Arias. The darkness slowly seething up from the cores of Atlantis, the manifesting evil of humanity lost in despair. It was time to search....it was time the prophecy had said, time to escape.








~*~


Arial carried the helpless body down the riverbank. At that very moment they were trying to figure out something. Arial reached out to harshly swat aside a few tall weeds that got in her way, then, "Come on," She told herself as she slowly moved on ahead up towards what seemed like a tree.



And then, there it was. This was the sign she had been waiting for, yes and there it stood, a magnanimous tree, the biggest that she had ever seen, the one that could have only meant one thing- their safety. She stood still for a moment, propping the body up on one knee and holding the wand in her left hand. They had reached their tribal village once again…although it had changed.

She was extremely tired, yet what energy she had left still kept her moving. There ahead before the tree she could make out three stone formations. These now definitely would confirm what she'd hopelessly volunteered herself to seek out- The forest. She had made it to the secret cave the prophecy named.

Ariel pulled the limp form up so that she could get a look at him, he was pale and appeared dead. He wasn't dead according to her though, there was still a chance. She held her wand up tracing circles in the air as she tried to cleanse her surroundings of bad sprites and evil Shadow Spirits.

Vulcan, was already deep within the shadow. His kind was of the later generation, the most dangerous and most potent of the creature that had consumed the eastern desert. Yet, she was in love with Vulcan for he was most unlike the Mae now.

He was like the ancient beings that once traveled to the west. Vulcun had traveled only in the east then. Because Vulcan was slowly dying, Arial had chosen to bring him into the west. There, he would be surrounded by Dae, his kind's, the Mae's, well hated enemy.









Arial dragged Vulcan down to the very edge of a the small pond next to the tree, and there proceeded to dip her gown into the pond then bring it up to his face, washing it. Then, she pulled a small pouch out of her belt filled with dry leaves and crystal. She grabbed a handful of it and sprinkled it onto his face. After this she took a wooden bowl and filled it with more potions, sprinkling water here and there.

Arial took her shawl and washed her wand with her magic dust and then held it from the middle over Vulcan. As the wind began to blow, pieces of dust sprinkled over Vulcan and he began a slow but steady process towards the infinite.

"Instead of death you shall have eternal life." She spoke softly and then drank out of the bowl. With the sweet taste still in her mouth, Arial kissed him gently and felt stars begin to form around her. Vulcan instantly woke up. "Arial...how... my sister."

Arial looked him deeply in the eyes.

"I'm not your sister, Vulcan, you're still a Mae...now you must stay a Mae." stay who you are. "No." Vulcan said. "I belong with the Dae, I'm an enemy here otherwise." Arial lifted him up with her hands and he slowly sat upright on the sand.

"Arial, what is the term for spring, I forget?"


~*~




Arial with Vulcan walked along to the village, "You have nothing to hide, Vulcan..." Vulcan felt afraid. He didn't want to go back to the Mae in the desert, where the Lizards and dark sorcerers killed and fed on behalf of a blood thirsting which couldn’t be quenched.





Here, the village was bright and cheery, filled with exquisite handiwork and designs that Vulcan had never seen the like of in his entire life. He saw only dragons and knives, demons- they were beautiful to the Mae, but here they had goddesses, fruit, and even poetry.

Arial saw one of her Dae sisters, Rosenlina, and walked Vulcan down to see her. They were both slightly reluctant, but Arial pressed on anyways as always.

Rosenlina, for her age, was very bright, and although she could pass for kind and cunning, she could never pass for very wise for she was too naive and eager to be wise.

"Rosenlina, this is Vulcan, he'll be staying at our village for awhile. Vulcan, this is Rosenlina- the Dae of dreaming."

What Vulcan noticed first about Rosenlina, beside her beautiful features, was her pendant necklace of the reddest crystal he had ever seen.

"Oh Arial I must be dreaming, an actual Mae here in our village....but I can tell he's not one of them. How came this to be?" Rosenlina said.

But before she could get a response, Lillielle came running up the path to where she stood next to Rosenlina as if against the two.

"No! You can't have him here!" Lillielle, the spell goddess chanted. "You cannot, it's against our custom and our rules, even if you are the ninth keeper (leader). You should still be aware of what you're role is, your job- our protector, how could you??" Lillielle, the potion maker, flew into a fit of rage and fear.

"Arial, you've fallen in love with a Mae? How could it be?" Rosenlina said with an added affect.

Vulcan hung low, his dark eyes burning into the earthen grass.

His feet seemed to be sinking into the lush marsh.

Vulcan didn't attempt at first to detest, but then he did. "Lillielle, you are quite elegant, please do not take me as an enemy, I am an enemy to your enemy- to go back would mean death."

But then all three looked towards eachother, "you didn't, did you?" Lillielle asked...

"No." Arial replied, which wasn’t true.

He wouldn't die. Vulcan had been given the eternal kiss- a kiss which meant eternal life. A kiss spell that couldn't be broken by any creature, not even a Dae could take back what had been given to Vulcan.

Vulcan would live forever as long as he kept out of the Mae. The Mae couldn't break the spell, but anyone could die at the hand of a Mae. The Mae were brothers turned towards darkness. The Mae were enemies with the Dae. These Two cults were separated out of fear- one of the other- the Mae feared the Dae and blamed them for the dark shadows that crept upon them, turning them towards destruction, now the Mae (once normal Atlantian villagers) became beasts of half plant half bird... and they were at war, the Mae Atlantians and the Dae Atlantians. Vulcan's choice becomes the greatest test of Martyrdom. His fate is kept at the threshold of war. His destiny held at the hands of a the Dae villages and their ancient secrets.

The dark Mae, beings who roamed throughout the spiritual world using strange unearthly tools. They would use these tools for greedy purposes and desires. They didn’t care about the consequences.





~*~
Maiken's hair tossed in the wind like a wild kite. Alone, she was alone and yet so alive. The sun almost made her eyes burn and tear up. In the itchy summer field that afternoon, the tall yellow grass moved like waves of an ocean. Sometimes she wondered if her only loneliness was what others assumed she had. Nevertheless, she continued to twirl flowers in her fingers and dip in and out of the unending river of life, and her home in the woods of her forgotten paradise.

Then, just as the snow had melted, Maiken’s eyes dried, the liquid tears of love evaporated in the sun and her heart burned each time he pressed against the skin of her chest. Her mind became like mush, like an apple left out in the sun, and her dreams began to shrivel like a prune. Leaving him was like leaving a rain shower, or a beautiful sunrise, and suddenly it was as if ghosts had consumed her very being.


But she loved him, she just couldn't be with him. He felt so close sometimes, and other times he felt close-but wasn't-he was somewhere else. She didn't want to leave him, but she wanted some space. There she danced, in the forgotten fields of her last embrace. She danced to love, of the earth as it turned and her lips that touched the moon.

When the night slowly crept over her dark shadow, and the blood in the moon sparkled like a red ruby she was asleep in another world. One without polar opposites, where she could touch him and not feel the burn of passion sting so painfully. Where the light did not shine so ominously and the world was not strung out like fairytales.

Wrinkled leaves had fallen and bathed the world with mystery and magic. Cold snow had flowered out of the sky, pollinating the earth with whiteness and beauty. Then, spring sprouted out of her veins, enriching her mind with a more solitary joy. She fell in love, and the world heated up with the touch of his soul, it burst like a fiery sun and showered the world in bright yellow mixtures, florescent skies, and magical nights in sparkling avenues of starry space.

But he was not there, he wasn't there and he didn't see her...or at least that's what you would think. But one might look upon the face of the stranded lover and see that although she had died to a world so lost in contradiction, she built her own in favor of peace. Whether or not she truly died there would not matter, she found her heart in the stillness of the earth and in the fury of a volcano. She swallowed eternity by starving off of art, and bent time like the sun had melted her heart.

Maiken had strange powers. She could see things that others didnt. She was also very empathetic. Her mind and soul was intertwined with the universe. Her powers were extraordinary.

Arias mumbled something through his haze, In between them Maiken envisioned a violet pink flower, it was large and brilliant and she assumed it had an important meaning or symbolism. It had softened the experience so that now she was looking at him with incredibly bright eyes. His eyes were still a grey-blue like hers. His eyes seemed to reflect the empty hollowness and grey in her own.

It was a soothing reflection not dead or cold, but of passion. He knelt down beside her and she closed her eyes to cover her stagnant perception slightly so she could feel his thin tongue pressing into her mouth. Now the truth had come out. He pulled her tongue into his mouth but her kiss was so different than any he'd ever felt. It was real. He wouldn't admit that she'd meant the world to him...even if she hadn't managed to save theirs. Arias managed to force his lids open to meet the frozen gaze in Maiken’s bulging eyes. Maiken was dead.

~*~























Maiken and Arias had a child which they named Arial, after Maiken's death the whole tribe was stricken but removed.
Their acceptance that she was gone and refusal to look at her again, closely, made Arial grieve beyond relief. Then she was gone and they were moving on. They could mourn and forget. But would God even have wanted a funeral? They worshipped a God who didn't even support burials. She lay there, looking up through hollow eyes.

The immense beast licked its paws as it bathed in the stream. An aura of light glittered around its head. The beast was like a cat except much larger and it was black with wings. I do not know why my brother called it a beast. The wise panther was beautiful to me. We knew it was wise because of the aura around its head. Auras in our lifetime were symbols of respectability and love.

Arial, my sister, told me that the panther must have been the offspring of a powerful animal spirit. She also said that if she would ever come in contact with the animal, she would try to communicate with it.

Another morning, as the sunlight trickled in through the green trees, I awoke to spring. Birds chirped and played their melodies as the wild eyes of the spirit world pried open. Shimmering waves of blue sky and golden sun danced before me, rhythmic with the beating of my heart.

While my brother was off hunting, Arial was busy tending to her flower garden. She sprinkled nutrients on each delicate tropical rose. I loved studying those flowers. They brought happiness to my unadjusted mind as the adults called it.

It started raining, and the swooshing of the trees stirred me from my bed of leaves. I would get soaked. Arial must have prayed to the clouds again.

“Oh no, a storm.”

We gathered our supplies to headed the cave where the prophecy predicted would lead to the end of shadows. There were many caves in our world, but which, that was the question. It began to rain.


We ran as fast as we could through the sticky mud and over slippery rocks. Something about running always seemed to bring us together. We loved to run through the forest and especially when there was something or someone pursuing us. Our followers would meet us eventually.


At last we reached the stream. The stream would flow into a waterfall that was where the cave was. The trickling and bubbling was very soothing and inviting, but we had our supplies and needed to keep them dry.

Arial climbed down first, and then I followed. Feeling the mud underneath my leather moccasins. My legs were slightly scratched but the supplies were in good condition.

I climbed down the rocks and over more rocks to get to the overhang that led to the cave. Arias was sitting right in the entrance to the cave…then we took our boats and sailed inside where the monster would be.

Arial held tightly to the oar and eased the boat into the brownish sand. Her blonde hair flew gently in the light breaze as she kept brushing her bangs aside. She gazed, dreamy eyed, towards the forest. someone obscured her vision in an instant. Arial was standing just behind the shore where Vulcan stood, by the roots of the trees that jutted out of the ground.

"I have hope, Arial! We must call the others." Arias spoke, "It is time to find the beast."


Arial coaxed the sea monster up from the depths of the waters in the cave, then more followed...but something strange began to happen. When the beast began to rise the earth had begun to shake.

"The prophecy is coming true." Arias Yelled. "We have to hurry!"

"What are we going to do?" Arial cried out. Arias paused for a moment, then smiled- "We have to get these people out of here before the island sinks into the water forever."