The Discovery of Aegaeon Isles

As the ship barreled down the water passageway, waves of water began to overtake the ship. Despite the high waves, Diallo continued with all his might to wrestle the ship into submission. Chima, Nnamdi, Hadiza, Hibo, and Masego swiftly began to bail water out of the ship. Without warning a loud bellowing gust of wind entered the cavern and flooded the ships' sails, sending it coursing down the water passageway so fast all the children were flung into the air and knocked hard against the ship walls. As the children attempted to regain their bearings a massive tsunami wave rose out of the waters, "hold onto something!" Masego screamed as she and her comrades quickly scurried to find something to take hold of as the ship raged out of control toward the massive tsunami wave.

The ship sliced through the massive tsunami wave and jutted over the choppy waters and then slowed down to a lazy river pace as it approached the next dock. The children lay flat on the ship floor bewildered and amazed at how once again they had escaped a most certain death. Nnamdi was the first to stand up and survey the place at which the ship had docked. No words spoken, Nnamdi peered over the side of the ship and gasped. "What do you see Nnamdi?" Masego asked, but Nnamdi didn't reapply. Again, Masego called out to Nnamdi, but he didn't respond. Masego stood up and walked over to Nnamdi and she too fell silent as she looked out over the side of the ship. Slowly, one by one the rest of the children stood and looked over the side of the ship and they too were overtaken by silence.

The children stood in utter disbelief, peering over the side of the ship, looking into the massive treasure chest that had quite by accident stumbled into by way of a mad ship, mad winds, and mad waves. "Gugulethu," the children said in unison under their breath, and then turned to look at each other for some seed of confirmation. A few more trices of silences passed and then the children erupted in jubilee, disembarked the ship, and then began to chant, Gugulethu, Gugulethu, Gugulethu, as they threw themselves upon the heaping piles of gold coins and rolled around in the priceless gemstones. For just a moment, all the children's worries and cares disappeared. After the moment had passed the children took a rest amongst the jewels to sort out their newfound predicament.

"– If this is Gugulethu, then we must be in Aegaeon Isles" Nnamdi interjected into the conversation. "Aegaeon Isles isn’t real, it is just some old wives’ tale, the wives of merchants tell when their husbands up and leave, or are overtaken by the sea" Masego retorted, and then Hibo and Hadiza murmured in agreement and recalled how when their friend Niya's uncle, who was a merchant, when he passed the women at the funeral did say her uncle was now in Aegaeon Isles. "Oh, come on Masego don't be so pessimistic, just think about it – it's the only thing that makes sense out of any of this," Nnamdi said and then the children began again recounting every action and word spoken and though of no importance before all the children remembered how Chima, Diallo, and Nnamdi had been talking about Gugulethu before the shuttle boat had capsized.

"Wait, are you trying to say we've entered into some new dimension or realm?" Hadiza asked alarmed, "possibly," Nnamdi said and then all the children except Masego fell into despair. "Wait-wait it's just a theory," Nnamdi said trying to help his comrades regain their countenance. "First you were certain and now it's a theory, make up your mind," Masego said as she attempted to offer comfort to Hadiza, Hibo, Diallo, and Chima. "Look, I'm not sure of anything, but it's my best guess," Nnamdi said as he anxiously ran his fingers through his hair. A few moments of silence passed and then Chima said, "Let's just say we are in Aegaeon Isles, and this is the famed Gugulethu treasure. How do we get out of here and back home?" "Well first we have to get out of this cavern," Hadiza said, "there's no outlet on this side" Hibo chimed. "Well then, I guess we'll have to take the ship back to the other dock and come out the same way we came in," Diallo said and then stood up and started down the mountain of gold coins to the ship. One by one the children stood and followed Diallo down the mountain of gold coins, boarded the ship, and then set sail. Unlike the gust of wind that had sent them barreling down the water passageway before, the ship gently cruised back to the other dock.

The cruise back seemed like an eternity compared to the speed they had traveled before. Fatigued and wobbly from the cruise, the children gingerly disembarked the ship and felt their way through the dark extended entrance of the cavern. As the children exited the cavern, they were hostilely greeted by uniformed soldiers clad in gold, silver, and bronze. Gagged and bound the children were lugged by the soldiers into the upper hill castle quarters. The children knew they were moving in the direction of the upper hill castle because they had roamed the entire land earlier in the day and were able to retrace their steps. The soldiers carried the children into the castle, took them into the throne room, and then threw them down before the Prime Minister.

"Greetings, Prime Minister, we found these insolent alien children coming out of the sacred cavern," one of the soldiers said, "search them," the Prime Minister ordered and immediately the Prime Minister's guards seized the children and began to search every pocket and fold of material of their clothing. The children groaned against their mouth gags until the noise unnerved the Prime Minister, and he commanded the soldiers to cut their binds and remove their gags. "We didn't take anything," Nnamdi said as soon as his gag was removed. "Honest, we're just trying to get back home" Chima chimed, "Can you help us?" Hibo beckoned to the Prime Minister and then the rest of the children started pleading for help. The Prime Minister stretched out his hand and the children fell silent. The Prime Minister dismissed the guards, and then asked the children for their names. One by one each child introduced themselves to the Prime Minister.

After more decent and formal greetings, the Prime Minister began to question the children, and like floodgates with the right amount of pressure, the children opened up and told the Prime Minister everything that had happened from the girls' deciding on a whim to take the shuttle boat home, to the boys whispering about Gugulethu, to the shuttle boat capsizing, to falling to the bottom of the sea, to the bright light, to the strange new land, to the light being their only guide, and every other bit and piece of the story not shredding even the most minuscule detail. The Prime Minister sat and listened eagerly to the children recounting their greatest adventure. After the children finished their thematic, animated, narration the Prime Minister erupted in jubilee, clapped his hands, and applauded the children on their adventure. The children at first were puzzled by the Prime Minister's reaction but then too found themselves laughing and celebrating the great feat they had accomplished.

The Prime Minister shared with the children an ancient story of Aegaeon Isles about a group of children from the surface world who would one day venture to middle earth and discover Aegaeon Isles. In this story, the children learned that Aegaeon Isles used to be part of the surface world, but that greed from the merchants drove them to middle earth protected by rock, dirt, turbulent seas, and a clear orbital protective nucleus that encapsulated all Aegaeon Isles. The children sat and listened to the Prime Minister just as eagerly as he had sat and listened to them. At the end of the Prime Minister's story, he took time once again to congratulate the children on their wonderous adventure and in honor of fulfilling the legend bestowed upon each child a prized jewel. The Prime Minister and the children communed for a bit longer, but the Prime Minister made sure not to keep them long as he could see the longing for home in their eyes. The children asked many questions about Aegaeon Isles including where the townspeople were. The children learned that most of the villagers were away on pilgrimage, which is why the town seemed so vacant. After learning so much about Aegaeon Isles the children were all equally eager to share with the Prime Minister all about Mizuka Island, Nu-Nu Shores, and Aomi Bay.

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"You all must be anxious to return home, it is the last day of the festival is it not?" the Prime Minister said before the children could launch into another story. "How do we get home?" Masego asked, "There are many long ways and many short ways," the Prime Minister said as he stood up and then drew a portal connecting both worlds with the tip of his crystal-encrusted staff. The children peered into the portal and saw the entire town gathered for the last fable of the night. "See yourself amongst the crowd before you step through" the Prime Minister warned as he looked at the children all aglow and wide eyed. One by one the children stepped into the portal and were transported back home.

The children plopped down on soft cushions at the foot of the stage and watched the Mizuka Island, Nu-Nu Shores, and Aomi Bay folklore thespian artists perform the final stanza, followed by fireworks, lively music, and dancing. The children romped around the festival together with newly ignited passion and ate and drank until their tummies nearly burst. Towards the end of the night as everyone was winding down a great multicolored light show erupted from the heart of the sea. Everyone stood in amazement watching the great nautical light show, except for Masego, Hibo, Hadiza, Chima, Diallo, and Nnamdi; they just gazed into the sea and thought of the Prime Minister as they clutched their jewels.

~ The End