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The Lost City

A Lost World

By Madison BetcherPublished 2 years ago 6 min read
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The Lost City
Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

"I think we're going in circles," Bev stated, for the fifth time today.

It didn't need to be stated; Alliah already knew they were going in circles. All she could think of were circles. They were surrounded by circles. The world was made of circles. Even her thoughts kept circling in her head. Circles. Circles. Circles. It never stopped. She thought she was going mad, she knew the rest of the crew did too. The darkness didn't help any, no sign of stars in the sky. They moved sluggishly, as if something was dragging them backward, under, she couldn't even tell which anymore.

All she knew was circles.

It started as an adventure, sure the boat wasn't the best and the crew clashed constantly but it could've been worse. Their personalities were just too different was all… and a few of them objected to a woman being the captain , bad luck after all. She didn't know much about sailing; Aqua Caelum was her strong point not sailing. And now with the light vanishing from the sky and a constant state of circles surrounding them, it wasn't looking good. Maybe the older men of the crew were right, maybe it was bad luck to have a woman be the captain. They certainly weren't getting anywhere. It was supposed to be an expedition, an exploration, and an adventure. They were going to see the lost world, after all, a place no one had ever returned from, and yet it was a lost cause if they never even found it.

Just go up they said, you'll find it if you just go up.

She thought they had been, chugging along at a brisk pace. Now though, they were trapped in constant circles. She felt like an aging shark, still moving, still circling despite how exhaustion and lifelessness tugged at her. This had been a mistake.

Her shoulders fell with the weight of her sigh as bubbles gently escaped. This was a disaster. The council, her family, her little sister were all so curious about everything but they would all know she was a failure when she came back. Couldn't even find the Lost City. Even though it had gotten bigger as the years wore on until it almost seemed to cover the world. Never here though, they never came down here with her people. She was curious as to why that was. It would be nice to have neighbors, see their craftsmanship, and hear their stories. But they never entered here. And it couldn't help but make her sad. They could learn so much from each other. And yet they stayed so far away.

Though, she supposed, her people couldn't talk much either. They hadn't exactly reached out with welcoming arms. Celephus, the giant squid, killed the last party of the Lost City that came down here. Their warriors had released him in fear of what the Lost City journeyers would do. The results hadn't been pretty. But they were better now! More accepting, and it was time to extend the coral so to speak. Forgive and forget and all that. Talk it out, besides violence never really solved anything, of that she was certain. Now, she just had to find them first!

They seemed to be dragging again, something pulling at their limbs trying to tug them back. For a moment she wanted to let it, just go home, let it go, everyone had failures. If you didn't, you never learned anything. But she wanted to see; she wanted to see it so very, very badly. It tugged at her heart like octopus tentacles that she couldn't seem to rip free. This had been her dream for so, so long.

She'd tried being a diplomat first but she had the worst temper and hardly any patience to speak of. She'd been asked to go home, politely of course, but that didn't make it sting any less. She couldn't be a storyteller, a singer, or a performer. She didn't have the grace or the voice. All her lessons had crashed, she was a disaster case. They'd seen hammerheads with more performance ability. That had stung too.

It had been by accident she'd discovered the humble art of Aqua Caelum. Light Reading. It used to be called something else but all the ink on their parchments had washed away. The ancient words were lost. And so was their past. She learned directions and time from this light; something called seasons too when the water grew warmer up top and colder down below. No one else seemed to share her curiosity as to why though. To them it was the way it's always been. But Aliah wanted to know more. She was regretting that decision a little now.

The pressure was getting worse, it was giving her a headache and it made it hard to breathe. Where were they? Nothing had ever happened like this! Were they going to die? Poseidon, what would her parents say? They'd cry and little Tia-, it brought tears to her eyes just to picture it. No, she mustn't die, not here, not now, it wouldn't be fair to them. The pressure was building, her head was pounding behind her eyes, she couldn't breathe-

There was an explosion of water, as their circling finally stopped. Something cold and insubstantial hit her face. She was coughing up water, why? Her hair was hanging limp and useless around her. Bev looked like a giant mass of seaweed. It was custom to have long hair after all. The older you were the longer the hair; it was a sign of respect and wisdom. Still, Bev at only thirty-two tidings had some of the thickest and longest she'd ever seen. She tried to giggle but it came out scratchy and rubbed her throat raw. It was hard to breathe, what was going on?

The lights were almost blinding yet far, far up away from them. How was that? The Lost City, if they had finally found it, was supposed to be on top of the world. So what were those? They were tiny but frighteningly bright, there were so many of them. Were they dangerous, did they communicate? She'd almost begun to check when something screeched. Too loud, far too loud, and piercing. Everyone fell to the deck as it ripped through their eardrums. Something, something was wrong. Maybe they were still lost and hallucinating, going in their fruitless circles. But they weren't, they weren't even moving anymore. Stuck to this torture, this screeching of words that made no sense. What did 'Sernder urselvvs tu quesstonin' mean? Where were they? What had Alliah dragged them into?

As the screeching noise got closer and closer, she managed to look over the side of the boat. The world was in anguish, metal towers everywhere that reflected the bright monsters in the sky. This was nothing like the lost city. Why oh why, did she have to be so curious? They were all going to die and it was her fault.

Boots stomped their way onto their ship and stopped right in front of her. She cringed again when the voice was back, deeper and angry but still loud enough to hurt her ears. What was wrong with these people, these monsters? Why were they doing this to them?

"U r under a-rest four trezpazing n tthe uropian taratorys, neighmly tthe Atlantik Ochean."

What did that even mean? It was echoing in her ears, she didn't understand a word of it. Couldn't they speak normal Latin? Or even better Greek? Maybe even Chinese? Those were sophisticated languages, everyone knew them. She couldn't expect them to speak Atlantian after all, so why did they expect her to speak Lost City languages?

She didn't understand.

Except, Atlantik, could it be? Maybe, she could make them understand? She started pointing to herself and the others quickly, her voice raw and scratchy, she could barely raise it above a whisper, "Atlantik, Atlantis"

She kept repeating, praying they would understand. The man went quiet, he understood, thank Poseidon, he understood what she meant. She looked up, hopeful, at the Lost City man and her eyes widened in fear.

This wasn't a man but a monster.

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