The birds chirped wildly as flocks of them rushed behind the mountains following the setting of the sun. That was strange, I thought. I refocused my attention back here in my garden. Grabbing the sprinkler hose by the garden faucet, I proceeded in watering my plants.
“Lovely garden.”
“Of course.”, I told Erik as if I was expecting him. I was a bit surprised but I did not let him see it. “You know you can knock for once like normal people do.”
“You have some healthy vegetables out here, Theo. The cabbage, snow cabbage, and eggplants, they all look delicious. Tomatoes are all looking nice, too.”
“Why thank you, Erik.” I looked at him. This time he was wearing a tuxedo with a black bow tie. “Sometimes I wonder about your wardrobe.”
“I was at a party.” He said shortly. He walked towards the garden faucet and turned it off. He then faced me and handed me a foot sized aluminum tube. “Next one.”
I took the tube from him. It was light in weight. It was nothing like I’ve seen before. I checked both its ends, it was securely shut. “How does one open this?”
“None of your concern.”, as Erik went to the faucet and closed it. “Consider that an invitation to Atlantis.”
At the middle of the tube, the name of the receiver was engraved. “Sphinx. Sphinx?”, I read out loud. “Atlantis?”
“The tube has your frequency coordinates, Theo.”
I went to the steps leading to my backdoor and kitchen. There I sat and closed my eyes, the aluminum tube in my hand. I breathed deeply and in an instant, it provided my senses with the aroma of cooking and feeling the heat coming from it. I heard the clanking of kitchenwares and the sound of a boiling soup. From then on, I opened my eyes and witnessed my environment started to take another form. It was a marvelous transformation as the atoms disintegrate on their own and rearrange themselves on a different pattern.
I found myself in a room filled with five double deck beds. It was hot and humid that I decided to go outside. I got up and saw a white shirt and pants servant uniform hanging in an open closet. I put it on and headed for the door. I was about to grab the knob when the door flung open. I swiftly took a couple of steps back but lost my footing and fell on the wooden floor.
“I am so so so so sorry.”, he repeated telling me. He had short black hair, wings of an eagle, and a furry body of the lion. He has huge paws for feet. He was wearing white servant pants like me. “You are the new help? What’s your name?”
“I’m Theo.” I said and stood up. I reached for his huge hand and shook it.
“I’m Sphinx, and you are needed in the kitchen. I didn’t know they now have slaves without alterations.”
“Well-“
“Oh you are not from here.”, he exclaimed as he was leading me down to the kitchen area.
“No.”
“From which country are you from? People do love coming over here in Atlantis and work.”
“Yeah- no, I mean-.” At this point, I had no idea how tell him. “I’m a messenger, Sphinx. I did not come here to work.”
“Messenger?”
“Sphinx! Hurry up. Kitchen needs you!” It was a call from downstairs.
“Can this wait?”, Sphinx asked.
No. I heard Erik’s firm tone.
“Yeah. I guess so-. This is the famous Atlantis. I would like to see more.” I guess it wouldn’t hurt.
Wrong. It was Erik.
“Good thing your body can cope up with the energy of the place. This is why only a handful of people from other places are permitted to go here. The difference in frequency is intolerable for some.”
We went down a spiraling stairs that heads to the kitchen. When we got there, there were four other half human half animals cooking, washing the dishes, chopping meat and fishes.
A centaur had also entered the kitchen, bringing with him a basket full of bottles of milk and cheese. Along with him were five half human half lion kids. Unlike Sphinx, they had human bodies and lion heads. They were so ecstatic about the milk. They all gathered near the centaur, purring and scratching him. They knew the milk was for them.
“Special delivery for these adorable kitties.”, the centaur exclaimed happily.
“Pietro!”, Sphinx called out to the centaur. “Just leave the basket on the table.”
“Copy that, Sphinx.”, as they high fived each other. But before he was able to place the basket on the table, the kids had already took the bottles of milk and went to the next room. The bottles had AzCorp laser letteringengraved on them.
“By the way, this is Theo.”
“Hey Theo.” said Juanita playfully, the woman with an elephant head. She was chopping some freshly caught fishes.
Pietro gave me a slight fist bump on my shoulder. The others also said hi. One had a Doberman for a head, the other a cat, and the one cooking the soup had an alligator as his head.
The kitchen suddenly shook violently frightening us all. It lasted for ten seconds but it seemed longer than that. The kids on the next room squealed in terror.
“Stay right there kids!”, Sphinx commanded them.
Rain started pouring hard. Thunder roared and lightning followed.
“I’m telling you guys, Atlantis is cursed.”, it was Juanita.
“I agree. With all these monstrous experimentation they had done to us.”, it was Akila, the one with a Doberman head.
“Who did this to all of you? Have you guys always been as you are now?”, I asked them.
“Yes, born like this, genetically modified for their convenience and freaking happy to serve.”, uttered Kiru with the cat head, sarcasm was in his tone.
“Yo guys, tone down. You are scaring, Theo. He has a family to feed, that is why he is here, right Theo?”, this time it was Onemaru, the one with alligator head.
“That is right.”, interjected Sphinx. “Theo, accompany me to the garden, will you?.”
Sphinx and I went to the garden. The centaur followed us there. The rain was merciless in its downpour.
When we got in the garden, Sphinx hopped onto Pietro’s back. There was another centaur waiting for us on the outside. Sphinx urged me to climb onto him.
It was too dark. The clouds hovered heavy above us. Just seconds outside and we are already soaking wet. The two centaurs started running while carrying Sphinx and I on their backs.
“Hang tight, Theo.”, cried out Sphinx.
I kept looking back at the house we came from as it got smaller and smaller. I have lots of questions in my head.
I am not interested, Theo. You should have given him the package, answered Erik in my head.
In a matter of minutes, we approached a small hill thickly covered with trees and vegetation. There was also small in the middle of the hill. Before we could reach the hut, the ground once more shook violently. The two centaurs raced and geared for more speed to reach the hut. Lightning struck from afar, splitting a tree in half. The ground shook even harder, more vigorous. This time, the centaur I was on lost his balance and we both crashed on the muddy ground. I was starting to feel dizzy.
“I don’t think this earthquake has any plans to stop!” shouted the centaur I was riding. He was okay though.
Sphinx and Pietro also stopped on their tracks. It was impossible to move. The shaking was so extreme. I looked down on our path, and it separated the land leading back to the house.
“Oh my, how are we supposed to get back?”, asked Pietro. “We have to go back for the kids.”
Sphinx jumped off of him. Suddenly the shaking had stopped. It was as if the crack had given the Earth a breather from all the pent up energy.
“We gotta hurry. This won’t last.”, said Sphinx.
The path to the hut became narrow and steep. The two centaurs maneuvered with finesse through the difficult road. As we got higher, the better was the view of Atlantis. We saw people were starting to be evacuated. Some were heading to higher places.
“I hope the kids are okay.”, Pietro voiced out.
We finally reached the hut and the rain had not yet stopped. We immediately settled in inside.
“Hey-“, I approached the centaur that carried me.
“Limiel.”, he answered. “My name’s Limiel.”
“Thank you, Limiel.” I told him.
Sphinx came close to me and firmly said, “I’d like my package, Theo.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”, and I smiled at him.
Great. Be sure to go home, Theo. Erik told me telepathically.
I closed my eyes and focused my attention in between my forehead. Just in seconds, I was in a trance. Images started to appear. I saw the aluminum metal tube in my head. I opened my eyes, and it was already in my hand, near my chest.
“Woah! Just like that, out of thin air.”, uttered Pietro in surprise.
“Out of the ethers, from nothingness to something.”, it was Sphinx. “But not all messengers can do that, Theo.”
“How did that even happen?”, Limiel was curious. “I haven’t seen that done here in Atlantis without the aid of technology.”
Lifetime after lifetime of parallel lives in training. Erik answered smugly in my head.
I gave Sphinx the package. He took it from my hand. “This type of package, Theo, carries a certain frequency with them. This can easily be detected in Atlantis and might create chaos. The energy here in Atlantis has started to be unstable due to their “technological” experimentations. This hill, the thick vegetation serves as a natural shield. Thus, preventing any disturbances in the field.”
-to be continued
Thank you for your time. Enjoy the weekend.
