The spire in the center of the room was about five feet in diameter at the base and rose about fifteen feet into the air; it narrowed to a little under a foot wide at the top, but the narrowing wasn’t smooth. The first foot and a half was cylindrical, then it narrowed for about the same distance, then it was cylindrical again. This repeated all the way to the top of the spire.

It seemed to be made of the same stone as the walls of the room, but where they were left rough, it was polished to a bright sheen; despite however long it had been left unattended, it still gleamed. The shine was clearly not something that had to be done by hand; Serenity couldn’t imagine his parents choosing cleaning the mysterious spire over cleaning the room they slept in and the spire was spotless while the cafeteria definitely wasn’t.

The spire also glowed with magic. Both mana and essence moved slowly within it, slowly swirling around the spire. Most of it was concentrated at the base, but some flowed upwards into the upper reaches of the spire. The one thing he didn’t see was any form of explanation. Serenity turned to his mother, puzzled. “You said there was a critical line?”

Bethany grinned back. “Touch it.”

Serenity frowned at that. Randomly touching ancient magical artifacts could be dangerous. On the other hand, it usually wasn’t and this didn’t have any of the normal warning signs. On top of that, they’d been trapped and they’d probably found it after they found the food-and-water dispenser that they’d no doubt had to use if they wanted to stay alive.

No, he really couldn’t blame his parents. If they were going to continue to explore strange, dangerous places, he really should go over how to tell if they were overtly dangerous or if the artifacts were traps or weapons; those were usually the worst. He could deal with that after they finished up here; harping on it now might say he thought they’d done something wrong. With what they had to work with, they hadn’t.

He should also make certain they had a way to get out, maybe Ita could help? A way to call for help would be good too, but that might be more difficult. As far as he knew, neither of them had any magical Affinities that could be used to ignore distance the way Rissa’s Mind Affinity and Ita’s Connection Affinity could.

Serenity reached out to touch the spire. It seemed safe enough, especially since Bethany had already touched it.

Critical Mana Shortage: 92% of minimum level available

All nonessential systems are disabled

Minimal life support available

No Command authority found

The words swam in Serenity’s vision almost like a message from the Voice.

The similarity made Serenity stop and look over his assumptions. He’d found records in the Broken Mirror about research on the Well of Souls; that meant there was a project created “under the aegis of Order’s Council” to examine the Wells. It might even have created more in order to study them.

He was pretty certain that the Voice and Order’s Guild were related; it was called “Order’s Voice” when people were formal. The fact that this looked like the same sort of communication only made it seem more likely that it had been created by whoever created the Voice; he didn’t believe that the Voice was natural, after all, even though he didn’t know where it came from.

The Broken Mirror gave him additional permissions because he was a Hand, but he’d been recognized because the Great Library above the Mirror recognized him. There wasn’t any similar recognition system here as far as he could tell, but there had to be something, and the Broken Mirror had indirectly given him a clue for how to handle it: it had refused to accept that someone carrying the token of a member of Order’s Council wasn’t authorized to do so by the Councilor. He’d never managed to convince it that it shouldn’t simply let them in and tell them whatever they asked for.

Serenity still had two of the Destroyer’s tokens from the Tokens of Terror quest, the ones originally held by the Viper and the group that attacked Stallet Academy; the other three recovered tokens stayed with Grandma Tillon. They were in his Rift.

Serenity let go of the spire before he pulled a token out. Nothing changed until he touched the spire again, but when he did, he knew he’d made the right decision. The first three lines were the same, but they appeared in the top right of his vision, out of the way. The words in front of his eyes were very different.

Critical Mana Shortage: 92% of minimum level available

All nonessential systems are disabled

Minimal life support available

Welcome to A’Atla, Council Representative.

Serenity stared at the single line that occupied the center of his vision. He’d expected something to happen. The question was if it was anything useful or not. This was clearly an interface of some sort, so it was probably interactive.

The term A’Atla bothered Serenity. He’d have sworn it was familiar. It felt like it was from his life as Serenity, not his time as Vengeance or the Final Reaper, but he couldn’t be certain.

There was someone who would know. Aide, where have I heard of A’Atla?

A’Atla is mentioned in the information you were given as part of your Tutorial reward.

Aide displayed the quote to remind Serenity.

The Ruins of A’Atla hold the Key to the Past. They shall rise as the World once again becomes herself; beware those who would seek to hide the Past once again.

A World Quest will be issued to those who seek when A’Atla rises

Serenity closed his eyes; he remembered now. A’Atla was probably Atlantis; the names were similar enough and the Voice mentioned A’Atla rising. That meant he wasn’t underground; he was undersea!

More than that, Russ had mentioned something in one of his regular messages that Phoebe had said that sounded like Atlantis to Serenity; where was it?

He was just about to ask Aide for help again when he finally found the message. Most of the message talked about the Solomon vases found at a flea market, but the bit Serenity was remembering was short.

I can’t remember if I ever told you about this, but I just came across the note and it seems like something I should pass along. This is a prophecy Phoebe made after she was freed from the curse, so it’s probably accurate. I know you don’t really believe in prophecy; I can’t blame you after what I’ve seen. Still, forewarned is forearmed and all that.

The Island Beneath the Sea shall rise, and with it shall come the Ones Lost to Time. He who Laughs in Darkness scrambles to find his pieces; rest safe in the Wings of the Dragon.

I’m guessing the last bit means you’re probably going to be stuck dealing with whatever this is, but I have no idea who the Ones Lost to Time or He who Laughs in Darkness are.

It lined up entirely too well, even if it didn’t really tell Serenity much. Serenity looked at the welcome message again to confirm that it said A’Atla, only to find that it had disappeared and was replaced with another line. The status information stayed in the top right of his vision.

No liaison has been identified for your visit. Do you wish to identify your liaison now?

“Sure.” Serenity shook himself. There was a good chance the ancient security system or whatever this was wouldn’t understand the English word; he should probably answer in Bridge, the language it displayed information in.

Error detected: No personnel assigned to A’Atla can be found. No liaison options available.

Fallback: Personnel assignment.

 

Error: No Captain found. Lockout duration exceeded; a new Captain is required.

Fallback: Determining succession for Captain.

No current A’Atla personnel found.

No Captain candidates found on A’Atla.

Most recent Captain assignment letter has exceeded the validity period.

Fallback: Request Captain assignment from Order’s Council.

Council Representative available.

 

Please assign a new Captain for A’Atla.

Personnel currently on A’Atla:

Available for Assignment:

Alexander “Lex” Rothmer

Bethany Rothmer

Not Available for Assignment:

Council Representative / Hand of Order’s Voice / Planetary Sovereign of Earth Thomas “Serenity” Rothmer

Unidentified Personnel, External Appearance Human

It was kind of funny that the spire put “Planetary Sovereign of Earth” at the end of his titles as though it were the least important. Or was the last one the most important and “Council Representative” the least important? Serenity wasn’t certain, but for now he was going to stick with it being the most important. It was the title that get him access to the spire’s system, after all, and it was simply funny that Planetary Sovereign might be the least important to the spire.

“Unidentified Personnel, External Appearance Human” had to be Blaze; he was present but hadn’t yet interacted with the spire. Serenity suspected that was why he was “Not Available for Assignment”, as well. Serenity himself was probably “Not Available” because he’d been designated a Council Representative. There were probably lockouts to prevent anyone from assigning themselves.

Serenity grinned anyway. He didn’t want to “Captain” A’Atla and he doubted Blaze did either. On the other hand, he knew someone who would be thrilled. “Dad? Mom? Which of you wants to be Captain?”

“Captain? What do you mean?” Bethany reacted first.

“I think we’re on a ship. It’s asking me to assign a new Captain before anything else can be accessed.” Serenity hadn’t explained anything, had he? “This is A’Atla; I think it’s what inspired the legend of Atlantis. It’s linked somehow to Order’s Council; I have a token from a Councilor, so it’s treating me as a Council Representative and letting me choose a replacement Captain.”

Serenity suspected that this was entirely an emergency contingency; it was extremely unlikely that anyone would set up the normal succession where anyone with the right token could take over a ship that inspired legends of an island. The fact that the spire’s intelligence completed several checks that included looking for anyone assigned to the island and two different checks for potential Captains only reinforced that suspicion.

Lex walked up to join Serenity and Bethany near the spire. “That sounds useful, but I’m not sure we should.”

Blaze didn’t seem to want to approach the spire; he stopped roughly ten feet away.

Serenity frowned. What did his father mean? “Why not? I doubt we can get control of it otherwise.”

“There are political implications,” Bethany interjected. “Your father and I were until recently both civil servants; your father in particular had a very visible position. If we try to claim Atlantis of all things there’s sure to be a huge mess.”

This was the result of not asserting his rights as Planetary Sovereign, wasn’t it? On any other planet, the Planetary Sovereign giving someone an ancient artifact wouldn’t have been questioned by anyone.

Serenity knew he was overstating things; Planetary Sovereigns weren’t unchallenged. They did often have to play politics. At the same time, he shouldn’t have to play politics with an organization that thought it was the biggest player on the world stage.

“Claim it as salvage?” They were at sea and recovering a lost ship. That would work, wouldn’t it?

Lex opened his mouth as if to say something then seemed to think for a moment. “Maybe. That’s what I had lawyers for. Which is probably the best answer anyone can give right now; it’s not like there’s an owner to worry about. Where we are may matter a lot.”

Serenity shook his head. “I’m pretty sure A’Atla belongs to Order’s Council. That shouldn’t be a problem. Getting someone from the Council to make that claim might be difficult, though; I’m not sure anyone would believe me. Pretty clear conflict of interest, after all.”