Weirdly, the one thing that didn’t change was the local mana level. Serenity still felt like he was in a nexus, but they’d moved far enough that either this was a giant nexus or something else was going on. Serenity’s bet was on the second option. A’Atla had to be affecting the entire area. Serenity’s first thought was that it was like a dungeon, but that couldn’t be right; A’Atla was definitely not a dungeon. He’d know.

“How are we doing, Serenity? Anything I need to be worried about?” Lex sounded concerned, but that made sense. The shaking bothered Serenity as well, and there was something about the pump noises that really sounded off, almost like they were missing a note Serenity was used to. They were definitely moving a lot of water.

If they were moving water at all; the air had to come from somewhere. Could it be … converting water to air? That would be crazy at such a scale normally … nah, it was a silly thought. That was far too energy intensive; A’Atla wasn’t using mana at that rate. Serenity doubted that anything that energy intensive was possible with the amount A’Atla was using. Yes, it took a lot of mana to get it to increase by a single percent, so he couldn’t say it was impossible, but it seemed unlikely.

He didn’t have time to look into it right this moment, so it would have to go on the list of things to figure out later. Serenity took a good look over his screens and reset the filters again; a number of new issues had popped up. “I don’t think any of this is a problem, but I haven’t had time to look over it in detail yet.”

Lex nodded and seemed to consider his question for a moment. “Anything that affects our air or ability to surface?”

“No.” Serenity had already checked for those; air, power, and movement seemed the most important right now. “We’re only at 116% of critical minimum mana. Not too far off the estimate, but I don’t want to bet that that’s enough to surface on its own.”

“And with no idea of the weather conditions or even time of day,” Lex muttered.

“It’s 3:47 PM,” Serenity supplied. There were advantages to having a permanent clock in his head. With luck, it hadn’t been disrupted by the trip through the Well of Souls; the time it recorded was less than what the trip felt like, so Serenity couldn’t be completely certain it was correct. It probably wasn’t too far off, at least.

“Daylight is probably good for when we get close to the surface,” Lex mused, “But you’re right, we should get some more power built up first, just in case. You said something about A’Atla being on a ley line nexus, is there any way we can figure out where the ley lines are?”

Serenity was about to say no, since whatever A’Atla was doing made this compartment higher mana and that messed with his senses, when he remembered all the mana level readings. It might take some work and they might have to move around a bit, but he could probably figure out where the ley lines were and how to follow them. With luck, they wouldn’t have to leave a ley line to find it, but even that could work as long as they knew quickly. “I think so. Let me look into it a bit.”

It took several more days before they were ready to actually head for the surface. Even his father was starting to feel a bit stir crazy; Bethany was well past “a bit”. Serenity didn’t ever want to be trapped on a dirty ship with her feeling stir crazy again, not after she discovered that he could generate significant amounts of temporary water. He’d also gotten far more practice at trying to make brooms and mops than he’d ever wanted to (they were all terrible but he had to use them anyway). At least the buckets worked.

It did take a little jockeying around, but A’Atla’s mana detectors were good enough to let Serenity identify the ley lines. One of them led up, so they followed it until it ran into another nexus; at that point, they had to change directions. All that cost was time.

And more cleaning. Serenity supposed it was something to do, but he had other things he could have done in that time!

Now if only he could figure out a way to tell his mother that.

Serenity knew he was lying to himself. It was only a couple of hours a day and it was more time than he’d spent with his mother in years. It was easy to get her talking and the results were fascinating. There were all sorts of stories she’d never told him, probably because he was too young. He’d never heard the story about how Lex once got the day wrong and missed picking them up at the airport and he had no idea how his mother had managed not to pick on his father over the time he accidentally visited the red light district in Amsterdam … with Thomas at the age of eight.

There were other stories where she clearly talked around certain details, but Serenity didn’t push. He didn’t want to know if she was hiding her own secrets or her government’s. Even without the details, the stories were interesting enough to spend some time and mana on cleaning up the areas they were using.

They took it nice and slow, giving A’Atla plenty of time to move. Since they moved slowly and kept A’Atla in ley lines, mana was never too much of an issue. It dropped far faster whenever they weren’t in a nexus, but the time it took Serenity to reorient and pick a new direction at each nexus was longer than the time it took to refill to a decent mana level.

There was definitely something fishy happening with nexuses, though. When they left each of them behind, it was like A’Atla had moved them a couple of miles in the direction it was traveling. Serenity couldn’t say anything for certain; perhaps he wasn’t properly accounting for currents. He didn’t think that was the case, but he wasn’t exactly an expert and he definitely didn’t have a solid fix on his location.

What he could say for certain was that the mana level in A’Atla dropped when they were only over a ley line. Serenity didn’t want to feel what it was like when they were outside one; the mana level in a ley line was low enough to be noticeable even if it wasn’t painful and didn’t actually lower his max mana.

Two weeks after they started, the highest part of A’Atla finally broke through to air. Lex knew it first, but Serenity would have known it soon afterwards. One of the things Aide had managed to obtain in the few hours before they left for the Well of Souls was a marine radio. Serenity had expected it to be useless, but it was easy enough to get and they had headed out to sea before anything else.

The first thing Serenity heard was a clearly repeated warning about a dangerous aberrant current. It had coordinates; shortly after that, Serenity was able to get a GPS fix and determine that the “dangerous aberrant current” was definitely a result of A’Atla’s rise. They were somewhere in the North Atlantic Ocean, more or less due west of Spain but if anything closer to North America than Europe.

They were also apparently a major shipping hazard.

While Serenity could have said something over that radio, he didn’t. Realistically, whoever was giving out the warning already had all the information they needed; they probably had more than Serenity did in terms of what A’Atla’s rise actually affected. The only thing they didn’t know was that the “aberrant current” was caused by an island-sized ship. Serenity had no doubt they’d know that soon.

Beyond that, his parents had asked him not to talk to anyone immediately. They were going to reach out to contacts of their own first. He might not have gotten his hands on a satellite phone before he left, but Bethany had one in her gear. Why she had one in her camping gear was a question she’d refused to answer; all Serenity got was a smile and “Well, I’ve carried one since they became available.” He didn’t consider that a real answer.

The notice from the Voice arrived almost exactly the moment A’Atla stabilized at the surface.

[A’Atla has Risen!]

[Lost to the Sea in Ages Past, the Floating Island floats once more. Many mysteries are hidden on A’Atla]

[World Quest: The Ruins of the Past]

[A’Atla’s Descent was no accident, nor was its Rise. Two forces have made A’Atla their battlefield and their effects ripple through Earth to this day. All Residents of Earth must choose: Do you strive as those who made A’Atla did or do you join hands with those who sent it to the sea floor?]

[Success Condition: Preserve A’Atla and stop those who would destroy it. The hand behind A’Atla’s Descent must be stopped]

[Reward: Control of A’Atla shall be offered based on contribution to the Success Condition. A’Atla is currently Owned]

[Success Condition: Destroy A’Atla]

[Reward: Prevent the ancient knowledge of A’Atla from falling into the hands of those who would use it. Additional rewards are offered by others interested in A’Atla’s destruction]

[Many hazards exist on A’Atla yet the most hazardous is other people. Be careful regardless of the side you choose]

Serenity was confident that A’Atla never rose in the past he remembered; Earth was destroyed with A’Atla still on the ocean floor. That was sad in a way, but in others it wasn’t. It gave him a good boost of confidence: he’d changed things and for the better.

The news that whoever was behind the sinking of A’Atla was still around was a slight surprise, but not a complete one. Legend said that the gods were involved when Atlantis sank and Serenity knew that at least some of the gods were still around. For that matter, Psyche had mentioned that some of the gods died when A’Atla sank.

[Serenity]

[The World Quest cannot contain all of the information that should be known. There are forces that act against my core rules that I cannot avoid sharing that quest with who must not know what I tell you now]

That was news, and not good news.

[The Lost Vault was damaged in the events that sent A’Atla to the sea floor. Beware lest the secrets it holds doom the future as they once threatened the past]

[The Godswar had odd effects on parts of A’Atla’s mountains. Travel to the peak and you should know why YOU must go there]

[It will take many people to truly discover the secrets hidden in A’Atla. There are ways to find those who have been marked by your opponent. Find them before he places too many of his people where yours should be]

It was clear that the Voice had already decided which side Serenity was on. It wasn’t like that was a secret, not after he helped his father raise the ship from the seafloor.

The place to start was clearly a mountain. No, that wasn’t quite true. The place to start was clearly figuring out how to find the right mountain. Were any of the peaks on A’Atla even tall enough to BE mountains?

Lillene

A’Atla has mountains. They’re short mountains, but they’re over 1000 feet so they qualify, technically. It’s still really flat when compared to how wide it is - not quite as flat as Earth is spherical (yeah, I know it’s technically an oblate spheroid), perhaps, but that’s pretty darn flat.