The Atlantian System: Creation

Vigo's Perspective

“Go! Go! Go!” Huda was shouting as they sprinted through the Sect towards the War Room. Vigo was initially denied access to the sacred space, but a strong Indian woman forcefully ushered him into the room.

He surveyed the surroundings, taking in the multiple screens, until his gaze fell upon a woman with a mocha complexion, thick, curly hair, and glowing yellow markings on her body.

She appeared to be unwell. Her golden eyes could barely stay open as if she were struggling to stay conscious and her movements were sluggish and weak.

She blinked up at Vigo and gave him an exhausted smile, her American accent slurring as she spoke. “Hey, doll. Sorry to dine and dash like this, but we gotta scoot.”

He glanced at the elderly doctor with confusion while she responded with a perplexed shrug, working alongside the dark-haired fire-bender woman to maneuver the strange glowing woman onto a medical gurney.

“What’s going on?” He asked, looking around at a lose for words.

The rest of the room was in a state of rushed panic as a man in armor Vigo remembered being called Koa was going around doing something to an array of televisions and computers, which soon began flickering and sparking.

Huda pushed past him and headed to the wall on the right that had the armory, where the blacksmith woman was already kitting herself up with a futuristic-looking armor and started equipping herself as well.

“Kaviah,” the blonde woman from earlier that he’d only seen in passing reading about stocks, called from the hologram table, “They’ve tripped our sensors near Parnitha Mola.”

“And the signal?” She shouted back across the room as she helped Huda slip a chest armor over her head.

“Still the same.” Samuel grunted as he typed furiously at a hologram keyboard next to the blonde woman. “We’re still picking up comms from the outside, but none of our maydays are going out.”

“How many do we count on the map?“ Koa barked as the final display monitors shut down.

“Lots. Maybe a hundred.” She blinked wide blue eyes at the screen as the hologram display zoomed out to show a topographical map of the area, with a large cluster of red dots coming at their location from the northwest.

“Whatever you have to do to get a message out, Sam, do it.” Koa called out before pointing a finger at Vigo. “You. Get suited up. Now.”

“Mate, I-I’m-”

“Can it, Normie!” Koa shouted angrily over his shoulder as he caught the crossbow Kaviah the Blacksmith had thrown his way, “You want to live? You kit up like the rest of us.”

The man approached the table and forcefully directed Vigo to the armory where Huda awaited with a chest plate.

The Scribe and the Blacksmith made quick work of getting him armored and shoving weapons into various holsters throughout his person.

“Afra, I’ve got it here.” The elderly doctor held up a hand to stop the dark-haired woman from helping her. “You go get the other one.”

“You need to scramble the drives,” the glowing woman breathed, eyes drooping once again as she fought to stay awake. “We have to abandon ship and make a run for Athens.”

“You just said that the Vault was about to be compromised.” Koa frowned at her as an alarm went off.

“Thirty minutes from reaching the first line of defense!” The blonde woman exclaimed, her voice strained with fear.

“If we stay, we will all be slaughtered. Our best chance is to regroup-” The woman with the glowing runes paused, her eyes going wide and vacant for several minutes before she blinked.

“Shit!”

“What?” Koa pushed.

“Another Wraith just entered my sphere of reach. It’s…” She paused as another episode locked her body in place before she pulled out of it, gasping for air.

“Ismene!” Doctor Kudela’s voice was as shrill as the heart monitor beeping wildly.

Golden eyes stared upward as the woman’s face turned pale.

“Oh god.” She whispered. “Oh, no. Oh, no. No. No. No. No!”

Each word from her lips became louder and more frantic as Ismene cried out, “We need to go! Now!”

“What!?” Koa’s harsh words were cut short as Ismene gripped his hand tightly, her wide eyes pleading.

“The war! It’s starting!” Her lips trembled as she cried out. “This isn’t just an attack on our Sect, it’s a full-scale invasion, and they've pulled the Mundane world into it! That Witch Elizabeth’s got her fingers in the Costez military and they’re attacking Greece. The entire city is about to be a war zone! Costez attacks Greece, which will let the Blessed be able to move more freely in the carnage when the power and internet surveillance go dark!”

“Twenty-five minutes to first impact of the shields!”

Koa ground his teeth, his cold eyes turning to glance at the hologram of the oncoming army before he looked back at the strange woman.

“And the Vault?”

Ismene rushed to say, “Their only chance of surviving the attack is if we get out of this bubble these Gremlin’s have over our heads and get word to them.”

Koa’s resolute nod sent a ripple of determination through his body as he started giving orders. “Then that’s what we do. Sam! Scramble the drives; we’re abandoning ship. Kaviah, help Dr. Kudela and Afra get Ismene and the other one into the caravan. Huda, you and the Normie have three minutes to get the archive ledger from the Scriptorium and get to the garage. Let’s move!”

“Move! Move!” Huda shoved Vigo towards the door and the pair were once more headed back to the scriptorium, their arms pumping as they raced down the hall and up the stairs.

“What are we grabbing?” Vigo heaved as Huda sped past him.

“The archive ledger is a recording of the what historical texts have come in and out of the Sect. The Blessed could use the ledger to determine the location of other Sects based on the destinations of the books.”

She didn’t bother putting on gloves as she threw open the doors and sprinted past the rows of priceless artifacts to a small compartment hidden behind a stack of scrolls. Out of the shadows, she pulled a thick but simple leather-bound book and quickly stowed it in a hard shell, backpack-like container made out of the same material as their armor.

They were turning to leave when Huda shouted, “Grab the mystery box!”

“What?”

“The mystery box!” Her words echoed behind her as she was already sprinting for the door.