Devils Own ( Steampunk and Mystic ) 5.3

5.3

Soon they were in another chamber which was a bigger one with a huge long table where the commanders of the Selected Ones were seated. They were offered food and drinks while the commanding officers assessed their intentions. There were six of them and their leader was name Ian Bering. He was in his middle ages, and wore the uniform similar to that of Sergeant Harper, but he had some metal pips on his shoulder sleeves. He had one a short cropped hair, and was of normal height but the body frame was slim. Kassius sat down on the seat that was offered to him. They were seated five levels above the one which they exit from the tunnels. The fortress or Atlantis was actually a city carved out of stone wall of a large cavern beneath the lake above.

“Please allow me to explain your new accommodations. It will explain the situation better.”

They were taken to the outside and shown the city. It was a magnificent view of nine towering structure with three rings of dry moat that separate the towers; the single central one, the second series of three towers in between the inner moat and the central moat, and then the five towers on the outer ring with the last  moat outside of it. The towers are all the same height at five hundred feet which was just short of the cavern ceiling. The radius of the towers was about four hundred feet in radius, and the distance between the moats was about two thousand feet with the moat width of a hundred feet. There was an interconnecting bridge in between the towers on the same ring.

Atlantis was named for the city that was found there. The dwellers knew not of the builders but it was discovered by chance. Since then, they had occupied the three inner ring towers, and made it their fortress. The place held about five hundred of them, of the combatants made up seventy percent of them, while the rest are children and elderly. The place held intricate machinery but the dwellers were generations behind in the knowledge had improvised with crude contraptions to move around.

“We are a generation behind your world.” Ian explained. “You could see from our weapons. We are still using the flintlocks and cannon balls, while your world had progressed to steam and even air sailing. Merlin told me that the dimension progressed differently, sometimes with the influence of the dimension travelers. Those are mostly dead, courtesy of Richard, or Altib as you may have been told.”

“This war waged by Richard changed all of that, but the changes were not taught to us.” Ian looked to the towers.

“These towers held more refined secrets, but we are not knowledgeable to use it. Merlin had forbidden it. He wanted to preserved the place as its and in the event of defeat, we are to destroy it.”

“Not all of us agreed, and some had tried to exploit the wonders of the towers but they ended up dead. Since then, we have given up. However, we did as Merlin instructed. We had planted explosives on the ceiling to collapse in the event of defeat. It was to also kill our enemies in the event we are the last ones standing.”

“How do you get your basic needs? The water and food?” Kassius asked.

“Yes, we are situated a lake that is wide and shallow above us. We are embedded inside a volcano.” Commander Ian Bering explained. “It supplied us the water we need from some delicate system build by the previous dwellers. For food, we gather from the surface at the twelve different exits. We are self sufficient, but dwindling in numbers. It’s all because of Richard II. The world had been in chaos since Richard II had won the war. He had almost two third of the continents in his rule, but he still seek to conquer all. The war was short with his metal contraptions and the creatures he had deployed.”

In the short time of conversation, Commander Bering explained further the situation on their world.

“Richard II appeared some twenty years ago, and became the Chancellor of the Continents. He soon usurped the President and became the new King Richard II. He had then built up the army with his own inventions and aided with sorcery, he made it formidable. He began suppressing the people and anyone opposing him was killed. He only sought one thing here; the Ark but no one had seen the Ark for generations. Or even believed it existed at all. He soon invaded the other lands, and demand that they reveal the location of the Ark. We fought hard but what was flintlock against the might of machine guns and killer creatures.”

“He had invented these flying ships that fires the cannons while ours are sea locked. His guns mowed down the armies we sent again him. With the war lost, we became rogue soldiers, using volunteers to fight our war. Richard II still hunted us with the creatures. He knew that we are the last ones to hold the secret to the dimension gateway.”

“It was in the fables that when the Ark was captured by the Babylonian, they feared its power. It was then the King of Babylon decided to safeguard it from the future. He asked the great mystic leaders to banish it, but they did not know how. They were then sworn to protect it, and over one generation, they did until one that was unnamed found a method of safeguarding it. They opened a gateway to a new dimension; a new world then in creation after the one that was created earlier was tarnished with sins and evils. They created the means to come here and brought the Ark over. Once it was over here, they had it hidden from the dwellers of the dimension.”

“It was a perfect plan, but there was a hitch. Among it was the overly concern and greed of the group. There was one who was named Lucas. He was said to harbor the greed to hold the power of the Ark. He went back over on his own, and soon formed his own followers to guard the Ark. Others knew of it, but among them were not without greed. They too went over and conflicts arise from it. Soon the conflict became known to the dwellers, and more major conflicts happened. Over the generations, these followers all claimed ownership to be the guardian.”

“Including us, the Selected Ones.”

“The Ark was never discovered and soon became a legend but we continued on one of the few Guardians of the Gateway. They were nine of the Gateways in the world, and initially we controlled three of it. It was not by rule of rights but by winning it over. I don’t deny the Selected Ones had to fight the others to control the gateways. It was Merlin’ order then when he formed us. The other gateways were by others, and soon with Richard II army, leaving us only one left our control. Richard II destroyed the others leaving only one for his own use. He had sought the last one from us but we kept it well hidden. It cannot be seen by the unlearned ones. Even Richard II knew not of its actual location but he had sent out many of his creatures to seek it.”

“Why did Richard II destroyed the others?” Irina asked.

“Richard II wanted to prevent others from coming through. He, through King Richard had sent through all his inventions here, when he realized that the gateway could not worked in volume and more to it, each time it opened it will require sometime to regenerate the power to open again.”

“But then how does he come through again if he destroyed them all?” Irina asked again.

“Richard II is the ruler here, while King Richard is in your world. They are replicas of each other. With the inventions, Richard II was already a hundred years ahead of us. Our experts were either killed or captured by him, and we have no means to replicate his inventions. More to it, King Richard need not a gateway to come over. He had other means; Merlin and King Richard are the manifestation of the Gateway. Your Horn only opened the gateway; they traveled on their own means. But not his replica.”

“Replica? I have heard of such research but it was not fruitful. It was only tested and failed.” Irina replied but Derreen added on.

“Merlin told me of it, and in the realm of magic, it was possible.”

“So why the Ark? I know it’s powerful, but both Richards are equally powerful in both worlds.” Derreen asked that time.

“King Richard does not want to rule your world. He wants to destroy it. If he dies there, he will continued to live here as Richard II; a younger version and more resourceful. He tires of the wars and the strong resistances. He wants to end it all; the Gateway and the other dimension. He does not want to be challenged by any others. The Ark had the means to end it all.”

“So if we find the Ark, do we take it back?” Irina asked the pertinent question for all to hear.

“You must destroy the Ark. It’s the only way to save us all, both our worlds.” Commander Bering replied. “We will fight on to keep our world to the last man standing. With the Ark destroyed, we know that Richard II have only one world to live on. A world he had damned to be wasteland.”

“I don’t understand. Father said the by finding the Ark, I will be saving lives. Merlin also indicated the same, but does that mean I have to destroy it. By doing so, I am leaving the Richards in power.” Irina doubted her task while she pondered on her conscience.

“It’s not true. King Richard is dying like Merlin. His soul decayed despite his ability to be a skin walker. He had to seek a new body almost daily.” Commander Bering explained. “We knew as we had spies on him when he was here. He was always wearing a mask over his face, for his facial look was different every day, though inside he was the same person. Unlike his replica, Richard II had a new body. King Richard wants to end all that lived in his world. It’s his ego at the peak. He wants to play God to the end. We are fighting this war to destroy the Ark. With it destroyed, we may yet saved your world. Ours is a lost world.”

“Something not right here?” Kassius spoke up. “I have seen your world. It had vegetation. Why do you say it is a wasteland?”

“You saw only a part of it. That was a jungle you seen there; one that had been preserved from the decayed because we are on an isolated island. The island is only five hundred miles and eight hundred in dimension surrounded by the open ocean.  On this island, we are the only ones living as humans. The rest are vile creatures and poisonous plants, created by Richard II. He will not destroy us as he needed to find the last Gateway. That is our bargaining tool here. The rest of the world is a wasteland; burned to crisp by his explosives, and the survivals are either wanderers or prisoners in his camps.”

“So where does Richard II lived?” Kassius asked.

“On the clouds in his floating city. He had won the battle for the world, but lost the war to live in it.” Ian replied. “In his pursuit to find the Ark, he had destroyed almost everything.”

“So the Ark may be lost or was never here?” Irina spoke out.

“That may be true, but the signs told us of your coming. That means the quest for the Ark led you here. So the Ark must be here.”