The Armageddon

8. Atlantis

I stood on the shore as I admire the scene before. I gave a heavy sigh.

Ares was right, once I went into that water, there was no turning back.

I took slow steady steps toward the water, its waves rolling towards me until I was knee deep in the water.

I stopped and took a deep breath; I had hoped I would not have to do this alone.

Ares had been silent for quite some time, but I knew he was still there.

‘what is he thinking now’ I asked myself. I knew I was just stalling, hoping he would change his mind.

I briefly glanced at him before submerging myself in the water. I closed my eyes and I disappeared.

When I opened my eyes, I stood before the magnificent and grand golden gates of Atlantis. I could not help but be in awe. This was not my first time here, but it still left me in awe of its beauty and diversity.

I used Amphitrite’s medallion to open the gates. When I was in, I took a minute to admire the beauty of my surroundings. The were creatures of every kind, shape and size.  Mermaids and merman floated around happily.

Everything was designed with pearls and lined with gold. There were Lights and music everywhere.

It was so surreal.

Yes, Atlantis is a city at the bottom of the ocean, but it is not flooded with water as many may have thought. From the gates, it is enclosed in what looks like a bubble which keeps out all the water. That way, everything would not always be wet. It is an enchanted city. The merfolk can breathe in both water and on land.

I made my way toward the vibrant sea themed palace which stood tall and strong in the vibrant and bustling city of Atlantis. Of course, I had concealed myself. I couldn’t have every one staring at the odd being gliding through their mist like she owned the place.

When I successfully got into the palace, I disguised myself as a water nymph working in the palace. So far, everything was going smoothly. Next I had to figure out where exactly to find the what I was looking for.

Using my disguise, it was fairly easy to get into almost all the rooms here. The mere folk were not hostile people, they had been at peace for centuries and they had very little contact with the surface. That is one of the reasons why they did not question the sudden presence and actions of some new maid. They let their guard down, and that would certainly bring the wrath of Poseidon if he ever found out.

So far, I had checked every where including the king and queens chamber, but found nothing and I was slowly getting frustrated and agitated.

‘calm down Nike’ I scolded myself. ‘just think.it has to be somewhere here, now the question is where’

Currently, I was in Poseidon’s throne room. I looked round for any clue. I had to hurry this up, I was taking too long. The room which was closed off sounded promising, I wondered what was in there that had to be locked away and kept secret. Maybe it was something rare and dangerous?

Dangerous like the dagger od Delphi?

After a while, I gave up on finding anything on my own. If I wanted answers, I would have to ask, right?

I found my self a very active and chatty group of nymphs who were obviously blowing of their duties and gossiping about heaven knows what. I skillfully inserted myself amongst them. They were friendly enough to not question the presence of the newbie. I contributed to the conversation here and there and answered vaguely when asked a question.

“ummm… I was just wandering since I am new here, why are there so many guards at the east side of the palace” I asked innocently.

And that was all the incentive needed to get the conversation started.

“well I don’t really know either, seeing as I have never been in there before” one said.

“yes, now that you mentioned it, I have not either” another spoke. Many voiced their agreement.

“you have been there right Bo? What is in there?” one girl asked a blonde nymph standing near me.

The blond nymph chuckled arrogantly.

“well of course only those who Amphitrite trusts are let in there” she said as if Amphitrite had handed her throne over to her which made me mentally roll my eyes.

“then what is in there?” another asked curiously.

The blond nymph, Bo huffed. “well its nothing really special at all, just old dusty books, maps and paintings, albeit beautiful ones.” She said.

They went on and on about how it was disappointing that nothing interesting was to be found in such a heavily guarded place.

I sighed internally and separated myself from them quietly. I was not getting what I wanted. I had to get into that room. It would not be so protected even if it was just Poseidon’s and Amphitrite’s favorite books and art.

“umm… Bo, I was wandering if you could show me the ropes, how things work around here?” I asked sheepishly.

She looked somewhat unsure, “I don’t know… I ...”

“please?” I said lightly fluttering my lashes at her. Her resolve was breaking as I gave her the puppy face.

“umm…” Bo started but I cut her off.

“I insist it be you because, well you seem to know everything there is to know about this place, it is obvious that Amphitrite favors you and I can see why. Your smart, beautiful and kind, and I really whish we would become good friends.” I rambled and finished with a bright smile.

“o… okay” she finally agreed and my smile grew wider. She was indeed beautiful, not so bright though. In fact, none of them were, seeing as they fell for my little act, I just said that to kiss her ass and get on her good side, though she seemed kind.

I was really the best at kissing ass.

“well then let us begin, you have a lot to learn,” she gushed as she started walking away and I followed closely behind like a puppy pretending to be more than thrilled.

We walked as Bo kept talking about the likes and dislikes of the king and queen, about what to and what not to, to which I obviously was not paying any attention to. As I walked behind her, it would have seemed like a sign of respect to walk behind my senior, but I was actually examining everything and everyone we passed.

When we were alone in one of the halls, I hurried my steps to walk beside her and slung my arm on her shoulder. She gave me a questioning look to which I smiled.

“sleep and when you awaken, you will have no memory of our encounter” I commanded and she was out like a light bulb.

A simple trick us gods use. Nymphs were way below us gods in the chain of hierarchy and thus, they were far weaker. Almost as weak as humans, tough they had their own mischievous tricks and powers.

I put her into one of the empty rooms and enchanted the room so no one would stumble upon her, then I changed my appearance once again. This time I looked exactly like Bo, I even imitated her scent, just to be sure.

It was easy finding the ‘sacred’ room. I just had to look for the place with lots of guards.

I smiled at the guards and they let me through.

When I was inside, I smiled to myself, that wasn’t so hard. It was just as Bo had said. There were shelves of books from ceiling to floor and paintings, sketches and crafts of different shapes and sizes. They were beautiful. It took a minute to appreciate the beauty. I was a lover of art and beautiful things.

When I composed myself, I got to work. I took my time analyzing and scrutinizing books and art but I was not finding anything worthwhile.

I had known immediately I walked into this room that I would not find the dagger here. Not just this room, the whole palace and even Atlantis. At this point I was just looking for something, anything that would point me to the actual location of the dagger.

I had to hurry up. I was losing my composure and began pacing. I only did that when I was alone.

It was then that a large piece of white cloth draped over something caught my attention.

I walked over to it and pulled it off.

It was a painting.

I gave a soft laugh. I had just found what I had been looking for.

It was a painting of some kind of skinny, boney looking creature with its hands stretched toward a shinny object and there was a giant octopus or squid like creature who was strangling the boney creature with one of its tentacles. The octopus was preventing the boney creature from getting to the shiny object.

The boney creature is found only in deep sea valleys, the octopus like thing is known as a kraken sometimes found at such places too, and lastly, the shiny object which I recognized straight away as the dagger of Delphi.

At least I knew where to start, I just had figure out which one of the millions of valleys to look. There had to be a way to narrow the search. I looked round the room and my eyes fell on a globe.

Right! that’s it!

The maps Bo spoke of.

Hmm seems that conversation was not so useless after all. No knowledge is wasted.

I ransacked the maps that sat peacefully on a desk at a corner. There was bound to be maps of the ocean floor. Surely Poseidon was bound to have a map of his territories, or so I had thought. Turns out all those maps were surface maps, but there was one of the sea floors. At first glance, it looked like an empty sheet of paper, but I looked at it closely. It was written and drawn in invisible ink. studied the map and found a deep-sea valley.

This had to be the one, Poseidon probably knew every nook and cranny of the sea by heart and this map was probably a reminder of which of the millions of valleys has the dagger.

I might be wrong, but there was no harm done in checking it out later.

I could not leave with the map, Poseidon would surely miss it, so I made a copy with magic. When I was done, I put everything back exactly how I had found it and stepped out of the room.

When I was out, I stopped in front of all the guards and commanded “you will not remember me or any of this at the snap of my fingers” and when I snapped my fingers, I disappeared and they had no memory whatsoever of me and at the same time, Bo awoke and opened the door in a daze an d confusion as to why or how she had gotten there. Before Bo and I left the group of gossiping maids, I had also secretly hypnotized them with my gesture, now, none of them had any knowledge f what transpired or that I had even been here today. And In case there was someone I missed, they only remembered some newbie water nymph and not the real me, Nike, goddess of victory and many other things.

I smiled as I once again walked through the bustling streets of Atlantis towards the ever so magnificent gates.

It all went smoothly, albeit I wanted to rip my hair of while trying to solve the puzzles. I was quite pleased with myself, but my happiness was short lived.

As silently as I came in to the palace, I had also planning to leave, but no, it just had to be the exact moment Poseidon and his wife and their entourage returned.