The Wizards of Xitt

The Empiric Republic of Atlantis

CHAPTER TEN

The Empiric Republic of Atlantis

The air was clear and dry, and carried a soft breeze across the glassy port. A brass wall ended the Street and a tall round tower inserted itself into the wall to guard the port.

The port itself was gated by a thick reddish metal hinged onto two brass pillars, linked at the top by a disproportionate brass arch. Inserted into the arch was a gold plate bearing the words ‘Port Gramme’. The gates retracted as they approached and Kaila found a small Port that could rival the palaces of ancient kings on earth. It was built mainly from glowing crystals, which had screen-like insets projecting live feeds of the proceeds of the port.

Kaila felt he was in some future scenario as he took a step down towards the port. The floor was alternating tile-like crystals that reflected anything on it. The sides were huge brass pillars that bore spiral groves within which some red cables overlapped each other. And the roof was just plain beautiful, it was made of crystals and the tinctures of the golden sun beautified it. In fact, everything here was made to please the senses.

A hand patted Kaila’s back and he turned to see whose it was. Fasi and Alvarez were now up front on either sides of Igor Fleming. It was a kind of protective formation that told Kaila who they were; aides.

“Welcome to the Empiric Republic of Atlantis.” Tory said smiling down at him. Kaila was a step lower than the young but bald man. He had to look up in order to catch the tunic eyes of Tory. Elizabeth too was smiling at him, she was right beside Tory. Above both of them was Elizabeth’s fairy Nymphye, it was looking a lot brighter.

The fairy had lightened up as their journey progressed. Probably, because Elizabeth had taken to rocking it on her laps. In fact, by the time they boarded ‘The Organum’ at the Shuttle Center, Elizabeth and the fairy were already sharing a laugh about something only they knew.

Kaila had actually spent most of the two hour Organum shuttle flight dosing. The train had already rocked the good senses out of him. But he had not help noticing that the interior of the Organum was just as beautiful as the. He had been woken after the Shuttle had landed just beside the Port. By the time he had scramble to the landing of the shuttle, Igor had been led away by his Aides.

Elizabeth descended to level with Kaila. Her eyes blinked seductively from voluntary or involuntary control. Kaila could see through her at once, she wanted him. Or perhaps, saw him as a puzzle that must be unraveled for some kind of prize. But Kaila knew, she still loved Liam, whoever the man was. Only love can hurt for that amount of time. Half a century, Igor had called it.

Tory also came level, as did Nymphye.

“You’ll find that things here are a lot different than they are in your world.” Elizabeth said.

And a lot more advanced, Kaila thought. He could see pride spreading across Elizabeth’s face as they walked on

“Fortunately for you though, communication will not be a problem, because, we adopted English as a general language more than a Century ago, when Tory was High Priest of the Senate Council.”

Tory smiled at them puffing out his chest a little as he lowered his foot to the next step.

So Tory is or was a Priest. He did not think the time was yet ripe to ask the obvious questions. Just how long did they live in this place? And what the hell did Priests do here?

“Hurry now, will you?” Elizabeth said increasing the speed and frequency of her strides. Kaila had also seen the five or six people coming to meet Igor at the Port just ahead of them.

They caught up with Igor just as he was going to call out to them.

“Suprema, I was wondering what arrangements I would be making for Mr. Maentel?” Elizabeth asked.

“Mr. Maentel is my guest.” Igor replied. “Are you coming with me Tory?”

“No Suprema.” Tory declined. “I placed a heavy bet on McNeal. I’ll better go get ready for the skiing.” He added in explanation.

“Well, get on, I’ll be there myself. You coming Liz?”

“You know I hate all this macho sport Suprema.” Elizabeth said.

“Which woman doesn’t,” Igor countered. “Bye for now everyone.”

“Bye Suprema!” Tory, Elizabeth and a security agent, and probably Nymphye, chorused in Unison. The rest of the people were following a steely flight of stairs underground.

Kaila noted some disappointment in Elizabeth’s face as he turned to follow the rest below. He knew she would have fancied making the arrangements for his lodging and in the process, giving herself ample access to a lab rat.

The landing turned out to be much lower than Kaila had expected. It was not fully lighted, but Kaila could see a plaque above the opposite door beaming the words. ‘VIP TERMINAL’. The door slid into the wall as they approached it. Kaila could see what looked more like an oval glass box with extended fin-like structures, floating inside a walled-in pool of water.

Kaila did not know if he expected to find a huge ship or submarine. What he did not expect at all was a boat that resembled a winged water bubble.

“This way!” One of the uniformed men said leading the way round the rectangular pool. Towards the middle of the pool, crystal slabs extended between the walking area and the water bubble of a boat. The lead uniform man led them on the crystal slabs to the boat and punched in some codes. The door did not however open until Igor’s handprint had been copied and accepted by a greenish screen.

Kaila followed them in but did not miss the name of the boat. It was posted with fine red marks on the side of the boat, it read ‘NOV ONE’. Something else was posted beside it. Kaila knew it had to be the Official Coat of Arms of the Empire.

The boat was also spoiled by unnecessary splendor. Crystal chairs were finished with gold and silver insets and the seating area was made of a white feathery material that played tricks on the senses when touched. The floor was made of thick transparent glass that allowed a view of the seabed. The roof held a bed of light crystals for Chandeliers and the walls were hidden by thick gold drapes.

The uniformed man who had led them disappeared with more uniformed men into another compartment. Kaila guessed he was the captain and soon, he could hear the man calling some protocols to a controller. After a few inanimate noises Kaila felt the boat descend into the pool. Next, they were driving inside what seemed an open sea.  A few minutes later, the gold drapes rolled aside to afford them a view of the sea through the thick glass. Kaila held his breath; schools after schools of fishes swam in unison across, varying in colour, types and sizes. He turned a glance at Igor, and found the young man mesmerized as he was. He wanted to believe that having been around for such a number of years would have reduced Igor’s interest in the fishes. Apparently, time could never really dampen the beauties of nature. He watched on, intrigued by a yellow species he knew he had never seen or heard of before.

Alvarez giggled, Kaila turned his attention to the Latino. He was reading one of the dailies from Honolulu. Fasi too was reading a magazine he guessed must be ‘Forbes’. Kaila understood their fancy. If he knew himself that there was another world out there beside the one he lived in, he will want to read anything he could lay his hands on about that world.

He turned again to the sea, there were no more schools of fishes to see. What unfolded was a large expanse of exotic underwater plants. His altering weight told him they were rising. Brassy laceworks then came into view, followed by an above-water view of a rowdy pool as the craft slowed to a stop.

The pool was no different from the one beneath Port Gramme, though the water was momentarily in turbulence. After the arrival had been logged or secured and the door dissolved.

Kaila followed them out of the boat onto crystal slabs that led to the walking area. He turned a last look at the crystal light chandeliers. He was sure he had a good idea now what to expect in the Empiric Republic of Atlantis; beauty and splendors he had never heard of.

At the small hanging harbour, he took a good look at the Coat of Arms he had glimpsed before entering the craft. It was a horse with six wide-spread wings. It stood on a leafy pedestal which was crossed by two arrows. The figures were surrounded by water, around which was written the words “The Empiric Republic of Atlantis. Wisdom, Progress, and Unity.”

Another group of men rounded the walking area to meet Igor. Some of them wore a different set of Uniform while others did not. They were dressed in trimly tailored suits and had on black glasses. If Kaila had been on earth, he would have thought them to be Secret service agents. It struck him that perhaps, Igor’s position was equivalent to that of the President in any organized Nation. Igor Fleming was the number one citizen of Atlantis.

“Welcome Suprema.” The lead man said, scanning everywhere around him in minutes. It was one of those in suit and Kaila realized his glasses were not just any other glasses. It was an advanced computer screen.

“Nair, how’s everything?” Igor said extending his hands for a shake.

“No complaints Suprema...” Nair responded offhandedly.

“Good-”

“Except a small thread our intelligence unit picked up in Xitt.” Nair was not yet through.

“Xitt? I would think all orders have been duly executed.”

“Maybe, it’s just rumours then.”

“Rumours are seldom lies, what is it?” Igor pressed.

“A hit or something, we are not sure where or when.”

“Well, stay awake then.”

“We will sir.”

They used a lift that took them to an enclosed landing area. From the landing area Kaila could see a dock as beautiful as the one he had seen at Port Gramme. A fleet of cars could be seen at the Port entrance. From what Kaila could see, most of the cars were shaped like animals, and they came in different sizes and levels of sophistication.

Two cars floated into view, they had no tyres nor fire-spitting nuzzles, and were as sleek as dolphins.

Kaila watched the cars in awe. Atlantis would be great fun after all, even though he will have to wake up soon from a seemingly engaging dream.

The Chrome Pajeris finally turned into a quiet street that was not made of tar, but reinforced glass tiles. Kaila was still feasting his eyes on the streets of Atlantis, he had not yet really seen the interior of the car he was inside. Of course, it was not one of the floating cars; those were escort cars and still drifted into his field of view every now and then. Igor should at least have warned him that Atlantis was this beautiful. Not with all the rolling hills, turning skyscrapers, floating fairies and street lamps, glass tunnels, and things that defied every attempt at explanation. Even the streets had insets of light and a beautiful red fibre. And the air was so heavily scented, it was intoxicating to the senses.

Kaila took one look at the hump-like hill. He remembered that Igor had told him the name; Hill of Cleito. The young man had insisted they stay in the same car, despite plans by his aides to the contrary.

Nature did her very best upon the hill on every side. In addition to Nature’s heavy decorations, there was also visible efforts by man to fill in the spaces. The edges were smoothed out to give it the appearance of a dome-like hump. It complemented the tall building at the summit of the hill, which was actually roofed by the clouds.

In essence, the dome-like hill was like an egg held between the ground and the sky. It was rounded by light crystals on every side, giving it the appearance of having a halo.

The car slowed down in front of a heavy black gate which immediately sprung apart. The house behind the gate was not like any Kaila had seen on his way. It was a flat-topped stepped pyramid with a dome roof. Kaila found a bold engraving somewhere on the wall of the third step. It read ‘C. PALACE’, and poised majestically in a white coat of emulsion. The sun seemed to hide behind it, shooting bright immovable arrows everywhere from there.

Kaila guessed this was the destination before Igor tapped him on the thigh. “Welcome to my humble home.”

The car came to a halt and the men came rushing to hold the door open for Igor, then Kaila. They were both bracketed in and escorted towards the entrance of the house. At the door, they were met by another set of people. Some of the men who had travelled with them did not escort them beyond the huge black door.

The huge black door tossed them into a tunnel of a hallway lined by crystals. The crystals kept changing colors as it felt the vibrations caused by their footsteps. Several other hallways branched off at several points leading to rooms or halls in the building.

They followed the fifth hallway to the left. The hallway was short and immediately threw them into a very bright room where all the lifts in the building were operated from. The lift operators sprang to their feet on seeing Igor and opened the lift doors.

Kaila looked around in awe, and soon, they were ascending to the final destination. They were not much again; the exchange of personnel now left them with seven people. Among these were Fasi and Alvarez.

The lift was transparent and Kaila found that the hallway was continuous. At the end of each floor, there were pathways for the lift to go in the horizontal direction. But so far, the lift was going vertically.

Numerous fairies could be seen rushing about. Some carrying loads of papers, files and other things that looked bigger than them. They were probably on errands. Some other creatures were also floating about; they were pearly white and the size and shape of human beings. They also had on clothes, which were as pearly as they were.

Kaila was tempted to ask what the creatures were, because unlike the fairies. They could pass through solid mass and seemed so unconcerned about their surroundings. ‘Ghost’ or ‘spirit’ immediately came to Kaila’s mind, but what surprised him was that the convoy did not care about the creatures either.

After some chill creepy seconds, the lift came to a halt at the floor before the last. It then began going in the horizontal direction. It did not take long for the lift to come to a final stop. The glass door folded sideways and Kaila stepped onto a packed crystal floor.

A door to their right dissolved revealing a large hall with a round pool in the middle. The pool was actually half-closed at the moment. The walking area was lined with Ivory tiles, and light crystals leaned against the wall and even the edges of the pool in contact with water. There were crystal chairs with wooden leather cushions around brass-topped tables. Different types of flowers sat in golden vases beside the walls and also inside the water. In addition, the room was also graced by oval screens giving live feeds of the day’s event.

The convoy broke apart. Most people took to the chairs. Kaila too was going for one of the chairs when Igor stopped in front of a door. “Come on Mr. Maentel.” The door was the last of the three doors on the right, and dissolved to reveal some people on their way out.

Apparently, the two ladies and a young man were security operatives. They were dressed like the others who had escorted Igor throughout their arrival in Atlantis. “Welcome Suprema.” They chorused, Igor nodded before going in with Fasi and Alvarez.

The room they entered was a little smaller. It was cool and lightly scented. In the middle was a round shallow bath that was occupied by a beautifully carved dolphin. On the Dolphin sat the statue of a man wielding a three-pronged garden fork. The purple walls of the room had pillars with middle indigo varnish and gold lacquer on the extremes. The roof was the reflection of the cloudless sky and the floor was lined by alternating indigo and silver tiles.

Many glazed globes suspended from metal handles held light crystals. Different lights in different globes. There were also golden stands that held clear water and a few flowers.

A door at the end dissolved to admit two ladies. Kaila stopped in his tracks, his heart doing a full three sixty degree flip in the vertical direction. Malena was staring straight back at him, she had also frozen in her tracks.

The people around them said nothing; Kaila knew they were as lost as he and Malena were. So it had been Igor who kidn*pped Malena.

“I’ve been told I look a lot like her.” She finally ended the awkward silence and took decisive steps forward. “Mr. Maentel I suppose?”

Kaila could not find his voice. This had to be a very bad joke, it was not funny at all. He had just believed that he had found his missing girlfriend, only to be told this trash. How can another girl be Malena’s eyes, hair, face, figure, lips, everything one could count in a woman. The only seeming difference was that Malena was not this fresh, and the spot she had on her left chin had not yet cleaned off.

But whoever she was, both she and Malena were made in the same womb, from the same egg. The way she even looked at him and tried to read him. Unless the world was going crazy, this was Malena.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” She said reaching out a hand to touch his shoulder, but took it off as soon as she had touched him.

Kaila felt as though she had touched a bare skin on the restricted portion of his body. Wait a minute, his body had never reacted like that to a woman’s touch. He was not that love-starved yet. Truth is, it went beyond contact. In that half a second, he felt a mortal connection to whoever this lady was. Kaila knew trouble when he saw one.

“Well Suprema, I wasn’t expecting you this early?” She said turning to Igor. “And Alvarez and Fasi, joining in his mischievousness now, right?”

“I suppose the Suprema wanted to surprise you.” Fasi piped.

“And I am truly surprised, for one, I was not expecting Mr. Maentel here.” She said.

“I would think that was pretty obvious Virgill. Where are you smelling like this to?” Igor said.

“That would be pretty obvious too by now Flem.” She said drawing close to Igor. “Well, here’s a fun fact dear. If you guys can clean up like birds, you might still find me around.”

“The skiing Supremese.” Alvarez said, his eyes widening in realization.

“Who are you betting on?” Igor directed at Virgill. “I’ll make sure I bet against such a flyer.”

“You’ll see! I’ll advice you to keep your sorry Quinta. I’ve never yet lost a bet.” Virgill boasted.

“There’s always a first day. If you’ll show Kaila to a room. I promise you, I’ll be faster than a bird.” Igor said and turned to Kaila. “Well friend, do anything she says and as she says. I might flex all the muscles over Atlantis, inside C. Palace, she does all the muscle flexing.”

“Very important piece of information to take note of Mr. Maentel. Now, if you’ll follow me.”

Kaila did not like the arrangement but he had no choice. Igor had already led Fasi and Alvarez beyond one of the other doors.

The other lady beside Virgill, who had a face like that of a baby kept on looking at Kaila with veiled interest. Kaila followed quietly behind, not making any noise or trying to draw attention.

The door at the end ushered them into a small junction leading to many rooms. The place had nothing of interest but the décor still found means to grab Kaila’s attention for a few minutes.

“Oh sorry,” Kaila apologized as he bumped into Virgill. Apparently, Virgill had waited to fall into step with him.

“No, no problem.” Virgill said. She even smelt like Malena. Was this really some piece of joke?

Kaila wanted to say something, ask questions if possible, but the latest contact with Virgill had knocked out his speech area. He just did not know how to strike up a discussion. He had never been this shy in his life before.

The awkward silence prevailed until Virgill pushed open the door they were walking towards. Kaila was surprised to find that unlike the level of sophistication he had found so far in Atlantis. The design of the door was quite simple. It was even made of wood.

“You’ll be using this room.” Virgill said, not quite in the lively tone she had used earlier.

Was it not already obvious that he will be using this room when she opened it, Kaila thought. Maybe, she was also finding it as hard as he was to make a lively conversation. Kaila wanted to make himself clear, he was only here as a guest, not to cause trouble. He did not want any involvement with her in any way. For all he could tell, she was Igor Fleming’s wife and the Supremese of Atlantis. But he just could not bring himself to voice anything and he knew too well, that the silence was not helping in any way.

Kaila eased himself into the room, Virgill’s baby-faced aide stayed by the door. The room was warm and breezy and projected an aura of peace. A fuzzy glass bed with a velvety bedspread idled on the crystal floor. Colored light crystals or filaments were embedded within the floors and formed mesmerizing patterns. The wall was sea blue and finished with glossy tiles that had no borders. The roof was made of crystals that imitated the sky, and at the moment, was cloudless blue.

A single table forged from a kind of reddish metal leaned against the wall. Above it a greenish screen nestled on the wall.

Virgill led him towards a small screen by the door, which Kaila had not yet noticed. The screen bore the face of a young lady, which smiled as they closed in.

“Listen Kaila, here, any room you take is personalized. It cannot open to anybody else but you. It obeys only you. And by you, I mean your voice. Our priests discovered that every human being has a unique voiceprint. They came up with a computer that detects it. Caurie here is the default for this house.”

“Name?” The face in the computer asked.

“Kaila Maentel.”

“Step forward please.”

Kaila stepped forward cautiously and felt a blinding sensation as a green laser beam flashed across his face.

“Family?”

“Nil.”

“Friends?”

Kaila wanted to say nil but his eyes caught Virgill’s. “Virgill...”

“Osborne, Virgilla Osborne.” Virgill completed.

The computer searched its database and made some noise. “Osborne Virgilla found.” Kaila saw Virgill’s face smile at him from the screen. Then his own stress-battered face replace it. Beside his face was his voice profile with values for his sound pitch, quality and timbre. A pattern was also projected at the bottom of the screen. Kaila went closer to see the values but the computer was already searching through its database, looking for his profile.

“Warning! Warning! Kaila Maentel not found!” The computer sounded.

“Override!” Virgill commanded.

The screen brought up her face and the computer was quiet.

Kaila’s face returned to the screen and a red light shone next to it. ‘Profile not complete’, a text read beneath the red light and his voice profile appeared lower down. “Welcome home Kaila Maentel. For light, codeword is ‘light’ and ‘light out’. Door is ‘open’ and ‘close’. Most things will be controlled by vibration and perceived need. Welcome again Mr. Maentel.”

As the computer stopped speaking, the light went out and the door shut itself.

“Light!” Virgill called and the light came back on.

“I thought it was supposed to respond only to my voice?” Kaila asked.

“You listed me as a friend... In addition, you can always see who is at the door on the screen. Codeword is ‘feeds’ when there is a knock on the door. Several cameras within and around the room can also be viewed using ‘feeds’.”

There was a small ring from a small eight hour clock Kaila had not yet noticed. Its colour changed every now and then and the screen was luminous.

“That’s four already. Come on Kaila, the bathroom is beyond that door.” She pointed to a wooden door beside the bed.

Kaila walked up to the bathroom door, she did not follow. He stopped himself short. How could he be disappointed that she was not following.

“Bell up! Ten minutes from hence.” Virgill said. Kaila turned thinking she was talking to him. He was about asking her to repeat herself when she explained. “The clock is also a day planner.”

Kaila eased himself into the bathroom and closed the door. He was not in any way disappointed by what he saw. The bathroom was cast through and through, in thick glass.

The bath was like a four-poster with a large central crater. However, there was no water inside and Kaila could not find any plumbing works. Ahead, he could see another door and guessed that it must keep the toilet secret. Kaila thought about going to call Virgill to come and show him how to use the bathroom. Yet, despite how tempting the idea seemed, he did not think it was a good one.

Fine! He was extraordinarily attracted to the woman. Maybe, his mind had not yet ruled out the possibility that she could turn out to be Malena.

It occurred to him that there was no soap and toweling. So much for his ego, or was it foolishness? He began to take off his clothing and hung them on the top of one of the bath post, water would come when it will.

Then suddenly, the idea sprang into his mind, the room was personalized and obeyed him. Well, time to exercise the authority.

“Water!” He called. Immediately, water began to flow from the sides of the bath into the central crater. At the head side of the bath, two small craters appeared after their glass-like lid slid away. The craters contained different types of soaps in one and an array of fresh stalk-less flowers in the other. Kaila smiled, he will surely need to read a manual to live in effectively.

Naked, he stepped into the bath and let the water ease his tensions and stress. He looked up, the bath was suppose to have some kind of a screen, but he just did not know the codeword. “Screen,” he said. Nothing happened. He decided to pour some of the flowers over the surface of the water, should incase Virgill wandered in. he did not want to imagine the reaction or response Virgill might elicit in him. Even the thought of her was already exploding fireworks in his stomach, and his lone member was already nodding. No! She was definitely, out of bound, alright?

Kaila bathed as quickly as it would take to soap and sponge all his body. Once he was done, he was tempted to close his eyes, the which, he did. It was a mistake though because he ended up staying a lot longer than he should have. The soft hands of the water had caressed the nerve cells in his brain into oblivion.

After a while, his eyes stretched lazily apart. He was sure he had used up more than ten minutes in the bathroom. His eyes caught a wooly bathrobe and a new towel, which were not on top of the dressing table when he entered the bathroom. An alarm bell rung somewhere in his head. Did Virgill come in to drop those items? Did she watch him lazing in the bath; his not too hairy chest, and his thigh? Did she see the main thing?

Damnit! Kaila rose from the bath and rushed to grab the towel, which he threw about himself. He listened hard and when he heard no footsteps around, he toweled himself quickly. He took a second look at the bathrobe, what was the use? He did not bring any other clothes apart from the ones hung on the bath post.

Kaila put on his clothes and turned to see himself in a large mirror he just noticed on the wall.

After a lot of inspection, Kaila returned to the bedroom. Virgill was sitting on the bed. Beside her, on the bed, was a denim and T-shirt.

“The bathroom was amazing.” Kaila said for lack of something better.

“I’m glad you liked it.” Virgill said in an offhanded fashion.

Kaila pretended he was just seeing the clothes. He expressed some surprise and delight. “This for me?”

“Definitely not for me.” Virgill said and stood up. The problem was Kaila was in the way. Kaila did not know if he was shifting out of the way for her to pass or he was blocking her from passing. But whichever he was doing, the end result was that they were closing in on each other. Kaila could feel his heart beating too fast one minute and slow the next, as if it was about to stop.

Kaila knew whatever was about to happen must not happen. He put in every effort he could summon to teleport himself back to reality; things were just too electric to be real. “Sorry...” he managed. ‘I didn’t realize I was in the way’, dissolved in his gut. Oh damn it! Don’t look into her eyes, not now! Kaila had to summon more strength than he needed to fall a fully-grown mahogany in order to be able to prise his eyes from the clutches of Virgill’s looks.

“Oh!” Virgill said smiling awkwardly. “I mean you didn’t dry your hair.” She added and turned dragging him towards the bathroom.

Kaila knew he was losing control. If Virgill initiated anything at that moment, he knew he would have no power to resist. Inside the bathroom, Virgill dragged him towards one of the walls. Kaila did not notice a small domelike device the last time he entered. Virgill clapped and Kaila saw light issuing from it, apparently, it was a dryer. She asked him to put his head under it. Kaila obeyed and within minutes, his hair felt dry and frisky. Problem was, he could sense Virgill touching his bare skin even when she was not. He turned without calculation and bumped into her; she did not fall or sway. It seemed some invisible thread was keeping them together. Kaila’s mouth watered, he waited for the kiss that seemed inevitable. Fortunately or unfortunately, it never came. Virgill pulled away just in time, or perhaps, she wanted him to make the first move.

“I would believe you haven’t used any cream too.” Virgill said in a voice that was slightly better than whistling. Without waiting for Kaila’s response, she dragged him towards another wall beside which was a small cabinet containing creams of different types and for different purposes.

Kaila allowed Virgill make the choice. He just put them on and let her again do the corrections and congratulations. After a few minutes, he was given the green light by Virgill.

“Still got the clothes to put on.” She said as she led him back to the bedroom.

“Yeah.” Kaila breathed. He could not possibly change with Virgill in the room, not when his body had already gone into overdrive.

“I’ll be outside.” Virgill said as Kaila approached. Perhaps she too had noticed the fatal attraction between them. Or her senses had returned.

Kaila changed quickly into the clothes Virgill had provided. The deep blue jean was a perfect fit and so as the celestial white T-shirt. Kaila wished there were some mirror for him to see himself before Virgill who was more inclined to pleasing or praising him told him he was okay. None was available in the bedroom, he will just have to make do with whatever Virgill said.  

Outside the room, he saw Virgill facing the opposite directions. It seemed she was expecting someone, and sure enough, Kaila could see the baby-faced aide walking towards her. Hovering beside the aide was a very beautiful fairy bearing what Elizabeth had called the logbook.

“Thank you very much Phylie.” Virgill said as she collected the pebble-like object and opened it. “Oh Flem is waiting for us.” She turned to Kaila’s door. “Kaila-” she paused momentarily, admiration and lust darkening her gleaming eyes. “Don’t you look gorgeous? Come on, the Suprema is waiting.” With that, she bounded towards the door they had come in from earlier.

Inside the small hall, Igor was seated on the golden chair next to the circular bath. On the golden stand, beside him, laid a tray with a jug and coffee mugs. He was chattering away the time with his two close aides; Fasi and Alvarez. Two male fairies floated beside them happily, playing with the light crystals.

Igor was backing the door from which they entered. Even though Kaila could swear his shoes creaked against the crystal tiles, Igor or his aides pretended not to hear anything. Kaila thought Igor might be fuming, for one, he had noticed his reaction to Virgill’s touch.

Virgill sneaked up to Igor and covered his eyes with her palms. “Guess who?”

“Only one person in all Atlantis would do this V.” Igor said.

“Or that’s what you want me to believe.” Virgill responded in a mischievous manner.

“Beliefs sometimes stem from facts.”

“So what are the facts.”

“One, I’ll always end up doing the waiting,” Igor began.

“Two, it is often beholden on a lady to be well prepared for an onslaught before any event.”

“I wish men would learn to wear thick armors.” Igor observed.

“Nature had already tattooed a big c***k to any armor they can put up. The eyes that makes them strong also makes them weak.”

“Some men have found means to amend this flaw.”

“Let me guess, blindness. Too bad, there is always the nose when the eyes are closed, and the ears when all else fails.”

“So your theory is that men are doomed, whatever they do?”

“No, there are choices.”

“Oh come on Kaila, do not mind me, my wife does a good job reminding me how mighty women are? There’s coffee before we head out.”

Kaila had felt hungry when he saw the coffee from the door. But after he had witnessed the intimacy between Igor and Virgill, the hunger had gone into the realm of contemplation. Now, he was sure he would not be able to eat. Not after he heard the word ‘wife’ from Igor’s mouth. But who was he kidding, he had suspected that much.

“Black?” One of the fairies asked.

“No, don’t bother, I’ll have it later.” Kaila said blandly.

“Not Hungry Kyle? Well let’s get going.” Igor said heaving himself to his feet. Fasi and Alvarez followed suit and they all bounded forwards with Virgill. Kaila brought up the rear with Virgill’s aides and the fairy named Phylie. He did not know what so interested the fairy about him, because, the creature just kept giggling when he caught its eyes. One thing was sure, sooner or later he will have to wake up from this dream.