Chapter 5: History of the Atlantians

"Oy! Merlin! Over here!" shouted a man. He had gray eyes which complimented his trimmed beard and brown hair. He was fairly tall, with a pointed nose upon which rested his half-moon glasses. He was dressed in blue robes more splendid than Merlin's. The man had a pine wand which looked inferior to the bow slung over his shoulder and sword at his side. How this man knew Merlin, Merlin didn't know. He'd never seen the man before.

"There you are Merlin! Your mother's been worried sick about you! She will have you in her arms so tightly, you will have the life squeezed out of you." said the man, reaching Merlin.

"Who are yeh?" asked Uther in a gruff voice.

"I might ask the same of you. I know everyone in this city, but I have never seen you."

"I'm Uther, son of Emperor Constantine III of the Byzantine Empire. Now who are yeh?"

"Ah, so you're of royal blood. A pleasure to meet you," said the man in a false tone of joy, "I'm Bernie, Merlin's uncle. Nasuada, Merlin's mother, came to me after finding Merlin was gone."

"Nice to meet yeh. I was wondering if Merlin had any relatives here or just wanted to come for the sight."

"He has family here. You must be tired after your long journey from Britain; would you care to join us for dinner?"

"Well actually, Merlin used magic to get us here, but Reli doesn't expect me back for a couple of months so why not?"

"Merlin used magic?" asked Bernie, obviously startled.

"Well, of course. How else would we have gotten here so soon?"

"Never you mind. I was just a bit surprised. Come, let me show you to my home."

* * *

" Tell me everything, Merlin, right from the very beginning!" said Nasuada after nearly squeezing the life out of Merlin. As soon as Merlin had stepped into Bernie's well-furnished house, he had been greeted by Nasuada. When Nasuada let go of him, he was able to see his surroundings for the first time. Bernie's home was nicely furnished, bragging an immense library. Books were wherever chairs could be found, and not a single one was dusty, a great feat considering the amount of books. As Merlin looked closely, he saw they were organized alpahbetically.

"Come on boy, even I want to know what happened to yeh," said Uther, obviously eager to know what Merlin had endured before he met Vortigern.

"All right, all right!" said Merlin, grinning as he told his tale.

"Oh, and Aurelianus says that he could use a thousand troops," finished Merlin.

"I'm not sure if the Council will grant his request, but his goals sound noble, and we' have been sitting doing nothing for millennia; I think's it is time we remind people we're still here." said Bernie as he laid the salad on the table and sat down.

"Yes, an interesting story," said Shiroix, speaking for the first time since Merlin had arrived. Merlin guessed he didn't talk much because he hadn't had to all his life.

When everyone finished with dinner, Merlin was shown to his room next to Shiroix's. He dressed himself in a night-robe Bernie had given him, but when he went back to the dining room with Shiroix, they were told to go back to their rooms while they explained to Uther.

"What do you think they're going to explain?" asked Merlin.

"I'm not sure. Perhaps they will explain to Uther everything that's going on. After all, the outside world is going through dark times and Uther must think we wizards had a part in it."

"But Mom and Bernie would have told us about anything lke that. Wouldn't they?"

"I don't know. These are secretive times. There's probably much we will never know."

As Merlin was about to reply, Shiroix turned and closed his bedroom door behind him. Merlin did the same for his own room.

After a while, curiosity got the better of Merlin. He quietly exited his room, going down the hall to hear the converstaion in the kitchen.

"WHAT!!! That man sired the boy! There is absolutely no likes between the two! That man is the most violent, terrible, wretched soul to ever walk the face of this planet! The boy wouldn't even hurt a fly! How can they be father and son? HOW!!!" boomed Uther so loudly, Merlin nearly wet his pants.

"Calm down Uther! We don't want to wake the boys. They cannot know any of this! If they knew, than the Dark would have a powerful weapon." said Bernie, trying to calm the enraged Uther.

"I'm sorry . . . But how can such a monster be the father of such a gentle person?"

"He hid who he truly was. But he never witnessed the birth of his son. If he had, he would've known that his children were twins. Right now he only has one. Someday, he will learn of the second child. And that will be the Light's darkest hour, when he realizes there are two, one who is bent to his will, the other against him. Yet, it will also be the Light's strongest hour, for it will be the first time he's felt fear in millennia." said Nasuada.

"Then why can't they know?" asked Uther impatiently.

"If we tell them, we have to tell them everything, and if we do that, they will know many secrets, all of which have been kept secrets for millennia." explained Bernie.

"Then why not just tell one?"

"At their age, we can't tell which one will go down which path, and if the knowledge that he fathered twins were to reach him, the things he could learn would ultimately destroy us. He could one by one find all of our cities, crush any resistance there, search the survivors' minds, and eventually cause the downfall of Atlantis. If we find a way to tell them without him finding out, we would do it, without hestitation. But we know of no way to do so at this point in time. Can we trust you to keep this a secret?" asked Nasuada.

"Ehhh, I guess so. But if they still don't know when I'm laying on my death bed, then I will tell them if they are near."

"Agreed." replied Bernie.

What are they talking about? Merlin asked himself, Who is him, and who are the twins, and what are the secrets? As Merlin's head swarmed with this new knowledge, he made his way to bed, and fell asleep pondering these questions.

* * *

"I know you had a late night last night, what with your story and all that excitement, but you have to wake up." Merlin woke to find Bernie on the edge of his bed.

"Today I'm to teach you Atlantian history, so we had better get a move on!"

"Alright," Merlin grumbled, "When do we start?"

"Now. You can eat your breakfast in here. It's on the table"

Merlin looked and sure enough, there was a plate of what looked to be round, flat bread.

"They are called pancakes. Here is some syrup," said Bernie, handing Merlin a bottle filled with a thick, brown liquid.

"It all began more than four thousand years ago, in the year 3023 B.C. other known in Vasillan time as 0. Back then there were the Seven, the first seven wizards. Some say they came from another world, so they are most commonly referred to as the Vasillah, after the world they lived in. The names of the Seven were the Ancient One, the Wise One, the Alchemist, the Wand Maker, the Sorceress, the Prophecizer, and the Young One. Each of these played a part in finding how magic worked.

"One day, the Young One asked for the rank of Master, and not for the first time. Over and over again he had proven himself worthy of the title, but every time he was rejected, because he was not old enough. But his time was different. It was the day that would become known as Christmas Eve. Everything seemed normal after the young One was rejected. Until night came. When night came, the City of the Seven was attacked by a race the Vasillah had never seen before, who called themselves the Jakashi. These creatures had six legs adorned with two claws each, three blood-red eyes, five rows of razor-sharp teeth, a forked tail, spines penetrating out of the back, and black scales to cover their body, thus the term the Dark. The only part exposed on these creatures was their soft underbelly, and they were protected from even that, for the Jakashi had two powers the Vasillah had previously thought only they could preform: shape shifting and twisting of the mind. And leading them was the Young One.

"The Ancient One told the remaining five to take the civilians somewhere safe. Without hestitation, they obeyed, leaving the Ancient One to fight the boy he had come to love as a son.

No one knows what happened when the Ancient One and the Young One fought, but the Young One survived, so we can assume he killed the Ancient One.

"The Young One followed the tracks left behind by the remaining five, and was lead to this world, where the war continued. For three bloody years, we fought the Dark, trying unsuccessfully to protect ourselves from the Jakashi. Eventually, the Jakashi became extinct, and that was the end of the First War. But not the end of the Dark.

"A century later, the Dark threatened the Light again. This time, the Light lost. We retreated to Atlantis and other places in the world. We've been in hiding ever since." finished Bernie, a sad look in his eyes.

"So what happened after?" asked Merlin, engrossed in the story.

"The end of the Second War lead to a Golden Age. For four-thousand, two-hundred thirty-two years we've lived in peace, all the while the Dark was conquering the outside world, one country at a time. Well, that's enough I think. Any questions?"

"What other species came from the Vasillan Realm?"

"I see you picked up on that; not many do. The other species are elves, dwarves, vampires, werewolves, dragons, phoenixes, giants, trolls, goblins, renya, merpeople, gryffins, centaurs, minotaurs, and sirens."

"Thanks for teaching me this Uncle."

"Anytime."