Chapter 4: Cities at Sea (Part 1 of 2)

Soon, an inky black object emerged from the water. It was Ishida’s head.

“That was fun!” He laughed as he waded through the shallow water. 

Rhina smiled in relief. She stepped back onto the sand and tapped her earrings once again. This time, when her foot touched the water, it did not float.

“How is it that you were drowning just earlier, even though you had these magical earrings?” Ishida asked.

“I wanted to know what it feels like to swim in the water. To tell you the truth, I have never done it before. That’s because my father hasn’t let me go outside in a very long time,” Rhina answered. “I didn’t think that water, the very substance that gives life, could also take it away from you.”

Ishida brought Rhina up the mountain to his cabin, where he kindled the firewood in the furnace and began preparing dinner.

“It may be a little small, but this is my house,” Ishida told her. 

“It’s wonderful!” she remarked. “Do you live alone?”

Ishida stopped in his tracks. 

“Yes, both of my parents set out on an expedition to find a lost city ten years ago and never came back,” he said hesitantly.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the girl said. “I didn’t mean to open Pandora’s box.”

“It’s alright, I earn enough money each month to support myself anyway,” Ishida responded. “Here you go, this salad sauce is named after my father, who invented it.”

“Thanks. Ishida, would you mind if I ask you a question?” 

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind.” 

“I saw a painting on the wall of your bedroom earlier today. There was an island or some sort of huge ship sailing through the ocean. If I remember correctly, it carried a city on it, too. Did you paint that yourself?” 

“Ah, so you’ve seen the painting of the Lost City at Sea. Of course I didn’t paint it! That painting belonged to my father, who was determined to find the Great Sea City of Ajens.”

“The Great Sea City of Ajens? Sounds a little familiar, I should say.” 

“My father used to tell me stories every night before bedtime. Some stories were completely made up and others were based on actual events. When I was five years old, he told me a very long one. It was about a highly sophisticated ancient civilization called Ajens that existed in the distant past. 

“Ajens used to be part of a land empire until they made a revolutionary advance in technology: sea cities! They started by connecting barges together, then they built gigantic flat-bottomed ships, and finally, they constructed hundreds of humongous platforms that floated on the surface of the ocean. Entire cities were built on these platforms!”

“Entire cities? You mean cities with millions of people living in them, all floating on the ocean?” Rhina gasped. “I find that to be quite hard to believe.”

“Weren’t you the one who told me that nothing is impossible?” Ishida said with a slight smile. “With such vision and determination as the Ajenians had, anything can be possible to achieve.”

“That’s true, but…” 

“If you read through some of the ancient texts at the Coleis Plateau, you’ll find many sources claiming that they saw ‘mountains’ floating on the ocean and traveling around the world, trading with cities and becoming very wealthy. 

“Soon, the Ajenians built their largest sea city, which served as their capital and was about twice the size of Piletus City.”

“Double the size of Piletus City?! Then that sea city must be hundreds of kilometers wide!”

“Indeed, it was! People called it ‘the Great Sea City of Ajens,’ or just ‘Ajens’ for short. Unfortunately, just a few hundred years later, the Ajenians and their sea cities completely disappeared from history 

“The last record of them was present on an ancient Medietan painting, which depicted one of the sea cities that had crashed into a seaside cliff and another sea city that seemed to be floating in the sky somewhere in the distance. After that, no one ever saw the Ajenian sea cities again.”

“Really? Such a large civilization disappearing from history?”

“Yes, that’s what people thought until my father discovered five ancient maps contained in a ceramic pot hidden deep inside a cave under the Coleis Plateau. Using those maps, he set out on five voyages to the different locations in the maps. Sadly, he never returned from the last voyage,” Ishida explained.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rhina replied solemnly.

“But I believe that he’s still alive. I believe he found the city on his last voyage and decided to stay there. When I grow up, I’m going to find the Great Sea City of Ajens and my long-lost father. You have my word!” 

“You have such great dreams, Ishida. Do you think dreaming will get you to Ajens?” 

“Of course, it will!”

“You really think so? I believe you. But, how did the Ajenians suddenly disappear?” 

“No one really knows. Some people argue that they never existed at all. But I think that they didn’t disappear. They probably sailed into some harbors, anchored their cities, and moved to live on land. 

“If I had been living on the ocean for my whole life, I’d probably want to settle on dry land for once. After all, most of the Ajenians never stepped foot on the mainland even once in hundreds of years!” 

“I think you’re right. But what made your father want to find the city? Was it gold? Or was it fame?” 

“No, none of those things! Even though it’s rumored that there’s more gold in Ajens than all the gold in the rest of the world combined, my father didn’t want the gold. He wasn’t a greedy man.”

“He didn’t want the gold? What did he want, then?”

“Well, he once told me that if he found the treasury of Ajens, he would give all of it to the beggars on the streets of Medietapolis. The reason he wanted to find Ajens was that he longed to meet the founder of the Ajenian Empire, Marcus.”

“Wait, who?”

“Marcus. He was the man who ordered the sea cities to be built and skillfully led his people to victory in many wars. His empire dominated the entire ancient world, but he had even bigger ambitions. 

“He wanted to live forever. He traveled around the world in search of a legendary bottle of elixir or some magical potion that would make him immortal. It was called ‘King Arras’ Elixir,’ if I remember correctly.”

“Immortal?!” Rhina exclaimed. “But I thought immortality is impossi—”

Ishida smiled. “After many years, Marcus finally found the potion and drank some of it. He gave the rest to a sage who taught him. 

“Not long after that, Marcus was declared as the king of the Ajenian Empire, and he was henceforth called ‘King Rexius.’ 

“I think that he’s still alive, and if we can find him, he can reveal to us what happened to his great empire. But more importantly, it’s known far and wide that he’s the only man in the world who is powerful enough to end all wars.”

“Are you sure he can end all wars?” Rhina asked excitedly. “But how? Waging war is a basic part of human nature. There will always be evil men in this world.” 

“I agree with you, but when King Rexius returns, all the wicked rulers will beg him for mercy. He’s the most powerful human being the world has ever seen, and he hates bloodshed. 

“The king used to be an ambitious and bloodthirsty man, but drinking King Arras’ Elixir transformed him into a peacemaking man. Since he can never die, wars would never be allowed to happen again,” Ishida replied.

“That has always been my dream,” Rhina told him. “A world without bloodshed…”