Chapter 1 The Calling

My eyes blinked slowly as I was starting to regain consciousness. My mind was fuzzy and I feel like I should be remembering something important, but my brain refused to work.

“Look, she’s awake! Call doctor Loren!”

I heard shuffling of feet against the tiled floor. I was awake now and just started to look all around me. The first thing that I noticed was some white painted walls. It wasn’t like the walls back in Atlantis that were made out of metal. These walls were made of cement.

Atlantis.

I gasped and immediately bolted upright as memories started to flood my mind.

“Woah there!” A nurse was immediately at my side. She was Asian, but she clearly has Atlantean blood judging from the whites in her hair. “You can’t move like that. Not while you just recovered.” She tried to calm me down while gently pushing my shoulder to make me lie back down.

I brushed her off. “Who are you?” I demanded as I tried avoiding her touch. “And where am I?” I looked around me. All the furniture in this place - the bed, the chair, the side table, and even the medicine tray - were all standardized human designs. Nothing was hovering, there were no drones, and they were using plastic!

Clearly, this isn’t Atlantis.

“Byron.” I whispered. “Skyr? Trei?” I started to yell out.

“Ma’am, you have to calm down first.” The girl was speaking to me gently. I know that I was acting irrationally at this point. I don’t even know why I was behaving this way.

The door suddenly burst open and more nurses came in. “Help. She’s having a panic attack.” The girl who was trying to keep me still screamed.

The nurses ran forward and tried to pin me down, but I am a demigod for a reason. And one of those reasons is my undeniable super strength. “Damn it. She’s too strong.”

“Let go of me!” I yelled as I forced myself into a sitting position and managed to knock down a few of them.

“Nat?” A familiar voice brought my attention to the door. A sense of relief washed over me as I saw my best friend standing there mirroring the same expression on his face.

“Trei.” I whispered.

A slow smile spread across his lips before his eyes darted to one of the nurses at my side. His eyes widened with shock and horror. “Wait. No! She’s okay!” He yelled out.

Too late. There was a sharp prick at my arm and I felt someone injecting some liquid into my system.

“You idiot! That was no longer necessary.” Trei ran to my side and glared at one of the nurses.

“I’m sorry I panicked!”

I felt my body losing its strength. The nurses guided me back to my bed gently while Trei was barking orders at them. When he saw me mouthing something to him, he grabbed my hand and tried to read my lips. Even though my lips couldn’t function properly at the moment, he understood my question.

“They’re safe, Nat. Don’t worry. They’re safe.” He assured me. 

And for the time being, I was contented that I allowed myself to sleep once again.

As soon as I closed my eyes, I was back in the cave again. The wound on my leg somehow opened up and I was alone. 

“Hello?” I called out into the pitch-black water as I floated around aimlessly. 

Where are they? I wondered.

I continued to move around until I happened to bump into someone. My bearing was starting to lighten that I could faintly see what was in front of me. I squinted my eyes to get a closer look.

It was Byron. Dead.

I let out a soundless scream. I was voiceless. 

I backpedaled immediately to get away from his corpse. As soon as I did, I got a clearer look at my surroundings. Skyr, Trei, Jack, Falco, Vie, Gray, Duke, and Eva’s bodies floated around me. Their lifeless eyes were all looking at me for some strange reason.

“No!” I screamed and curled into a ball. Hoping that if I did, I would no longer see them. I would no longer see their dead bodies. That I would no longer see the hollow look in their lifeless eyes.

They can’t be dead. They can’t be dead!

Then I felt it. An eerie presence that was tickling the back of my neck. When I looked back up, the bodies were gone. The place was quiet again, but the ominous feeling never left. I circled around, trying to find its source. 

Then finally, I saw it. Two large yellow reptilian eyes were staring at me. So huge that the slit irises were about my height.

It drew closer and closer and no matter how hard I tried to get away from it, it still kept on following me.

‘Release me.’ It hissed. ‘Call for me.’

I ignored the voice and kept on swimming away from it. I noticed how everything seemed to darken once more and when I turned back, I was face to face with the mysterious silhouette of the monster as it opened its mouth and swallowed me whole.

‘RELEASE ME!’ It bellowed one last time before I was engulfed in darkness.