Warriors of Poseidon 03 - Atlantis Unleashed

24
    Atlantis, the cavern
    Justice forced himself to do willingly what he‟d fought against for hundreds of years. He opened the shields in his mind and released the Nereid half of his soul. At first his response was only silence, as if the Other mocked him.
    As if he‟d waited too long.
    However, ever so gradually, power curled like liquid fire through the resistant spaces of his mind. Heat filled his body, sparkling and shimmering through his veins and arteries like champagne-filtered blood.
    Finally. Finally you call to me, and invite me to demonstrate my power. The Nereid‟s voice resonated through his mind with the thundering of percussion drumming out a triumphant march.
    “I call on you to share your power,” Justice said aloud. “If we can‟t escape this cavern, it does you no more good than it does me.”
    Keely‟s forehead furrowed as she gazed up at him quizzically, and he realized what his half of the conversation must sound like.
    “I‟m not crazy; I‟m only talking to myself,” he offered. “The only way we‟ll get out of here is if the Nereid half of me can teach me powers I‟ve never known. It wasn‟t an Atlantean gift that transported us down here. I‟m not sure what I did or how I did it. The Nereid knows, and so I will learn.”
    “This is probably a subject for another time, but it doesn‟t seem all that healthy that you‟re talking about the other half of yourself in the third person. Of course, earlier you were referring to yourself as „we,‟ so I guess it‟s all relative,” she said, smiling weakly. “I‟m good with whatever gets us out of here.”
    Justice smiled at her in a way that he hoped was reassuring, and then he closed his eyes and sank into the duality of his consciousness. Swirls and spirals of shimmering color danced in the darkness inside his mind, as if his Nereid half were a prism reflecting the brightest gemstones in the cavern.
    Though he didn‟t understand the scope of the power released, he could certainly feel the magnitude of it. He‟d always been possessed of superior usage of the Atlantean magics, but this was different. Darker. Not more powerful, but simply other . Clay shaped by a sculptor with mysterious intent.
    His mind shuffled through the new concepts. New constructs. A different view of ordering the universe.
    Matter transference. The knowledge and technique gleamed before him. It was so simple; of course he could do it. Of course he had done it.
    Of course he could do it again.
    It was a simple process. He offered up his being into the fabric of the universe. It was a loan—no more. A momentary return to the energy of creation. He pictured himself and Keely where he wanted them to be, and they would travel through the waves, as particles of that flow.
    He could see it. He could hear it, touch it, taste it. Everywhere he looked, energy beams danced and played, sweeping through the fabric of life itself. It would be so easy to sink into the energy. To catch a ride.
    He turned toward Keely and, truly seeing her, laughed, suddenly joyous. Brilliant oranges, yellows, and reds floated, sparkling, around her. She existed inside a kaleidoscope of all the colors of the sunset, crowned by the flame red of her hair. She was strength and wonder and innocence, and yet there were darker hues, as well. Flashes of sienna fading into deepest mahogany, indicative of some negativity. Pain in her past.
    He had no reason to know it, but he did. He was no longer only Justice. Or even only Justice and Nereid. He was part of the web of all existence in the galaxy, and traveling within it would be as effortless as swimming in a quiet pool.
    Not so easy as that, the Nereid cautioned. You cannot fall into that trap. Limitless possibilities exist to seduce the unwary. If you give yourself to the universe without reservation, there is the chance you’ll never return.
    Justice recoiled at the idea of limits, but then leashed his denial. Forced himself to listen to the Nereid.
    Keely. He needed to protect Keely. Remove them both from this cavern in which they were trapped. Focus on the practical; the magical could wait. He turned to her. “I know how to do it. He told me, and it‟s so simple—well. It‟s simple once you have the knowing of it.”
    “You can really get us out of here?” Fragile hope shone on her face and for a moment he paused, stunned by her beauty.
    “Yes. I would ask where you wish to go, but I believe one destination is mandatory. We