MYSTERY IN TIME: The Island Of Atlas
Epilogue
July 16, 394 B.C.
Somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea
Destruction. Devastation. Annihilation. These were the only words Calum Reed could use to describe the scene unfolding around him. People screaming for their wives, their children, their prized possessions that some valued more than themselves. Calum could only watch as people were carried away by the enormous wave that had come to obliterate this once-majestic city. And run. Running was something Calum was good at. Where he was from, he had regular practice running from bullies and running to the mysteries that took his mind away from the pain. But then, that was all 2000 years in the future.
Chapter I
Genesis
3:45 P.M.
Oakland, California
“We’re gonna get you, Reed!” Panting hard, Calum kept sprinting away from the bullies who made his life miserable. At last, he reached his house and locked the door behind him. Calum lived in a rough part of town known as the Everglades. Why? He didn’t know. Probably because the residents wanted to feel like they were in heaven, even though where they were was the exact opposite. And besides, Calum had been to the Everglades. He could personally assure you they were nothing like this dump. That was so long ago, those times Calum longed to go back to. That was all before he became an orphan. His parents had both died in a car accident, leaving him under the care of his incessantly inebriated uncle, who only took Calum in because of the money he came with. Calum figured the money had probably already been extinguished by the time he had moved in. Ever since that fateful week, Calum had been affected by a serious need to solve mysteries to stall the agony of losing his two best friends. Calum sighed at the thought of the turn his life had taken. He once had the best life anyone could have asked for. Now he was stuck with a man with clearly no personal hygiene and definitely no care for Calum. As he sat down to do his homework, he pondered upon how his life might have been different. Maybe he wouldn’t have had to live in a dump. Maybe he would have lived in a big house with everything he could have possibly wanted. “No use thinking about it now,” he thought. Halfway through his homework, he heard a sound all too familiar to him come from the window.
Chapter II
Encounter
He looked outside and saw what he was expecting: his best friend Miles Torres. “I got a good one today, Cal!” Calum smiled and ran downstairs to see what the fuss was about. “It’s about this object, the man didn’t specify. It’s been stolen.” Relieved at the prospect of another successful case, Calum hopped on his bike and sped off to his destination: an abandoned warehouse 10 minutes from his house. When he got there, he was somewhat disappointed by the sights that befell him. It was decrepit and looking at it, Calum knew at once that today wasn’t going to be a big payday. Calum liked to get a couple hundred dollars for his trouble at least, based on how wealthy his clients looked, but judging by the state of the area, he was going to get a hundred bucks at most. As he ventured into the great unknown that was the warehouse, he noticed that the floors looked clean, which meant it was occupied in the last 3 days. “Interesting,” he thought. At last, he got to the very center of the large warehouse, where he saw an old man waiting for him with a very odd-looking machine. “Ah, there you are, Calum Holloway Reed,” in a raspy voice. Calum was shocked. He hadn’t heard that name used since the accident. Calum, still astonished, asked,” Who are you, and how do you know my name?”
“Ah, of course, you don’t know my name. Mr. Reed, I am your descendant, from a long time in the future.”
Chapter III
Recognition
“Okay, hold up,” Calum replied, “what are you talking about?”
“I would have thought I made myself perfectly clear. And what is THAT?” pointing to Calum’s phone, which he had in his hand, just in case he needed to call the police.
“What? It's a phone. You never have seen one before?”
“That is the most primitive technology I have ever seen. But that’s beside the point. The point is, I’ve lost something very valuable to me, and I need to get it back.”
“Okayyyy, so what is it?”
“A power beyond all imagining, a force so destructive that if it fell into the wrong hands, could change your past, present, and future to something worse. Way worse.”
“Fine. Whatever. Where’d you see it last?”
“Atlantis. 2000 years ago. Or 2414 years ago, to be exact.”
Chapter IV
Preparation: Part 1
Calum almost burst out laughing. “And how exactly do you expect to get it back for you?”
“You see this?” said the man, “It's called the TIFCSAT, which stands to The Instrument For Crossing Space And Time.”
“So it's a time machine?”
“To put it crudely, yes.”
Calum was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the words the man said. He asked the man a simple question to allow himself time to process the information. “What’s your name, anyway?”
“My name is Artemis Caspian Reed Jr, and I would go by myself if I could, but the TIFCSAT can only take one person back and forth at most 2500 in years, in the future or the past, and I am much too old to be making the trip again.”
“Cool name. So all you’re telling me to do is get in that time machine, speed off to god knows where, and bring back this thingamajig that could kill all of us. And I wish you would go if you could, too.”
“And try not to die in the process.”
Chapter V
Preparation: Part 2
Calum was engulfed by the flurry of questions rushing through his brain: Where was he going? What was this object anyway? And why choose him to go?
Out of all these questions, he picked one to ask.
“Why me?”
“Because it's already in the history books. In my time, anyway.”
“Okay, fine. Just tell me how.” Calum figured he had nothing to lose, and he desperately wanted to do something worthwhile.
Calum had no hesitation coming to this decision. After all, he was getting to trade part of his mundane life for the thrill of a lifetime. Or so he thought.
Chapter VI
Preparation: Part 3
“Do you remember everything you’re supposed to do?”
“Yes, Mr. Descendant.”
They had gone over every single detailed step dozens of times and managed to shorten it down to 5 simple directions.
“Back. Meet Leonis. Ask for help. Find the talisman. Come home.” Artemis had stressed the importance of meeting Leonis. “He has been in the most secure of places,” he said, “and he is the only one who can tell you where to go. He owes me a favor from back in the day, anyway. Got him out of trouble for thievery.”
As Artemis made the final checks on the time-traveling suit and the machine, Calum couldn’t help but wonder if this would be his last mystery ever. He was considerably nervous, and understandably, but he was also the most anxious as well. He hadn’t had a good life ever since the accident, but he felt this might be one of the last chances he’d ever get to doing something worthwhile.
“Okay, Dorothy’s ready for take-off, Cal.”
“Seriously bro? You, a man from the future, gets one chance to name a time machine and you choose Dorothy.” Calum almost laughed out loud, although, in his head, he was definitely laughing his head off. But he was soon reminded of the reality he faced. As he got into the machine, he noticed a rather strange aura emanating from the interior of the machine. He figured it was something he wouldn’t know about as it was for the future. He buckled himself in, and Artemis bid him farewell. “Good luck, Calum. And good luck.” Artemis shut the door and powered the machine on. As soon as the machine started, Calum regretted his decision immediately.
Chapter VII
Peregrination
There was this indescribable, horrible, terrible feeling that Calum experienced as soon as the machine started. There was this sensation of his head being stretched in every direction and then being clamped by a vise over and over again. He also wanted to throw up but he feared that wouldn’t go down too well with Artemis. And he didn’t want to be stuck in a machine with a pile of sick in front of him. At last, everything stopped. Calum cherished the moment of silence he knew he had before he headed out into the unknown. After a minute, Calum unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door, and stepped out into a place he had never seen before and never expected to. He was on the island of Atlantis, the legendary city.
Chapter VIII
Exploration
Artemis had armed Calum with a traditional toga and some items that Artemis had said Leonis would show Calum. It took a few tries but Calum succeeded in wrapping the toga around himself. As soon as that happened, he headed out and embarked on his quest to find this Leonis.
Calum had expected Atlantis to look like what he had seen when he had taken that trip to Pompeii. He was sadly mistaken. Atlantis was a magnificent city, dressed in a glimmering white, and with majestic columns and plazas everywhere. It was a beacon of the technological advancements of that time period, such as the first computer and the first aqueduct system. As he roamed around, he learned a lot of things about Atlantis, but he couldn’t spend too much time on this as he needed to find Leonis as quickly as possible. Suddenly, he heard some screaming. “Thank god for those extracurricular Greek classes,” he thought. He translated it to “Thief! That thief Leonis stole my money!” Calum’s ears perked up at the sound of Leonis and immediately chased after him. Having experience running away from bullies, Calum easily caught up to Leonis and dragged him into an empty alleyway.
“Let me go!” screamed Leonis.
“Calm down. I only dragged you here because I need your help. Artemis Caspian Reed sent me.” At these words, Leonis suddenly froze and turned slowly towards Calum. “Arty, you say? Fine, I owe him one anyway. What do you want me to do?”
Calum almost burst out laughing at “Arty”, but he knew he had no time to waste.
“I need the talisman.”
“Sure. No problem. You see that building over there?” pointing to a giant white building. That’s a science building. It's in there. All you need to do is avoid the guards, get past the bear traps, and get past the booby-trapped path. Okay, bye! It was nice meeting you!” Leonis sprinted off, leaving Calum to wonder what he had ever done to get him in this mess.
Chapter IX
Infiltration
As Calum cautiously made his way into the building, he observed the behavior of the many scholars around him. They seemed to be prominent members of Atlantean society, judging by their attitude and their aristocratic clothes. Calum also thought he saw Aristotle and Plato, though he felt he could have been mistaken as virtually all of them had the same haircut. He approached one of them and asked, “Hey, buddy, I happen to be needing a talisman, and I was told it was available here. Help me out, Voíthisé me. Please, my friend. Parakaló fíle mou.”
The man responded with a smirk and said something along the lines of, “Silly boy, the talisman is not for ordinary people.”
Still determined, Calum evaded all the security and managed to get to the beginning of where the booby-traps started. “First off, the bear traps,” Calum thought, “but where are they? Maybe this will be that easy after all. Maybe Leonis was lying.” As he rounded a corner, he saw an entire hallway covered top to bottom in bear traps. “Oh, I spoke too soon. Me and my big mouth.” Calum sighed.
Chapter X
Penetration: Part 1
As he made his way past the bear traps, quickly, but as cautiously a teen could go, he realized that bear traps shouldn’t even exist in that time period. He was amazed at the intellectual capacity of this island. He finally reached the room where the talisman was kept, but the door was locked and he needed to type in a code to open it. Calum looked around to see if there was anything that could help him, and saw a riddle written on the ceiling that read, “Turn me on my side and I am everything but cut me in half and I am nothing.” Calum was perplexed for a second but realized that he had seen this riddle before on the internet. Going up to the keypad, he typed in the number 8. For a quick second, nothing happened. Then, the door slid open with a whoosh. Behind it, Calum saw another door, with another riddle, except this was written on the floor. He soon realized that the riddles were meant to test the capabilities of the person who wanted the talisman. Calum thought, “Well, I definitely have an advantage because I am from the future.”
Chapter XI
Penetration: Part 2
Calum was getting impatient. So far, he had solved 12 riddles, and they seemed to be getting harder and harder every time. But then, the number 13 was considered lucky in Greece so maybe, the 13th door would be the last. There, again, was a riddle inscribed, except this one was on the door itself. “I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I?” Calum was stumped. He had never seen or heard this riddle before. “What can the answer possibly be?” Calum asked himself out loud, the words echoing through the otherwise silent halls. Echoing. That's what it was! Echoes speak and repeat anything said out loud, and the wind carries it through! Excitedly, Calum typed in the letters η χ ώ, which spelled out “echo” in greek. With a hiss, the door opened into a large room with a glass case in the middle. Inside it, stood the talisman.
Chapter XII
Acquisition
Calum was unimpressed by the talisman. It was a tiny and grossly undecorated gold circle. As soon as he opened the case, however, he felt an aura of power and energy surging through him and his surroundings. Calum hastily packed the talisman into a bag he had brought along. Hoping no one would notice the reddish glow emitting from the bag, he hurried back in the direction of the time machine. He hadn’t gone too far, however, when the earth started shaking. Hard.
Buildings started crumbling, towers started toppling over, and then erupted a pandemonium, a stampede of people rushing to get to the safest place possible: building Calum had just left. Calum was conflicted about what to do. He felt he should run to the time machine as fast as he could, but if he didn’t get there in time, he would probably die. And if he chose to run back to the science building, the time machine could be destroyed, and Calum would be stuck here, forever. After losing precious time to decide what his choice, he, ultimately, chose neither. He chose, instead, to aid and help the people of Atlantis reach safety. As he approached one of the people who seemed in need of his assistance, he remembered the myth of Atlantis, and why it was called the Lost City of Atlantis. It was allegedly pulled under the sea after a series of earthquakes and tsunamis, resulting in floods that had sunk the city. Calum realized that today was the day it happened. If he stayed any longer, he knew he would die. As soon as he finished the thought, he saw a large shadow slowly rising from the back. He looked behind him and saw a wall of water growing as it headed towards Calum and utter destruction.
Chapter XIII
Elusion
Calum would never forget the screams of the families, the men, women, and children who knew they would have no more future. Calum would never forget the agony on the faces of the lost souls who would never see their families again. Calum would never, never, forget the Lost City of Atlantis.
2 hours earlier, Calum Reed had witnessed a humongous wall of water surging towards the city, the biggest he had ever seen. Although it was also the only one he had ever seen, he still couldn’t believe the sheer size of the tsunami. Then an even bigger stampede began to get away from the tsunami. Too many people were trampled and too many people were pushed aside because they weren’t fast enough. He saw a young boy sitting in the middle of the road, without any idea of what was happening. Where were his parents? Dead, maybe. Or maybe in the stampede itself. Whatever the case, the boy was not under the care of anyone, like Calum had been when his parents had been in that accident. Calum was suddenly overrun by a flood of emotions, ranging from sadness to determination to keep the boy safe. So, Calum ran towards the boy, and asked, “Hey kid, come with me. There is a lot of danger here and I’ll get you to safety.” The boy nodded yes and held Calum’s hand firmly in his own. Together, they ran. Away and faster than ever, into the wind.
As they were running, the boy abruptly yelled, “Mom! Dad!” Calum looked ahead and saw a young couple wandering, searching for their lost child. Calum felt emotional at the fact that a family had been reunited, in front of his eyes, no less. Seeing the boy run to his parents like that, it reminded Calum of what was important, that he should cherish the moments he and his parents had together, not think about would have been. Calum reluctantly left the boy with the parents and realized that he was right in front of the TIFCSAT. Knowing he had no time to waste, he climbed in and input the date when he had left. Just as the wall of water reached the machine, Calum pressed the button to go home, and there was a flash of light and pop. Then there was nothing. Nothing at all in the place the contraption had just been.
Chapter XIV
Arrival
There was that same gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of his stomach, but this time he was prepared. Instead, multiple thoughts ran through his mind, most of them being about the family he had just left behind. He was sad, of course, that such a majestic city and its citizens would perish in such a way, but he was also satisfied, like a hole in his heart had been filled. “At least they’re going to heaven together.” he thought. He realized that this was what he had needed to overcome the death of his parents. And then he was there. The time he was from, and Calum had a vague sensation that he was home.
As he climbed out, Calum saw Artemis smiling. Calum knew that the talisman could do wonders for himself, and put an end to the misery which was ever so present in his life. He instead chose to give Artemis the talisman, because he figured the future required more luck if Artemis had journeyed so far to acquire it. Artemis was noticeably impressed by Calum’s courage and integrity. As Artemis was offering Calum the compensation, Calum decided he wouldn’t accept any payment either. “You can keep your money. Going back was an amazing experience which I thank you for.” Artemis, at this, started having tears fall out of his eyes. “I am touched, Calum, and I sincerely hope we will meet in the near future.”
Calum responded, “ I hope so too, old man, but certainly under different circumstances.” Both of them started laughing and Artemis went into the time machine, bidding farewell to Calum and going back to the future. Calum smiled and turned around, and headed home to live his life. Although he was sure Atlantis wasn’t completely out of his life yet.
Prologue
25 years later
“Captain, Captain! We found it! Calum Reed stood up excitedly and headed to the bridge, where the crew showed him a screen. He had been searching for the not-so-mythical island ever since that day. He had grown up, gone to college, and studied archaeology, in hopes that he would soon find the famed civilization he had He had never given up, and now he had come to reap the fruits. On the screen, they saw various Greek artifacts, and looking from above, the island looked just like it did the day of the flood. Concentric circles, the Greek columns, the paved roads. Calum even saw the science building, almost completely untouched, except for the fact that it was underwater. The crew quickly sent divers under to salvage some artifacts. But one thing was for sure. Calum smiled. Atlantis was found.
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