MAGE | Chapter 9: Atlantum
Sharon Ede www.magethenovel.com © 2023 all rights reserved
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THE GRAND BALLROOM of Atlantum was lit with the golden glow of the setting sun, yet the air was pleasantly cool.
A thousand guests were expected for the banquet to celebrate the birthday of Lumina, the Ondan Queen’s daughter.
Long tables with pale-green tablecloths were set with white plates, gold cutlery, and crystal glassware. Fresh flowers scented the air with jasmine. A five-piece string orchestra filled the vast room with a gentle melody.
Ambra and Jevon were seated with Quill, near the raised platform on which the royal table was set, where Queen Cresence of Onda and the rest of her party would shortly take their places.
Platters of pre-dinner treats were already laid out. Ambra spied pieces of what looked like finely spun toffee, shimmering with all the pale cool colours of the Sand Poet’s umbrella. They were irresistible, and she reached out to take one.
‘Featherlight sweets,’ a new voice said, as Ambra placed one of the pieces in her mouth. It melted like sherbet, the flavour changing from violet to lavender to rose.
‘This is Aroz — he’s our Chancellor.’ Quill indicated the newcomer to Ambra’s right. ‘Aroz, this is Ambra and Jevon, from Terra, the children of Professor Lightstone — this is their first visit to Atlantum.’
Aroz was a tall, slender man, with a shock of spiky grey hair and a pointy nose. He was dressed in a tailored suit of royal blue and a silver-and-white silk scarf.
‘Oho! Terras!’ noted Aroz, his nose and one eyebrow lifting.
‘Terrans,’ corrected Quill.
‘It’s funny that you call us Terrans,’ said Ambra. ‘We’re used to thinking of ourselves from whatever country we’re from. And now you see us as just from Earth.’
‘Earth — pah!’ scoffed Aroz. ‘Human beings are so self-absorbed. Of course, you Terras would call this blue orb Earth, when clearly its surface is three-quarters H20 and NaCl!’
‘It’s what?’ said Jevon.
‘H20 — water, and NaCl — sodium chloride, also known as salt. Don’t they teach you anything of chemistry in your Terran schools? Saltwater, it’s a beautiful yet paradoxical concoction — on the one hand, a sustainer of so much life, but also potentially toxic to any human who ingests too much of it.’
‘Sounds like Ambra’s cooking,’ muttered Jevon, receiving a jab in the ribs from his sister in response.
Aroz waved his hands in the air. ‘Tell me: what in Ter- ra’s name does your tribe think it is doing? Climate change! Mass extinction of species! Polluting land, air, and ocean!’
‘It’s a mess, isn’t it?’ admitted Jevon.
‘Imagine,’ continued Aroz, ‘if this continues and you trigger ecosystem collapse. All of your human history could be lost. Every great work of art. Every literary masterpiece. Every reality TV show episode — ’
‘A lot of people on Earth — on Terra — are trying to change those things,’ argued Ambra. ‘But, of course, there are many who are resisting, or who don’t see a need to change.’
‘Resisting? It looks to us like a war between the human tribes,’ sniffed Aroz.
‘In fact, we call it The War on Terra.’
‘Now, Aroz,’ chided Quill, refilling the Chancellor’s glass, ‘the Terrans are not the only species in conflict with each other.’
Quill turned to Ambra and Jevon. ‘We Sottomarans have our own conflicts.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Ambra.
‘Remember I told you about the second group of Sottomarans — the Nautilans? Once we were one. We’d evolved differently, yes — Ondans near the surface, Nautilans as the depth-dwellers — but we co-existed peacefully.’
‘But not now?’ prompted Jevon. Quill shook his head.
‘What happened?’
‘Things changed when the Nautilan ruling family produced a queen who has some beliefs and values that are alien to even most Nautilans,’ said Aroz.
‘When Queen Nefaria came to the throne, she sought to consolidate her power by expanding Nautilan influence and ideology. The Nautilan elite see both Ondans and Terrans as inferior. Nautilans believe that because sea creatures are older than land creatures, they are evolution’s preference,’ explained Quill.
‘Well, that makes zero sense — evolution’s preference was for creatures to come out of the sea, onto land,’ pointed out Ambra.
‘We Ondans, however, evolved differently to the Nautilans in how we lived and adapted. As we have evolved closer to the surface and the shore, we have more in common with Terrans, and share the goal of stopping the Nautilans’ destructive plans.’
‘What destructive plans?’ asked Ambra warily.
‘The Nautilans refer to “Earth” as “Oceanus” because it is mostly water. To the Nautilans, more ocean means more territory and resources for them, which will allow them to expand and increase their numbers. They liter- ally seek to “unearth the Terrans”. They want the whole planet to become ocean once again, returning Earth to its watery origins.’
‘What?’ gasped Ambra. ‘Can they even do that?’
‘They don’t expect they will have to. Nefaria and her eldest son and heir, Necro, have been pursuing their ideology by conspiring with Terrans who are attempting to block efforts to address climate change,’ said Quill. ‘The Nautilan royal family figure that by playing on the short-sightedness, foolishness, and inaction of these people that the Terrans will do their work for them. Simply by doing nothing, and staying on their current trajectory, Ter- rans will bring about a world in which the ocean reclaims the land, or at least a good part of it.’
‘Wait — I’m trying to get my head around this,’ said Jevon.
‘So even though your people also live in the ocean, you’re trying to stop these Nautilans?’
Quill nodded.
‘From the Ondan point of view, the last thing our people want is for climate-induced sea-level rise. It will send untold volumes of Terran waste, pollution, and poison into the sea, fouling our homes and wiping out our food stocks, something that will not affect the Nautilan dwellers of the deep to anywhere near the same extent. That’s why we are secretly working with key Terrans to help them tackle climate change, and to neutralise the influence of those the Terrans call deniers.’
Ambra winced as she thought of the tidal wave of muck that she had been swept up in by the tsunami and imagined what it would be like magnified many thousands of times.
Before she could properly take in Quill’s revelations, a fanfare announced the arrival of the Ondan royal family. Along with everyone in the Grand Ballroom, she stood as Queen Cresence and her entourage entered.
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