Shadows of Atlantis: Emergence of the Engi (7 page)

Eiris sat on the huge bed in his new room in the palace, trying to process everything he had just learned. In his mind’s eye he went back to his broken childhood, re-living the anxiety and uncertainty he had felt for so many years. Growing up as an orphan he had created many stories to explain away the fact that his parents weren’t around. Over the years he had learned to build up a numbness, an emotional barrier that protected him from the pain and heartache of loneliness. Now, here in this ornate bedroom, he allowed himself to remember the many nights where he had felt engulfed in the darkness of loneliness, longing for a family to love him. Now he knew that he had been loved all along, but that the love of his parents had been from afar. This both relieved him, and yet, saddened him. He felt as if he had gained his parents, and then lost them again, all in one day. It was all too much for him to handle and he fought the urge to just lay down and cry his eyes out on his new silk pillows.

Suddenly he realized sulking wouldn’t do him any good, so he jumped up and decided to take a walk around the palace to clear his mind. As he walked out into the large halls, he saw many beautiful trees, waterfalls, and natural pools built right into the palace architecture. He noted also that the people were all very beautiful and friendly, slightly bowing to him as he passed. Eiris knew he had to figure out one day how to tell everyone he didn’t like feeling superior and being bowed to.

As he continued to pass by dining halls made of gold and grand balconies overlooking the gorgeous city of Pluvia, he came to a place that immediately caught his attention. An immense hallway with statues of white and yellow gold was right in front of him. Realizing that this was likely where he could see a representation of his mother and father, he slowly paced down the grand hall, studying each statue.

He passed by many statues, but suddenly, he felt irrepressibly drawn to a huge pair of statues at the middle point of the hall. As he gazed up at them he somehow knew they were his parents without even looking at their nameplates. There was a color painting of them near the feet of their statues, and as he studied it he noticed a stark contrast in the eye colors of his parents. His father Kinol had dark red irises and his mother Allura had bright blue irises. He then understood the origin of his rare purple eyes. He also noted their gorgeously exotic appearances. Although the Undarians he’d seen up to this point were all phenomenally good-looking, his parent’s appearances were truly a beauty of another kind.

“The Hall of Edixes. Where all of our former rulers come to rest.” said Marz, walking up beside Eiris.

“That’s them.” said Eiris.

“Yes. They are still the most divergent and amazingly beautiful Undarians I’ve ever met to date.” smiled Marz.

“I see why she was called the Breathless Beauty.” noted Eiris.

“Yes. She was quite an eyeful.” he nodded.

“Jannis said something about a school.” said Eiris, changing the subject.

“Decades ago, in order to help maintain peaceful relations between the races, your parents had a wondrous school built. The Undarian Academy of Science, Medicine, and Technology. It’s your choice whether you will either become the youngest Edixe to ever ascend to an Atlantian throne, or go back to school. Either way, you will have the full support of your people.” smiled Marz.

“My choice?” asked Eiris in deep thought.

Eiris patiently sat in the gigantic auditorium as hundreds of Undarian students began pouring in from the large entrances. Sitting in one of the lower level seats, he overheard some beautiful Atlantian girls whispering to each other as they gawked at him.

“Oh my gosh, he’s so beautiful.” said one.

“I know right? Look at his eyes.” replied the other.

“Go ask for his autograph. Or no, ask him for a holo selfie!” the first one said.

“No. You go!” the other one hissed.

Eiris smiled their way and waved to acknowledge that he was friendly and they didn’t have to gawk. One of them got wide-eyed and started fangirling.

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! He just waved at me!” she cried fanatically.

Then a gorgeous girl with emerald green hair and light green eyes sat next to Eiris. She had beautiful markings like him, and most noticeably, obediently sitting next to her was an extremely rare looking big cat.

“Is that a…...?” started Eiris.

“Golden saber-toothed liger? Yup.” she calmly smiled.

“That’s pretty awesome.” said Eiris.

“Thanks. That’s actually her name.” she informed.

“Whose name?”

“My liger. Her name is Awesome.” she smiled, as the saber-toothed liger purred.

“That’s pretty cool.” laughed Eiris.

“Yup. So I see it’s already becoming a pretty interesting day for the new year.” she smiled.

“How so?” asked Eiris.

“You haven’t heard the rumors going around? Prince Eirisidae, the son of Allura and Kinol is supposed to be coming to this academy.” she said.

“Guess that’s a pretty big deal huh?”

“Uh, yeah! No one even believed that they really had a child, let alone him being here at the academy.” she scoffed.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Eiris laughed.

“Why is that so funny?” she squinted.

“No reason.” he smiled.

“Well anyway, my name is Kezzy. Nice to meet you.” she smiled.

“Likewise. My name’s Eiris.” he smiled back.

“...............Eiris as in Eirisidae? Primary Prince of Atlantis? Son of Kinol and Allura Eiris?” Kezzy said wide-eyed.

“Um, yeah. Kind of still getting used to it myself.” Eiris smiled as he scratched the back of his head.

“Okay. That just happened.” Kezzy said calmly.

Just then, a nerdy-looking guy scuffled across the aisles looking for a seat as the auditorium quickly filled up. He came to the seat on the opposite side of Eiris and gave a hopeful look.

“Hi, is this seat taken?” he asked.

“Yup, and you’d better look someplace else.” remarked Kezzy with a glare, followed by a growl from Awesome.

Eiris then remembered everything he learned about how the different Undarian races felt about each other. He noticed that Dex didn’t have exotic-looking eyes or markings anywhere on his exposed body. He also noticed that he had mechanical-looking receptacles in front of both of his ears.

“No it’s free. You can sit down.” smiled Eiris as Kezzy gave him another mean look.

“Thanks.” he smiled as he sat down. “My name Dextrius, but you can call me Dex.”

“Nice to meet you. What are those?” asked Eiris, gesturing to the receptacles in front of Dex’s ears.

“My neural nodes.” Dex replied.

Seeing the confused and uncomprehending expression on Eiris’ face, Dex continued.

“I’m a Slyph. A brainer? You…….do know what that is, right?” Dex nodded slowly to Eiris.

“Nope. Not really.” said Eiris as he shook his head.

“Interesting. Where’d you say you were from again?” asked a puzzled Dex.

“I’m from Earth.” replied Eiris.

“Haha, pretty clever.” laughed Dex. “I get the joke being that we’re descendants from humans and all. But seriously, where are you from?”

“I guess technically I was born here on Atlantis. But I grew up on Earth.” said Eiris.

“Wait. You wouldn’t happen to be Prince Eirisidae by any chance, would you?” asked Dex wide-eyed.

“Eiris. You can call me Eiris.” Eiris smiled.

“That’s pretty xeno. I’m sitting next to Prince Eiris.” Dex grinned. “Well, I think that merits a more thorough introduction. My name is Dextrius Tesla. I’m from the prestigious Tesla Family, which is by the way one of the biggest tech giants in the entire solar system of Undaria. I come from a long line of Slyphs, one of the original families to be precise. And if you’re wondering what a Slyph is, it’s simply the word brain translated in the Undarian language. Unlike Turans and Darkren who initially were
genetically
augmented and engineered, Slyphs are
biomechanically
augmented at birth.” he informed.

“Aside from the way we were created, what are the differences?” asked Eiris.

“Well Slyphs aren’t born with the innate ability to manipulate nature like Turans and Darkren. So, not long after our births there is a neural implant installed into our cerebral cortex that allows us certain, rather exclusive abilities.” said Dex.

“Like what?” asked Eiris.

“Well, although our augments do make us more athletic, our physical prowess is minor compared to that of Turans and Darkren. But mentally, we have shall I say, somewhat of an advantage.” smiled Dex.

“Speak for yourself mech!” glared Kezzy with glowing green eyes.

“Come again tree hugger?” threatened Dex as they both rose out of their seats.

Awesome then let out a fierce growl while many of the nearby students calmly watched on.

“Relax guys. There’s no need for that.” said Eiris as he parted the two.

Shocked at the gesture, Kezzy and Awesome angrily departed to one of the upper seats in the auditorium.

“Dumb mech.” she hissed as she stormed away with her golden saber-toothed liger.

“You know, I don’t quite like her.” mused Dex as he sat down.

“Maybe she likes you.” Eiris smiled.

“Likes me? That behavior is totally contrary to what romantic feelings would dictate.” disputed Dex.

“Well on earth, sometimes children and teenagers tease the people they crush on.”

“Is that so? Well then, humans are weirder than I thought.” said Dex.

“I guess.” laughed Eiris. “Does that type of aggression happen here often?” he asked.

“Unfortunately yes. And it’s been especially tense, now that Turans have been at war with those Engi characters. Somehow they’ve deemed it acceptable to equate
us
to those monsters.” condemned Dex.

Realizing this was a good time to change the subject, Eiris asked about Dex’s accent.

“I noticed you speak with an English accent. Have you ever been to Earth?” asked Eiris
“No, of course not.” laughed Dex. “You’ll notice that most of us speak English here at the academy. Which in truth, is a foreign language in Undaria. I also find that fact quite comical because we think ourselves above the humans, but often imitate them in many ways. Nevertheless, as a linguist I’ve become quite fond of the English language. Spoken with the accent of the Englanders of course. It’s quite exotic.”

“That’s pretty cool.” Eiris admitted.

“Indeed it is my friend.” said Dex with a smile.

Everyone in the auditorium began to settle down as various conversations began to turn into whispers and people hushing each other.

“What’s going on?” asked Eiris.

“One word. Epic.” whispered Dex.

Eager to see what was about to happen, Eiris looked to the stage. Soon, a well-dressed man with silver eyes shining through a set of smart glasses, slowly walked onto the stage. The sleeves on his buttoned shirt were rolled up, revealing black markings on his forearms. The anticipation was astonishing. One could hear a pin drop with the silence of everyone in the auditorium.

“XENOGEEK!” thundered the speaker.

“What’s a Xenogeek?” whispered Eiris.

“N.W.A. You know, nerds with attitude? Ah, don’t worry. He’ll explain.” replied Dex.

“Xeno!” the speaker yelled. “Alien! Strange! And by definition, synonymous with the word different! Geek! And…. I…. quote! Someone who is intelligent, single-minded, and accomplished in either mathematics or science. But! Is often unfashionable and socially inept! Does that sound like you?” he asked.

Then he paused and paced the stage, scanning the crowd closely with his hand on his chin.

“From the looks of it, yes. Up until now you all have lived up to the stereotypes the galaxy has about you! BUT NO MORE!!!” he shouted. “Here at Undarian Academy of Science, Medicine, and Technology, you will break the stereotypes! Defy the odds! Social skills, wit, humor, and combat are but a fraction of what you will learn here. You won’t just be doctors, scientists, and engineers, but you will also be athletes and soldiers. So take courage and apply yourselves. And in time, you will be different. You will…….be…. xeno. Besides people, we’re Xenogeek. We’re just………. better.” he smiled.