Chapter 23 - Loosen Restraint

Chapter 23

Loosen Restraint

It didn't take long for the gang to reach to the castle that was left to rubble. The girls and Ernest were a bit taken aback from the conditions around them wondering if this was really where Amelia and Rimulus were staying.

"Um, Mia, where are you staying?" Lynae asked.

"This is it. This is the Aula, Atlantica's greatest site and pride – well at least it was a thousand years ago," Amelia said praising it as if she found a global treasure in her eyes.

"This is all ruin, Mia. Why would you want to sleep in a place like this?"

"Because it is history. Every corner I see, everything that I can imagine of what it could have been like to be in the Aula,"

Suddenly Rimulus interrupted her gloating on the once sturdy structure. "My apologies, my lady, but dinner is served," Rimulus brought in a tray of oysters, skewered fish with wrappings of seaweed, and squid fritters.

"Mmm, Rimulus, you've done it again! Come, come sit, we have a guest with us. Rimulus, I would like to introduce to you, Ernest. He is the blacksmith's son in Oceanus. He helped train Meredith into the skills of metal craftwork," Amelia said with excitement.

"A pleasure to meet you, Ernest. Lynae, Meredith, glad to see you well once more. Please enjoy as much as you like," Rimulus humbly bowed to them.

The girls looked at each other as if Amelia had lost it since being in the waters in Atlantica. They also looked at the food that Rimulus prepared. Hesitantly and hungry, the girls took each of the food that was offered and ate it. Lynae was shocked at how refreshing the oysters and fish were . She then hastily got more and stuffed her face realizing how hungry she was. Later on, she realized that the others were staring at her. At to her embarrassment, she slowed down and cleared her throat.

"My apologies for you all seeing such a sight," Lynae said wiping her face with the seaweed.

"We can worry about courtesies later, you've been without food for more than eight hours today. I think we can make an exception." Amelia said gently understanding how hungry she really was.

"Wow, so this is what Atlanticans eat here, no disrespect intended," Ernest said joyfully eating the delicacies on the tray.

"I understand where you are coming from. I, too, was from Oceanus myself. It took me awhile to learn about what food was common here and what they eat here to better serve my lady,"

"You did very well indeed, Rimulus. By the way, you did do what I said before I left right?" Amelia whispered to Rimulus.

"Of course, my lady, as you asked me to do numerous times before," Rimulus answered.

"Good, well, I apologize that this really isn't much of a home, but before I found out you guys were coming, I was planning on reconstructing the Aula to its former glory. I would have done it sooner, had I enough energy to get it done in time for your arrival,"

"My lady, you know full well that this is not a one mer job of fixing a place such as the Aula," Rimulus scolded her.

"I know, but still can't say I wouldn't try anyway, right?"

"I would have had to hold you down from your determination and dedication," Rimulus smiled gently.

"Well, I know now is not the time to start up construction planning today. I know you must be tired from your long journey. There's two other bedrooms that are still intact. They don't close fully, but better than to sleep out in the open." Amelia said.

"How are you going to reconstruct this palace, Amelia? It's basically into shambles!" Ernest pointed out the obvious looking around.

"Ah, yes, well, I actually learned that rock can be molded with fresh lava and they would stick together. I've also heard that there is some precious material that I am thinking of using for the flooring to the Aula. Well, rest easy, and I hope you don't mind me asking if you would assist me in rebuilding the Aula."

"As long as we can stay in it," Meredith responded in a sarcastic tone.

"Of course! You wouldn't want to be sleeping in partial rooms all the time, would you?"

"Fair point, alright, Mia, we'll help you out starting tomorrow," Lynae said sighing but relieved at the same time.

"Excellent! Now, if you excuse me, Rimulus and I have some scouting to do. Make yourselves at home!" Amelia said while exiting with Rimulus.

"Why do I feel that she is twisting our arm into something?" Lynae mumbled.

"I heard that!" Amelia shouted back.

"Come on, Lynae, it's the least we can do since she saved us and took us under her wing for now. Besides, I kind of want to see what she has in mind. It's better than sleeping in what we are now right?" Ernest said thinking of the positive around the situation.

"That's true, she'll certainly be asking for your assistance tomorrow, Mr. Blacksmith," Meredith teased Ernest.

"I'm no blacksmith,"

"Sure you are, you're the closest thing to a blacksmith we know of, and besides, I still want to know more than just bridles for rays," Meredith said pointing out what she only learned while in Oceanus.

"Well, I'll help anyway I can, but right now, I'm resting," Ernest said yawning.

"Yeah, we'll certainly need every ounce of energy we got to build a castle,"

While the rest were sleeping, Amelia and Rimulus scavenge over what limestone they could find.

"Are you sure you should be lifting that much, my lady?" Rimulus asking in concern.

"Who said anything about lifting?" Amelia said concentrating on lifting the pile of limestone. Rimulus then grew flustered at her use of power.

"Are you crazy? What if someone sees you?"

"Relax, no one is around in the span of twenty-five kilometers other than a couple of tiger sharks lurking around to keep living. Plus, I also waited for this time to do this because there wouldn't be anyone around to see."

"I see, so that's why you went to the Panama first?" Rimulus asked.

"Actually, that just came up in one of my visions and that couldn't wait. But I would have gone out to get the stone this late anyway." Amelia explained.

"You know you should not be over exerting yourself, my lady. Even Cirra and Allura had to have taken time to rest – you should do the same,"

"I'll rest when this restoration gets done so we will all have a roof over our heads,"

"My lady-" Rimulus held Amelia's arm in his grasp. Amelia turned around eyeing him. "Promise me, when the aula is restored, your first priority is to rest. Promise me, or I will have no choice, but to lock you into a room and make you lie down,"

"You have my word," Amelia said with sincerity.

"Alright, but you must listen to what madam Allura said about controlling the speed of what comes to your mind and what goes out. I don't want you to..."

"I get it, face the same fate as Cirra. I'm not Cirra okay?"

"I never said you were, but with the powers you have, you cannot afford to breakdown or fall into a mental state where you are helpless." Rimulus reminded her.

"Let's just get the limestone and I'll lie down when we get back,"

"I want to see you lie down, and I'll make sure you'll lie down,"

"No, Rimulus, you need sleep just as much as I do,"

"I'll stay up until I know you are asleep and not faking it," Rimulus said with determination.

"Whatever will help you sleep at night," Amelia said with irony in her phrasing.

Rimulus and Amelia gathered as much limestone as they could possibly handle while the rest were sleeping. They then returned setting the limestone in the middle of the aula and sat down ready to retire for the night. Rimulus stared at Amelia watching her to see if she would lie down as she promised.

"You're not helping the sleeping process by staring me down,"

"Have you been having trouble sleeping?"

"No, I'm fine, just a lot on my mind right now,"

"My lady, I know you haven't been having a good night's rest lately. I've seen it the past few days when you keep meeting me for our lessons. You can tell me if you want. As your humble servant I-"

"Please don't say that," Amelia said detesting the word.

"Okay, as your sworn help, it is my duty now to look after you. I won't tell anyone about the kind of dreams or thoughts you're having. You have my word. Do you want to tell me what's on your mind?" Rimulus said peering into Amelia's tired face.

"No, like I said, I'm fine, goodnight," Amelia said lying down on the floor.

While everyone was sleeping, Rimulus stood in front of Amelia in a deep sleep with a worn blanket in hand.

"One of these days, you're going to learn that you can't face this responsibility alone, and that you have some who will help you with this duty you have face on. Goodnight, Crowna Reginae." Rimulus said while placing the blanket on Amelia.

During the night, Amelia saw that she was in a large town where she saw fire and bodies scattered just like the visions she saw at the hospital. Except this time, it was more familiar. This felt more in the present time. There was a person turning around eyeing Amelia and said "You only have yourself to blame for this!" The person who turned around was Allura herself with legs like a human. Her face was scrounged in disgust with the scene.

Amelia then woke up abruptly from that dream. Rimulus held her hand tight.

"I knew it, you were having another nightmare. Don't deny it this time," Rimulus said calmly.

"Rim...I..."

"Shh, calm down, it was only a nightmare, it's not a vision."

"How do you know that?!"

"You don't see them during the day, do you?"

"No..."

"Do you see it when you go to sleep?

"Yes,"

"Then it's not a vision,"

"I'm still scared, what if I screw up?"

"You're not alone. Trust me when I say this. You have me, Lynae, Ernest, and Meredith that have your back."

Amelia remained silent at Rimulus' response. Throughout the night, there were no other commotions. The next morning, Lynae, Meredith, and Ernest were looking for Amelia to start on reparations. They went down the main room and there they saw something that they were not prepared to see. Amelia was snuggling in Rimulus' arms still asleep.

Meredith cleared her throat to get them awake. They both woke up at the sound.

"Care to explain about this scenario?" Lynae said raising an eyebrow in shock.

Rimulus sat up and started rubbing his eyes before he started speaking, "My lady was..."

Amelia cleared her throat intentionally to cut him off from saying anything. Then she spoke up.

"It was cold so we kind of cuddled to keep each other warm,"

"Didn't feel cold to me," Lynae stated.

"Of course, you don't feel it. Well, duh, if you were to sleep on the floor like that, of course you guys were going to be cold. What were you guys doing anyway that kept you from getting to one of the rooms?" Meredith said in a sarcastic tone at first to Lynae and then directed her attention to Amelia and Rimulus.

"This," Amelia pointed all the limestone on the other side of the aula main corridor.

"Whoa, how did you manage to get so much limestone? If you condition it right, it'd make some nice tiling!" Ernest said gazing his eyes at the limestone.

"That's the purpose," Amelia said cheerfully.

"Too bad we don't have the right kind of tools to smooth this out," Ernest sighed in disappointment.

"Leave it to me!" Meredith grabbed her weapon.

"Wait, you can't just knock the edges off, this isn't like volcanic rock, it's delicate!" Ernest warned everyone.

"Ernest is right, limestone isn't as durable as you may think, but it can be used for flooring. You don't see it as much because, well, it's hard to come by with the ludicrous amount of quantity we were so fortunate to find. But it is a stature for the wealthy and high class because of it. I'm sure if the monarchy were to live to today, those floors would be limestone – no doubt about it." Rimulus explained.

"We'll have you do something other than the flooring," Amelia suggested to Meredith. She then continued on.

"Before we do anything interior, we must focus on the exterior. It may be a lot now, but once we get at least what was part of the castle restored then we can focus on building up the aula."

"She's right, fortitude before design. A castle is supposed to be designed as a fortress to protect royalty. We can worry about making it more unique later." Rimulus stated.

"Okay, what do you want us to do?" Lynae asked.

"Meredith, Ernest, and I will go get the supplies for the exterior. Rimulus also told me that we will need to mix up the volcanic rock with other harder minerals to make it more impregnable. Lynae I need you to stay with Rimulus to guard the limestone."

"Oh sure, leave me to sit here," Lynae rolled her eyes.

"You'll get your fair share later. Consider taking advantage of this time while you still can before you start with your portion of heavy-duty work." Amelia advised Lynae knowing what she had in store for her later.

"I better take heed then if you say it that way." Lynae said realizing that she was serious.

"Alright, let's move, you two," Amelia commanded with high spirits.

While the three moved away from the aula. Lynae began speaking to Rimulus with her head down. "Tell me something, Rimulus. What really happened last night?"

Rimulus then rose in defense. "If you think that we..."

"Of course, I don't!" Lynae defended herself as well then took a deep breath continuing on, "Tell me, is she not sleeping at night?" Rimulus remained silent until he spoke up once more. "It's not my place to tell you what my lady does not want to reveal," he said turning his eyes away from Lynae.

"Bullshit! I know she's acting stranger than usual! What did she see? Tell me, I know you care for her but so do I! And Mere as well!"

"LYNAE! That's enough! Leave him alone!" Amelia telepathed Lynae demanding her to stop berating him.

"I don't know how you think you can keep your charade to the others, but I can see through you, Amelia. I know you are not well. I know you are stressed. I can see it right through your little façade. When this stupid little project of yours is finished at least for the exterior, I will make sure Meredith holds you down until you've rested what I think is enough! Do you understand me?!" Lynae shouted back at her.

"I know, I've already had this talk with Rimulus already. You're the second person threatening me to hold me down to not do anything more after this,"

"Just...let Mere and Ernest do all the heavy lifting." Lynae pleaded with Amelia. "Don't patronize me, I've dealt with that long enough! And besides, I'm going to be having a specific assignment which neither of them is capable of doing," "I wasn't trying to, anyway be careful," Lynae said with a concerning tone in her voice.

Lynae lost connection with Amelia after she interrupted the confrontation. Rimulus spoke up once more, "She'll be fine, I've seen her at her worst. She may be stubborn, but she's determined whether she is fit or not."

"She needs to learn how to take care of herself first of all. I know she likes putting others ahead of her, but she needs to step back at times." Lynae stated.

Meanwhile, Ernest and the girls arrived at one of the volcanoes nearby. They stopped looking up at the steep volcano they came at. This was steeper than the one Meredith had encountered in Oceanus. She then had a big grin on her face. "So, you just need a bunch of rock from the volcano? That shouldn't be a problem at all!"

"Wait, before you do anything Meredith, hold on a second. Ernest, Meredith has trusted you to come with her to Atlantic. I need you to do something for me,"

"What did you have in mind?" Ernest asked.

"Mia? What are you..." Meredith grew anxious on how Amelia was speaking to Ernest.

"You do trust him, don't you?"

"I..." She paused and then confirmed what she questioned in her mind. "Yes, I do, go ahead, Mia,"

"Go ahead with what?" Ernest asked getting terrified at where this was going.

"Ernest, Meredith, Lynae, and I were keeping a very big secret from you, and I think it's time I tell you now before you freak out. But before I do, do you promise not to tell anyone until I say it's okay to?"

"...Y-yeah, what is it?"

"Do you remember the five royal siblings?" Amelia asked knowing what he was going to say. "Yeah, I do, what does that have to do with you? Are you like related to them?" Ernest asked. "Well, we're not sure, but we do know for a fact that we are their reincarnates. I'm the reincarnation of Cirra the Crownae Reginae, princess of dreams and telekinesis. Ironically, Meredith is the reincarnation of Lachlan, prince of many great strengths and battle strategist for the royal militia. You haven't seen her true potential yet. And finally, Lynae is the reincarnation of Eira, princess of frost and ice. Despite her cold looks and attitude, she really is impressive with her powers." Amelia said concluding her explanation.

Ernest stared dead in the eyes of both Meredith and Amelia couldn't believe what he had heard. The thought of the siblings being reborn into new beings was improbable to his understanding. At first, he swam back a little thinking they were delusional in their sayings.

"I know what you are thinking. You're thinking that we're hysterical." Amelia said calmly while Meredith was giving her 'have you lost your mind?' stares.

"To say the least," Ernest crossed his arms in disbelief.

"Well, we'll remedy that. Meredith, don't hold back, but also don't crumble the entire volcano," Amelia necessitated her. Meredith stared at her then Amelia nodded that it was okay to show him. She took a deep breath and punched the large rock bulging out of the volcano structure. The rock cracked and slowly floated away from the volcano. She then gathered the fragments and held them in her arms.

Ernest's eyes widened at the sight. He knew now how exactly she was able to get that much rock for his father in Oceanus. He was frozen, dumbstruck from witnessing how Meredith just gave a punch to the rock and it just slowly fell apart. Amelia then opened up again, "You don't need to be afraid of Meredith. She may be intimidating, but she means well in what she does with her abilities."

"Ernest..."

"I still need to process this. I need some space from you for a bit," Ernest trembled saying this to Meredith.

"Why? Because I can break a large boulder? Do I intimidate you? Am I some kind of freak to you?!" Meredith shouted.

"N-no, Meredith, that's not what I'm saying at all!" Ernest said trying to defend himself.

"Then what?! Tell me!"

"These powers have not been seen for over a thousand years, are you trying to rule the seas by force? Because a lot of the mer will think of this if they find this out,"

"No, of course not! Did you really think I asked for these powers?! Ever since my powers showed up, nothing in my life has gone normal! Why did you think I was running away? Why did you think I didn't want to tell you about my past? I wanted... I wanted... forget it; Mia, this is why we should never tell anyone about this! We can't live land or sea like normal beings! You just couldn't resist telling him. You just had to get all of the attention on you! Miss crown princess of Atlantica..." Meredith scoffed Amelia for telling Ernest the truth.

"Land?" Ernest rose his eyes on what Meredith said.

"He needed to know one way or another. We cannot keep hiding for much longer. One of these days...."

"Yeah, yeah, one of these days! ONE OF THESE DAYS, we will take our rightful places in each of the realms like that stupid witch Allura told us!

"Wait a minute, who's Allura?" Ernest tried asking but the girls kept arguing.

"Did you even know WHY we came all this way to Atlantica?" Meredith kept ranting.

"Bits and pieces from Lynae's thoughts. Meredith, we don't have much of a choice now. The people need to know sooner or later. The longer we wait, the harder it will become to keep it secret."

Suddenly rocks began emerging and the volcano began erupting from Meredith's emotional turmoil from the argument. A burst of lava exploded from the crater of the volcano itself going towards Ernest. The lava was coming so fast that Ernest didn't have time to move. When he embraced for impact, the lava didn't contact him at all as he was prepared for. He then slowly opened his eyes seeing that Amelia was containing the lava in a purple forcefield around it containing the substance inside the field she created.

Ernest looked at Amelia not believing what she was doing and what she did for him. She then spoke not eyeing Ernest once, "Are you going to move out of the way, or are you going to just sit there while I try to save your life?" His eyes blinked back into reality. That reality for him now was that he witnessed firsthand at Amelia's powers and that she saved him from Meredith's mess.

"Alright, now that Meredith is done with her meltdown, no pun intended there, we got what we need to start out with,"

"Start out with? You mean to tell me you knew that Meredith was going to erupt the volcano?!" Ernest said being baffled from gathering some more information.

"Actually, Meredith is an exceptional case. I can read everyone else's minds – except hers." Ernest then grew confused at her statement on how she could read anyone's mind but not Meredith's.

"You have telekinetic powers, but you can't read her mind?" Ernest scoffed at the disbelief at her statement.

"What you haven't been paying attention to, boy, is that in the archives, Lachlan defeated the Magna Aquia,"

"Yeah, I know that, and?"

"And, do you know how she was defeated?"

"Brutal Force?" Ernest guessed.

"Wrong! The Magna Aquia had the power to stun their victims before sending them to their fatal destinies through mind control. Lachlan was immune to that effect. Therefore, leading him to an advantage, capitalizing the dragon's mistake, and executing the dragon through strategy and careful planning. There's something else that you should know as well. Not one of the royal fraterna can overpower their other siblings. After careful research at the archives, I created a cycle of the power in which sibling is susceptible versus being resistant against. We'll start with mine otherwise Cirra. Cirra overpowers Scirocco. Scirocco overpowers Eira. Eira overpowers Ember. Ember overpowers Lachlan. And finally coming back on full swing, Lachlan overpowers Cirra. When the heavens gave those powers to the siblings, they decided that they should be seen as equal to their own unique abilities. Because gods know what might happen if they jumbled up those powers. Who knows, they might have created another god, but they did not want that. The cycle is there to retain balance in the water realms. They are not just figure heads to represent each oceanic realm. Take a look in the Atlantic archives when we finish here. You'll see what I mean in all of this," Amelia finished explaining.

"I-I never heard of that side of the story. I've heard the legends but..."

"But you didn't thoroughly see through the events and the explanations of how each event occurred. This is important information which can lead a society if used correctly. Then again, any history in general. History prepares us for the future. I'm not saying it to bore you, I'm saying it because I can see it. Every passing moment I see when the next fish comes in the tide, when the next tide changes, what catastrophic event will happen next, and thank God that none are upcoming."

"Okay, he gets it, nerd, can we go back with these supplies?" Meredith rolled her eyes in how much she heard from Amelia.

"Way to kill the mood,"

"No, you killed the mood when you got onto the whole history debacle," Meredith said jokingly trying to evade any more tension from the previous argument.

The girls and Ernest were laughing on their way back to the ruins of the castle. While they were coming back, Lynae and Rimulus had grim looks when they saw that Amelia and Meredith were using their full potential in front of Ernest! When they made it to the castle, Lynae and Rimulus came up to them with scouring eyes.

"You better have a good reason showing Ernest your powers!" Lynae hissed at both of them.

"He was going to find out sooner or later, but we can trust him." Amelia explained.

"How can you be sure?"

Amelia then stood silent with a glance waiting for her to figure out why she was looking at her like that. Then Lynae remembered that she had that sense as well.

"Okay, fair enough, but are you going to be flaunting your powers like this?!" Lynae said in concern.

"No, right now, he is the only one we will be able to be comfortable using and practicing our abilities in front of him – at least for now." Amelia explained.

"She saved my life, I don't think I'll have an issue being around you girls knowing you mean well. Plus, you don't have to worry about me telling anyone. They'll all think I'm crazy anyway thinking the royal siblings have returned into other beings." Ernest said backing up what Amelia said about him.

Lynae was still feeling unsure about it as well as Meredith. However, Meredith then spoke up surprisingly, "I didn't agree with it either, but Amelia does have a point as much as I hate saying this. We do need to have allies on this, and it cannot just be us four for very long. Plus, I have a feeling this construction is going to get all sort of attention from the locals."

"I'm still not on board being the saviors on this just because I decided to live here away from everything and trying to avoid being found," Lynae said with a sigh.

"I know, like I said, I'm not asking you to do much other than help rebuild the castle nothing more," Amelia said with a sad look in her eyes worrying about what is going through Lynae's head, but she held back from listening into her thoughts this time.

"After the construction, and after much needed rest, I'm thinking of getting in contact with Allura,"

"You haven't been contacting her?" Lynae and Meredith looked at her shocked and surprised.

"Not with everything trying to learn Latin and relearning history in the archives." Amelia explained her lack of communication. Then Rimulus added, "It's true, my lady here has been studying nonstop. Even when I tell her to stop, she still insists on learning more. We haven't heard much word from Miss Allura from that time. I assume you girls decided to part from Allura as well?"

"Well, not in the best way possible I may add," Meredith said in an awkward tone.

"Do you think we should?" Amelia asked around unsure on what she should do. She felt torn between contacting her because she took her in but at the same time, she didn't do much to help with training.

"I say we shouldn't, she just made our lives miserable all for the sake of destiny," Lynae said while mocking her statements.

"I mean, I don't see why we should, it's not like we owe her anything," Meredith chimed in.

"I know, but I get the distinct feeling that we may not have seen the last of her." Amelia said worrying over the sensation she is getting from Allura.

"What are you sensing from her, Mia? Is she bad news?" Meredith boldly asked.

"I don't know. But I think I need to speak to her again about some things," Amelia said using discretion in her words avoiding the actual reason on her pursuit of Allura.

"Is it the nightmares?" Lynae asked.

"No, just some things I'm wanting to know more about my abilities. She could help me by telling why I'm seeing things in the non-present time and things around me in current time in ways I've never seen before,"

"How so?" Ernest asked.

"I keep seeing things from other merpeople and animals. I can't describe it. It's like a trail what I would imagine a dog could sense by sniffing their scent. Also, different lights of colors surrounding them which I don't understand what that is,"

"Are they auras?" Lynae asked.

"I don't know, how would you know what an aura looks like anyway? I thought it was just symbolism for one view in life,"

"Maybe your power goes beyond life 'here'?" Meredith said guessing.

"Like possible contact with the spirit realm?"

"Who knows, maybe you can speak to the dead," Meredith added.

"Don't joke about that," Lynae scolded her.

"I'm not, what if she can," Meredith retorted.

"I don't know...I...let's get started on this, I can't hold all this lava all day," Amelia said grabbing hold of her head thinking of each of the possibilities the girls spoke about. The thoughts were pounding in her head like a migraine.

Everyone started pitching in the construction project. Meredith lifted the big chunk of rock to fit the broken pieces standing up while Amelia sealed them together with the lava. Then Lynae cooled the lava with her wind chill to make the seal permanent and lasting. Ernest sculpted the pieces with the tools he brought with him to make it smooth for the interior and exterior.

Within a few hours, they managed to build up the curtain walls for the castle but some parts were still cooling for sealing. The dimensions were significantly larger than what was thought to be before its destruction. Amelia used up her last portion of the lava she gathered using her telekinetic powers. Once she was finished, she couldn't help but call out to someone in which she never thought she would want to speak to again.

"Allura, I need your help..."