Chapter 4: City from the legends

Third-person POV:

When Artezier lost his parents, his uncle took care of him. He brought him to a place that any sane person would doubt existed. It was a big futuristic underwater city filled to the brim with various races.

This exact city was the source of the legends about Atlantis and held the same name. The biggest difference from the legend was the fact of how technologically advanced it was and the inhabitants consisted of much more than just mermaids and other underwater creatures. Many of them barely resembled humans. For example, there was a race of short octopus-headed and four-armed Qulupirs or tall and lithe three-eyed Aveses. Both weren't able to breathe underwater but due to the fact most of the city was in a big 'bubble' filled with air, it wasn't a problem.

In the past, it had been placed in the Mediterranean Sea, but once human technology started advancing, it moved to a different location. To the Bermuda Triangle…

It was the reason for all the mysterious disappearances, as the moment any human-made machine got too close to the city, it would stop working. The authorities of the city didn't care much about normal humans as long as it didn't involve interactions with aliens. The powerhouses like USA and China were aware of the existence of the city and it was their problem to keep humans away from it.

After the third day of having no contact with Emily, Arteziar's worry turned into certainty. Now he was sure that the girl jinxed herself, as if nothing had happened they would have already had contact with each other.

So far he didn't want to seem paranoid. If it was just a day or two he would dismiss it as her phone's battery being empty or her being busy with something. It's not like they kept talking every day. Both had their own lives and schedules.

Deciding it was the time to dig for some info Aretezier turned on his computer, a machine that would make not just any pro gamer jealous but even people with connections to the various governments due to how advanced it was.

Instead of starting one of the old games, he liked to play like GTA XI or access the library to read some novels or study as he usually did Art promptly accessed the APD, Atlantis Public Database. It was their local version of the internet.

It contained information about the city public to anyone, such as the times of departure of their public transport or the times at which certain offices were open. It also contained information about different shops and other useful staff but that wasn't something he was looking for right now.

He entered the part of the site that provided information about the timetable of a spaceship taking massive numbers of people to Atlantis' sister city located on the moon, Lunaria.

They coursed once a week and every time that happened a big storm would appear to hide the spaceship, which Art concluded to be the reason for Emily's disappearance.

"Of course…", he muttered to himself seeing that the time of the spaceship's departure matched that of Emily's losing contact with him. His expression turned grim. He hoped that he was wrong but reality proved otherwise.

'Wait… This is strange… Usually, the city makes sure that people unaware of Atlantis' existence can tell when a storm is going to happen since it doesn't require much effort. It takes about 5 minutes to start a storm but it's usually prolonged so the ships in its range can get away. I know since I have been learning this back in school.' he thought.

With how many cultures existed in Atlantis many schools had 'common sense' lessons as a part of education and this information fell into that category. Citizens of Atlantis could leave and travel around Earth after going through various courses and meeting some requirements, so they needed to know certain things.

Deciding it's best to consult with someone with more experience, Arteziar went straight to his uncle, a man named Hector Wise. Despite his graying hair, which he kept in a ponytail, and the tired look in his brown eyes his body was still in better shape than most adults. He wasn't a bodybuilder by any means but his body, while lean, had well-defined muscles. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt and light brown pants.

After passing through a few corridors and finding himself outside his uncles' cabinet, Art entered without even bothering to knock.

"Uncle I need to ask you about something." Arteziar said while entering Hector's study, a room filled with books and a big desk.

Hearing his nephew's voice the man in question flatly replied without even looking at him from behind his desk, "I won't increase your allowance. If you need more find a part-time job."

"That's not it. I am worried about my friend and wanted to ask for advice from someone wiser-", he wasn't even able to finish as he had to dodge a bunch of books flying his way.

"You little bastard! I told you to be careful with your words!" he exclaimed, his previously calm face now red from anger.

"It's not my fault that you have a problem with your surname!" Arteziar replied while dodging the incoming onslaught of books that were changing the previously tidy room into a mess.

It continued for a while until Hector calmed down and the two of them sat on the opposite sides of the desk.

"*Sigh* Look… Now, because of you, my study is a mess again. You better clean it later." he said tiredly.

"You are the one that kept throwing things at me." Art said with an expression of incredulity plastered on his face. "Never mind... I will clean, but first I need your help." he continued slightly shaking his head in exasperation at his uncle's antics.

"You see. My friend that I recently got back into contact with went on a trip together with her parents." Art started recounting to give his uncle a better understanding of his situation.

"Yeah, yeah. We have already heard everything about her. With how much time you spent on training and studying after I took you here you ended up with no friends. Don't talk as if you didn't tell us everything about her the only one you have." he interrupted him with a tired voice. He should have made sure his nephew interacted with children his age back then. He was however unable to do that due to Art becoming engrossed in 'magic', something that helped to deal with his depressive state after losing his parents.

Eliciting a slight smile, Arteziers previously serious face become red from embarrassment. "Ugh... Fine. I will go to the main point..." he replied and after a deep breath that helped him calm down, he proceeded to explain further.

"Three days ago I lost contact with her. We were in the middle of a conversation when suddenly she become offline. She mentioned they will be getting close to the Bermuda triangle but since I didn't want to be paranoid I wanted to wait a bit. The time of her losing the signal aligns with the storm caused by the spaceship traveling from Atlantis to Lunaria so I concluded she got caught up in it."

"Hmmm. That's strange. Considering how many people would be on that ship they should have been on a course outside of the storm's influence. Unless…" Hector said but a frown appeared on his face at the end.

"Unless?" Arteziar inquired curiously.

"There is a chance that a group of aliens associated with the black market made sure they won't escape and captured them." he answered with a stern expression while looking Art into his icy blue eyes.

Atlantis was much more advanced than any other city on earth but any place has its underground. It's just usually outside of normal people's sight.

"What would they need normal humans for?" Arteziar asked not sure what was even the point of doing that. "The only reason that comes to my mind is to enslave them but that's just dumb. Slavery while not being an everyday thing isn't unheard of as well. People end up in such a situation when they can't pay off a debt or become criminals, but humans aren't the best choice, even more so the normal ones." he continued.

"Yes. That is indeed true, but you are forgetting about something." Hector said in a way similar to a good teacher pointing out his student's mistake.

"All slaves are expensive and you have to treat them like people unless they are a murderer or something of similar weight. On the other hand, illegal slaves don't have such rights. Not to mention that they didn't have to capture them for that reason." he continued.

"What would it be then?" Art asked with a serious face, his intuition telling him that it won't be something nice to hear.

"One of the first laws implemented in Atlantis stated that killing any being with a degree of intelligence allowing it to have a sense of self, in a situation other than self-defense would be punished severely. This, however, didn't mean that races, that already developed a fancy for another's meat would lose it. This is where the black market comes in. They usually hide it by pretending to sell slaves but in reality, it's something much more disgusting." he explained with a grimace on his face proving that living a long life had the sad effect of making people see things they would like to forget.

"Why would they do that to another sapient being? And why does it still exist in the city? Our government should be able to take care of it!" Art said trying to understand why someone would do that.

"Well, even on earth there are places where humans eat primates despite it being frowned upon by a majority of people. For races like demons, dragons, or even angels we are no different from animals, others like beastman believe in survival of the fittest. Also, you can't get rid of all evil as new people will soon take place of the old ones. It's better for the government itself to tolerate and control it to some extent rather than try to get rid of it. Even more so when it's not even about their citizens and just regular humans." he explained with a sad expression, while thinking that despite losing parents at such a young age and all the things he taught him over the years his nephew was still quite innocent.

"Ugh… It's hard to accept but that indeed sounds like a logical decision… Is there anything I can do to find her? I am sure she is still alive. My intuition tells me that and you know firsthand how good it is." He said with a frustrated expression.

"…I can't argue with that. That's one of the things you got after your father. I never beat him in cards…" he said with a twitching eyebrow and a cramped smile. "Don't worry this may not be as hard as you think. I guess you are too worried to think clearly right now but you gave her that medallion. It will take a few days but you can use the 'Bound' spell imbued into it to find her. If she really is in the city it's only a matter of time." Hector finished, giving Art new hope.