Back to Atlantis by Bar Sagi (best book reader txt) 📗

“You were my student for a while. Magically, I mean. And when you were my student, you showed great promise, not only because of your mage capabilities, but also because of your passion to help people, even when your heart and soul were broken. I know the reason you quit magic is because you were so afraid of hurting the people of Atlantis.

“But even without magic, you managed to help Atlantis quite a lot, by helping the two armies of Atlantis to work together, as equals. That hasn’t happened since the old king’s time.

“But now, more than ever, you have to prove yourself. Yasmin, if you run off, hurt these people in any way, or let their homes, if not their lives, be destroyed, there will be hell to pay afterward.” Gloriana took a deep breath. “I specifically asked for you and David, you because of your passion and strength, and David because of his ability in Rune magic and because he would bring Violet, who wouldn’t have come otherwise. Violet may not look like it…” Gloriana paused, seeing Yasmin’s surprised face. “But she is a master of the Wind element and can even conjure up rain and fog. We will need her today.

“Yasmin, do you promise you will do better than your best? Will you not hesitate?” Gloriana looked at Yasmin, her gaze intense.

It was obvious that if Yasmin said no, she would be sent home now.

“Of course I will,” Yasmin said, shocked. “Gloriana, I have seen what the rebels have done. I will give my life if I need to.”

Gloriana looked so relieved, it took years off her age.

Yasmin felt curious. “Gloriana, why is Meldon so important to you? I have never seen you get this agitated.”

“Meldon has been attacked twice in the past year. It is still recovering from heavy damages.” Gloriana looked away, then back and Yasmin.

Standing without high heels, they were almost the same height, five foot six. She took a deep breath. “And it’s my hometown.”

Yasmin nodded, trying to hide her surprise. “Well, that explains it.”

Just then. Gloriana’s watch beeped and a bird flew out of it, startling them both.

Gloriana regained her composure first, sounding relived but curt. “It’s time. Come with me. David, Violet, and Lucas will follow.”

She led Yasmin through a path of twisting corridors, all in the same shade of red. As they kept walking deeper and deeper into the mountain, Yasmin felt tingly.

There were a lot of old spells here. They were so strong that they both faltered slightly when walking. Yasmin wanted to sit down for a moment, but she had to nearly jog to keep up with Gloriana.

They finally arrived at a set of double doors guarded by royal guards. The doors were carved with ancient battle scenes, and were, like everything else, red.

Gloriana nodded to the guards, and the opened the door.

Yasmin entered the room alone, the door closing behind her.

The room was dark and dimly-lit only by a portal in the center of the room, which was glowing gold. Yasmin stepped closer to the portal, feeling drawn to it in some way.

The levels of magic coming from that portal were insane. She had never felt such a high level of power before. It was almost like she was standing next to the sun, which warmed her and burned her at the same time.

Stepping closer to the portal, Yasmin studied it, amazed. Not only was it much more powerful than any other portal, it looked completely different from any other portal she had ever seen!

For one thing, no portal was gold. They were clear at first, then showed the place you wished to go. Normal portals were almost like windows. Stepping into them was like stepping through the window into another world.

This portal was pulling her toward it. Physically and mentally. It was pulling her thoughts toward it too, and the gold portal was hypnotizing. Yasmin had almost stepped through when a hand grabbed her.

“What do you think you’re doing?” David demanded, his blue-green eyes furious. “Are you crazy? Without a clear destination in mind, you could get killed!”

Yasmin swallowed hard and glanced at the portal again. Was that really what could have happened?

David was still talking. “You can’t die right now, all of Atlantis needs you!”

Yasmin looked at David, her gaze clear. “Just Atlantis?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them.

She had no idea why she had even said them. But she didn’t react, because she secretly wanted to find out more.

David’s grip tightened on her arm, almost as if he was making sure she wouldn’t be swallowed up by the portal again. “I—” he began, but just then Gloriana, Violet, and Lucas burst into the room.

Yasmin wrenched her arm out of David’s grip, blushing for some reason. She wasn’t able to look at David as Gloriana explained that Lucas had gotten lost, and that’s why they had been late.

“And we have to go now,” Gloriana said, looking tense and angry. “I want to arrive there a while before the rebels are supposed to, so we are going to get to know the area by heart.”

Gloriana stepped through the portal, and Yasmin followed.

Everything was gold. The magic intensity of the portal was burning her veins, filling her with magic and taking it away at the same time. It was a tingly feeling, like being encased in a bubble of magic.

Yasmin stumbled on the grass, blinking in the bright sunlight. She was standing on a hilltop overlooking a town.

She could see why people had been afraid of the rumor the rebels would burn the town, because the town was made completely of wood.

It was quite small, almost the size of a village. On the right of the town, a large forest grew, probably where they got all that wood.

Yasmin took a deep breath, reveling in the fresh air. While Atlantis hadn’t been that polluted, there were still some cars here and there. But this, was wow!

The breeze