The Lost City~Part I

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As we galloped the water enveloping us twirled, forming a clear tunnel. No single drop reached us as though we were detached from it, running in another dimension.

About a couple of minutes later, the horses subordinated their paces until they were trotting, emerging from the glistering surface of the water. Through their portals, the horses transcended the thin line of time and space, carrying us away as Carter led us toward our supposed destination.

My eyes gallivanted on the scene around me, taking in the details of this heaven.

The setting sun was retreating, bathing the firmament in a haze of scarlet and gold. The final sunrays slowly danced on the gleaming surface of the water, whispering promises of rising again to drown the world in endless light after the lugubriousness of night. But as night leisurely won the battle against light, life seemed to hold onto that warmth, saving it for the sake of surviving against the mysteries hidden in the unknown shadows of fate.

The horses carried us to the coast, landing us on the warm sand that lined one side of the sea, the foreshore occupying most of the space. A few crumbled, old-looking cottages made of stone were dressed much farther away between the woods of small, growing woodland.

"Where are we?'' asked Leon, staring at the burning disk straight in front of us. If I would guess, we still had hardly an hour and a half before the sun finally burns out.

"Where the five waves crash with ardent heat,'' answered the lord, pointing a finger towards a far point in the ocean. ''This is the point where five currents used to meet, one for each continent.''

"But I can't see anything,'' I said, squinting my eyes while shielding my face with my hand, the sun blinding me.

"We all can't. The currents are under the surface and hardly visible."

"So, where is this key?''

"Before the rule of the demons, in this very spot where the waves meet, was dressed an entire city, an island more precisely. It was said to be the destination of all goods and priceless items.''

"And where is this extravagant city?'' queried Mayra, one of her hands still playing with her steed's mane.

"It has sunken.''

"How laughable. I should have expected that already,'' she replied, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "The map was hidden somewhere in a separated realm that existed simultaneously in Ardoria, and now, this. Honestly, I wonder why the gods haven't doomed us already. Do you think they are enjoying watching or what?''

"I don't know,'' I answered frantically. ''It all seems like a big joke, but we should at least give it a shot. To say we tried if anything happens.''

"And what if we don't succeed?''

I shrugged mutely and turned to face the Arelesian lord. We all knew where our failure would lead, and none of us wanted that. But at that moment all Ardoria didn't matter. The only person that mattered was my father. As by the ardency of the idea, his memory flashed in my head, making me ache.

I remembered how he looked so far away before we left, how that glint in his eyes intensified when I promised to be back with a solution. It was ironic how, my whole life, I hated my parents for false accusations. But now, I was ready to give everything to retrieve the father I'd never personally met.

Maybe it was the dream of feeling what parental love felt like, something that I craved for all those years but couldn't have, that made me determined to find that book.

"What we do first?''

"We should make a small dory with some branches so we could sail.''

"Is it far?''

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