When Seiji and Saki left, Momoko disappeared out of sight for only a few moments. She saw the two out. That was all it took for Ken and Jun to take their opportunity to disobey their big sister and jump back on Yuki.

Yuki gave them a big smile catching his brothers. They presented some of their new toys to him. Though he found it a little confusing, since they didn’t look like toys he knew. One was a ball or orb of purple and green crushed together like an exploding star. Ken demoed it by showing how it bounced contrary to its appearance and defined physics by not bouncing in predictable vectors.

Jun pulled on his arm to silently demand his attention. He presented in his small hands a piece of a bone. That in itself felt a little disturbing. It made Yuki consider where his brothers had been and how they managed it beyond Momo’s sight. But puzzling further was that each time Jun pushed the bone flat to his palm it could spring back up like something pulled on it.

In their playing, Momo returned to the living and found them hanging off Yuki. “What did I tell you two!? Yuki is tired!” The two youngest looked sheepish stepping away.

Chapter 290 – Awkward Moments

Silence filled in the gaps between the family. Ken and Jun didn’t know what happened. They found Momo just staring at Yuki, never saying a word. Even judging from her face, they couldn’t tell if she was angry with him or happy to see him as they were. It wasn’t even that it was impossible to read. It was just that she had no expression. She just simply stared at Yuki. Almost like, she waited on him to do something.

While opposite of it all, Yuki didn’t completely seem present in the room. He was awake, but even when he came to from his sleep he didn’t really seem to be with everyone else. The distance between them was further than it seemed. As though beyond their reach with all ties cut. No bridges could be found to connect to him.

It continued in strange eerie silence for minutes. All that could be heard was the creaking of the house. It seemed unusually loud. They never realized how old it sounded or in pain it must have been. Everything had a weird life to it as though it was trying to make up for the lack of it elsewhere.

It had to come to an end eventually. It was Yuki that made the first move. They waited on him and he acted. Yuki simply stood up and bowed to them in an oddly formal manner. Without a single word, he just left the room. All they could do was stare.

Upstairs and in his room, Yuki slid down against his door, as though he needed to enforce it against something dangerous trying to break in. He let out a painful sigh. His heart pounded in his chest and his head ached like nothing he ever felt before. ‘Is this what a migraine feels like?’ It was the only explanation that he had. He never knew a headache to be so painful that it actually seemed to affect his body physically.

It took him a while just to catch his breath and calm down. Even a little more at ease, his head still felt like someone was taking an ice pick to it and pounding out Beethoven’s 5th with nothing but a bell. The urge to throw up was powerful.

Yet, even with all of that affecting him, that wasn’t even the reason for his attitude with his family. It was much more simple, as it often was.

He could hear the footsteps of his brothers. They paused at his room for a few seconds. But continued on, likely Jun stopped wanting to try to see him again, but Ken pulled him along.

Yuki hung his head down. He thought it might improve his pain. It didn’t. ‘…sorry…I don’t know what I should say to them…’ The entire boat ride back he thought about what he was going to say. All the time in Atlantis, he pushed it to the back of his mind.

Demosthenes had him so busy at times, it was pretty easy to ignore or forget. The countrywide tour was important to him, he was the one that proposed it. So he was always meeting people, complete strangers. They all looked at him with hope in their eyes. They saw a future in him. Everything was placed on him. He didn’t even need their reminding and grateful words to tell him how much they dumped on him.

The weight alone from the citizens was painful enough. It was worse than the migraine currently inhabiting his skull that played his bones like an out of tune xylophone. ‘I bet those old bastards are laughing and grinning at the thought of me being crushed on the weight of the responsibility. They probably think I’ll end up running back to them for help and they’ll have me right where they want me. Damn bastards…’

Determination alone fueled partially by spite kept him going at times on the long days. He planned to see them all eat crow before the power he gave stole all of his life. Things had to change, he would see to that. He just didn’t expect to be the one faced with trying to rewrite and overcome thousands of years of fear and discrimination. It was an impossible task.

A task passed upon him. ‘…is this the right thing to be doing?’

Yuki dug into his pocket retrieving something that was given to him. It was a simple device with just a single button on it. He stared at the worn metal that started to go dull with dust and age.

* * *

“Take this,” said Demosthenes, as he pulled Yuki aside from his friends. They were just about to leave the barrier and return home.

Yuki stared for a moment at what rested in the old man’s hand. He didn’t know what to make of it. It was far too simple to give any real sense of what the purpose of it was. A simple saucer shaped out of metal. A thickness just a centimeter and diameter of a few centimeters, it fit perfectly into the palm. “What’s this?”

Stepping forward a little too insistent on giving the gift to Yuki, Demosthenes didn’t let him back away. “This is the last thing I have for you. I told you before all this that there was more left to tell.”

“So it’s information or a message for me?”

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Correct, it’s the last gift from your father.”

Those words had Yuki’s attention finally. He sort of saw it coming with the line of dialogue. It only made sense with the flow. A departing gift left to him to explain everything. “Something from my old man...” He picked it up in acceptance. The simple design made it hard to figure out.

“View this in private as it is meant only for you.”

“…right…” Yuki thought about whether to honor that part or not. But he didn’t know if it was a personal message to him or actually something helpful. For now, he just pocketed it away. He started to leave.

“And please excuse any sort of eccentricities,” asked Demosthenes.

“Huh?”

* * *

‘Eccentricities?’ thought Yuki, thumbing over the surface of the saucer. He waited until he got home for it. There really wasn’t a good time for it at any other point. ‘I guess I’ll see what he has to say. If it is something useful to his plans then I’ll share it, but if he’s just going to be embarrassing about father-son stuff then I’ll keep it to myself.’

Yuki pressed his thumb on the top. He had figured out while on the boat what he needed to do with it. All he really had to do was think over his stories that he read to figure out what made the most sense. And it worked out, as he saw a light come from the perimeter.

A light then came from the top. Moving his thumb, he saw an image of an elderly man loosely pieced together by blue particles of light. They bounced from the saucer surface and rose a small distance before falling, all while holding a form.

‘…this is my father…’ It was the first time he had seen the man before. He thought if he saw him that maybe he would remember him. Like he was some stranger that his parents introduced as a friend or something. But nothing seemed familiar about him.

“Is this on?” Not exactly the opening greeting he expected. “I’m pretty sure I made this thing right. It’s on right? Well I’ll just go with it, if it’s not I’ll record it again.”

A bit of sweat slid down his face at the awkward opening. ‘This was the King of Atlantis?’ It suddenly seemed hard to believe this man kept the council on edge and was a threat to their control. He seemed too carefree. ‘I guess it does sort of fit with the images of the stories I got from Eudokia.’

“If this is not Yuki then shut it off right now! I’m warning you! If you touch this thing it will kill you! I’ve set it up so only my son can use it! Anyone else this will kill you! So go away!”

‘…wha? What a terrible bluff…’

Coughing a little, he finally seemed to look a little serious. “My son…Yuki. If you’re watching this it means that I’ve died and I wasn’t able to tell you this in person as I had hoped. I’m taking it, also that you’ve met my daughter Eudokia, who I’ve asked to bring you here to Atlantis. She’s very loving, but can be a little too serious at times, a trait I fear she picked up from Demosthenes.”

‘…that’s an understatement… You’re the reason she went nuts to begin with…’

“I hope you will be able to work with the both of them as allies. They both believe strongly in my dream.”

‘It’s a little late for that.’ Yuki still had so much anger for what they both did to him. He managed to settle most of it with them, but they weren’t feelings that would just disappear immediately. He worked with Demosthenes in an uneasy fashion. It was only through others that he didn’t finish acting upon his desires. In time, he knew that he would thank them for it, but until that day came he would be controlling the boiling emotions. He resolved not to kill. A resolve that was tested every day and every moment.

“However, there is much that neither of them know. Eudokia at the moment is in the dark about what I’ve done. She has her entire future ahead of her. I wanted to spare her from the darkness of my past for as long as I could, as I wished for you as well. I wish I did not have to drag you into my world, but the world is not a kind place like it should be. I want to see it better, but I’m unable to achieve my dream as I’m dying now and already dead for you.”

Yuki could tell that he was finally getting to the heart of the matter. Demosthenes explained quite a bit about what was going on behind the scenes in Atlantis and the King, so it surprised him to hear there was still more to learn. ‘How big is this secret that he kept it from even those that he trusted the most? And he’s telling me.’

“I imagine that Demosthenes has explained some of what is happening to you. I’ve pulled my dearest friend into the darkness along with me for too long, but I didn’t have a choice. So he knows much about what is happening. He should be able to answer questions you have after this. But I need to tell you what I’ve told no one else.”

Such an ominous atmosphere came from the words. He felt like he was about to reveal the entire secret to the universe. The one that the ancient societies conspired to hold to themselves so as to manipulate the world in their palm.

“Years ago, I discovered the Komatsuzaki. At first, I thought that they were just a fanatical group wanting to learn about the past. They seemed to have an unnatural fascination with history, especially Greek history. But that was only a front, while they were started from something so simple, it stopped being anything but the devil’s work. And I tread on such work where only gods were meant to walk.

“Even the King of Atlantis is just a mortal. I did not belong there, but it was necessary. I’ve done many things I’m not proud of in my time, but everything I did while with them makes all of the mistakes I made before or after pale in comparison. I warn you now, never trust anything they say no matter how many sweet words they feed you or hopeful promises. These are all men and women completely devoid of any shred of humanity with a singular driven self-serving focus. Unfortunately, in all of my digging I never learned what their true purpose actually is, but such inhumane experiments can only beget further evil.”

Yuki had to swallow for a moment. His father was laying on it pretty thick. He already got a warning from Demosthenes and told how they were on the hunt for him, even if they weren’t currently. The way they sounded from his father, they were evil taken human form. Almost absolute stereotypes of evil that he expected to see from a classic manga of heroes against an ancient conspiracy that threatens the world. While he didn’t want to doubt either of them, they seemed to be over blowing things. ‘I find it hard to believe there is someone that is pure and completely evil with no shred of humanity in them.’

“Yuki, because of my assistance in their research they’ve advanced decades faster than they could have without me. Though I’m no longer present, their work will continue. They’ve already cleared Phase 1 of their plan, the research phase. By now, they’ve no doubt moved into Phase 2, experimentation. I never saw what their plans were for Phase 2, but I believe they were going to be practical applications of their research in order to prepare for Phase 3.

“Their research was focused on understanding how our power scientifically worked. This was something I needed to free us from our servitude. Their intent with that knowledge I’m sorry to say remains a mystery to me. This is a group that’s been silently researching for more than a century. They have patience and connections in every known corner of the world. It is only because we made it more trouble than they were willing to deal with at the time that kept you safe. The day that they come for you may be closer than you think.”

‘Yeah, I know Demosthenes told me the same thing. Damn, this is getting worse and worse by the minute.’

“The last thing I leave to you is this device and the knowledge of everything I’ve done in my life to achieve a free Atlantis. Because I did not want my personal research to fall into the Komatsuzaki’s hands, I hid my research back in Japan in multiple locations. Alone one piece is completely meaningless. Together they will become the light of Atlantis. So please, I beg you as a citizen of Atlantis, not as the King, save our people from the shackles we have placed on ourselves and protect them from those that would seek to do us harm.”

The image then disappeared. Yuki just stared at it with the expectation of having something more. “The hell?! You don’t just leave saying that you hid them without giving me the coordinates or clues! Anything! And what the hell is your obsession with Japan?! Why Japan?”

As though to respond to his complaint, his father popped back up. “And if you’re yelling right now about me not telling you where I hid my notes, I’m not going to tell you. If this were to fall into the wrong hands, they’d have everything they need. Besides, it’ll be a journey! Like in those manga from Japan where a group of friends go off to save the world and have adventures and form deep bonds of friendship! So go take Eudokia and Demosthenes with you and your friends and have fun!”

“Damn you old man! The future of Atlantis is at stake and you want to play games?!” Yuki started to throw the device, but a final message popped up.

“The only hint I’ll give is that you need this device to find them. It’ll signal you when you’re in the area. Good luck!”