The Return of the Titans (12 page)

The man laughed. “Oh of course! Stupid of
me. Just run your finger along the runes in the opposite direction,
from left to right. Have fun, guys.” He nodded and left the
room.

Justin moved back to his couch. “So, you
want to try it?” he asked Aaron.

“Are you kidding? Of
course!” He reached out and then hesitated. “Let's go through some
of the avatars, see what's available.”

Justin nodded. “Good idea. Go ahead, I'll
watch.”

“Okay, here goes.” Aaron
touched the rune beside the first one that Mr. Bellisle had
used.

The floor of the arena shimmered and another
little figure arose.

“Hey, nice!” Aaron
exclaimed. It was the figure of a man wearing armor. He was armed
with a sword and shield. Aaron tapped the special attack buttons,
one after the other. First, the warrior smashed his shield forward.
Next, he crouched and then leaped up, swinging his sword
downward.

“Too cool,” Justin said as
he watched in fascination.

“Okay, Just, you try the
next one. Third from the right corner,” Aaron said. He removed his
fingers from the runes and the warrior melted back into the
ground.

“Right. Here goes.” Justin
touched the rune. Then he gasped. It was a minotaur; almost a
perfect miniature replica of the Sentinel that he had seen twice.
Its huge mace was resting on its shoulder and Justin could swear
that the tiny eyes were glowing red.

He also tried the two attack runes. The
minotaur swung its mace sideways with great force. Then it lowered
its head and charged forward, slashing with its horns.

“This is too amazing,
Aaron!”

“Totally. Okay, my
turn.”

The two teens tried each rune in turn. In
all, they saw ten avatars, all but the warrior were beasts from
mythology.

“Mr. Bellisle said that we
could combine the runes to summon other avatars, Justin,” Aaron
said. “Want to try?”

Justin shook his head. “Let's save them as a
surprise. I'd really rather try playing the game now, wouldn't
you?”

“Ah yeah, good point! So,
which avatar do you want to try?”

Justin leaned forward eagerly. “The
minotaur. Definitely the minotaur!”

Aaron grinned. “Right. I liked the cyclops
actually. So, let's try them out and see what happens.”

Over the next several hours, the two teens
learned the ins and outs of Arena. The game was both very simple
and incredibly complex, but a win was straight-forward. An avatar
won when it knocked its opponent to the ground. They tried many of
the avatars, but Justin always came back to the minotaur. He seemed
to have a knack for using it in battle, although when Aaron started
using what they concluded was a harpy, it gave Justin some trouble.
Not the battle so much as the cursing.

Both of them fell over laughing as they
realized that the harpy cursed every time it missed an attack. And
cursed even more if it was hit by an opposing avatar.

“Wow, she's got a foul
mouth!” Aaron giggled.

Justin couldn't answer; he was laughing too
hard.

They also noticed that each avatar seemed to
have its own personality, and that it affected the game sometimes.
Justin's minotaur apparently got tired occasionally and would stop
in the middle of a battle, step back and wipe its brow. Once or
twice it actually dropped its mace and sat down. Justin was sure
that it gave him a reproachful glance when it did this, as though
he was working it too hard.

Aaron had his own problems. He tried to use
a special attack three times in a row and the avatar he was using,
a troll, finally looked up at him, thumbed its nose and sank back
into the ground and nothing Aaron could do would make it
reappear.

“Diva,” he muttered.
Justin chuckled.

“This is so amazing,” he
told Aaron.”It's like we're commanding real creatures, who get
tired and cranky and have to be treated with respect. Much cooler
than any video game I've ever played.”

“For sure,” Aaron agreed.
“I'll just have to remember not to push 'em too hard or they'll go
on strike like that troll.”

The door chimed some time later and they
both said “Come in” distractedly. They were in the middle of a
close contest and were totally focused on it.

The door slid open and Norm and Gerry walked
into the room.

“Hey guys,” Norm said
cheerfully. Justin nodded and Aaron just grunted, as they both
watched their avatars. All at once, Aaron let out a whoop and
Justin sat back, with a look of disgust on his face.

“Stupid cyclops,” he
muttered.

“Next time, protect the
eye, Justin,” Aaron said with a grin. “That's his weak
spot.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
Justin looked at the visitors. “So what's up guys?”

“Nothing much.” Gerry
walked over and sat on the arm of Justin's couch. “I see you've
discovered Arena.”

“Great, isn't it?” Norm
said with enthusiasm. “I can't get enough of it.” Then he looked
puzzled. “Is it as much fun without the fans? Seems a bit
quiet.”

Aaron and Justin looked at each other,
puzzled.

“Fans?” Aaron looked
confused.

“What fans?” Justin
asked.

“Oh, you don't know?” Norm
walked over and bent over the table. “Gerry, you get the two
corners on your side.”

“Right,” Gerry said and
moved over to sit by Justin, then leaned forward. “On three?” he
asked, looking at Norm.

“Yep. One, two, three.”
They touched the four runes at the corners of the metal square at
the same time. Suddenly there was a small but steady sound coming
from the inside of the arena. It sounded like cheering. Both Justin
and Aaron looked inside curiously.

“Whoa! How cool is that?”
Aaron said loudly.

“Okay, this game just gets
more and more amazing,” Justin said. He was staring at what had
been the sloping, inside walls of the arena. Now though there was
rows and rows of seats, and sitting in the seats were tiny people.
He leaned even closer to check out the details.

There were men, women, children and even
some of the mythical creatures from the game itself. Some were
cheering, waving tiny flags or applauding. But Justin was
fascinated to see that not all the tiny fans were doing the same
thing. Some seemed to be talking to each other. He saw several
children running around in the aisles between the rows of seats and
he even saw, he squinted to get a better look, yep, there were guys
selling food and drinks! He caught Aaron's eye, who just shook his
head mutely and watched the fans, almost mesmerized.

Finally they both sat back. Norm and Gerry
were watching them, big grins on their faces. “That's exactly how
we looked when we accidentally discovered how to turn that on,”
Gerry said.

Norm nodded. “We didn't want to stop but
Jonathon stuck his head in our room a few minutes ago and told us
that we had two hours until dinner and then there's a meeting
afterward, so if we wanted to explore, we'd better get going.” Norm
stood up. “So you guys want to poke around some more?”

Justin wanted to play more Arena and he
could tell Aaron did too, but they might not get a chance to look
around again for a while, so he said “Sure, if Aaron wants to.”

Aaron sighed and looked longingly at the
arena. “Yeah, might as well. We can play later, I guess.” He stood
up as well. “Addictive damned game though, isn't it?”

They all agreed, then headed out into the
corridor, turning toward the courtyard that they had discovered
earlier.

Chapter 8

Deep within Sanctuary, a door opened to a
room that was in total darkness. The bright square of light from
the corridor beyond was blocked by a man who entered quickly and
strode forward into the gloom. As the door closed behind him, a
pillar rose from the floor, luminous and ghostly in the blackness.
On top of the pillar a hollow was scooped out of the stone and
filled with a glowing liquid.

The man approached the pillar which stopped
rising at waist height and he stood waiting. Finally, a voice
echoed out of the darkness ahead of him.

“Welcome, Alexander,” the
voice said.

Mr. Fitzgerald bowed his head once and
stared into the blackened room. “Good afternoon, my lord.” he said
quietly.

“Why have you summoned the
Council, my child?” the voice inquired.

“To update you all, my
lord, on the status of the children.”

“Ah yes. That was
thoughtful of you, Alexander.” another voice spoke out of the
gloom. Although it was a deep and solemn voice, it was definitely
that of a female.

“Thank you, my lady,” Mr.
Fitzgerald said. “I know that none of you are happy about the way
we...procured them. And neither am I.”

“We are not angry with
you, my child,” the female voice stated. “But we worry about them.
They must be taught so much so quickly. We are concerned that such
young children will not be able to cope with this knowledge, or the
powers that it will unlock.”

“As I am, my lady. But
they are Titans, after all. They will be able to process what we
teach them, I'm sure.”

“Don't assume that just
because they are Titans that they are stronger mentally than others
of their age,” the female spoke sharply. “Children are children,
Alexander. And they must be treated as such.”

Mr. Fitzgerald nodded. “I understand, my
lady. But please know that we must accelerate their educations. If
we don't...” He did not finish the statement.

The first voice sighed. “Yes, you are right.
They must be ready for what awaits them.” Then the voice became
brisk once more. “So, they have been presented to the leaders?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“And? Are all families
represented?”

“Most of them. None, of
course, are descendants of the traitorous couple. But most of the
others are represented.”

“And what of Rhea?” asked
the female. There was a note of hope in her voice. But Mr.
Fitzgerald shook his head sadly.

“I'm sorry, my lady, but
no. There are no heirs to Rhea among them.”

This time it was the female who sighed.
“Well, it was really too much to hope for, I suppose. Her DNA was
added at the last moment. A pity, though. Her talents would have
been of great benefit to our cause.”

“Indeed, my lady. They
would have been.” Mr. Fitzgerald hesitated. “However, I'm pleased
to announce that a descendant of Cronus has been found.”

The silence following this announcement was
absolute. Then a new male voice, speaking from the depths of the
darkness, spoke out.

“What did you say?” it
asked. The room seemed to vibrate at the resonance in the
voice.

“The heir to Cronus is
here.” Mr. Fitzgerald said plainly.

Suddenly the room erupted with sound as many
voices began to speak at once. Mr. Fitzgerald just stood and
waited. Finally the voice from the depths of the room spoke out
loudly. “Silence!” he said. The speakers stopped at once and the
voice spoke again.

“Alexander, are you
sure?”

“Yes, my lord. I was
present when it happened.”

“And this child was marked
with the symbol of Cronus?”

“He was, my lord. But...”
Mr. Fitzgerald sounded confused. “The mark did not fade like the
others. It remains on his palm, like a silver tattoo. I did not
know that could happen.”

The room was still and silent for a long
moment. Then the voice spoke again in a harsh tone.

“Show me!” it
commanded.

Mr. Fitzgerald bowed slightly and thrust his
hand into the water on the top of the pillar. In the center of the
room. A ghostly image appeared.

“This is Justin McLeod,
council members. Watch as he touches the plate under the portrait
of Cronus.”

The room was silent as the image of the boy
approached the plate. The invisible council saw him grimace in pain
and stagger back. Then they saw the mark on his palm, pulsing as if
to the beat of his heart. Finally Mr. Fitzgerald lifted his hand
from the liquid and the projection faded.

“That is what happened,”
he said simply.

“This is...impossible,
Alexander,” the male voice spoke from across the room.

“Impossible, my lord? But
I saw it with my own eyes, as have you.”

“You don't understand, my
child,” the female council member spoke up. “Cronus never added his
DNA to the plan. He was not present in the gene pool that has
created Titans in the modern age.”

“I did not know that,” Mr.
Fitzgerald said with surprise. “Why was this done?”

“It was done, Alexander,
because Cronus wanted it done that way. He was afraid, rightfully
so, that his power, passed down to what would perhaps be a lesser
being, would be uncontrollable.” The female stopped for a moment,
as if to collect her thoughts. Then she continued. “Cronus was the
first of the Titans and the most powerful. His traitorous brother
Hyperion always claimed to be the elder, but he was not. Cronus
never used his full power, not even in the civil war. If he had, he
might have leveled Atlantis himself.”

Mr. Fitzgerald gasped. “He had that much
power?”

“Perhaps more, my child.
When humans remember the Titans, it is Cronus that they recall. A
giant to all around him, with a power out of legend. And yet, noble
of heart and just of spirit. This child could not be his heir. He
could not contain that kind of power.”