Chapter 9: Life in Atlantis (3729 BC)

Chapter 9: Life in Atlantis (3729 BC)

Morrigan's room, Atlantis, 3729 BC

It's been a few centuries since I arrived in Atlantis and while I would like to recount my time here as adventurous and glorious, other than learning and studying there's not much to do. This was mainly due to how long lived Atlanteans actually are. Usually when one possesses a magical core, their life expectancy is far higher than muggles', depending on the size of the core and the magical environment. The bigger the core is, and the more potent it is, the slower they will age after their magical maturation at 21 years of age. Similarly, if a wizard resides in a magically rich environment their aging decreases further. This little fact explains why Dumbledore stays at Hogwarts so much.

The Atlanteans, however, extend their lives differently. While they already live longer because of their power and the environment, they tend to live for over 10'000 years. This is because Atlantis is built on top of an extremely powerful ancient relic from the age of gods, a relic whose origin is lost to time, the fountain of youth. When the first king of Atlantis was able to power the wards. He had accidentally connected the fresh water spring to the fountain. Now, every day, people drink water with miniscule amount of holy water from the fountain of youth. The effect of the water is similar to that of the philosopher's stone. As long as you drink the water, you age much slower than usual. Coupled with their already impressive longevity, they now have an absurd life expectancy. I believe that Nicholas Flamel was able to transmute any liquid into the water of the fountain of youth which he called the elixir of life. It's possible, but it would need something like a constantly recharging large battery of magic to be able create a few doses every day, which must be what the philosopher's stone is.

However, this raised the issue of overpopulation, so the first king decided to limit the number of newborns by casting an infertility ward around the entire island where it activates when the population exceeds 100'000 people. With how slowly people tend to die, when one person finally kicks the bucket, every couple decides to shack up for the chance of conceiving a child. So far, in my stay here, there have been 8 new children which averages up to a child every 80 years or so.

My first few years here were a bit awkward, people didn't know how to act around me and were a little suspicious. I didn't realize it at the time, but Atlantis exists on a different frequency than earth. Its location is technically in the Atlantic Ocean, but it cannot be seen or entered without permission. My arrival was an anomaly and something unexpected in their frankly monotone lives. Thankfully, the mellowed out over time and accepted me as one of their own.

As for my mind magic, it mainly involves the manipulation of psionic energy, meaning telepathy and telekinesis. Concerning telepathy, there was nothing new to be taught except control exercises and how I could extend my range. As for telekinesis, it came naturally to me without any issue.

As for transmutation, it was simple if I understand the molecular composition of an item and as long as it was not created magically, I can create a near perfect copy. The more I understand, the less magic I use. Magic kinda works as a shortcut for this field and compensates for the lack of knowledge of the item being created. This of course, doesn't work with any item that possesses a soul (Phylacteries, animals, plants). For the magical artifact issue, I created a spell capable of scanning the item and analyzing its physical representation and the arithmetic equation of the enchantments on it. It helped immensely in artifact creation, which is created using a combination of different fields of magic. By the way, I figured out that transfiguration is a small branch of transmutation that deals with temporary transformation. You don't affect matter, you use your magic to temporary override the identity of the object but in a case of sentient life, the souls are not changed, meaning they keep their identity during their transformation. After the magic ends, the object always returns to its original shape. This is why one cannot heal using transfiguration, the damage would just reappear once the magic is used.

My studies in sorcery were quite brief. After learning how to manipulate external energies there wasn't much to do except learn a bunch of spells. The only interesting thing was the ability to create portals and trap fighters in certain dimensions. To be honest, I'm kinda disappointed, when I saw Dr. Strange fight against Thanos in the infinity war movie, I was impressed. However, now that I understand what happened, I am disappointed with how simplistic his spells he used were. Even then, he used them defensibly. I'm not one to judge considering he saw millions of timelines and he wanted to lose, but considering how talented he is supposed to be, he was barely using a fraction of his arsenal.

Now let's speak of the most overpowered and underrated field of magic called runes. It turns out all of the runes I know is a downgraded version of the originals. Even Odin's runes are but a pale shadow of the might of true runes. The man sacrificed his eye for knowledge. The truth is that all runes are imitations of the original celestial runes. When the one above all or God created the universe, he created seven celestial runes; the runes of power, space, time, reality, mind, soul and Kaleidoscope. They each affect a part of the universe. Mastering one of them is similar to using an infinity stone, the power of the rune depends on the strength of the user. The runes themselves are flexible and diverse and their use depends on the intent of the user. Somehow, my language talent applies to the runes but even then, it took me a century to master each rune. Of course, I cannot destroy planets and affect galaxies like the infinity stones but I am still decently powerful and I have still a long way to grow. There was only one person who was able to master two of the runes, being time and Kaleidoscope (dimensions), and that was Agamotto and he used it to banish the elder gods and contain the time stone. According to him, only humans have the potential to use all of them. Even angels could only use one at most, something that caused Lucifer's rebellion and his banishment to Hell. This is why no one, and I mean no one knows of my mastery of these runes. Not even Atlan.

Speaking of Atlan, he's been like father to me. He named me, taught me the customs of this place, and helped me with my studies even before my apprenticeship. He even makes sure I eat well and exercise efficiently. He took me into his home when I was basically a newborn to his eyes. After my graduation, he even helped me create my staff. A bone white, straight staff made from an elder tree and a shadow phoenix feather core that I alchemically bound its essence with the wood. Considering that's a ceremony usually between head and heir of a clan, I can safely say we are quite close. He was even present when I bonded with my familiar Erebus, the phoenix whose feather I used in my staff. Honestly, his presence alone makes me grateful for my accidental time travel.

As I was done pondering, I feel something happen. An intense cold swept over me. I felt my own breath catch in my chest. The cold went deeper than my skin. It was inside my chest, it was inside my very heart Something terrible is happening, I feel the whole island shaking, I don't understand what is happening and yet I do. The people are screaming, some passed out from the pressure of the feeling. I don't know how I recognize what is causing this feeling. It must be something primal ingrained to every living being in every world in every dimension. It is Death. Death has come to Atlantis. Suddenly, the earth cracks in the middle of the city and Atlantis starts to sink.