Chapter 4

Ashton gripped the controls tightly in his two hands. He sat in the command chair surrounded in a 360-degree cockpit. Behind him were massive spirals of crystals. Before him were the rocky crags of some forgotten mountain range. The lumbering Atlantean machine men made their way forward. Instead of being graceful like the Murau knightly machines, they tended to be tripods with three arms ending in gun barrels that appeared like stone clubs.

Ashton’s hands gripped what felt like latches with buttons on them, and he had finally gotten use to his mind controlling weapons selection as well as balancing the mech. The band around his head made things much easier.

Concentrating Ashton pulled out a sword since his ammo had been depleted, and it would be several minutes before he could get another supply of ammo. Judging the two tripods that were getting closer to him, he chose the further one on his right.

Pushing the machine knight forward, the cockpit seemed to shudder as it got into a run. Ashton felt the quick movement, but it felt unreal. Though the other closer tripod tried to shoot, it missed each shot.

And when he made it to the second tripod, he willed the machine man to lift the sword, and he stabbed the second machine man. The Atlantean machine man was still firing as it began to fail.

Ashton willed the mech to return the sword back between the wings of the machine knight. As he did so, he lifted and aimed one of the Atlantean tripod’s arms that still was shooting erratically at the other tripod. The first shot hit the remaining tripod, and Ashton went ahead and let it continue to fire.

Each shot took out armor, and by the end, the Atlantean machine man collapsed and exploded. With a thought and still breathing heavily, Ashton willed his machine to crush the barrel that it had been holding.

Smiling the teenage man laughed. “Well, I beat those two. I guess I can find out what the transformation does now.”

Pulling a lever, the cockpit shifted as the camera shifted upward. The neck went up as wing seemed to expand out. The metallic hands shifted into claws as hidden points came out. Ashton could see a tail forming out of what had been the sword that seemed to segment as it extended out.

Ashton realized that the mech had become a dragon of sorts.

The cockpit screens began to crash, steam and bursts of air licked Ashton. The whole cockpit spun around. The machine man got pounded to the ground. Ashton frustrated as he saw from behind him another machine man of Murau pounded on him. And then the machine man opened its hand, and it unleashed a blast from its hand.

And then the cockpit went red, and the cockpit started to move back into position. Ashton pushed sweat away from his eyes. A moment later, the front started to open, and Merlin stepped forward.

“You really need to watch what is going on, but you are getting better. However, you need to get out of this cockpit. Your sword usage is getting better. You took out six Atlantean machine men. That being said- you will need to practice more and avoid the dragon mode when being close to rage. However, it is obvious that you are getting more frustrated. It’s time to get you out of there.”

Merlin signaled two of the Tlaxcalans that he had been working with who got the tired teen out of the cockpit. Ashton was once more outside the trainer in confines of Merlin’s odd chambers that Ashton was convinced was part of something other than the city. The metallic walls glistened along with the cool air and several concealed monitors.

Merlin looked at the boy as he got out of the cockpit. “You must be ready to fight at a moment’s notice, but you are really making great strides.”

Kindness out of the words of the old wizard. “I have used several video games in my days,” said Ashton holding himself up.

Merlin laughed. “Time likes to rhyme. I remember my days back in Murau when there were projections, and audiences would watch them together.”

Ashton finally recovering. “Hopefully, they had air conditioning in those theaters. How did you not know that the air condition was not working in the simulator?”

Merlin laughed as he led the four out of the chamber. “It’s been several thousand years since the simulator was used. As you probably have figured out this chamber is really a ship. It just connects to tunnels under Tlaxcalan.”

Ashton asked a question as they went towards a lift. “Were the tunnels built by Atlantis?”

Merlin nodded. “This area was part of Atlantis’ Empire, but my Avalon is the last known ship of Murau. Well, I guess that is true if the rest of the Murau fleet that went through the portal didn’t survive.”

Ashton wanted to ask more questions, but the guards were placing a robe on Ashton that started to cool him off. He was given some water as well. That started to cool down the young man.

Merlin continued to speak and advise him like a teacher. “For now, you need to rest. And its high time that you get a view of the city. Two days of being in the simulator is not the best way to be trained, but it can’t be helped.”

They traveled down a hallway towards the elevator. All four entered the elevator which quickly traveled to the top floor of the ship.

“So, ships like this one once traveled the stars,” asked Ashton.

The two servants never spoke, but Merlin laughed. “And even larger one traveled the stars. Atlantis destroyed Murau when the fleet had traveled outside the solar system to the world of the Great Enemy. I have no idea if that fleet made it to their target. The problem is something that we will have to go into later even if I have no idea how to confirm it.”

Merlin led them through the airlock, and they were in the tunnels that lead them to the great chamber where the white machine man stood. It seemed ready for battle.

“What do you mean their target?”

Merlin nodded to his two guards and spoke in their tongue, and then he turned back to Ashton.

He folded his arms to his chest and stroke his cleaned chin. “There are things that you are not ready for. Earth as I mentioned was once attacked by reptilian aliens which made Atlantis and Murau ally together. It was a terrible fight. We won, but Atlantis learned that a portal was still opened to Earth where the reptilian aliens had come out of. These aliens were what inspired the stories of the Naga in India, and that is as a good a name for the reptiles as you will find.”

“You don’t have a name for them,” questioned Ashton.

“It’s more that I doubt that we can trust our source for that name. No doubt that he is still up to his mischief even in your age always in the shadows,” laughed Merlin.

Ashton looked at Merlin. “Doesn’t he have a name?” asked the teenager.

“In due time, you will learn, and besides it is better to detail you what happened to the Murau fleet before I get sidetracked into dwelling on another topic. Most of the Murau fleet went on a mission to where the Naga had come from- older ships were secretly kept at some colonies along with a few prototype ship. The portal closed after a month. That much is confirmed. And though, the ships had a FTL system- they traveled to another galaxy as you would say. Even at their top speed, it would take untold millennium to get back to Earth.”

“So, the possibility exists that they are still alive?” asked Ashton.

Merlin nodded.

“However, they traveled with the Atlantean fleet as well. And though they outnumbered the Atlantean fleet, the Murau ships were probably betrayed just like Murau had been betrayed here on Earth.”

Ashton nodded. “So, Atlantis destroyed Murau?”

Merlin nodded. “And what was left of the Murau fleet on Earth destroyed the Atlantean Moon weapon and then destroyed Atlantis. The destruction of both places caused the Great Flood.”

“What happened to the fleet then?”

Merlin shook his head. “The Avalon had crashed into the ocean with its transmitter destroyed due to a saboteur. I was the only survivor thanks to mischief created by my former lover, that saboteur. It was not something that you want to experience which still gives me nightmare.”

“This ship had the Emperor of the Murau and the leaders of the People’s Council and Noble Senate, and only I survived thanks to a device of the saboteur that had been loaded onto the ship and was being transported to the capital of Murau when the betrayal occurred.”

Merlin looked up with his silvery hair following back. “It should have been someone else that survived. I was trained as a priest and ambassador not an engineer.”

“Priest?”

Merlin nodded. “I serve the will of the One, boy.”

“The One?” asked Ashton as he looked at Merlin.

Merlin nodded as he started to usher him out of the holding chamber and to the dining room that looked over the city of Tlaxcala in the amphitheater. The meal was not yet ready.

“You asked me what I was doing during the Year of Five Caesars the other day. To answer you fully, it would take too long to explain, but I was investigating what you would come to call Christianity or the Way. It was the closest to the ways of my people that I had seen in years. A bit of my religion survived with Noah who had been a Prophet it turned out, and it kind of got distorted over the centuries in Judaism. It became more legalistic and lost a lot of the point of waiting for the Creator to come, and in Christianity, it returned to what it was always supposed to be. But now is not the time to worry about that.”

Then Merlin smiled. A meal of meat in corn husks had been prepared, and he led to the table. Ashton sat in the opposite side of the table, and he was served some purified water in a cup.

Merlin said a prayer before the meal in a language that was probably Murau. The teenager waited for Merlin to eat first, and then he ate one of the corn husks with meat as well after he observed how to eat the meal.

Merlin laughed. “I know this isn’t the greatest meal, but I have always preferred smaller meals, Ashton.”

“I have to agree too big of meals tend to take too much time.”

Merlin nodded. “I apologize for not teaching you more of the language of the locals or even my people. The problem is that we are pressed for time. But that is the problem of everything in this world: time.”

“So, what is it like to have a form of immortality?” asked Ashton as he took another piece of meat.

“It’s frustrating. So many have had their dreams cut short while I live to be the only one who clearly remembers.”

Ashton asked a simple question. “Is it possible to transfer your knowledge via some sort of computer?”

Merlin looked pained hearing it, and he gave a look at Ashton. “That is not how one learns, and it is disgusting to the One to overwrite another’s personality. Never ask that again.”

Ashton looked aghast. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to offend.”

Merlin nodded. “It is not something that you should know. Each life is unique, and no life should be sacrificed to just keep someone else alive to avoid judgement of the Creator.”

“So did Atlantis follow something of that nature?” asked Ashton.

Merlin nodded with a smile. “You guessed correctly Ashton. The Atlanteans defied death by developing ways to transfer souls between bodies or even extending life through horrid magics. They even changed a servant caste that originally served kings into timid creatures that could be used to host other intelligences in emergency.”

Ashton looked at Merlin. “So, whatever made you immortal was Atlantean in origin?”

Merlin nodded. “The Witch Circe who had been born in exile had been smuggled onboard the Avalon by the Leader of the People’s Council. He had betrayed Murau for a chance at immortality. And then when the ship crashed, she betrayed him and made the focus of the spell along with herself. To end our lives now, we must both die at the same moment which is hard to accomplish. I have tried. Neither of us age, but we must sleep for a hundred years every four hundred years or so. I lose track sometimes.”

Merlin looked at the ceiling.

And then he turned his head. There was a loud sound in the distance as horns blared. “Dear One, I thought that we had more time.”

Ashton looked at Merlin. “Quickly boy, we need to get you to the machine knight. The Aztec have arrived.”

The two assistants realized what was going on as the screams were coming in across the city. Merlin rushed them into the chamber.

The assistants took off the robe leaving only the white body suit that Ashton had been wearing. Merlin had already started up several machines. “Their machine men will head towards this chamber since that traitorous fool Juan wants nothing more than to change the past in ways that I doubt he even knows. He is kind of ignorant of his own history.”

Ashton rushed up alone the stairs. Entering the chamber, he pressed the sequence of buttons that he had memorized in the simulator. Then he gripped the controls rods with each hand.

The machine knight sprung to live as the chamber started to open behind. The crown lowered onto his head. In an instant, he felt as one with the machine knight. He noticed that he did not have any ammo unlike in the simulator, but as Merlin had explained several times, his opponents had no ammo either.

All he had was the segmented blade that could ignite with fire, optical weapons that should be used sparingly in the eyes, and his wits. Ashton knew as the air circulated inside the machine man that at the least it was better than the stuffy simulator.

Pushing forward with the controls, he carefully exited the building, and he crossed the walls of the city as warriors wearing loincloths and capes prepared to fight. Ashton noticed the warriors were cheering him. Though he was aware that machine knight would be silent inside the cockpit, he could turn on speaker.

That’s when he heard a word that he recognized. “Quetzalcoatl!” They were cheering him as if he was a god come to destroy their enemy.

Ashton wondered what Merlin had promised the people of the city in preparing him to fight them. But soon his machine man’s sensors picked up the enemy. There stood four of them. Each wielded some sort of club like device.

With a motion, Ashton pulled out his sword stored in the back of the machine knight. Like a giant metallic white knight, it held aloft the blade.

The eyes of the machine lit up as light enhancement started to show more details. Pressing a button, the speakers on the sides of the machine knight activated for the first time in several millennium.

“Stop I protect this city,” shouted Ashton.

The Jaguar warriors of the Aztec looked disturbed as a language that they didn’t understand filled the air. Fear had already corrupted their heart as the machine man stood there against them as the sword lit up.

The response that Ashton heard back shocked him.