Eyes Forward

Their first stop was the Garden of Reflection. It was probably the most interesting venue Argaz knew of the city; a recreational center inside a glass pyramid that projected magical light imitating the deep ocean floor. Ironic, considering no light reached that part of the world, but Atlanteans loved their irony. As one climbed their way up the pyramid, so did they rise in sea level until they reached land.

“This is amazing,” Nestor said, his head going through the fins of a giant grey whale. Above them, scores of fish and other sea creatures swam in different directions.  “It looks so real! Maybe this is why there are so many legends about this city sinking into the sea.”

There might be truth in that. The mages of the second order built this place, along with illusory traps scattered around the shroud. Nestor was lucky he wasn't caught in one of them.

Still... the so-called garden was exactly how Argaz remembered it. Bright. Colorful. Lifeless. For a people that was never allowed outside, this was the closest Atlanteans had to an adventure.

“This can never be a substitute for the real world,” Argaz’s master once told him. His creator was one of the few who had the privilege to explore what lay beyond Atlantis' golden walls. “But for those trapped in this city, this is the next best thing.”

Argaz disagreed. Master’s stories were far more powerful than these fake images. Oh, how the old man's eyes gleamed with wonder whenever he told them.

Whatever happened to his master?

Argaz’s memory was fuzzy as always, but he remembered his master leaving Atlantis one last time. The ministers gave him a choice, like the others, and he chose to live in the outside world.

Despite that memory, Argaz felt no resentment. He was left behind, but there was something in Atlantis he stayed for. His job. The directive assigned to…

Directive?

Another memory came to him.

Argaz disobeyed his master’s directive.

But why?

Argaz clutched at his chest.

Again with the pain. This was why he didn’t want to be inside the city. The watchtower was enough. He could protect the city from there.

The next place they visited was the Tower of Oaths. Probably the lowest of the twenty, it was built as a memorial to the great war that almost destroyed Atlantis completely. Artifacts from the fight floated along its spiraling hallway; from the gemstone armor worn by ancient soldiers, to canons and winged tanks, to the staves their Lemurian enemies used to summon their beasts.

Nestor was fascinated by all of it. “Are you absolutely sure I can’t try the armor on? I’m not gonna take it home.”

“No.”

“Ugh! You’re killing me here, Argaz. What about that staff with the rubies? A couple of twirls would suffice.”

“Twirl your umbrella instead. Don’t hit anything.”

“Boo. Where are the automatons anyway? I want to see ones with badass weaponry. Unlike somebody I know.”

“You won’t see any here,” Argaz said with a sigh. “Combat-ready automatons were invented after the war. Atlantis lost most of its soldiers, so it needed new hands to carry the burden.”

“Which included guardians like you that protect the city. Got it.”

Guardians…

Like…

Him?

The third location wasn’t anywhere in particular. Argaz’s security protocols were nearly finished processing, and the day was almost over, so they simply rode different shuttle lines around the city. They saw the great bridges, the pyramids of various orders, the parks filled with trees and flowers that never withered. Nestor took on the scenery like a child going on his first school trip. He asked about things like the shape of buildings or where people lived. He was surprised to learn that the citizens’ living quarters were all underground.

Argaz realized two things then.

First, the longer they went on this ‘tour’, the less strict he became. His persistent ‘no’ turned into ‘let me show you’ and ‘only if you don’t break it’.

If Nestor was a Lemurian spy, Atlantis would be in big trouble.

But Argaz didn’t seem to mind. He cared deeply about guarding Atlantis, but sensing no hostility from Nestor made him say things without a drop of guilt. Any automaton with a prime directive as a guardian wouldn’t have done such things. Security protocol or not, Argaz would literally be incapable of saying anything.

The second thing Argaz noticed was that every place they went to, even those they simply passed by, were important to him. This was as much a tour for Argaz as it was for Nestor.

It was a trip down memory lane. Except, in place of Nestor, there was someone else with Argaz. Someone very important. Someone Argaz chose to forget.

His missing memories wasn’t his circuitry crumbling. He… deleted them. Coming to this city reminded him of that fact.

But why?

What did he do?

Who was Argaz exactly?

He looked down at his arm. His name was partly scratched off.

Actually, there was a third thing Argaz realized.

Atlantis wasn’t fully operational. The slow reboot of Argaz’s security protocols should’ve told him that. Oh, the city was still working, obviously. Most things on the surface were, at least. But the core functions of the living quarters, the sewage system, even the temperature control were all quiet. Which made sense since no was left to live in the city. Instead, the last of Atlantis’ power was focused on keeping itself pretty.

For who? Well, nobody of course.

Nobody and Nestor.

Their last stop, the place Argaz dreaded to visit the most, was the center of the city. In it was the ministry of the shamanic arts, a large building in the shape of a giant eyeball, as well as a fountain square where her statue was erected.

Her.

Argaz’s partner.

“I… shouldn’t be here,” Argaz mumbled, feeling his senses palpitate. “I should… go back to my watch.”

Nestor didn’t hear him. The man was running around the fountain as if searching for something.

[Even if… Bzzzzt… the masters are gone… Bzzzzt… I will remain here… Bzzzzt…azer.]

There it was again. The voice.

[It’s my duty… Bzzzzzt… As Atlantis’—]

“—final guardian.”

Argaz shook himself and saw Nestor standing in front of him with excitement dancing across his eyes. “It says right there,” the man said as he turned to point. “I guess it’s a statue of some kind.”

The two of them walked up to it.

There, sitting at the edge of a waterless fountain, was a lone automaton. She was fully armored with a golden breastplate, round pauldrons embedded with green and red gemstones, and spiked gauntlets and greaves that interlocked with her pistons. The only thing uncovered was her rusted face, round and mechanical, with glass eyes that held no light.

‘Sentinel’ was inscribed along the ridges of her neck.

“The solitary sentinel, huh?” Nestor said. Gone was the humor in his voice.

“That’s the title she decided,” Argaz said. “It was her designation. Sentinel. Most automatons were given names based on what we’re supposed to do. Hers was protecting the city.”

“But not you?” Nestor asked.

Argaz’s security protocols had finished loading. It took a while, but when he opened it to see his permissions… he had none. No control over the city’s defensive system whatsoever.

But more than that, the reboot process had restored bits of Argaz’s missing memories. His heart ached at its fullest.

“Her service… ended earlier than expected,” Argaz whispered.

Memories darted painfully at the edges of Argaz's mind. He dared not approach it before, no matter how much her voice called out to him. He could still ignore it if he chose to… but enough was enough. Not today. He needed to remember her before the day was over.

Argaz owed his wife at least that.

“It was a system malfunction…” Argaz remembered, his eyes transfixed to the past. He opened every protocol he could in his database to find the cause of the problem. “But nobody was left to fix it. My partner, she… she chose this place as her final resting place.”

And where, pray tell, did Argaz mean to find his?

The figure sitting in front of them wasn’t a statue. And today was supposed to be her final day.

Argaz wept. No rain or water washed his features, but inside his heart he wept just like he did that day. The day he decided to take on her role.

Eventually, the pain of losing her—of losing everyone—made Argaz crack. It made him delete his own memories. And after some time, he couldn’t even bear to step foot inside the city.

“Can’t even do one thing right,” Argaz said with a bitter laugh. “I’m a failure as an automaton.”

And he still couldn’t remember his full name. His true designation. His purpose. The one he abandoned for his partner’s sake.

Argaz blinked.

“Wait… where does it say ‘final guardian’?” Argaz said with a frown. When he looked up, Nestor was already a speck across the horizon, walking towards the spherical building north of the fountain.

“Let’s make that our last stop!” the man shouted, waving at him. “I want to see what’s inside!”

The ministry?

Argaz looked at Sentinel, then at the intruder that barge into his final day. Argaz could just stop here, sit next to his partner, and wither away with the city.

He held his partner’s hand one last time, then hurried after Nestor. That man still had someone to go back to. Argaz should at least see to it the intruder left Atlantis safely.

Argaz entered the ministry of the shamanic arts. He had never actually been inside this place before. Only the top shamans of Atlantis were ever allowed to.

Not that there was anything to see. Inside was a wide, empty space with nothing but a single elevator in the middle.

“You know what this place is, Argaz?” Nestor asked, standing next to him.

“I only know of the name,” Argaz admitted. “Shamans worked with spirits and magic. Clearly, there’s nothing here for either of us. We should leave. I don’t want us getting trapped here in case there’s a security system of some kind.”

“Eh, we’re gonna be fine.” Capricious as always, Nestor grinned at him and walked forward. “I want to see where that elevator leads!”

“But… I don’t know where it goes!” Argaz shouted.

“That’s the point!”

“But… what if its not safe? Don’t you want to go back to your partner? You’ve seen enough, Nestor. Let’s go back to the entrance.”

“Trust me, Argaz. This one’s for you.”

For… him?

“You haven’t seen it, right? This time, you’ll be surprised.”

Argaz hurried after the man, but before he could stop him, Nestor waved his hand at the elevator’s sensors and its doors opened.

How did—

“Let’s go,” Nestor said, nudging Argaz at the shoulder. “It’s almost nighttime!”

Argaz looked back where they came from, clicked his non-existent tongue, then followed after the man.

“We’re going to be in so much trouble…”

When they reached the top of the building, Argaz realized that he was right on his second guess.

The ministry of the shamanic arts was, in fact, in charge of the shroud that hid Atlantis from the rest of the world.

From the giant eye situated in the middle of the ancient city, a concentrated power of magic shot into the sky, covering all of its wonders in a veil that distorted reality.

At least, that’s how it was depicted in the large image floating in the center of the room. Next to it was a pedestal with a spherical machine the size of an apple. It gleamed with a prism of silvery light, projecting images and instructions on how the shroud was operated.

Had they been in this room three millenniums past, there might have been shamans and automatons guarding the place.

Nestor moved closer to the sphere.

“What are you doing?” Argaz asked.

“Hold this for me, will you?” Nestor said, shoving his umbrella into Argaz’s hands. The man then grabbed the sphere and lifted it.

Immediately, the roof of the building opened, revealing the luminous sky that shrouded the city. From up here, Argaz could see the tendrils of silvery smoke shifting in weird patterns, forever hiding Atlantis from the rest of the world.

“Have you ever considered that it goes both ways?” Nestor asked.

Before Argaz could say a word, the sky wobbled, followed by the rest of the city.

“W-What’s happening?” Argaz said, trying to maintain his balance. “What have you done!”

“The world is as much shrouded from you as this place is for everyone else out there!”

Had Nestor been a Lemurian spy all along? A saboteur from Mu? He was definitely not a person who wandered in here by accident.

Could Argaz do anything about it? He wasn’t really a sentinel. What could he even—

The sky split in half. Straight down the middle, the prismatic shroud dissipated, revealing behind it…

An ocean of stars.

The outside.

No, the world.

The light of a trillion suns shimmered against Argaz's eyes. He’d never seen anything so beautiful. So... real.

“Do you remember it now?” Nestor said, his voice suddenly old and familiar. “The name I gave you. It’s in there between the rust and scratches.”

Argaz’s true purpose. The directive he abandoned to fulfill someone else’s.

It was the reason he stayed up in that watchtower after leaving the city. He fulfilled his new role as the city’s guardian, while also yearning for his true purpose.

“Stargazer,” he said.

It was what his master always wanted for him and the people of Atlantis. To go out there and see all this. To live life the way it was meant to be.

Argaz clutched the umbrella in his hands… and decided he needed no shroud going forward. He let it go.

He loved his partner.

He cherished this city.

He went above and beyond for both.

He thought it was the end. He was satisfied. But there was more to life than the past. Wonderful things awaited him so long as he lived.

A future.

“Is it okay for me to continue?” Stargazer heard himself ask. “To go out there and live life?”

Nestor was nowhere to be seen. The man that intruded upon what Argaz thought was his final day disappeared just as quickly. Perhaps to travel the world.

“Of course, you can,” a voice said in the wind. “It’s what I created you for.”