Lost City, Lost Kingdom, Lost Soul - Orm (Aquaman)

I - Legend of Atlantis

Atlantis.

Having long fallen into human myth and legend, one that was a confirmed fantasy.

Tatiana didn't believe it. Not a word of it.

Her motto was that every myth had to come from somewhere. After all, why would it be a myth in the first place? All myths had foundation in truth, usually ancient truths.

Ancient civilizations captivated her, often so ahead of their time, often so clever, and so very intriguing.

How their myths spoke of how the world and all within it emerged.

How they managed to build great structures without any modern equipment: great pyramids, statues. Cities.

Cities. One of which had been consumed by the sea long ago, and was presumably still beneath the glittering depths, waiting to be found.

Or not. After all, it had been centuries upon centuries, and still little-to-no trace of Atlantis had been found, had surfaced.

Until now.

Her search for the fabled kingdom had taken her around the world, from her homeland of Greece, to Egypt, across Europe, and now to North America, to a small coastal village, Amnesty Bay, Maine, which had recently exploded with speculation of the truth of Atlantis's existence, including an Atlantean who walked among them, the 'Aquaman'. This was the start of a six-month contract search with a salvaging company, led by her, Dr. Tatiana Andreas.

This was one of the many aspects she loved of this job, the travel, seeing places she never thought she would see otherwise. Archaeology had taken her to the farthest corners, the tiniest points. And she loved every minute of it. Nothing compared to the thrill the searching gave her.

That was why she hated to admit it, but she was becoming frustrated with her current search. During other projects and digs, Atlantis had always been in the back of her mind, it never left her. That and she was nervous.

What happened when she did find it? Redefined history for the world!

And if she didn't? What if all this excitement over the 'Aquaman' turned out to be nothing but further continuation of the myth? This was the most nerve-wracking.

No, she would find it. She would. She had to.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Vulko had promised him a cell with a view, and that was exactly what he got.

It was the perfect view really, the glowing city centre, colourful ships floating by, cutting rainbow, bioluminescent paths through the water. It was close enough that he could recognize certain people passing by, including his mother, Vulko, Arthur, and Mera. Mera was always easy to spot, her bright red hair and emerald suit, and Arthur with his long hair that he didn't pull back, unlike Orm (Orm sometimes imagined Arthur's hair getting caught on coral and rocks). The Trident of Atlan always glowed in all its golden brilliance in his hand.

Orm grit his teeth at the thought of it and turned away from the cell window. Instead of admiring the view, which really meant staring his defeat in the face, he began to pace his cell, back and forth, back and forth, eyes focused on the ground, which was how he spent a lot of his time in the three weeks he had been here.

Upon looking back up, he nearly jumped.

His mother stared back at him.

No guards had come to alert him of a visitor (she must have requested so) and she had been so quiet in entering the dungeons that she had snuck up on him.