The Battle for Sanctuary: The Titan's Legacy: Vol: 2 (Volume 2) (41 page)

Seeing
his favorite avatar on the playing surface, the minotaur, made Justin
feel nostalgic and he remembered the minotaur Sentinel from the top
level, who had responded to his call for help when Sanctuary had
first been attacked. I wonder what happened to him and the other
ones, he thought. I must ask Fitzgerald about them when I get a
chance. Then he focused on the game once more.

The two
friends lost track of time and they were surprised when Dhalena
peeked into the room to announce that dinner was ready. When they
looked over at her, confused, she just rolled her eyes and grinned as
she left the room.

“
Wow,
I'm starving,” Aaron suddenly realized.

“
Yeah,
me too. This game is so addictive,” Justin said. “C'mon,
let's eat.”

They
turned off the game, got up and headed for the dining room.

As they
entered, they saw that the rest of the teens were already sitting
around the table and serving themselves from several bowls in the
middle of the table. Whatever it was, it smelled amazing.

“
Hey
guys, what were you up to?” Jason said as he was serving
himself.

“
They
have an Arena game here,” Aaron said enthusiastically. “It's
the best! And you kind of lose track of time when you really get into
it like Justin and I do.” As he sat down, he sniffed loudly.
“Wow, what smells so good?”

“
Stew
of some kind,” Maria said after she swallowed. “It's
amazing. And corn bread, stewed peaches; all kinds of stuff. Dhalena
is a fantastic cook.”

“
I
heard that,” Dhalena's voice called from another room. “And
thank you!”

The
group laughed and Justin and Aaron started eating. Maria was right.
The food was excellent. Justin did wonder briefly why neither of
their hosts had eaten a meal with them but soon forgot about it as he
enjoyed his dinner.

When the
bowls were empty and everyone looked rather full, Justin pushed back
from the table and sighed contentedly.

“
That
was great,” he said smiling.

“
Definitely,”
Aaron agreed. He looked over at Maria. “So where did you and
Richard and Jason go while we were playing Arena? See anything
interesting?”

Maria
nodded vigorously. “Absolutely.” She was still finishing
her meal and waved at Richard to explain.

“
Well,
when we left the house, we ran into this female servitor named, what
was it, Jason?”

“
Elspereth,
I think,” Jason replied. “Some weird names these guys
have.”

“
Yeah,
that was it,” Richard continued. “Anyway, Elspereth asked
if she could help us and we said sure, we were looking at the sights
and could she direct us. Well, she more than directed us. She took us
on a tour.”

“
This
place is awesome,” Jason said, cutting Richard off. “She
took us to this, I guess you'd call it a Titan museum. Wild place,
guys.”

“
Wild
place? What's so wild about a museum?” Aaron scoffed with a
crooked grin.

Jason
gave Aaron a withering look. “I know museums are usually
boring, Aaron, but trust me, this place is different.”

Justin
was intrigued. He looked at Maria who nodded solemnly as she chewed.

“
Tell
us about it, Jason,” he said. Jason had stopped talking and was
glowering a bit at Aaron, who just smirked.

“
Fine
then. If you won't tell them, Jase, then I will,” Richard said
firmly. He looked seriously at Justin. “The place is immense
and there are rooms dedicated to each of the founding Titans. Even,”
he hesitated then rushed on, “even Hyperion and his evil wife,
Theia.”

Justin
felt a rush of anger at the thought, but didn't say anything. It
wasn't Richard that he was angry at, after all.

“
The
main hall is filled with murals and carvings showing life in
Atlantis. It even shows some of the Titan's creations.”

“
Yeah,
they have those ugly gorgons for a start,” Jason broke in,
unwilling to let Richard tell the whole story. “And the
minotaurs are in there a lot.” He frowned and looked at his
friend. “Rich, was it just me or were there a lot of paintings
of minotaurs and Cronus together?”

“
Hmm,
I hadn't really noticed,” Richard replied thoughtfully. “But
now that you mention it, yeah, you're right.”

“
Wait.
Cronus and minotaurs?” Justin asked with interest. “What
was he doing with them?”

“
You
tell him, Jase. I really didn't notice them,” Richard said.

“
Well,
let's see. In some of the pictures, Cronus was just talking to one or
two of them. Um, there was one where he and a bunch of minos were
fighting something; a giant snake or something, I think? And, oh
yeah, a cool one where Cronus was in a forge beating on an anvil and
there was a minotaur handing him a sword or something. I liked that
one.”

“
What
else was in there, guys?” Julia spoke up. “Anything about
Tethys, my ancestor?”

“
Mine
too,” Yolanda added.

“
Yes,
guys,” Maria answered as she pushed her plate away, finally
finished eating. “She had a lovely room to herself.”

As Maria
described things to the girls and Aaron, Justin was caught up in
thoughts about Cronus and minotaurs.

Why do
minotaurs keep coming up, he wondered. And why was he so drawn to
them? Was it in his blood? That would be weird. He thought of his
conversation with Fitzgerald earlier and how the man had hinted that
the minos outside of Prometheus' jail had let him get away. Did that
have something to do it, being related to Cronus?

Justin
was frustrated. Too many questions, not enough answers. But he was
sure of one thing.

“
Maria,
I'd like to see this museum. Could you and the guys take us there?”

Looking
a bit startled at his insistent tone, Maria smiled and nodded.

“
Sure, Justin. Did you want to go now?”

“
Absolutely,”
Justin said firmly.

Aaron
groaned. “Great. I'm so stuffed, I could probably roll there!”

“
No
problem, Aaron. Jason and I will be happy to do the rolling,”
Richard said with a laugh. Everyone else joined in.

“
No
thanks, Rich,” Aaron replied. “You guys would enjoy that
too much!”

After a
quick stop to thank Dhalena for another great meal, the group headed
outside. Maria led the way through the nearly deserted streets. The
smell of flowers was thick in the air and the few servitors they did
see were working diligently in their gardens.

“
You
know, for machines, these guys sure do like growing things,”
Yolanda observed as they waved to yet another gardener.

“
I've
stopped thinking of them as machines,” Maria said. “They're
people, that's all. Different from us, yes, but still people. After
all, we aren't human either, are we?”

“
Hmm,
good point,” Yolanda answered thoughtfully.

Several
minutes and a half dozen turns later, the teens entered a square
centered by a cheerfully bubbling fountain. Across the square, a
stately building fronted by four stone columns rose up before them.

“
That's
it, Justin,” Maria said. “That's the museum.”

“
Awesome.
It's the biggest building I've seen here so far.” Aaron sounded
impressed.

“
Let's
go in,” Richard said eagerly. “It seems even bigger on
the inside.”

The
large double doors opened for them as they approached, but as they
entered the building, there was no sign of anyone.

“
Was
it empty of people when you guys came in last time?” Justin
asked.

“
Yes.
Except for Elspereth, who came in with us. She said that everyone in
town had been in here numerous times and that no one really came in
anymore, except to dust occasionally.”

They
walked into a central hub. The room was dominated by a pillar that
stretched up to the ceiling three stories above their heads. On the
pillar's surface, titanian writing said that the museum was dedicated
to the founders of the Titan race. And beneath the dedication was a
motto: We Stand When Others Fall.

“
We
stand when others fall,” Justin murmured.

“
Wonder
what that means?” Aaron asked.

“
Well,
we know that Titans can take more physical punishment that any other
creature. I think it means that Titans will always outlast their
enemies.”

“
Yeah?
I like that idea,” Aaron said with a grin at Justin.

“
Okay,
so which room do you guys want to see first?” Maria asked as
she waved toward the many arches leading off of the main room.

Justin
squinted at the writing above each arch and saw that the names of the
founding Titans were carved there, one to a room.

“
Coeus,”
Aaron said quickly.

“
Tethys,”
Julia and Yolanda said together.

And
Justin finished with “Cronus, of course,” and laughed. “I
thought we'd all say that. Let's just go wherever each of us wants
to. No reason to go to each room as a group.”

“
Sounds
good, Just,” Aaron smiled. The others agreed and everyone
scattered toward different rooms.

Justin
made his way slowly toward the archway marked as dedicated to Cronus.
As he entered the room, he felt a slight chill and shivered.

The room
was circular like so many in Sanctuary. The dome above his head was a
riot of images. Scenes ranged from a picture of Cronus sitting on a
throne facing a group of supplicants, to a confused battle scene
between Titans and some sort of monster that Justin couldn't
identify. But the far side of the domed ceiling was dominated by a
detailed painting of the fall of Atlantis itself.

Justin
caught his breath as he stared upward. The depiction of Atlantis in
flames, its beautiful white towers collapsing into ruin, hordes of
people running, screaming, dying was overwhelming. He blinked back
tears as he looked away. Did Cronus actually cause that, he wondered.
How could he? To save a world? It was a hell of a price to pay.

Justin
roamed around the room. There were many glass display cases holding
artifacts supposedly once owned by Cronus. Beautiful hand-written
scrolls, a set of smithing implements, well used, clothing and robes
so large that Justin remembered the image of Cronus that Mr.
Fitzgerald had shown him months ago. The Titan had towered over
everyone in Atlantis, even his evil brother Hyperion. Surely he was
the largest person that ever walked the earth.

On the
far wall, hanging in a place of honor, was the weapon of Cronus.
Justin caught his breath and felt a sense of awe. It was the sickle
that Justin had seen him holding in a picture in the room where they
had tested their DNA, months ago.

He moved
closer to the weapon and finally stood beneath it and stared at it
closely. He hadn't noticed it in the picture, but only one side of
the weapon's head was bladed. The other side was blunt and square,
like a hammer. It was obviously meant to be held in two hands.
Strange symbols that were not written in titanian covered the head of
the weapon while the handle was wrapped tightly in leather strapping.

Justin
had an overwhelming urge to touch it, but it was protected by a glass
case secured to the wall. So he simply rested his hand on the glass
for a moment as if trying to feel the weapon within.

Cronus,
he thought. I need your strength now. We can't stay here. Our friends
need us. Sanctuary needs us. What do I do? How can I win?

He
stepped back with a heavy sigh and finally saw the suit of armor in
its case standing next to the sickle. Justin walked over and looked
at it.

It was
the same armor as Cronus wore in the battle pictured over his head.
Black iron? Perhaps. Or steel. But it was etched and inlaid with what
was obviously titanium. Justin glanced back at the sickle. Yep, the
symbols on the head of the weapon were also made of titanium. He
shivered. The sickle had been made to kill Titans.

The
armor was, of course, huge. There were several scuff marks and
scratches on it but it had been polished to a glossy shine. Justin
wondered in passing how all of these artifacts had been saved by the
servitors as Atlantis had been crumbling around them. He shrugged
and, reluctantly, turned and went to look for the others.

He found
Aaron looking over the artifacts of Coeus. Maria was with him.
Instead of a weapon on the far wall, a delicate quill carved out of
crystal was hung on the wall next to a rolled up scroll fastened with
golden clips. A rich blue robe hung inside a glass case next to it.

“
What's
the point of having a scholar as an ancestor, Maria,” Aaron was
saying as Justin joined them. “What could I do with a frigging
quill? Poke someone's eyes out? Write them a really nasty letter?
Geez!”

Justin
laughed and Aaron looked at him and rolled his eyes.

“
This
guy may have been smart, Just, but he certainly wasn't a fighter.”