Hope

Chapter 11

Alice's POV

They agreed to a video conference. We even got Qin to join in on it. It hurt only being able to see him on the screen, and not in person. Won't be long till Pyrus will have to go help him. I keep telling myself it'll be worth it in the end. Just like trying to find a way to resolve the conflict with Aniavin instead of fighting them. So  here we were, sitting on the video conference with the Queen of Aniavin. 

The Queen of Aniavin was Queen Marshia Lensworth. She looked to be rather close to my age. Her mouse brown hair was curled and pinned away from her face. She wore a deep purple dress and a silver tiara. "Thank you for meeting with us Queen Marshia," Shelton said with a nod. "We are sorry we couldn't meet in person, but given our current situation, we found this to be more convenient." She nodded, "I understand you don't trust our intentions King Shelton. After our previous methods though, I understand. I do want you all to know, that when that happened, I was not in charge of my people yet." "Who was," Cindy asked her curiously. "My older sister," Queen Marshia said. "When I learned of what would happen if she used the Blood Stone to give our people magic, that it would keep our bloodline from being able to use magic, I stepped in and ensured she couldn't go through with her plans. I have a newborn son who I would like to teach the benefits of being able to use magic, and I can't do that if she uses the blood stone. I am all open for suggestions on how we can come to a peaceful alternative. However, I don't doubt your claims regarding using the stone, my advisor and several members of my court on the other hand do. They also question your intentions." 

"Our intentions are simple," I told her. "We don't want a war. We don't want any blood shed. We are making our own lands, and we want it to be a new start for us and our people. We understand the pain your people have because no ley lines run through your land, however, if you remove the ley lands from North America, it will cause the whole continent to sink rapidly like Atlantis did many centuries ago. Usually ley lines are able to form naturally when you have people who can use magic, residing somewhere, because the magic people carry unconsciously make it. However, there is a special mineral that cuts off all kinds of magic, and it's most likely what is causing the ley lines from forming. We are wanting to either help you remove the mineral which could take an incredibly long time, or help you find a new place to move, like we currently are doing. We'll make your land in a place where ley lines already are." 

She nodded, "I see." She seemed to study us as a few in the background were arguing. "I believe I know where this mineral is that you speak of," She said after a moment. "We have a temple made of a stone we can't find anywhere on the island. It's black in color with flecks of red scattered throughout it. The temple isn't all that large either. It's about the size of a small one story cabin. The temple was built when we first came here. Originally, settling on the land was to be a prison for us, forced to be here by others, and the temple was to be a reminder of the sins of our people. It is possible the people who put our people here knew of the properties of the stone, and as part of our punishment used it to make the temple." 

"Sins for what," Nathaniel asked her. She shrugged, "It's been so long. The reason forgotten as time passed since it was before paper and writing were a thing. I do know however, that the stone for the temple had been brought here, meaning it wasn't originally from our lands." "Do you know who put your people on the island," Cindy asked her next. "The Atlanteans," she answered. Now that was rather interesting, I thought. "Atlantis sank because they had their ley lines stripped from their lands," Qin told us. "Anyone know why?" 

"The Atlanteans were very well gifted in the art of magic," I said as I tried to recall what I learned in the academy. "They had created many things never seen in the world before. It is possible they made the stone themselves to keep the Aniavins from using their magic. Atlanteans didn't have the nicest of Gods, and for some reason one of the Gods stripped them of their ley lines, which caused them to sink."