Truth.

The light faded, and he was gone.

She looked around her. The door was closed, and so were all the windows. She was alone.

“Jeezuz.” She collapsed on the couch and sat there in deep thought for a while.

“What the fuck?” She muttered and picked up the globe and stared at the border he made. There was a burn mark on the map where his fingers had traced. It was quite large, extending form the south-western corner of Britain, in a thin strip of land, before enlarging into a massive stretch of land that extended down the south of the Atlantic almost up to the equator. “The God of Fire.” She whispered and traced the burn mark on the map. Seeing that burn mark reminded her of her half-burned lab-coat. “Oh God.” She said again as she saw how badly it was burnt. She quickly took it off to inspect her arm for any injuries. There weren’t any.

She inspected Zohl’Noush’s continent on the globe again.

“Ardalis.” She whispered. “Atlantis. Hmm.”

“Theres nothing there.” He was back, and he was standing behind her. She didn’t get a start this time. She just turned around and looked at him calmly.

He was staring at her like he was going mad. His hair was dripping wet, and he just stood there like a lost boy with no toys. “Theres nothing there.” His voice was as thick as a widow’s. “nothing.” He said again.

He collapsed to the floor. “Oh, Gods. My Elta. Elta.” Elise knelt down next to him. “Do you know Elta?” he looked at her suddenly like he insanely hoped she might know something.

“No, Zohl’Noush, I don’t know Elta.”

“Oh, Gods! Elta!” He was crying now. “Elta.” He said the word like he could taste it, and he didn’t want to stop tasting it because it was fading away quickly.

He was sobbing for a while, and Elise didn’t know what to do. She just sat there with her arm awkwardly strung over his back as he knelt there with his face and arms in the floor, crying like a nothing that had lost everything. A God of Fire that cries. She tried not to look at the humor in the situation.

He looked up at her eventually. “How long has it been gone?”

“Ardalis? Your island in the Atlantic? Um..” She hesitated again. “Zohl’Noush, it was never there. Well, not in our recorded history, anyway. If it was there, it was gone long before we started recording history.”

“You mean you weren’t even civilized yet when we were lost?”

“uhh..” She didn’t know what to say. “Listen, Zohl’Noush. There is this one legend about a city called Atlantis. I don’t know if it’s a city or continent, or what. But there is a really old legend about this place called Atlantis that was somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean thousands of years ago. They say the gods weren’t happy with the people that lived there, so they destroyed it by sinking it into the oceans.”

“Atlantis.” He said.

“Well, I figure it sounds pretty similar to Ardalis.” She replied. “Atlantis. Ardalis. You know. Names can distort over thousands of years. Go figure.”

He sat silently for a while.

Forgotten

“huh.” He said with some interest. “You people have advanced so amazingly. I supposed this area is what you call Africa, then.”

“Yes.” She actually smiled.

“Interesting.” He paused. “Anyway,” he turned the globe towards the Atlantic Ocean. “This is where I live.” He stopped at the Atlantic Ocean. “What? This is wrong.”

“What?” She looked at him.

“No, this cant..” He swallowed and squinted his eyes. “Ardalis. Ardalis is right here.” He outlined a large border in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. “Why doesn’t this stupid model show Ardalis?” He looked at her with panicked eyes.

“That’s the Atlantic Ocean, Zohl’Noush.” She said to him. “Theres nothing there.”

“No, no, there is. Ardalis. Your map is missing a whole continent. It shows only six of them. How can they forget Ardalis? Give me another map.”

“Zohl’Noush, theres nothing in the Atlantic Ocean. Its just an ocean.”

“Show me another map!” he was roaring again, and his eyes blazed a green fire.

She stared at his eyes in shock for a while.

“Show me!”

She scrambled for her atlas and showed him.

The man slumped forward. “What in Hel?” his voice was thick. “Why is it…? Oh Gods! Is it me?”

“What do you mean?”

Everything suddenly flashed to white, and Elise screamed. She stumbled back blindely and crashed into her TV unit which buckled from the force and almost toppled over. She squinted through the blindling light. “ZOhl’Noush?” She screamed “What the hell are you doing?”

The light faded, and he was gone.

She looked around her. The door was closed, and so were all the windows. She was alone.

Part Four: Ardalis

“I assumed I must have been on another planet. Things here are so different. I’ve never heard of this South Africa.”

“Where are you from, then?”

“I was in Ardalis just moments ago.”

“Where?”

“Ardalis.”

“Wheres that?”

He looked at her. “You’ve never heard of Ardalis.” It wasn’t a question. It was like he was pointing out how stupid that statement sounded.

“uh. No.”

He rubbed his face in his hand. “And yet we’re on earth.” He whispered. “Damn this!” He roared suddenly and smashed his fist into the table in front of him. “What in Hel is going on?”

The medical student jumped suddenly. It took an effort for her not to scream. The table was shattered into splinters. He broke it like it was a house of cards. “Temper temper.” She murmured in a shaking voice.

“Great Thinzar!” He said in an exasperated voice as he stood up. He turned to her suddenly. “Show me around this place.”

“where?” Her eyes darted around nervously.

“This place, you idiot! This South Africa!”

“uh..its a whole country.”

“Show me!” He roared, and she wasn’t about to argue.

He followed her to her car. He had some trouble opening the car door.

“What do you want me to do?” he sounded baffled.

“Open the door, and sit down like this.” She opened her door and sat down.
He said something quietly, but she couldn’t hear him behind the closed door. She leaned over and opened his door for him from the inside. “What?”

“I said what is this?”

“uh..this is a car. Where are you from?”
“Ardalis. A place I cannot believe you’ve never heard of.”

“Whatever. Are you going to sit down?”

Part Three: Beginings

He stared at her for a while. The professor huffed audibly but otherwise pretended they didn’t exist.

“Fine.” The man said eventually. “Lead the way, little sister.”

“Wait for me in the waiting rooms.” The Professor called after them as they left.

They walked out of theatre reception and into the patient waiting rooms. “Please have a seat. We’ll just wait for Prof Pretorius here.”

He sat down as he carefully appraised his surroundings. He acted like an alien that just landed on earth.

The medical student collapsed on the chair and took a deep breath. The first thing on her mind was how relieved she was to get out of that theatre. Then she wondered if she should share that with the man, but the terrified part of her that professors carved into her kicked in, and told her that she should always act with inhuman dignity, and show absolutely no signs of weakness or any real selfish emotion. Then she took that part of her and threw it out of her mind.

“God!, Its good to be out of there!” She breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back and stared at the ceiling. The man was awfully silent, she thought.

She sat up and looked at him, suddenly curious to get a closer look at the strange fellow who seemed to appear out of thin air.

He was already staring at her. It was too late to turn away now, and she just stared back.

“So!” She said eventually. “I’m Elise. Whats your name?” She tried to keep her voice as pleasant as possible. It was fake, as usual. She was becoming more and more like her professors every day.

“I am Zohl’Noush.”

There was an awkward silence, and Elise pinched herself for letting it happed. She tried to ignore the strangeness of his name and move on. “And where are you from, Zohl’Noush?”

“I am from Earth.” The man replied seriously.

She laughed. “No kidding!” His serious expression just made her laugh more. “Arent we all?” She looked at him, and he didn’t even crack the slightest smile. “Are you serious?” She laughed again, and this time, his lack of response wiped the smile right off her face. “um..this is earth.”

He looked at her for a while. “Where on earth?”

“uh..” She couldn’t believe this was actually the conversation they were having. She felt like she was reciting lines from a bad screenplay in a cheap movie. “We’re in South Africa. Where did you think we were?”

“I assumed I must have been on another planet. Things here are so different. I’ve never heard of this South Africa.”

“Where are you from, then?”

Part Two - Niceties

The nurse had just put her hand on his arm when he suddenly grabbed her by the throat and brought her face close to his. His eyes seemed to glow green, or perhaps it was a trick of the light. The medical student wasnt quite sure...

“What is this place?” He asked her. “Why are you dressed so strangely?”

“Hey! Let her go immediately!” The professor obviously felt like he was losing control of his all-controlled situation.

The man turned to the old professor without letting go of the woman. “Why are you so terrified?”

“Get out!” He roared.

“Why…are…you…so…terrified?” The man repeated himself slowly, patiently.

“Because you’re unsterile, you idiot! Your going to infect my patient, and he is going to die! Do you understand? You have to get out immediately!”

“I don’t understand you.” The man let the nurse go, and she seemed too terrified to do anything except back off into the corner and simply stare at him.

The medical student intervened at this point. “Prof, let me take care of him.”

“Go!” He agreed, and turned his back to the man. “Let me do my work, and I’ll handle that monkey as soon as I’m finished” He continued operating his patient as if nothing was happening.

The medical student took off her gloves and turned to the man “Sir?”

“You will address me as ‘my lord’, little sister.” The man growled.

“um. Okay, uh,” She still wore her mask, so her smile wasn’t visible. “Could you please do me a favour and follow me outside?”

“Why?” The man looked around him with some interest. “What is this place?”

"This is a operating theatre. That man on the table has been shot in the stomach, and we’re operating on him to save his life. Everything here has been specially cleaned to prevent him from getting an infection. You’re the only one here that hasn’t been cleaned, so you’re putting that man at risk of getting an infection now. This is why you need to come with me now. We don’t want him to die.”

He stared at her for a while. The professor huffed audibly but otherwise pretended they didn’t exist...

Part One - Alien

He was a presumptuous doctor. His name was Alden Pretorious, and he was in charge in that operating theatre.

“Sister, artery forceps please.”

He was in control, there was no doubt about that. He was professional beyond measure, and he made sure every little detail about everyone and everything in that room was recorded, controlled and within acceptable limits.

And that was his problem. Life was figured out. Hope was a thing for children, and the world was a tiny place for him. Everything had been measured, and anything unmeasured was unimportant and a plaything for the ignorant. He knew all that mattered, and he was always right. Naturally. He was a life-saver.

A medical student stood opposite to him, holding the patient’s wound open while he operated. The student had that look of feigned enthusiasm on her face, but the mask of fake excitement was faded by six years of 30-hour calls and intense study sessions like a cliff-face exposed to years of crashing waves.

It was a normal theatre day. Everything was boringly normal. Lives were being saved, which was a great thing, and students were crapped on like slaves, which was not such a great thing.

Everything was sterile. Every thing and person in that room had either scrubbed or changed into sterile clothe-covers or both. Nothing non-sterile existed in that room, until the flash of fire came.

There was a green flash in the corner of the room, and a tall man suddenly appeared in that spot. Long dark hair, and an uncanny green color in his eyes. He looked angry, and his clothes looked hand-made.

Everyone in the theatre-room froze and stared at him. He seemed just as shocked as them, even through his angry looking eyes.

The medical student, in her haze of tired thoughts idly wondered why he wore such strange clothes, when the no-nonsense shout of her professor tore through her undisciplined mind, and snapped them into a more responsible mode of thinking.

“What the hell are you doing here in non-sterile clothes?” He screamed like someone just ran over his dog. “Sister, get him out of here, now!”

One of the nurses approached him calmly as the professor continued his raving. He seemed to prefer to ignore the fact that the long-haired man had appeared out of nowhere.
“Who do you think coming in here like that? You’ve put this man’s life in jeopardy! I’m going to have you arrested for this, do you understand? You cant just…”

The medical student lost track of what he was saying at this point and was paying more attention to the mystery-man now.

The nurse had just put her hand on his arm when he suddenly grabbed her by the throat and brought her face close to his. His eyes seemed to glow green, or perhaps it was a trick of the light. The medical student wasnt quite sure...