quieter. We’ll go in about a month. I’m leaving for another expedition tomorrow and I need to consult, but as soon as I get back, we’ll go.»
«M-m-m,» said the boy, pursing his lips.
«Now go to sleep!»
«Okay…»
The boy turned to the wall and closed his eyes. «I’ll be able to see the mysterious past with my own eyes. And if I’m lucky, I’ll get answers to all my questions, or at least some of them,» thought Alkmen.
Through his thoughts, pictures from the past appeared, and the boy no longer distinguished between his imagination and dream. «Everything exploded and flew in different directions, but people still walked towards their death. It was hardest for them because they couldn’t fly or dodge, they didn’t have any extra protection. Kras lifted off into the air, not needing any additional flying devices. He unleashed all the power of his weapons at Vors and his flying machine shattered into pieces, sweeping away everything in its path, people, elephants, houses, and even hills. The force of the impact melted the stone, which flowed like thick tar and immediately solidified in fanciful shapes at the base of the slope. The machine flew a few more meters and crashed into a wall, which instantly turned into a pile of stones, leaving nothing living around it for hundreds of meters. «Victory will be ours!» Kras shouted and ran towards the retreating enemy army. No one knew how the battle of super warriors might end, it was impossible to predict the outcome. Kras thought victory was only one step away, but from somewhere in the sky, Lars rose up and unleashed all his strength on Kras. Bright lightning bolts flew towards him and piercing rays of light. Kras’s protective shield cracked and exploded into small pieces a moment later. Kras fired his energy charge at Lars, but Lars dodged it, he was less vulnerable than flying machines. Kras had nothing to do but launch himself at Lars in hand-to-hand combat. He threw off his protective ring and pounced on Lars. They flew down together, crashed into a building, but the building didn’t stop them. They flew further, leaving ruin behind. The building fell apart like a house of cards in different directions. The enemy army stopped and froze, waiting for the outcome of the battle between the two best warriors. Kras’ warriors stopped too, and for a while, silence hung in the air, and ash began to dissipate. After a while, Kras emerged on the surface. «Hurrah!» thundered from all sides. The enemy retreated again. The boy woke up in cold sweat. «Incredible, it was just a dream,» he said out loud, wiping the sweat from his forehead. «It was like going to the cinema, and Kras is a hero, he still won. I have to ask my father what kind of weapons they used and what they flew on.» But I couldn’t ask my father, he left on another expedition at night.
Chapter 2. The Legend of the City of Gods
The next day, Alcmene couldn’t think of anything else. The unexpectedly revived city of the Gods in his imagination did not let him rest. «Snow-white walls of majestic buildings, columns must be there, many columns. The streets are paved with huge stone slabs. Flying apparatus in the air, and people walking freely on the streets, with self-driving carriages passing by them,» he thought, closing his eyes. For some reason, he was strongly convinced that the city looked exactly like this and not otherwise, as if he had already been there before. Right now, it seemed to him that he even knew the layout of the streets and could confidently navigate it. In reality, it was only his vivid imagination.
«I need to find any information about this city. Dad said that the City of Gods was destroyed and only legends remained. But if it is known about it, then something else must exist,» he guessed.
Alcmene quickly had some sandwiches for breakfast and got ready to go. He headed towards the library. They had a very good library in their university town, with books for any period and any need. They lived in a small town near the university where his father worked – he was a renowned scientist. In the town, which its residents called «university town», everything necessary for life was available: their own store, laundry, dry cleaning, hair salon, and a very good library. It was probably the best library, which even had scrolls from the Library of Alexandria, but access to them was limited. Only those who worked directly on the excavations in Alexandria could use the scrolls. The town even had a museum.
«We only have ruins and fragmentary information. But we know that they had self-driving carriages in the city, and flying machines in the sky. Dad said that the inhabitants of the city knew how to control time, which doesn’t sound like a primitive structure of a community. Something tells me that the world was very different from what is described in our history textbooks. They had highly advanced technologies, and the word «Gods’ cannot justify that,» Alcmene thought on his way to the library.
The library building was located around the corner from their house, so it was a short walk. And the whole town wasn’t very big, there were only two main streets intersecting at the point where the university was located. The university building was like a palace done in antique style. It was gray in color, but very majestic, towering over all the other buildings, as if showing its significance. It was like a lighthouse in this world of knowledge. In front of it was a small square with a fountain, and across from the university was the museum building, which was sometimes visited by tourists. There were no more sights in the city. On the one hand, living in such a small town was very convenient, there was no need to go anywhere, everything was within walking distance, but on the other hand, every day turned into one big day. Nothing changed around.
The library building was done in the same antique style, but it was less imposing, although it also inspired confidence. On the upper portico was a huge bas-relief of Calliope, the goddess of ancient Greece’s arts.
The boy approached the library building and habitually raised his head. Ever since he learned about the bas-relief of the Goddess Calliope, he stopped in front of the building and greeted her as if he knew her. You could say it became a tradition for him. «I wonder if everyone knows about her existence or not,» he thought and entered the library. Before him was a huge vestibule that could easily hold half of the books in the library. At the entrance was a desk with Dorsey checking passes, since entry into the library was by passes. Alcmene was a frequent visitor to the library and had a special pass.
As the boy walked into the reading room on the second floor, he began to look at the bookshelves. At that moment, an unfamiliar young woman approached him. He was a little taken aback, as he knew perfectly well everyone who lived in their small town near the university, and he had never seen this woman before.
«Hello! Can I help you with something?» the unknown woman asked politely with a friendly voice.
«Hello! I need a book about the Destroyed City of the Gods,» Alcmena quickly replied.
The woman nodded and walked along the bookshelves. «She didn’t ask me exactly what kind of destroyed city of gods it was. Only my father and I know about it. Strange,» the boy thought to himself, but didn’t show it.
«Who is she?» he whispered. «It’s as if the City of the Gods appeared in this library,» he thought.
Before this, Mrs. Marge had worked in the library, but she disappeared like the residents of the Destroyed City of the Gods. The woman disappeared from view. Alcmena looked between the bookshelves and pondered, «I feel like I’ve been transported to another time and space. I’ve been transported to another world where they can tell me about the City of the Gods.» The boy’s imagination took over again and he couldn’t stop. It seemed very strange to him that Mrs. Marge was not in her place and an unknown woman was in her place instead. In reality, there was nothing surprising about it. Sometimes in life, if something is supposed to happen, it will definitely happen.
Soon the stranger returned, with the book in her hands.
She handed him the book. «Thank you,» he said, taking the book and thanking the woman.
«Why don’t I know you?» Alcmena asked.
«I don’t know,» the woman shrugged in response.
The boy looked at her and left the reading room. He