The Proverbial War

"Feast upon the sight of our salvation boys! It is Lemuria itself, that ancient city of old, second only to Atlantis and it's ours ripe for the taking! With the power of this city behind us we can conquer all who oppose us! There will be no more meddling in our affairs or running from the likes of Sea People or fancy navy captains bent on blowing us to hell! We will rule here in Undersea and we alone!"

Her crew echoed her excitement and looked about ready to jump over the side and discover the emerging city for themselves.

"Whoa boys not so fast! If you are to take yonder city and enjoy its wonders then ya got to be a pledging yourself to the cause as I have."

"What cause be that Captain Sally?" One burly pirate asked suspiciously.

Captain Sally didn't take offense at his question, but shot right back with, "Why it's rebellion my lob eared floozy! Rebellion it is I say. That be my cause. Rebellion against God and man and any pathetic rules there may be!"

A pirate to the side of the pirate who'd just asked the first question burst out with, "Well dat be our lives now Captain Sally!"

Captain Sally gave a loud cackle in return and said, "Why so it be!"

Her face went from merriment to dead seriousness in the next instance as she said in a tone that didn't quite seem her own, "Now repeat after me and don't any of ya's leave a word out of this binding covenant!"

Half mesmerized by the city beyond and eager to explore it to discover what booty it may hold the crew repeated after the Captain and lost all hold on reality. Pledged over and demons welcomed in the weak natured pirates gave way to the vain personalities that hungered for even more conquest than they had.

The first road of conquest was to regain control of the city. As one the possessed pirates leaped over the side and began swimming for the fully emerged city that glistened beckoningly before them. The scroll lay discarded on the deck of the old galley no longer needed or of any worth. It was now blank and void of any of its former abilities

There was something that not even the Sea People had grasped about the scroll, which was where it had gotten its luminescent power. The demons of the past in an effort to preserve themselves and avoid the Deep had bound themselves as a last resort to the scroll itself.

They were chained no longer. Craftily they had avoided the deadly deluge that had destroyed so many of their kind. They'd even survived the trip into the sunken realm within the Earth itself, ever waiting for that someone who would completely read them out of the scroll and give them a new habitation in which to dwell.