The Fountain of Lemuria - A Story for Lundo

The Fountain of Lemuria - A Story for Lundo

The central fountain of Lemuria was a pleasant site for any visitor. Its magic gave the citizens eternal youth, drinking from it restored vitality back to a time when it was easy to move, easy to think and easy to master new skills.

Of course, Lemuria wasn’t a place anyone knew about. So it never got any visitors. Its inhabitants were the same as they had been since time immemorial, caretaking the gift given to them millennia ago. If any human today knew about it, they’d likely destroy it, wage wars over its existence and…

“John… John, we found it!”

The two archeologists moved off of the boat as it came into the harbor of the legendary island. Around them were shocked civilians, all realizing the enormity of this event. Someone had found them, found the legendary island of Lemuria and its secrets.

“Maybe these people understand some form of body language we can use or…”

“We know English”

A booming voice moved its way through the crowd. A deer, nine foot tall and dominating the space with a cloak that covered his body, arrived in front of them.

“Oh! Well… Hello!” John responded. His fur stood on end, his skunk tail twitching in as his nerves started to kick in.

The deer stared back, his eyes a deep green that pierced into the archeologists.

“I’m Gina!” his partner piped up, her own squirrel features bouncing around. Their tails were nearly identical sizes and both wrapped around each other in solidarity as the crowd started to converge around them.

“You’re on the island of Lemuria” the deer started “We have never had visitors before. How did you locate us?”

John and Gina looked at each other and nodded “Well, no one believed us back home, but we discovered a way that ancient civilisations might have used four dimensional travel to hide themselves in pocket dimensions… and this was our best candidate for where one might be”

The deer raised his eyebrows “We are indeed an ancient civilisation but… four dimensional travel?”

“Our magic…” a fox behind him raised his voice “Our magic, our ways. They manipulate space, time and…”

“This is amazing!” Gina clapped her hands and grabbed John in a hug “They think it’s magic but it’s just complex science!”

The deer sighed and moved forward, his large frame bearing down on the pair “You need to leave”

“What?!” John responded, indignantly “We’re not leaving! We need to see this place! Otherwise others will document it before us!”

Murmurs in the crowd started up again.

“Others?”

Gina nodded “Yes, we’re not the only ones looking for this place…”

Pulling himself up straight the deer looked pensive for a second. John and Gina looked around at the crowd, who were now all talking loudly amongst themselves, concern visible across all their faces.

“Fine… I’ll show you around myself. My name is Lundo”

John and Gina both beamed “Thank you!”

“Follow me, stay close behind” the deep voice of the deer seemed to part the crowd as he led them through the courtyard.

Before he could take much more than a few steps, however, Johns voice came from behind him.

“Wait, what’s that?!”

Lundo looked at what had drawn the mans attention

“That is the fountain of Lemuria. It has blessed us since this place was created, allowing us to…”

A ping of metal shot through the air as a coin flew past the deer's face. It landed with a plop into the water, slowly sinking down towards the bottom of the pool beneath it.

“It’s got to be a magical fountain!” Gina cried, running towards it “I bet if I make a wish it’ll…”

“Stop! Immediately!” Lundo grabbed the squirrel and moved her away “This fountain revitalizes us, providing us with eternal youth and…”

“Eternal youth?” John responded “That’s a fantastic wish!”

“Yeah!” Gina replied as well.

Lundo was not nearly as amused as the two of them, his face turning to a snarl “I think you two are…”

Before he could continue he watched as the squirrel he now had in his arms started to slowly shrink. Her clothes began to fall away from her, her eyes glazing over.

“You fools…”

He placed Gina down on the floor, his eyes turning to John.

“What… what’s happening?”

“Her wish is coming true, I suppose” Lundo replied “Lemuria’s population is the same as it was millennia ago. We have never had visitors, and now, we won’t have any more than you two.”

John looked down at himself as the same effect started to take hold. His eyes glazed over in the same way as his clothes shrank, falling away from him as he started to hear the cries of his partner.

“Take the squirrel away to the midwives. She’ll need clothing and suitable undergarments to prevent…”

He was interrupted by the patter of liquid on stone. Gina had regressed to an age where control of her bodily functions had clearly left her unable to contain the contents of her bladder.

“I suppose the undergarments are less urgent now. At least for her. The skunk will need them as soon as possible.”

John’s thumb went into his mouth, looking up at the now enormous bodies of the crowd. Lundo knew what this meant, of course. There was a reason why the residents of Lemuria only asked for the blessing of the fountain when their lives were close to an end. When your mind was full, your body breaking at the seams and a feeling of malaise set in.

For these two, it didn’t matter whether or not they’d wanted a new life on Lemuria. It would be all they knew soon. The first new additions to the population in thousands of years.

One day more of their kind would come to the island, Lundo thought to himself. But the solution to that problem had been much closer to home than he’d have ever imagined.