Fever

Next morning. The mood was vigorously gloomy, for multiple reasons.
First, Ags’s condition got worse. During the night his fever escalated, and he was sweating so hard, that the other two could squirt bottles of water from his blanket. So, before doing everything else in the morning, they pulled the hippie dragon in the bathroom, and let the ice cold shower pour on him. Ags was howling in agony: the fever was bad enough, clouding his mind, burning his muscles, but now – as the shower seemed extremely colder for him in this condition – the chill pierced to his bones. He felt unable to move, just curled up in the cabin, shaking, given such a vulnerable and pathetic impression, than never before. Renato tried to give him some emotional support:
-It’ll be all better, buddy. This is for your own good. Just two more minutes to bare. Ags was weeping in his agony:
-I’m gonna fucking die by that time! Renato pat his shoulder:
-At least you didn’t fully lost your humor. There, there…

As soon as he got dried, redressed in Renato’s spare pyjamas, and drugged with antibiotics, Ags was wrapped again in a fresh new blanket. He fell asleep right away. The whole scenery was just enough to break the ice between the other two – since the mood was really blue since their argument last night.
-Poor devil – Renato shook his head – he’s in deep mess this time.
-He’ll be just getting better from this point- affirmed Casey – the meds and his dragon mojo will do the trick.
-What about his willpower?- Renato was a bit doubtful- if we take out his sleepwalk, the last time we saw him, he was deeply desperate. Cez hummed, but didn’t reply.
“That settles it”- thought Reno- “He will get better physically, but saving his soul would require his cooperation… if he wishes to cooperate, that is”

-We should carry on with our part of the plan, in the meantime- said Casey all the sudden. Right… Ags was out of the question. But Renato could still proceed with the hypnosis. He set on the floor, legs below his body, with a posture that kinda gave him a respectful look:
-Okay… don’t go easy on me. Casey grinned for a short moment:
-Believe me, I won’t. Renato closed his eyes.

The bat began to hum on a semi-loud tone. Renato started to loosen himself on the smooth melody. First it seemed like a vocal-test before singing… then slowly he observed the well-known bat chirps within the humming. Finally, the whole melody has slowly turned into a lullaby. He didn’t completely lose himself though – he felt a massaging, buzzy and warm feeling growing on his forehead, spreading over his eyes, then fully covering his head…

The three rings of land and three rings of water… almost perfect concentric circles, with small cuts of canals here and there. Different quarters on different rings: the inner, the despotic and imperial ring, then the middle ring of the merchants and craft artists, and the outer ring of military. From the outer ring a wide canal led out in the open, towards the ocean. He looked around: the huge city was surrounded by steeped hills covered in thick flora. And all over that vivid fauna… the endless desert…

He woke up from the hypnosis all the sudden, gasping for air, ventilating for minutes. Cez stood up in excitement, examining her ex from a safe distance:
-What happened? What did you see there? As soon as Renato could catch his breath, he replied:
-I have found Atlantis – he stood up, looking directly into Casey’s eyes, and smiled victoriously – I know where it is. We need to go there, right away!