• Kailan grasped his spear tightly, blinking into the sun that masked the arrival of the people from across the sea. He never did like newcomers; his people were better off keeping to themselves. These people, these Phoenicians, meant them no good. All outsiders sought to destroy any power that seemed a threat to them, and Kailan's people were certainly a threat. His people were more advanced, more highly trained, and more civilized than these mere cavemen who sought to learn from and defeat the strongest force in the known world.
    His blood-brother, Hisho, stood next to him. "I do not like these newcomers," he muttered to Kailan. "They thirst for a knowledge that should not be given to them."
    "I was thinking the same thing."
    "Why does Toukar allow them?"
    "Because he is old; his silly beliefs in a unified world are as mad as he is."
    "You insult the Highest One?"
    "I insult an old man who has long passed his time."
    "Boys!" A voice shouted from behind them. The two whipped around to find their adoptive mother standing with her hands on her hips and a look on her face that would frighten any warrior.
    "Yes, ma?" They both said sheepishly.
    "Get down there and welcome our guests. Besides that, you may learn from them as much as they will certainly learn from you."
    "Hisho is the one who knows their language," Kailan said. "Send him."
    "And you are attached at his hip, so you must go as well, no?" She cocked her head, inviting him to argue more. When no further disagreement came, she barked, "Hurry!"
    The two teenagers quickly unfurled their massive feathered wings and leaped off the edge of the thousand-foot cliff that overlooked the northeastern shore of the island of Atlantis.