Kida's Stories: An Atlantean Princess' Secrets
The Birds
By: Nedak

It was a wonderful morning in Atlantis! The whole city had woken up and giant birds were flying in the sky. A little girl, named Seliah reached the palace gates.

"Has the Princess woken up?" Seliah asked the guards. Suddenly, the palace gates opened.

"Seliah!" exclaimed the Princess. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I think we would go for hunting today. You promised me!"

Kida laughed. Seliah reminded of her when she was a little girl. "Very well, Mrs. Impatient. Go and tell your sister and Candrakash as I will be preparing myself. Hurry!"

"Yeess!!" shouted Seliah and started running. Kida went in her room. She combed her hair and took out her armor and spear. In a few minutes she was ready.

Selmakash (Seliah's sister), Candrakash and Seliah looked at her as Kida was coming down the palace staircase.

"Where are we going to hunt today?" asked Candrakash.

"Well, I think we could go somewhere we haven't hunted before. What about the Forest of Reflections?" suggested Kida.

"I think it's too dangerous for Seliah. I don't really know," murmured Selma.

"Pleeaase!!" begged Seliah as she was in floods of tears. "I will be really careful!"

Candra smiled peculiarly at Selma. "I believe that brave Princess Kida won't let Seliah get hurt!" Suddenly, Candra and Selma started running with the help of their spears.

"Guess who's gonna reach the Forest of Reflections first!" laughed Candra as she was disappearing beyond the trees.

"Oh, yeah?" thought Kida. "Seliah, come on!!" She took Seliah in her arms and started running like greased lightning. "I have a plan," said Kida, "and we will prove to them that you are the best huntress in Atlantis! Seliah, listen to me carefully!!"

In the meanwhile, Selma and Candra were already proud of their first game. It was a huge, white bird. Suddenly, Seliah appeared.

"What do you think about our game?" asked Selma.

Seliah didn't answer.

"Seliah, where's Kida?" asked Candra. Seliah smiled.

The Birds-Part II

Kida was behind a tree very close to them. The tree was full of White Birds. Then, Kida shook the tree's branches and all the birds started flying all over the forest. Seliah hurled her spear.

"Oh, my God! I can't believe this! I did it!!"

Kida came out of her hideout, as Candra and Selma were now speechless.

"No, way!" shouted Candra. "That little worm!" The company approached the game and Seliah took her spear out from the Bird. Then something very strange happened. The Bird was transformed into a very beautiful woman. She seemed dead, just like the Bird.

"What on earth?" said Kida as she was staring at the woman. Then, the woman's eyes shined and she disappeared.

"What's happening here?" asked Seliah. Kida approached Candra's and Selma's Bird and took out the spear. Another woman appeared and disappeared at the same time. Kida looked at the sky. The White Birds were flying away.

"I don't know what's happening here Seliah, but believe me, I'm gonna find out. And you'll come with me. All of you!"

"Don't worry, Kida, we'll take care of you!" said Selma.

They were walking through the forest, when they saw the swarm of the Birds flying in a very dark cave.

"This place must be the solution to the mystery!" whispered Kida.

"How do you know?" asked Candra.

"A little bird told me!" said Kida and smiled. Kida and company continued walking until they reached the cave.

The Birds-Part III

"Well, I'm going to get in first. If you hear my voice in the next 5 minutes, it'll mean that everything's O.K.," said Kida. Candra and Selma looked at each other with confusion, as Kida walked into the cave.

"Be careful!" shouted Seliah. 3 seconds later, they heard something like a scream.

"Does it mean that everything's O.K.?" asked Selma.

"Come on, we have no other choice!" said Candra. All of them looked the dark cave with fear, but they knew they should get in quickly. As they were walking in the cave, they felt the ground falling under their feet.

"Heeeyyy!!" shouted the girls as they fell deeper and deeper in a dark hole. When they reached down, they saw Kida's body on the ground, and an old woman above her. When they looked at the woman, they already were statues. Only little Seliah was hidden behind a big rock.

The Birds-Part IV

When Kida opened her eyes, she saw the old woman standing above her. "Oh, my Gosh!!Where am I? And...and who are you?" asked Kida.

The woman laughed. "Our little Princess is in a daze!" she said.

"Wait...I now remember! What were all those Birds? Who exactly are you?" asked Kida again.

"Please, let me introduce myself. Kassandra, Witch of Atlantis!"

Then, Kida looked at Selma and Candra. They were...stone! They really were statues! "What have you done to them?" said Kida angrily, threatening Kassandra with her spear. Suddenly, Kassandra's eyes shone and she turned Kida's spear into a snake. Kida threw it away quickly. Then, it became a spear again.

"Follow me, Kida," said Kassandra.

"How do you know my name?" asked Kida.

"Oh, I know more than you can imagine!"

They reached a big hall. The White Birds were all in huge cages. "What do you do with all those Birds?" asked Kida.

"Now, there's a little trick, Princess. They may look like birds. They may behave like birds. But they are NOT birds!"

Kida looked at the Birds. They seemed very sad. Then she looked in the Birds' eyes. She felt tears coming. "Oh, no! It can't... it can't be!"

"So, you understood as I see. But I want to make things clear. These are the Princesses of our past. Their souls only are in the Birds' bodies. Their real bodies are in ice...over there!" Kida looked at the bodies. They really were Princesses! They were looking so beautiful, but also so frozen and...dead.

"And... now what do you want from them?" asked Kida confused.

"Only when I have the souls of ALL Atlantean Princesses I will be the ONE PRINCESS OF ATLANTIS! Young, beautiful, powerful, everyone will love me and I will rule them all! Only one Princess was missing...till now!" Kassandra cackled.

"Oh, no!" thought Kida.

The Birds-Part V

"But why Birds?" asked Kida.

"They are free, they fly away, they don't speak, they don't really care about humans. And, as a result, they don't reveal what they really are," Kassandra answered.

"So, all these years the lost Princesses of Atlantis were down here, while everyone has believed that they were dead..." Kida fell on her knees and started praying to the Princesses.

"It's no use to pray, Kida. They are alive, with their flesh and blood. They are just transformed. So, they cannot help you!"

Kida touched her Crystal. "Mah-tim," she whispered.

"It's your turn, now!" Kassandra said, her eyes shining once again...

In the meanwhile, Seliah who was in the other hall, found a little bottle. She noticed a phrase on the green glass. "Birds Antidote! Hmmm," she thought. Then she saw a big red book, opened. She read the writings: Only if the One Princess look herself in a mirror, her body will explode and the Princesses will be free again. However, the King shall never bow to the One Princess. If it's done before, the One Princess will remain the One Princess forever!

"YAHD-luh-goh-nik!" thought Seliah. "Now I understand..."

The Birds- Part VI

Seliah left the cave quickly and ran to the palace. In the meanwhile, Kassandra was whispering magic words, in order to transform Kida into a Bird: "Yashelme, ondetre and come out of you, andolmez, cornephez I'll be a Princess too..."

Kida started feeling very strange, really light and free. Suddenly she saw her human body lying on the ground. But before she could understand it, she realized that she was a Bird! She tried to say something, but all that was heard was... "croak!!!"

"Yes! At last! The power is mine!!" shouted Kassandra, and started laughing devilishly. Then, the Birds- and therefore Kida too- started flying all around her. Suddenly, they disappeared. A younger-but not less evil- witch was standing now there. She was Kassandra, who had became the One Princess. She was really what she had described. Young, beautiful and really, really powerful. "Atlantis is mine!"

She started walking through the Forest of Reflections. She thought of getting by the water to admire her beauty, but she reconsidered that, as this would cause her destruction.

"Never mind!" she thought. "The palace is waiting for its new queen! I'll make the King bow to me and when it's done I'll by admiring my beauty every day and night in the mirror! I'll be powerful!" And she continued her way to the palace.

When she reached the palace, she cast a spell on the guards and walked in. Then she saw the King. "I am the ruler of Atlantis, now," she said. "Bow to me, old man!"

The King was really enchanted by the woman's beauty, so he started bowing. Suddenly he stopped. In the One Princess' eyes, he recognized Kida's eyes, because Kida and all the other Princesses too, were now part of Kassandra.

"Kida-toap!" he whispered.

"Tahb-toap, no!! Don't bow!!!" a voice was heard.

The One Princess closed her mouth with her hand. "No, it can't be!" thought Kassandra. "Kida spoke through me! I have to stop this!"

Suddenly, Seliah came out of a bush with a mirror in her hand. "This is your end, evil witch! Let Kida free!!" she shouted with anger.

Kassandra closed her eyes quickly and fell on the ground, near the throne room's reflecting pond. She opened her eyes, and then she realized that her head was above the water. But the water is a natural mirror! In the water she didn't see her reflection, but she saw all the princesses looking at her with anger. Then, she started feeling strange...

"Nooooooooooo!!!!!" she screamed as her body exploded into a thousand pieces. The Birds opened their wings and flew away. Only one Bird was left lying on the ground. It seemed exhausted.

"Kida," Seliah whispered. She gave her the Birds' Antidote and Kida became human again. When she opened her eyes, she saw Seliah.

"Is it over?" Kida asked.

"Yes," smiled Seliah.

Then, Candra and Selma appeared. They weren't stone statues any more. "Kida, what happened?" they asked.

"Oh, it's a long story. How about telling you tonight, during the dinner?" she suggested.

"We'd love to!!" answered Seliah happily. In a little while, Seliah, Candra and Selma were gone. Kida was now alone. She looked at the Birds flying away.

"I hope that you'll someday come back and tell me about the Past. We have so much to talk about. I will be waiting..." She touched her crystal and smiled.

THE END

All characters, events, etc. pertaining to Atlantis: The Lost Empire are property of Disney. All original characters and events are property of Nedak.