225 BC

ATLANTIS

On that terrible day the visitors of the city saw a man, a different man. He was like no other, there was no king on earth that was adorned in such splendour. His skin had a soft glow as if its defining lines were smudged with white chalk. He was visiting one of the temples. As he ascended up the stairway the gleaming ends of his cloak waved, simulating the movement of a pendulum. His hair was sky blue and extended past the arch of his back, the penetrating sunlight in between its strands made his hair comparable glints on burnished silver.

“Sagara!” echoed a clean regal voice that resounded through in the sanctuary.

A gravelly tone resonated from within the muscular sculpture of the god, Poseidon.

“My lord Teki. Have you come to observe the labour of my hands? The tillers have called it, the great city of the gods. They call it, Atlantis.”

The rings of Teki’s pupils ignited as he slashed the air with a swing of his hand, “Enough! This great city is about to fall. I have come to station you to a land in the east.”

There was a guttural grumble from the crafted image, the sounds of fine dust being pressed and scraped against the smooth floor. A stumble upon words as shock gripped its bearer. “Atlantis… Destroyed? But, how?”

Teki raised his voice speaking with haste, “who is strong enough to oppose the gods?”

A fine white powder fell to the floor as a hairline fracture ripped down the face of the statue, “Impossible! The Great One? H-he is here…. In Atlantis?”

Teki clawed his hand in frustration, a wave of energy flowed down his body and his hair began to illuminate, “He has been seen walking the lands of the mortals not far from here. It will not be long. Summon the other gods at once and depart.”

Another crack formed at the wheel of the statues chariot and crept up to join the other on the face. “I cannot fathom why the Great One would visit the lands of the earth. Why would he come to Atlantis? It has taken my worshippers years to build this city.”

Teki clenched his fists, the skin on his nose wrinkled as his upper lip lifted to display his radiant white teeth, “You have been counselled against drawing his attention by the other lords. The people here have initiated too many wars and, so, you have slanted the scales of justice.”

“But even that, does not warrant a visit from him,” said Sagara

“Either way if you all are here when he arrives, you are aware of what will happen.”

“The Great One is not a man that he should take a stroll. Something is misplaced. We must find out what the purpose is for his visit or he could just appear anywhere in the world and abolish all our kingdoms. What of Olympus?”

“We will find out, but for now go to the east. There is a vast land there and it is revealed in the Everplanes that the tillers are destined to become a great nation. I will visit the temple and take the ‘warden of Atlantis’ so that you may subdue your new land with famine.” A spinning wheel of fire materialised above Teki’s head.

An aura of smoke started to hover from the sculpture, “Y-your crown has manifested.”

Teki scowled at his hands, the crown of the ‘Origins’ was an uncontrollable part of his being that always appeared when the Great One was nearby. “He is already here!” said Teki, lifting the tone of his voice. “Make haste!”

A ferocious wind interrupted them, forcing itself upon the land and the din of screaming people followed almost instantly. Teki wasted no more time and departed for the temple.

On that day, there were reports from mortal eyewitnesses on the outskirts of the city. They said that the man of splendour crowned with fire journeyed into the great temple of the guardian and acquired the precious jewel of Atlantis.

The animals in the city could sense something, it was something that no man or woman could detect, it was instinct, an undetectable happening that triggered them off and the beasts stampeded out of the city into the surrounding hills.

Those that were wise enough to escape only did so by following.

They said the statues of Atlantis crumbled and came to life that day. The skins of rock cracked and shelled like thin walls of struck slate. Colossal glowing men broke free and their images and disintegrated into the atmosphere.

The priests of the temples shouted to the people, “We are doomed, even the gods are fleeing!”  The skies were almost as orange as liquefied rock and cinders swirled up into the receiving firmament. There was a dense heat rising from the ground and Atlantis became hidden within a barricade of heat shimmer.

To the west three shrouded men walking in flawless triangular formation approached the gates and nonchalantly sauntered through the commotion into the city’s centre.

They were no taller than six foot. They stood in the centre of the city in all its terror and removed their shrouds. They had the faces of young men, mid-thirties, immaculate skins and blank in expression, their long frost white hair whipped exposing the presence and strength of the wind.

The man that stood more to the left was well built and had golden eyes that burned like a trail of shooting stars. His extensive sideburns dropped to the inner part of his shoulders, his skin was as fair as ivory, and he had features that resembled the peoples of Europe.

The second had a slim physique and stood in the middle, he had strong Asian features. His eyes were green like emeralds and the glints on its surface moved as though the winds of the earth were bound within them. The third had blue violet eyes that moved like the great oceans of the world and his skin was more of a walnut brown and resembled those in the land of Africa. All their skins suddenly ignited into an animated shimmer.

“Atlantis!” the man with the green eyes spoke, his mouth barely parted but his penetrating voice surrounded the city and subdued the wind. The atmosphere calmed and the people paused to listen to them. “What is this thing that you have done?”

The golden eyed figure lifted his head and continued as the green eyed man finished. “I have surveyed the earth and have found no land that offends me more than Atlantis!” said a raucous tone. 

The last stepped forward, “Why does justice call to me from the wilderness and the blood of the lands testify against you? Why does the heavens accuse you of misdeeds?” his strident tone was different, but just as frightening.

The people were bewildered, these men look and spoke strangely.

The city was not aware of what was taking place. Who these men were or what they had come for.

“For this thing. I will wipe you out of the earth and it will be as if you have never been,” thundered all three men at once.

The man with the emerald eyes blew into the air and a typhoon spun from the breath that escaped his lips. The man with eyes of gold stared into the sky and beckoned the stars to fall to the earth, not long after, a small spark twinkled and shattered across the ether as an army of comets followed to breach the land. Boulders of celestial fires reduced the temples and the homes to ashes and rubble. The third fell to one knee using the sides of his hand to part the dust on the floor before him.

The land suddenly quivered and ripped far apart. The blackened fissures gurgled as the waters of the deep climbed to fill the cracks. The man scowled at the waters and tall geysers, like the pointed fingers of accusation, the geysers randomly burst from the grounds and thrusted against the sky. With a gesture of the hand he beckoned the waters and they began to swallow the terrain.

The land tilted and the people shouted words of distress. Across the land legs were spread wide apart as the people endeavoured to balance themselves, but the land continued to shift here and there, and they fell to the ground.

By sun down the land of Atlantis was no more, just a wide ocean of beating waves that reflected the celestial majesty of shimmering aurora.

Surrounding nations far away witnessed the diadem of destruction above the waters of where Atlantis once was.