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Queen of Atlantis

By Edmund Lloyd Fletcher

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[NOTE: The first chapter is all fictional history. The novel takes place in the present day. Its characters' goal is to unravel this mystery.]


The small dog barked and ran from its master yet again.

"Ilíthio!" (fool!) she shouted.

Persephone chased after her pet. She couldn't imagine what had gotten into him. He was only a puppy still, but was usually so calm and docile.

As she chased the dog out into the stone-paved street she paused to take a deep breath, basking in the atmosphere of the greatest city-state the world had ever known. The single island was a whopping 78 thousand square miles of lush jungle and fertile fields. (or, slightly larger than the state of South Dakota in today's terms.)

Miles from the sea rose the glorious Mount Atlas, said to be the birthplace of the great god of the same name -- son of Poseidon the sea god. Indeed, Atlas proved a mighty deity for the race that bore his name extended its mighty empire to many distant and unheard of shores.

Not far to the Northeast was another island, nowhere near as important on the world scene -- nearly irrelevant, in fact. The tribal people who dwelt there were little more than barbarians. The mere thought that it could ever make anything of itself, let alone become a world superpower was laughable in the extreme.

As the girl continued to try to soothe frightened animal, little did she know that her invincible homeland was on the precipice of passing from fame into myth -- blotted out from the pages of history. One day the lesser island would indeed rise to prominence.

But why would she have thought such a thing? It was 425BC and in that day this was the capitol city of the Earth's mightiest empire. It had fought and won battles on a hundred foreign shores. Trade was booming. On every street corner prosperity reigned.

The mere thought that it could all be over in a blink? Of course not! They were immune. This nation would endure to rule the ages! (And such has been the thought of every great nation before or since - even right up to the moment of their very demise.)

Persephone ran through the stone streets of the bustling metropolis. She darted between people with rich robes and servants swarming to and fro. Most carried pots or baskets balanced on their heads full of goods either to be sold or recently bought.

All the while the small dog was just out of reach, taunting her ever onward.

She nearly cornered the wayward pup in a shallow alcove when she froze. She felt something ripple through her body- a strange and terrifying energy that she had never felt before.

Her friend Dionesys the clothing merchant stepped out of his shop across the road. He felt it too, but didn't know what to make of it either. He glanced toward the towering Mount Atlas near the center of their majestic island. It began to smolder, releasing a growing column of smoke into the serene sky.

The titanic energy continued unabated. Soon the very ground began to swell and undulate beneath Persephone's feet like she was standing on the sea.

The violence increased as she watched the transfixed shopkeeper staring at the distant mountain. The man was so paralyzed with fear that he didn't see the stone facade of his own store begin to crumble, until it was too late, and he lay crushed like an insect beneath it.

The brutal horror shocked Persephone into action. She scooped up her dog with one arm and ran as the sky slowly became darker. She wasn't an expert on modern vulcanology, but could clearly see that the source of the disturbance was the mountain in the distance. As if to confirm this, it began to hurl red hot stones into the sky. They crashed down around her and the growing throng stampeding their way towards the sea, spurred on with the underworld smell of sulphur.

A man in an irrational headlong rush collided with her, sending her crashing into a streetside pottery vendor's wooden table. Like the clothing merchant before, he too seemed frozen behind it, not even registering that his entire inventory was just dashed to pieces on the cobblestones.

Persephone lay dazed a moment next to a large orange pot that had split in two during the fall. The crack ran right through the image of a woman who looked odiously like her.

Her bruised head seemed slow to react. Everything seemed hazy and far away.

She realized with a start that the haze wasn't a result of the head injury but was physically real in nature. It burned her eyes and stung her lungs. She tried to stand, but fell back again. Something was broken.

She turned and was horrified to see a wall of scalding ash barreling down the street like a dam suddenly burst.

She wedged her body beneath the overturned potter's table in a feeble, last ditch attempt at saving her own life.

An offshoot of the coming wave of death rammed itself through a side alley to her left, creating a high-powered jet of fire, steam, and stone which carried her off the ground, clutching for dear life to the table.

She disappeared within the flame.

=======================================================

Those that survived the mobs, earthquakes, falling debris, scalding ash, and poisonous gas all found themselves at the seashore looking dumbly back and forth at one another.
Now they had an even more devastating problem on their hands. The marina was gone. All of the docks sank beneath the sea along with all of the ships that weren't able to cast loose in time.

The rest were making for open water as fast as sail and oar could take them.

That left the fugitives with nowhere to flee.

The volcano thundered in the inky, flame-streaked sky. It thundered like the malevolent laugh of some demon whose clutches could not be escaped.

Lava, which had begun to flow some time earlier, now ran freely down the streets. Though deadly in its own right, it was slow enough to be avoided, and the townsfolk had a far more urgent problem on their hands. The sea was rising faster and faster. Many hurled themselves into it rather than return to the death-trap of the city. Others, more wisely, took to the sea on trees and planks and anything else they could find that would float.

Even those, however, soon found that their time was up. As they drifted in the water, they knew their fate was sealed when the great volcano itself exploded in a tectonic fireball. The ear-splitting crack reached them a second or two later, but as it did, the sea turned into a giant black cavern. It was like a starving black mouth that gobbled up the volcano, the village, the rest of the island, and any who were near enough to see it happen.

All of it, every last morsel, was slurped up by the hungry sea. And then, having filled its belly, the ravenous deep closed its mouth once more.

The sea breeze began to dissipate the smoke.

Soon growing patches of blue sky began to peer through the clouds once more.

In less than two hours' time all that was left of one of the world's greatest civilizations was nothing but a black smudge drifting on the surface of the sea - a steaming cauldron, slowly boiling itself out in the vast expanse of the great ocean.

=======================================================

A pair of Moroccan fishermen began hauling in their nets. It had now been some days since a devastating tsunami of unknown origin wreaked havoc with the local sea life, and the fishing was only now showing the first signs of recovery.

One man glanced casually over the side of the boat. He did it a hundred times a day and always saw nothing but water. This time his heart leapt with a start as he spied the form of a human body floating atop the remains of a wooden table. At least the overall shape was human enough, but in detail it looked more like a slab of roasted meat.

At first he thought the person must surely be dead, but she stirred, rolling slightly to one side. There beneath the broken body of its owner peeked the dark eyes of a small, terrified puppy.

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