Chapter Text
"... In a single day and night of misfortune, the continent of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea."
- Plato, 360 B.C.
It started on a day that was perfect. The ocean was wide and deep, colored a wonderful shade of deep cyan. The sky above was palest blue, skimmed by light fluffy clouds. It almost looked unreal, there was nothing to spoil the view, not even a bird...
...until the flash.
It was so bright it cast shadows on walls a hundred miles away. The clouds boiled and writhed and vanished. The earth trembled and quaked, and a mushroom of cloud smoke and flames filled the sky. Moments later, and armada of an Atlantean stone fish vehicles, swept across the waters.
"You fool!" The lead pilot shouted to another, "You've destroyed us all!" The pilots raced over the open sea, the wall of water was rising higher and higher.
It's gaining!" cried another frantic pilot. "We have to warn the city!"
The high bellowing scream of the pilots as the were being caught up in the wave and destroyed fell high as the armada raced toward its island home, the vehicles glowed as their engines strained at their upper limit.
There was no way the armada would ever reach Atlantis' safely.
Dark clouds swarmed overhead in the sky and the shadow of the wave began to creep over the city throwing it into darkness... except for a single glowing light high above the city.
"Everyone to the shelters!"
People screamed and ran through the streets as glowing vehicles crashed to the ground. The bright blue crystal, that normally hovered peacefully above the island, began to glow a darker until beams of red and black light shot out from its core.
"Don't panic!"
"One at a time!"
As the Atlanteans ran for cover, the beams darted this way and that, scouring the city like searchlights.
"This way your highness! Quickly!" one of the guards called to King and Queen, trying to usher them through the crowd and into the royal shelter.
"Scott, come on!" Melissa said, pulling her son with her. Suddenly the tiny prince stopped and turned back the way they had come. He had dropped his teddy.
"Scott, please!" the queen called, grabbing her son by the arm and bending down to Scott's eye level. "Just leave it! There's no time!"
Suddenly, one of the onyx light illuminated Melissa. She stopped, frozen in her tracks. As her head turned upwards, the light turned back to its calming blue. The older woman's eyes turned silver. They seemed like tiny round mirrors, reflecting all they saw. Her face went blank. The tiny crystal around her neck glowed and pointed up to the glowing ball of light high above.
All of the lights converged on her and then thinned down until they were as thin as her crystal necklace. Then there was a flash, Melissa's hair and robes flowed around her like she was underwater, as the light expanded again.
Scott stared transfixed at the glowing light, until he felt a slight tug. Looking up he saw his mother being lifted into the sky by the bright lights. For a moment, as she rose, the queen kept her hold on Scott's arm, but the Crystal's pull was too strong. At last, the queen's hand slipped away, clasping Scott's tiny gold bracelet between her fingers.
"Mother!" he cried, collapsing to his knees, he reached up for Melissa as she floated higher and higher towards the crystal. "MOTHER!" he screamed, continuing to reach out for her, tears streaming from his eyes.
Walls of bright light formed a dome of pure, shimmering energy and began forming at the edge of the city, creating an impenetrable barrier. Many people and made it through this barrier, but the shield closed and the remaining people were shut out. People pounded on the walls, trying desperately to gain entrance, but as the vast wall of water bore down upon them, the realized it would do no good.
But there was nothing he or the king could do. As they looked on, a flurry of blue beams shot out from the Crystal's core. Quickly, the king gathered Scott into his arms and pressed the boy's head into his chest.
"Close your eyes, Scott!" He yelled above the rushing of the air, and looked up at the spinning ball of light, at his wife.
The flash of light was incredible, the glowing blue dome began to sink into the ground. The wall of water crashed around it... swallowing it whole. Within seconds, there was no sign that the city had ever been there, hidden beneath an ocean of salt water and foam..