Chapter 107
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Chapter 107: Title
"Initiate remote detection first."
Under the skilled workers’ assembly, a simplified humanoid robot took shape and slid forward under remote control.
This relic city of Atlantean civilization harbored no life beyond their human contingent – an established consensus throughout their exploration that still failed to provide full reassurance.
The city’s lethal defenses had taught fatal lessons through fallen comrades’ sacrifices.
Both inert and alert, the metropolis demanded cautious movement until its retaliation mechanisms became fully understood.
The robot traversed safely.
"Advance upward."
The group ascended the steps toward the temple above, reaching a flat platform crowned by a towering statue. A drone ascended in measured flight, retreating until the colossus revealed its full majesty.
Carved from enigmatic sea-blue stone, the hundred-meter-tall effigy dwarfed its human observers with its humanoid torso transitioning into a monumental fish tail – explaining how seawater imaging had captured its silhouette.
"This must represent the sea god venerated by Atlanteans," an expert murmured, studying tablet imagery. "The anthropomorphic piscine form mirrors their own morphology…"
Historical records offered only nebulous descriptions of Atlantis’ deity, rendering this tangible marvel their new truth against time’s uncertainties.
The sculpture portrayed an upright figure with elegantly arched tail, its upper body draped in gem-encrusted golden robes accentuating graceful contours. The face remained shrouded in ethereal haze, revealing only cascading tresses adorned with crystalline hair ornaments.
Open palms cradled emptiness beneath the obscured visage. None questioned the faceless divinity – divine manifestations had taught humanity its ocular limitations. Direct gazes invited injury, a phenomenon researchers attributed to transcendent power disparities.
"These hands once held something vital," an academic insisted. "This posture clearly cradled an object. Could the vanished Atlanteans have removed the statue’s original possession?"
"A sacred relic perhaps?" came the conjecture.
"Plausible, though unverifiable."
Chief researcher Professor Levi circled the monument, approaching the temple’s welcoming archway. "Team One remains for statue documentation. Team Two accompanies me inside – the temple likely holds further secrets."
Footsteps reverberated through the vaulted sanctuary as Levi’s team entered. Though imposing, the structure felt human-scaled compared to the external colossus – consistent with findings of Atlanteans’ two-meter average height.
Defying seventy millennia’s passage, the temple stood pristine. Dustless floors gleamed beneath murals retaining original pigmentation. Celestial pearls embedded in towering ceilings bathed the chamber in ethereal light, rendering artificial illumination unnecessary.
"Proceed deliberately." Levi paused to examine wall engravings distinct from ceiling frescoes. The special forces members maintained vigilant silence, their protective formation tightening around the researchers.
"Bain, you take the other side while I examine this one. We’ll reconvene shortly to cross-reference our findings."
The research team comprised several members, led by Professor Levi with Professor Lowell cataloging statue data outside.
Though over seventy, Professor Bain’s lifelong dedication to Atlantean history filled him with youthful vigor as he pursued his passion.
…
The temple corridor stretched endlessly. Levi moved slowly past intricate carvings depicting post-cataclysm events.
First relief: A thriving civilization dominated an advanced continent dotted with cities and temples mirroring their current surroundings.
Before these structures stood the half-human, half-fish statue, worshipped by human-like beings in devout prayer.
Second relief: A cataclysmic tsunami engulfed ancient Atlantis.
Contrary to initial assumptions, the raging seawater encircled rather than flooded the continent, leaving its heart dry.
The artisan’s skill captured Atlanteans gazing calmly upward at the encircling waters, their serene expressions preserved in stone.
Third relief: A faint blue phantom hovered above the besieged continent. Though indistinct, its resemblance to the temple statue was unmistakable.
Atlantis’s deity raised its hand, coalescing the waters into an azure shield that gently submerged the land beneath the waves.
Levi’s eyebrows rose. Western flood myths typically depicted divine wrath, yet these carvings showed no terrified faces – only reverence.
A puzzle emerged: why human-like Atlanteans venerated a piscine deity when he’d assumed they were merfolk.
Fourth relief: An unbroken sea surface hid depth-born cities shimmering with ghostly blue light.
Fifth relief: Former humans now sported fish tails, adapting to marine life while preserving technological advancement.
Sixth relief: Submerged merfolk communities thrived, their gestures and glowing azure patterns suggesting… divine spells? Levi wondered if their priests wielded magic like surface-world clerics.
Seventh relief: The deity reappeared, conferring with a merfolk priest whose face betrayed sudden alarm.
Eighth… nothing. The crude seventh panel’s abrupt ending hinted at missing history. Levi’s instincts whispered that Atlantis’s disappearance lurked in that absent carving.
"Professor Levi! You must see this." Bain’s excited call interrupted his thoughts.
Approaching, Levi found Bain gesturing at reverse-ordered murals. "These chronicle Atlantis’s true origin," the elder scholar breathed.
"Origin?" Levi’s pulse quickened.
"I propose Atlantis didn’t evolve on Blue Star! An extradimensional civilization, like those ravaging abyssals!" Bain’s voice climbed with passion. "Multiple ancient eras preceded ours – this," he jabbed at merfolk images, "belongs to the prior civilization epoch!"
Levi steadied his colleague. "Evidence?"
"Emerging as we speak! Consider – seventy millennia past, an age of magic and gods. Merfolk migrated when their realm fused with ours. Atlantis surfaced, guarded by their sea god. Humans traded with them, elves visited…"
Bain’s hands trembled until Levi gripped his shoulder. "Medication?"
"Taken. Now listen – "
The veteran’s eyes shone as he reconstructed lost epochs where divine shields glowed and surface waves concealed forgotten truths.
