Nymphaea Caerule

Beyond the lush greenery, the magestic mountains and toiling shores of the oceans, laid a lands barren, as if cursed by the gods to be devoid of life. Or so one may think as they gazed over the countless rise and falls of massive sand dunes and what looked to be giant mountains of sand. How deceiving such could be, perhaps it was the best defense of all for those who dwelled amid the lands of baking heat and lacking visual flowing waters. A normal man would not reach the truth of what the desert protected with its harsh conditions, not without assistance, or unless found and taken into the sanctuary. Not unless he was raised to endure the scorching heat of day, the frigid air of the nights, or to survive for several days without so much as a drop of water. Windstorms would appear without warning, driving blown sand to turn flesh raw, blind eyes and at times even steal any intakes of breath to cause suffocation. Venomous serpents, arachnids, anthropods and scavaging preditors of the ground and sky would be another factor having to be faced.

Unless one was knowledgable of the ever changing conditions of the desert grounds, easily they could be lead astray, wandering into oblivion and into instant or slow agonizing death. Yet there were those who knew the safer routes, ones that placed all outer lands within an easy journey if need to be taken. The enterances were highly protected by nature and man. Passages of stone, supported with a higher technology than which rested in civilized land. Supports were ornate as well as plausable in use, statues sculpted from solid granite and forged from cast iron moulds. The statues themselves would place fear in the heart of a normal man. Bodies of men and women, though heads represented creatures of all nature. Hawks, vultures, serpents, arachnids and anthropods were only a chosen few. Webs were thickly draped over openings and indentations along the passage way. Traps placed in areas that were activated by pressure, vibrations or weight applied, when released, would apply the killing blow to a tresspasser. Pits filled with snakes, flesh eatting beetles or venomous insects were utilized in many of the traps that lined the underground passage. Yet if one survived, that seen would be that which would stike a man with awe and amazement for where it sits.

At the end of the underground passage, the roar of water could be heard, that of a great underground waterfall that flowed into the massive spanse of a lake. It would be around this fall one would move to gain enterance into the cavern beyond The sound is deafening within the massive cavern that's so wide the walls could not be seen if it were not for the scones of oil alit upon their surface, or the ceiling so tall, it was but a black void above. The lake would easily cover ten acres of land, though the banks were of smooth rock, rather than white sands of a beach. The water was fresh and cool, the lake alive with a large variety of fish that dwelled near the surface or within its clear depths that plummeted to at times nearly 100 feet in places. As the slippery surface of the stone shoreline was followed, it would come to the end of the lake that had narrowed into the width of a river and flowed out another cavernous opening and out into the blinding brightness of the sun.

Once adjustment of sight would be assertained, it would leave one slack jawed and bug eyed at what was to be witnessed beyond. The river flowed into a lush valley, in which exotic flowers, plants and edible vegitation flourished upon rich fertile soil. Even the animals were exotic in their colorations, strange shapes and sounds. But that wasn't the most awe striking of views, that would be left to the formation of the city which laid beyond. Formated from cut and shaped figures of stone, gold and granite. Massive temples and palaces whos architecture was so rich, it was almost imaginable to fathom what rested within. The people, their flesh of bronze and carmel pigmentations, with long silken raven hair and adorned in white or brilliant colors that reflected that of the flowery surroundings. Though garmets were little to nothing in what was worn. Simple loin cloths for men and women alike, the women using jewelry created from gold, silver and various gemstones as tops in their dangling form.

Serene the atmosphere almost seemed to hold, though the desert people were not without their enemies and indeed had their trained warriors of defense. Women equated the men in these lands, no diversity due to gender, though social status was still a factor in these lands as in others. Evident wealth within an advanced civilization in many areas of agriculture, architechture and arts. A land untouched by civilized man, though their civility would equal if not surpass that of the lands beyond. The Faiyum Delta was grandure in itself, the City of Gold built and maintained by an ancient race that held myths and legends that were as rich as their surroundings.

Who were these people? How have they survived for centuries without being founded? These were their secrets and those that were kept well, proof was in the fact of their existance and none knowing of it. Not until one day one of their people were detoured by fate and ended up in a place she intended not to be.

"The power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and there was an island situated in from of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Hercules [Gibraltar]: the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands...Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island, and several others, and over parts of the continent, and furthermore the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Hercules as far as Egypt and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia [Italy]."

In Egypt, there was once the ancient land of Keftiu, a island-nation named for holding one of the four pillars that supported the Egyptian sky. The goddess Nut was said to hold the heavens on her back, and the sky pillars were the four points at which her arms and legs touched earth. Keftiu was an advanced civilization that was the gateway to and ruler of all of the lands to the far west of Egypt. Keftiu traded in ivory, copper, and cloth, they were a wealthy, highly developed culture, concerned with art, beauty, entertainment and personal comforts and adornments. Egyptian legend held that elephants were found on Keftiu. Keftiu supported hosts of ships and controlled commerce far beyond the Egyptians domain.

The recorded and embellished story from an Egyptian Priest, Solon's own grandson Critias the younger, translating the land of the pillars which held the sky (Keftiu) into the land of the titan Atlas. Keftiu-Atlantis was Egypt's gateway to the "western" lands (Greece, Libya, and beyond), and was the home of a civilization that held dominion over the surronding lands.

By legend, the inhabitants of Keftiu would engage in ritualistic bullfighting, with unarmed Minoan bullfighters wrestling, said to be in the form of half bull, half man. ....... There were bulls who had the range of the temple of Poseidon; and the ten kings, being left alone in the temple, after they had offered prayers to the god that they might capture the victim which was acceptable to him, hunted the bulls without weapons, but with staves and nooses; and the bull which they caught they led up to the pillar

All had rallied, mortal and immortal alike. The Island the nexus in which all were drawn, seeking power, wisdom and control. Dark, light, and neutral began their march. Sails raised high as ships began to shoot over the surface of the rolling ocean. Gods lent aid to their followers by powers in which they controlled. The elements tampered with so one would have a hand above the other. A cataclismic event about to unfold, and a single innocent woman to lay in blinded awaitance in the middle of it all.

By land and sea came the mortal men, chanting as they made their way towards the center of the Island, the battle field. The heavens began to grow dark, clouds rolling in like a heard kicking up a dust storm in their wake. Thunder boomed over head, causing all upon the ground to tremble. Bolts of lightning struck across the sky, illuminating the motion of all those below. It was like a magical shield encompassed the temple, a bubble that was at the moment impentitrable to any and all, God and man alike. All around it turmoil erupted, clashing of steel replicated the slash of lightening followed by a thunderous wave. Cries of battle intermixed with those of the wounded. Torrents of rain began to fall, creating rivers that flowed over the earth, yet it wasn't just water that washed over the lands, it was the blood of those injured or fallen.

The battle raged onwards, day turned into night, then to day and night again, yet there was no slowing down. No retreats called, no regrouping of men. The darkness used the misfortune of those light, animating the once proud warriors into a cadaverous, expendable army to trudge onwards. Another day and night to pass before Ra decided to end the turmoil once and for all. A gentle hand would lower into the temple, swooping up the unsuspecting woman who laid in a comatose like sleep within. It was then the ground began to rumble, but it went unheard by the battle cries and the thunder from the heavens above. The earth began to shake, then in many areas to sepearate, all around to fall prey into the eternal abyss that laid in wait at the bottom of the openings. The earth again would swell, from within the bowels would erupt the heated flow of magma.

A new sound to be heard, the cries of battle and screams of pain, were all replaced with the cries and screams of terror as all fled from the fate of the elements. Towards the ocean they ran, to escape the opening of the earth and the molten rock that now spread over its surface. But there was to be no escape from the catastophy, for just when they thought that they could run from the troubles behind them, the ocean rose upwards, waves that stood hundreds of feet to crest above them, then crashing downwards to wash away those who had not fallen to the earth, or melted beneath the rivers of lava.

The dawning of a new day to come, and the view that greeted the woman who awoke upon the sandy shores would be puzzling, then awing at the same time. Where once the vibrant Island rested, was nothing more than the vast surface of the oceans rolling waves. Not a body to be noticed of those who had fallen, not a drop of blood or an scrap of cloth. It was as if it never existed, nor the people upon it. No signs of the battle that took place, the Gods using man as their pawns. Which left the woman resting there in a bewildered state and soon to begin walking along the long lonely road that would take her back to civilization.

Poseidon sat down laws for Atlantis that the rulers were to fellow. The ruling body was to meet regularly. It was to consist of ten rulers that represented the first rulers -- Atlas and his nine brothers -- who reigned with absolute power of life and death over their subjects. These meeting occurred in the temple of Poseidon where the first rulers inscribed the laws on a pillar of orichalcum. First, as required by ancient ceremony, pledges were exchanged. Then a sacred bull was captured and killed. The body was burned as a sacrifice to the god. Then the blood was mixed with wine and poured over the fire as a act of purification for each man. The rulers were served wine in golden cups, each poured a libation over the fire and swore by oath to give judgment according to the inscribed laws. When ending his vow each drank his wine and dedicated his cup to the temple. This was followed by a dinner that preceded the rulers putting on magnificent blue robes in which they judged matters concerning the kingdom according to Poseidon's laws.

As long as they judged and lived by Poseidon's laws they and the kingdom prospered. When the laws began to be forgotten trouble began. More of the rulers eventually began marrying mortals and started acting like foolish humans. Soon pride overtook the rulers who soon began grasping for greater power. Then Zeus saw what had happened to the rulers. They had abandoned the laws of the gods and acted in an evil coalition as men. He assembled all the gods of Olympus around him and was to pronounce judgment on Atlantis. The gods converged upon Atlantis, and by use of the elements destroyed the city and those who lived within it.