Chara stood in the middle of Times Square as the sea of humanity washed around her, oblivious to her presence. This, the final stop on her tour of present-day humankind, only confirmed her decision. Atlantis would not rise during her rule.
Chara sent a prayer of thanks to her long-dead ancestor. Asteros, though he had shared his reasons with no one, had known. He must have known the trajectory humans would take, the disaster that would unfold on Earth’s surface—in her skies. His decision to submerge Atlantis had been correct, though it had cost him his life.
Those humans who believed in Atlantis at all, adhered to the nonsense Plato had taught back in 360 BC, as they enumerated time. He had claimed Atlantis was a sea-bound state of islands, an aggressor that had challenged Athens and lost. A nation founded by gods—that at least was true—that fell out of favor with those gods and, as a punishment, had been submerged in the Atlantic Ocean.
Atlantis did exist—still existed—but not as humans imagined it. It had been founded by the gods as a beautiful celestial city. Chara’s ancestors had lived among the clouds, always apart from humans, always set above—demigods
What must Asteros have seen so many millennia ago, that had brought him to that fateful decision? He had created a dome around Atlantis, trapping its people before causing the bubble containing them to descend through the clouds and into the ocean far below. Not the Atlantic. Humans would never find Atlantis. Of that, Asteros had made sure.
Why had he remained silent as his accusers had deposed him and sentenced him to death for his choice? When they had set his daughter on his throne at the age of four, too young to understand even that her father was dead.
Try as they might, not even the brightest sages of the day could find a way to reverse what Asteros had wrought. Nor could they remove the bubble surrounding the city, though Asteros had made it clear that it would dissolve on its own in a millennium. They would have that long to adapt to their underwater existence.
And adapt they did. Atlanteans thrived, whether breathing air or water, fully comfortable in either milieu. When the bubble finally gave way, the process was gradual, water seeping in at their feet before slowly rising to fill the dome, which only then dissolved, freeing its people to travel the seas.
The first thing Ydor, the king at that time, had done was to send a party to the surface to evaluate the current state of the world. They had returned, dismayed at the level of barbarity exhibited by mankind. Ydor had declared the upper world off limits.
Since Ydor’s time, each Atlantean ruler had traveled to the surface once, early in their reign, to evaluate the fitness of the human world for the opening of relations. With each foray above the ocean’s swell, the picture had become grimmer, until now, Chara feared, during her rule, madness reigned above. A madness that might finally bring destruction on humankind.
Asteros had been right to remove his people to a place of safety. How had he known that humans would conquer the skies—conquer even space itself? The gods had withdrawn to who knew where, abandoning this world entirely.
Humans had ravaged the land, destroyed the climate, brought themselves to the brink of destruction. And, instead of working together to reverse the damage, they continued to war upon one another, consume and pollute.
Atlantis was far enough removed from the insanity that Chara believed them safe. But she was not certain it would be enough. Her mother and her grandfather before her had begun to prepare for this day. It fell upon Chara to carry through with their plan.
The dome would go back up for another millennium. This time, the people would understand why. This time, they would acquiesce—had already done so. In a thousand years, some far off descendant would again rise to the surface to see what had become of the Earth.
I was making images of Atlantis on Midjourney and wrote a very short piece which published yesterday for paid subscribers. At some point, I started to think about Atlantis in the clouds, instead of underwater, and then ideas began to percolate. This story is what ultimately brewed.
I had so many beautiful images that I decided I wanted to publish more than one. I created the first image, of Chara in Times Square, last, and specifically for the story. The rest are a sampling of many images of Atlantis and its environs.
You’ll note that the image of Atlantis descending into the ocean doesn’t include a dome. Unfortunately, none of them did. I hadn’t specified that I wanted a dome in any of the pictures, but I liked the one in the cloud image and it became part of the story. Let’s just pretend that though the dome isn’t visible in that closer shot of the descent, it’s there, just out of sight.
The names used in the story come from Atlantean mythology. I took them from a fan Wiki naming the Atlantean Pantheon. Asteros was the god of heavenly light, stars, comets, and fire, Chara the goddess of joy and happiness, and Ydor, the god of oceans and water.
Finally, I checked my “facts” regarding Atlantis on Wikepedia. I hope you enjoyed the story. You can find the rest of the Atlantean images on Instagram at derynilass_ai_art.
This story thoroughly captured my imagination. Let's hope she's wrong and it doesn't take a millennium to set the world right. 🙏🌈🕊
Wonderful images and an interesting story. Seems like a beautiful death knell for us 🙏