Chapter 0009 Atlantis

1

Chapter 9 Atlantis After the business in Athens was completed, I was anxious to put as much space as possible between Athens and Helen and me. The first time I lost Hippolyta and even Hippolytus, I had no real choice in the matter. This time I was choosing to leave her. I was desperately in need of an adventure to take my mind off of her. As I knew from my dream, Pirithous had decided to find a woman that he believed was his soul-mate.

“Tell me about Persephone.” I asked Pirithous as we settled into camp after leaving Athens.

“It has been many years Theseus since I last saw her. I had almost put her from my mind until the dream. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever known. I was betrothed to her and when I met her I felt as if I was in the presence of a goddess. Feelings stirred inside of me that I hardly understood. I only met her that once when we were both 13, but I was definitely looking forward to our next meeting, which was to be in three or four years. In the intervening time I was at Chiron’s school with you.”

“Where you did your best to pass the time by getting into trouble, correction, where you got me into trouble,” I reminded him.

“Not that convincing you to join me was all that hard,” he reminded me. “At any rate, when I returned home, I was greeted with the news that Persephone had disappeared. It was rumored, and the rumors were backed up with some pretty substantial fact that

2 Hades, the god of the underworld had taken her to be his queen. I felt miserable, but how can you fight a god? Besides no one, not even most of the other gods, know the way to the underworld.”

“I have heard the rumors of a fabulous world beneath our own, but as you say, no one knows the way there. And certainly, if anyone did find his or her way, no one had ever returned to complete the telling. So how do we get there, Pirithous?”

“I know that you are used to having prophetic dreams Theseus, but this dream was unlike any that I have had. Every detail of it remains clear to me including the directions to get there. I don’t know how dangerous the journey will be, so I offer you the same choice that you offered me. This may not be your path to take.”

“And I will give you the same response. You are my dearest friend Pirithous. For that reason, and as you have already pointed out, I love to get into trouble almost as much as you, I will accompany you on this adventure.” I didn’t tell him the third reason was that my dream had told me to accompany him. But even if the dream hadn’t told me to, I would never have refused him any more than he would have refused to adventure with me. So off we went.

We traveled north for two weeks into a mountainous region. We then came upon a mountain cave. Pirithous recognized it as the entrance to Hades’ Kingdom. We followed it downward for what felt like two days. We had no way to judge time, but we had to

3 sleep once on the descent. There were many twists and turns and forks. There were many places that looked like dead ends, but his dream and his destiny as well as mine ever guided Pirithous. Nothing prepared me for what we were about to see.

At the end of a very long tunnel, we could see a light. I have been with many people on the verge of death in the battlefield, and so many spoke of this tunnel, I knew we must be on the right path. And, of course, our legends speak of a place of great beauty, the Elysium fields where those who die nobly will go. But they also spoke of a hideous place of torture where the damned go. I didn’t know for sure which one we were about to encounter. As we headed towards it, the darkness began to recede. Finally we were out of the tunnel and facing a large channel of water encircling the most incredible field of colors and in the distance what looked like a city of gold. This was the place of my vision. This was Atlantis.

“Pirithous this is the place of my vision with Oedipus. If this is also the Underworld, ahead of us must be the Elysium Fields.”

“Theseus, look out!”

We both drew our swords. There in front of us a huge creature was emerging from the water. I had never seen such a creature. As it sat on top of the waves, I sensed it was not alive, but it was formidable. It turned its flank to the shore and then, unbelievably its side opened up. A doorway appeared and then a floating bridge emerged. It seemed to unfold

4 as it extended its way to the shore. We were stunned. We must have looked like dull witted fools just staring. There emerged from the fish, which I now surmised to be a vessel of some sort, giant figures. They looked like men, but they were at least eight feet tall. We knew we didn’t stand a chance against them if they intended to harm us, but they didn’t seem at all menacing. One of them hailed us as he approached the shore.

“Welcome noble kings of the Upper World. Theseus and Pirithous, you are expected. If you will come with us, we will take you to your destination.”

“Are you Charon who takes the souls of the dead to Hades,” Pirithous asked?

“Some call me so, but obviously you are not dead, are you? Now follow me.”

We followed obediently. I don’t know if we could have had an intelligent conversation if we tried. This was definitely a sailing vessel, but it had come from beneath the water. There was a quiet hum that you could hear as you entered. Somehow the inside was well lit, but I could find no candles or fire creating the light. It was a sort of glow. The same kind of glow that lit the skies outside, although as I think about it, we didn’t see the sun and the skies were clear. Many men of different sizes were busy at their tasks. They politely acknowledged us as we entered. The door had now closed behind us, but there was now no evidence of it. We continued to follow our host or captors as the case may be into the center of the boat. There was a slight lurch and then I felt us moving and descending slowly. We had now arrived at the place where the boat was steered from and

5 the Captain of the ship was seated in front of a strange panel. The sides of the boat seemed to disappear and at first I feared we had ruptured and were all going to drown, but the ship was still intact. Yet I could see the water around us perfectly. My astonishment was interrupted by a gentle voice.

“Greetings Theseus and Pirithous. I am Sontha, captain of this vessel. You seem impressed.”

“I would say that you are correct. How is this possible? Are we really moving underwater?”

“The how, even I couldn’t explain in detail Theseus. Yes we are moving underwater. This type of ship enables us to easily and quickly maneuver between the canal seas that surround our city. The outer rings provide our crops and house those who husband the fields. The ring surrounding the city provides our nourishment of soul through the beauty of the gardens, fountains, falls and parks. Antos here will take you to the map and picture room and explain in more detail if you like. He is one of our natural law explainers and he helped design our system. We are still a distance from our destination.”

We went with Antos. The map room had volumes of large scrolls; some were folded flat with hard covers. There was also a magical screen that would show pictures that moved.

“Here is a map of the Underworld as you call it, looking from above.”

6

Antos had unrolled a large map. The circles around the city and the canal seas were very clearly represented. What we had seen as the Elysium Fields was nothing compared to the beauty of the inner circle around the city. It looked like each of the rings was ten stadias across or almost 6000 feet. The outer rings could produce quite a volume of food. It seemed that the largest outer ring was used for fruits and nuts and the second outer ring was the source of vegetables for the city. The second inner ring held the livestock and the first inner ring was home to what I would experience as the most beautiful gardens I had ever seen. I later learned that the smell from these gardens filled the air at all times. Inbetween each land ring was a sea ring also of the same width. A magnificent series of waterfalls fed the canal seas from upper world waters I was told. They were connected to all of the rings through a series of tunnels deep beneath the surface. It was through these tunnels that we now traveled to the city.

“How is the water level controlled?” I asked Antos.

“The entire complex is slightly angled away from the waterfalls bringing the water in. At the opposite end, right here,” he showed us on the map, “is a set of controls that allow the water to drain. It runs further into the earth into a place that is very hot. This is one of our energy sources from the steam that is created.” It is not far from where you entered.”

“What about your energy? How is this ship lighted? Pirithous asked.

7 This light is from a special crystal that gathers the energy from the power of the earth itself. There are natural forces that attract us to the earth creating a constant tension. This tension can be gathered and channeled and it is inexhaustible. We also gather and direct sunlight from above down here as an energy source.

“But how can you get the sunlight this far beneath the earth?” Pirithous was almost frantic trying to understand these wonders.

“Pirithous, you have seen the sun reflected off of shields before haven’t you?”

He nodded.

“Very simply, it is the same principle. We have a series of shields that direct the sunlight here. They are very powerful collectors of the light and that is how it works.”

We both pretended to understand things that were beyond our understanding. It would take me years to pick up a basic knowledge of it all.

“But how,” I started, but I was interrupted by a voice that filled the room. It was the Captain’s.

“Antos, we are about to break to the surface. I think our guests would like to see this.”

8 We accompanied Antos back to the main room and once again were awed by what we saw. The water outside the ship was an incredible clear blue. As we made our way to the surface it almost seemed as though the light above water was as beautiful as the blue of the water itself. The ship again flanked the shore and we were led off. My mind still has a hard time seeing what I saw. My words cannot possibly do it justice. Everything seemed to be built of gold and precious gems. The colors of the city almost rivaled that of the gardens. Both Pirithous and I found it hard to breathe because of our excitement. The city was bustling with life and what a variety of life it was. In front of us were not only humans of all shapes and sizes, but many creatures spoken of in stories. We had much to understand.

“Come along,” Antos said. He continued as our guide after we bid thanks and farewell to the Captain, “We are due at the palace immediately.”

“So is Hades the King in this land? Is that who we are going to see?” Pirithous asked.

“Yes and no.” Antos answered. “Hades, as you call him, is indeed the ruler here, but we are going to the Hall of the Council of Twelve and they are presided over by the Triumvirate of Hades, Poseidon and Athena.”

“Well, Theseus. This is definitely your element. Your father and the protector of your city are both ruling here.” Pirithous was almost mocking.

9 “I am content to meet them,” I said, “But what is the nature of this meeting?” I was growing a little worried given the nature of our original mission here was to find the wife of Hades and abduct her. Given the power of the place before us, it seemed a hopeless venture and one I was growing increasingly less interested in.

“That I don’t know.” Our host answered. “What I do know is that your presence here has created quite a controversy.”

“Theseus, my friend,” Pirithous said solemnly, I may have led us to our death. I am sorry. Perhaps at least your life will be spared.”

“I am not yet ready to give up hope, but I do think we need to give up our original mission.”

“Yes, I can see you are right.” Pirithous agreed

The rest of the walk we made in silence. Most of the buildings were round, but the Palace we were heading towards was a Pyramid shaped with beautiful hanging gardens. It loomed above the city in its center. It seemed so far away, I wasn’t certain if we could make the journey before the day’s end. Just then Antos directed us onto a path that he said we needed to be careful about.

He advised us that the ground itself would move as we stepped onto it, but we needed to

10 keep walking and not lose our balance. I almost did and Pirithous did go down, but he was able to right himself and all the while the ground carried him and us closer to the Pyramid.

“What is this?” I asked.

“It is called a conveyor street. We have several of them throughout the city to facilitate walking great distances. It is made of a material that is a tightly woven fabric specially treated that is wrapped around wheels that are always turning. As you can see there are two separate paths going in opposite directions.”

This was only one of the many marvels that I saw. There were other paths that went over or under ours filled with chariots pulled by invisible horses. There were floating chariots that had no wheels and yet moved along nicely. Throughout the city, there were markets selling all kinds of things. What seemed to be missing were the arguing and the haggling that was so prevalent in city markets I had been in. I later learned there was no haggling because there were no charges for the goods. Everything was provided free with each person’s needs being taken care of. The whole air felt peaceful, and the air itself seemed somehow easier to breathe. There was a moistness and coolness to it, which felt perfect. The color of the sky was such a bright blue that everything around us seemed to be bathed in it. Most of the building seemed to be built of gold and most had a glowing crystal on top with cords that radiated over the top of the building.

11

The people were also fascinating. As I mentioned earlier there were some almost twice as tall as a normal man. There were some about half my size. There were human animal combinations like the centaurs, satyrs, minotaurs, and some with lizard features. There were also smaller human figures that could fly. There were larger flying creatures and what seemed to be flying machines. But everything and everyone seemed to move in harmony and with purpose. Nothing felt chaotic. There seemed to be no master-slave relationships here. All I could think about was bringing this peace back to my people.

The time seemed to pass unnoticed for we had arrived at the Palace much sooner than had seemed possible. At the gate we were met by a rather large man.

“Greetings Antos.”

“Well met Hermes. Here are our visitors.”

“Thank you. I will escort them from here.”

Again we said our goodbyes. I was a little uncertain about the separation. Antos had seemed so friendly and I knew Hermes to be the messenger of the gods. I didn’t know if he would be taking us to a pleasant destination or a prison. Pirithous was obviously feeling the same discomfort.

12 “I demand to know where you are taking us.” Pirithous shouted. I wasn’t certain this was the best approach to take with a god and Hermes seemed to agree.

“Little man, do you seriously want to challenge me. There are those on this council who are already calling for your elimination. If I were you, I would be very careful. Do you think we don’t know what your motivation was to come here? Do you think we don’t know everything there is to know about what you are motivated by -- the greed, the lust, the selfishness. Believe me, we understand. We will tell you what you need to know and when you need to know it. The fact that you are still alive and have made it this far is something you should be very thankful for. Now, did you have any other questions of me? Good. Then let’s proceed.”

We looked at it each other and I think we were both saying our goodbyes. We proceeded in silence. I should have talked him out of this foolish venture, but my dream had said that I should go with him. Was it a lie then? Was my whole experience with Oedipus a lie? I had seen visions of other lifetimes and of this city. I felt like I belonged here, but I wasn’t certain now. These were the gods. In my arrogance and ignorance, I had often challenged them, and I seemed to win. But I had never actually faced them. Facing just one of them now, made my egotistical past life seem so foolish. Can any of us truly defy god?

“Here is the inner chamber.” Hermes announced interrupting my thoughts. “Wait here until I send for you.” As he opened the doors, I caught a brief glimpse of the inner hall

13 and the inner gods. My heart sank. I could feel the enormous power housed in that room, and I was like an ant to a giant. After what seemed like an eternity, Hermes returned.

“Pirithous,” Hermes said demandingly, “You are not to be allowed into the chambers, but you will accomplish what you came for.”

“Pirithous, no!” I screamed. He had drawn his sword.

“I will not let you take me. I know what you have planned for me, and it is not paradise. I will die first.”

He lunged towards Hermes who easily sidestepped the sword and with a motion of his hand the sword flew from the tight grasp of Pirithous to the hands of the god. With another hand motion, Pirithous collapsed next to me. I knelt beside him.

“Don’t worry Theseus. He lives, and he will be taken safely to accomplish what he came for. The woman he seeks is indeed here for him, but it is, of course, not the one he came for. In truth, he has never met Persephone. That memory was given to him to bring the two of you here. He has a different destiny than do you. But I promise his life will be a long and happy one. Do you believe me?”

“Yes,” I replied. And I did.

14 Two guards gently took Pirithous from my arms to theirs. As I saw him disappear down the hall, the chamber doors opened and standing before me was my father.