Lord of Cosmos Chapter 127: Atlantis 2

The old man’s words began to flow, a torrent of revelation on the subject.

"We are not on Earth," he said, his voice resonating with an ancient authority. "Rather, you are on our world. The ancients nad it Atlantis... and that is where you are. Do you understand now what I have been trying to tell you?"

Color drained from Eyad and Omar’s faces. Omar’s expression darkened.

"If we’re on your planet, as you claim, then how did the robots get here with us?"

The old man simply looked at him, a silent, knowing glance that said everything.

Omar’s breath caught. "You an... they didn’t co with us?"

"That is precisely what I an," the old man confird. "Is it possible the rulers of humanity have been deceiving you all along, hiding a universe of truths?"

Eyad’s brow furrowed in anger. "Yes," he spat. "Those bastards never stop lying to people and hiding the truth. Only a few of them are decent."

Minora, who had been a silent statue until now, finally spoke. Her voice was quiet, yet it carried an undeniable weight.

"Then it would seem there were no robots that attacked your world. And since you clearly have no idea how you arrived here, your minds must have been wiped, your consciousness fabricated. They convinced you that you were on Earth, and that it was destroyed by those very machines."

Omar looked bewildered. "But how do we have mories of the first attack? I rember my long journey to Atlantis, finding sanctuary here. How is that possible?"

"It is a process we call mory Implantation," Minora explained. "We use it occasionally to treat psychological trauma or other special cases. We can erase painful mories and insert new ones—with the patient’s full consent, of course. We only employ it in the most extre circumstances. It is obvious it was used on you by those with imnse power in your world. The question is, why did they bring you here? To what end? And why did this all happen after the Gaia Catastrophe?"

Eyad interjected with a bitter laugh. "The Gaia Catastrophe? What is that supposed to an?"

Minora fell silent, her eyes flicking to the old man, passing the burden of the story back to him. He continued, his voice thick with sorrow, tears welling in his eyes.

"So, you truly don’t know what happened, just as I feared. Then I will continue."

"After we first landed on this world, we began to explore. We studied the new landscapes, the strange creatures, the very celestial path we traveled through space. We searched for any sign of other intelligent life, but all we found were primitive, mindless beings—hideous, terrifying things. These vile creatures attacked us the mont they sensed our presence, relentlessly trying to kill us. But with the power of the Crystal and the advancents of our civilization, they were no match for us.

After many long years of war, the King of Atlantis decreed that a crown be forged, but it was unlike any other. This crown granted its wearer absolute command over the machines, allowing him to direct their might from defending our ho to annihilating anything he commanded. With this power, he set out to conquer the lands of the creatures we nad the ’Majolos.’ We finally eradicated them from one of the continents—there are four on this world, by the way."

"With the threat gone, we were finally able to connect the two continents with a great bridge of solid gold. Many of our people migrated to the new land, eager to discover its creatures and the many secrets it held. It beca known as Atlantis 2."

The old man seed weary from the telling. He motioned to Minora to take over as he departed without a word.

Minora picked up the thread of the story. "And that is when the first tragedy struck. Atlantis 2, rich with new minerals and resources, quickly surpassed its predecessor in strength and splendor. The king’s younger brother, the second heir to the throne, proposed that he rule the new continent as a second king, lest the entire kingdom beco too vast for one man to govern. But the king refused.

He declared himself ruler of both the old Atlantis and the new, arguing that two kings would only lead to conflict and division. The younger brother disagreed, certain the king’s decision would bring ruin to them all. This sparked the first schism in our history, dividing our people between those loyal to the king and those who supported his brother.

Then, without warning, the king’s mind snapped. He unleashed the full force of the machines upon Atlantis 2. It was a horrific war, and countless lives were lost. The people of Old Atlantis were appalled; they rose up, dethroned their king, and seized the crown that controlled the robots."

"And just like that, the king awoke as if from a trance. He had no mory of waging war on his own people, no recollection of his disagreent with his brother. It beca clear to everyone that the crown itself was the cause of his madness. They outlawed its use forever, decreeing a severe punishnt for anyone who dared to touch or try to steal it.

As penance for a sin he committed unknowingly, the king abdicated the throne to his brother. He spoke of hearing voices, whispers that controlled his mind and drove him to insanity whenever he wore the crown for too long."

"Atlantis 2 was rebuilt, and it was decided one ruler would govern all, to prevent such a conflict from ever happening again. The people of the new continent let go of their grudges, choosing forgiveness over a cycle of vengeance that would lead them down the sa dark path humanity had once walked."

"Life returned to normal. Our people lived in an era of progress, unity, and harmony. Until the second tragedy."

Eyad scoffed. "Wherever you find people, you find disaster."

A faint, sad smile touched Minora’s lips. "Yes, I suppose evil is inescapable. But this particular tragedy... it is one that continues to this day."

Omar’s eyes widened, and a confused look crossed Eyad’s face. "What do you an?" Omar asked, his patience wearing thin.

Minora sighed, a deep, sorrowful sound. "Long after the tragedy of the two brothers, we changed our system of governnt. Instead of a hereditary monarchy, the people would choose a ruler based on their character and wisdom.

Our last chosen ruler was a just man, and his reign was the most prosperous in our entire history. But, unwittingly, he brought a great evil to our doorstep. We had managed to send exploratory fleets into space, seeking to contact other civilizations and unravel the secrets of the cosmos. And we succeeded.

We made contact with a vessel, another ship wandering the void. When they received our signal and learned that our world harbored life, they descended into our skies."

"Terror gripped Atlantis. Stories of alien invaders bent on our destruction spread like wildfire. But they were peaceful. They ant us no harm. Our greatest scientists began a dialogue, working to understand their language and their culture.

The visitors were utterly fascinated by our civilization and held many councils with our scientists and the king. Once they had mastered our language and learned the secrets of our culture, they made a pact with the king—a pact whose details remain unknown to anyone else. Afterward, the king grew tense, distant, lost in his own thoughts. Soon after, the visitors left our world and returned to their own."

"Many, many years passed. Then another ship appeared. But this one was different. It belonged to a new civilization, one that had found its way to our hidden world. By this ti, our wise king was on his deathbed. Everyone knew his ti was short.

He had two sons: the elder, Athenos, and the younger, Gaia. Believing Athenos shared his father’s wisdom, the people chose him as the new ruler. But it was Gaia who was the more intelligent, the wiser of the two.

When the new strangers arrived, they began to communicate with us, just as the first ones had. And once they understood our language and our civilization, one thing captured their complete attention: the Sacred Crystal of Life."

Minora paused, taking a slow, deep breath. The silence was absolute, everyone hanging on her next word. She broke it, her voice steady as she resud her tale.

"Their leader was called Gladious. There was sothing deeply unsettling about him. Creatures and children would recoil in terror when he passed by; a powerful, oppressive aura surrounded him, but Athenos, in his inexperience, was blind to it.

Gladious asked Athenos for permission to study the Crystal. He claid that if it was the one he believed it to be, he would reveal all of its secrets: what it truly was, why the people of Atlantis possessed it, its ultimate purpose, where it ca from, who brought it here, and even the secret of their own origins.

He spoke as if he held the keys to the universe’s greatest mysteries. Intrigued, Athenos granted his request—under heavy guard, of course."

"Several months later, Gladious returned and told Athenos the secret. But sohow, that secret leaked. It spread through Atlantis like a wildfire. And when the people learned the truth, protests erupted. They railed against the great secret being kept from them, claiming that such power was their birthright."

Eyad cut her off, his voice strained, sounding as though he was on the verge of madness from everything he was hearing.

"So what is the secret?" he demanded.