Search for Ys

Prologue

I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the line of history we began to look for the wrong place. The records never indicated that it existed, but we plunged forward bullheaded. Atlantis is a myth. Lives have been spent in search of lies. And I am guilty of gullibility too. The maps on the wall in my room made me hold the idea of Atlantis like a child who refuses to admit Santa Claus isn’t real. I admit it is hard to see the truth when your eyes are closed. Now, I know.

My crew is tired tonight. Even more so than the days we worked with little sleep. This lethargy has worn on us deeply because dreams have been stripped away. This marks the 100th sunset at sea. I don’t know what I should tell them. However, at this point we have no choice but to turn back since there is nothing here to find. The architecture under the ocean is just some museum pieces that were lost during a storm. So we have been out here in the middle of nowhere chasing butterflies. Pretty things. Yet, that is all they are.

We hoped to find Atlantis. Of course we didn’t sail out here expecting to find the whole city floating beneath the ocean surface, just a sign that it existed. All the information we had up to that point led us to believe the carved columns we saw were at least 4,000 years old and probably much older. The data now shows that we were mistaken. These columns are from the Roman era. They simply were not made in the same style that most architects used at the time.

But how do I know that Atlantis isn’t out there, somewhere, waiting to be found? The book told me. Along with the old architecture, we found a trunk. It was actually hidden inside one of the stone encasings at the bottom of a column. Someone really wanted to keep this book a secret. The reason is obvious once you read it. The book tells of a history we should never have discovered. It was written by two people in two different generations. The first author was a Roman obsessed with Plato’s fabled Atlantis. He searched for Atlantis but instead he discovered something else much more important. Second, an American who loved puzzles came upon the unfinished book by chance. It was the grandest puzzle she ever encountered, and so she set about solving it. Now the book is in my hands.

This isn’t a bed time tale you would read to tease children to sleep. This is the story of Ys, a story that could ruin both the past and the future.