November 2023

The last witness

"This is the gods punishment!" Shouted the high priest, kneeled and bending in front of the main hotel. "We deserved it!"

The night before, a man left the island. This was the greatest sin someone could ever be guilty of. Atlantis was a sacred City standing on a big yet undiscovered island, in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. It was meant to be a hideout for the deities, some place no human should ever find. For that reason, no atlantean was allowed to leave the city, let alone leaving the whole island.

But despite being so sacred, the city was the kingdom of all possible human sins. Kids were killed in the name of the deities, humans could be extremely wicked toward others humans just because of their status, the city was governed by corruption, lust and debauchery.

Until the day before, nobody ever escaped the island. And the island being vast, people were usually caught before reaching the sea. When you were found outside the city without permission, you were executed right away and your accomplices, if found, were imprisoned. That is why Samsith was tied to the central pillar of the hotel.

Her husband, Timaeus, escaped the city two days before, and succeeded in leaving the island the previous night. With Timaeus was Plato, their five years old child. Because Plato had been chosen to take part to the next high priest's selection, a harsh process that lasted for decades, starting with hundreds of young boys to end with only one man alive.

The high priest was the most important person in Atlantis, since he was the mediator between deities and humans. He was trained to be wise, with healing knowledge, physically strong, but also merciless. Plato was already a wise boy. At only five, he was already providing wise words. That is why he was chosen. But neither Samsith nor Timaeus were ready to let their only child go through that potentially mortal process.

The weak health of Samsith didn't permit her to go with her husband and kid. Instead, she stayed to drift away people's attention on their absence for as long as she could. When their escape got noticed, the guards came to her first. She has been imprisoned in a dark and humid cell in the temple's underground. And when Timaeus and Platon left the island, she has been tortured for hours, before being sentenced to death. She was tied to the central pillar since then, and she would stay there until her execution

Samsith was supposed to be executed early in the morning, on the hotel. It was supposed to be a big public event. And the high priest and his subordinates spent almost all the night preparing for it. But at dawn, when the firsts sun rays showed up, the catastrophy begun.

The first thing Samsith noticed was the small stones shaking on the ground as if a heavy vehicle was driving somewhere near. Soon enough, it was the whole island that was trembling. The city was in a panic as buildings started to crumble. Samsith was at the ideal place to witness everything, as the hotel was built on the highest place of the whole island, in the main yard of the temple. From there, she was safe, with no building falling on her, and with the best sight to witness the end of their world.

For hours, the ground kept trembling, covering the whole city with a huge and thick cloud of dust. At some parts the ground cracked, engulfing humans, animals, plants and buildings. At some point, Samsith was forgotten, left alone in the big yard where the hotel stood. The high priest, after avoiding being buried alive in his prayer room, decided it was not time to pray but to help the citizens. So with all his subordinates and guards, they went to the city in order to help saving as much lives as they could.

At noon the ground slowly stopped shaking. But the city was completely destroyed. The high priest and his subordinates spent the rest of the day helping reunite survivors in the yard of the temple. Samsith was supposed to be executed that morning, but now nobody cared about her. Soon enough, hunger and tiredness gained her and she fell into a deep sleep.

Samsith woke up in the morning, alarmed by all the agitation around. Was the earth trembling again? She slowly opened her eyes to find people running towards the hotel. Were they planning to execute her themselves? But people did not seem to care about her at all.

She opened her eyes wider and then noticed all the people coming from all the city towards the temple. Further, she could see the sea. How comes she could see the sea from the city? The city was built in the middle of the island, and they normally were too far to see the sea. The only explanation was that the island was sinking.

Given the distance already under water, it might have started a long time ago, the earthquake just speeded up the phenomenon. It was maybe the reason why Timaeus and Plato were able to leave that fast. That thought made her smile, as she realised that making her family leave Atlantis was maybe the best thing ever.

Two days later, as water reached her feet, she couldn't help but be grateful to those who tied her up there. Because she was then at the best place. Everyone still alive were rumbling at her feet, trying their best to stay outside the water.

Before completely sinking, Samsith had a last thought towards her husband and child. She hoped they were safe. She hoped Plato would become a great man. After all, she was certain the deities saved this kid before drawing the sinful island.