Atlantia

In the beginning there was nothing but land. No sea, or lakes, just harsh rocks and baron deserts. Finding water above ground was like finding miles and miles of precious jewels and gold. No-one knew how life began, but many wished it hadn’t. The few species of animals were slowly dying out, alongside the human race.
This is the story, my story, of the events that changed life as we knew it.1

My name is Sophia, and I’m one of the few that survived the last heat wave. My village suffered greatly, and the quest to find a new spring has become urgent.
Draco the ‘Great’ is happily watching us suffer in the shadow of his volcano, and we have no choice but to worship him. One of his guards murdered my mother two days ago for not making a sacrifice of food to him. We barely have enough food to feed ourselves!
Draco is the only dragon, and our ruthless leader. He burns us alive just for his amusement. There is a large cult dedicated to him, their leader being my father, William.
Since I refused to follow them, I have become an outcast; a rebel. But before I go on too much about why I hate Draco, I’ll tell the story, as it is, and nothing more. There are many different versions, but this is the only one that tells the whole truth. 2

It was a hot day. No – I’ll rephrase that. It was scorching, blistering, so hot it hurt. As I trudged onwards towards the horizon, another spasm of heat hit me. I had to get water –soon. The red sun hovered overhead, taunting me, daring me to give up on my quest. It almost seemed to say, “You will never find water, nor a place to hide from my dazzling radiance. Give up; you know it is hopeless to continue.”
I fell to my knees, burning them as I did so. Maybe it was hopeless; maybe I should give up now.
“No!” I yelled upwards. “I will never give up! Never!”
With that I rose to my feet, and began my long, perilous walk again. I must not give up. I can’t afford to.
After many hours and many miles of my journey, I finally saw something. Just a small blob near the horizon at first. I began to run, no, sprint towards it. As it came more clearly into view, I realized what I had found. Water.
I thought I was going mad, hallucinating, seeing mirages. I slapped myself on the cheek to make sure I wasn’t asleep. Nope. This was real. Really real. I had found a spring.
As I neared the edge of the sparkling oasis, I realized I must be the first to find it. There were no other footprints in the dusty soil. Even better! I shall be a hero to my village, Sophia the water bringer.
But of course it wasn’t as simple as that. It couldn’t be.
As I lapped up the water greedily, the ground began to shake, and a chasm opened in the middle of the lake.
“Nooooo!”
All the water was gushing away, into the great gap.
“This can’t happen, not when I’ve only just found it!” I sank to my knees and began to sob.
If I had been looking up, I would have noticed a large winged beast rise out of the lake. It let out a roar of rage, and simply jumped, fifty feet, to where I was sitting. So of course I almost had a heart attack when it landed.
“W… wh…. What are you?” I stammered. Did I expect a straight answer? I would have fainted if it had been that simple.
It rose to its full height, five times the height of the tallest person I had ever seen. Its voice was low but sweet, wild yet beautiful.
“You do not know of my kind?”
With that it suddenly hit me, with as much impact as the beast that landed on my shoulder. The bundle of black and blue feathers leapt to the ground, looked at the dragon, then me, and was off.
“The water dragon,” it murmured under its breath, “has finally come. I must warn the master.”
It flew with great speed, and I had barely enough time to register what it had said before the dragon had hauled me up onto his back.
“Hold on tight, we must arrive in your land before this bird.”
“Could you please explain to me what is going on?” I asked as we took off in pursuit.
“I am the one beast that Draco fears, and have been lost in the desert since before he took reign.” But I did not care anymore, for a wave of serenity had washed over me since I first came into contact with him, and had been slowly taking control of my emotions. I felt no fear for the beast anymore. He was a pure being; a being of complete truth, unlike Draco.
The mountain loomed overhead, and a siren wailed as the black eagle spread the news.
“We are too late, but I must still do my duty to this world.” He said sadly.
I had no time to object, or even say a word, before he lowered me to the ground. The volcano spewed up lava and molten rocks, as Draco burst out of his lair and landed ninety metres away.
“Stay here,” The water dragon said, putting an arm in my path. “This may get too dangerous for a human.”
With that he took a step forwards and waited for his opponent to begin.
“Ahhh… Atlantia.” He said, layering his voice with sickly sweetness. “So nice of you to have joined me. This should be fun.” The last part wasn’t sweet at all, but filled with fiery hate.
His eyes blazed as he launched himself towards Atlantia, and the battle began.
It was like nothing I had ever seen before; two complete opposites fighting for their cause, and their lives. Bright flashes of red and blue bounced in every direction, and I had to dodge the occasional fireball.
“Ow!” I gritted my teeth as a stream of flames scorched my right arm. But none of them seemed to notice, they were too engaged with what they were doing.
I didn’t notice a tall man sneak up behind me before it was too late. Muscular arms pinned my arms to the sides, and immobilized me.
“What do you think you’re doing?” A voice hissed in my ear, “You are an outcast, what are you doing back here so soon?” It was William.
“Let. Go. Of. Me!” I yelled to my father, as I struggled out of his grasp. He launched towards me again, but I let all my fury out on him in a single, well aimed kick. He flew backwards, towards the dragons.
“Don’t mess with me again.” I turned around with tears in my eyes, not able to watch as my only family got crushed by his master.
The sun began to sink lazily down behind a mountain range, tired from a long day in the sky. It no longer jeered and taunted, just retreat to its bed. A full moon rose on the opposite side of the sky, replacing the burning rays of light with a milky cream.
As the battle neared its climax, both dragons gasped for breath, but would not give up. The tension between the two rivals was suffocating.
Atlantia took a lucky swoop and caught Draco in the left eye. Blood swelled towards it, leaving a blackened patch where it used to be. With that, he tumbled to the unwelcoming ground, and lay still in the dust.
Atlantia turned his back and started to walk away from the scene, saying to himself, “I did only what had to be done.”
But a shadow grew behind him as a figure rose, and slashed him in the back. Atlantia had only time to glance at his attacker, before fear swarmed into his blue eyes, and he fell.
Draco stood bent over panting, looking down on the blue body of his opponent. “Never underestimate me.”
I ran towards Atlantia, furious tears fighting their way out of my eyes.
“How could you do this?” I screamed, leaning over the water dragon. “How could you do this?” I whispered.
Draco stalked off towards his mountain, leaving a trail of black blood in his wake.
The moon rose higher and higher into the velvet sky, shining pitifully down on the girl and dragon. A light mist rose up from his body, and I fell to the ground, forcing myself to hold back any tears I had.
A high wind pitched up and Atlantia burst into water, flooding the baron land, washing away all evil.3

And that is how the sea came about.
No-one had ever seen snow, or rain, before. But that night the land was covered in it, and if you listened hard enough, you still could hear Atlantia calling, “I only did what had to be done.”
That night was the saddest night of my life, and yet it was the happiest, too. We now have water, and Draco is gone, swallowed by him own flames.
My village soon became the first town, then city, the great city of Atlantis, the city of water. We lived happily after that, now we had the sea.
I became the leader, the great Sophia of Atlantis. My arm healed eventually, all in good time. A bit too long if you ask me.
I’ll never forget Atlantia, and what he did for us, even though we were complete stranger to him.4

And if you listen hard enough, you can still hear his voice today.5

6

“I only did what had to be done.”