"It’s the secret of immortality! He told Athenos that its name was the Crystal of Life, because it gives life and immortality, and by using its power, they would be able to live until the end of this universe, perhaps after millions of years, who knows.
But the scientists disbelieved him, and others said that even if such a power existed, it would be contrary to the laws of nature, for death is a part of life, and if everyone lived forever, this would cause our numbers to increase in an exaggerated way, and this could lead to famines, epidemics, and wars over resources.
Some said that this immortality is the immortality of the body and the soul, but if this person is killed and his body is destroyed, he will surely die; that is, the body does not grow old or age, but it dies if it is killed. The power of the crystal cannot protect his body from death either. If he is run over and his body is crushed by something, for example, he will die, and his immortality will be of no use to him.
The theories continued to pour in, and the demand from the people to be given this power increased. But Gladious did not want to disclose the nature of this immortality specifically and continued to be evasive in his speech. But he told Athenos that he was the only one who could activate the power of the crystal and give him the power of immortality."
"And after a few days, Athenos came out to tell the people that this power was forbidden and that it was contrary to the true purpose of man.
But many people protested against him and described him as an unjust king who wanted to take immortality for himself. Some talked about how they would not be sad again with this power, and that they would not feel pain or fatigue.
The rumors about the great power continued to spread, and Athenos could not put an end to them because of his lack of experience. Gaia was advising him on what he should do, but he did not listen much."
Minora took a deep breath, while Omar and Eyad stared at her, not believing what they were hearing. They felt that they were in a long, bad dream and would soon wake up from it.
She continued, lowering her voice a little, "After a while, the rebellion exploded throughout the old and new Atlantis. The Astra began to protest and demand to be given the power of immortality. They threatened to depose Athenos from rule if he did not give them the power.
Gladious demanded that Athenos do as they asked, pointing out that the existence of such a power here was not a coincidence, but that it was here to become a right for everyone on this planet. Follow current novels on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝓷𝓮𝓽
It seemed that Athenos had decided to give the crystal to Gladious to work on activating its power, but with heavy security, of course.
But something unexpected happened, something that shook the throne of Atlantis, and indeed, all of Atlantis. On a dark, stormy night, the machines attacked the palace and tried to remove Athenos from rule.
Athenos and his soldiers fled to Atlantis 2, and the war began from there.
But everyone learned later who was responsible for doing this: his brother, Gaia. He had taken the forbidden crown, controlled the machines, and turned against Athenos.
The machines began to imprison anyone who tried to rebel in order to obtain this power, and everyone who even whispered about it was imprisoned.
The old Atlantis turned into an oppressive state, and the machines became a censor on everything the Astra did. Many of them fled to Atlantis 2, and the rule was divided between two kings: the legitimate king and the illegitimate king.
Athenos prepared his armies to wage a great war on Gaia and to seize rule from him, and Gladious helped him in this. But they were surprised by Gaia’s power."
The old man continued, asking Minora to rest for a little while, "And so a devastating war occurred throughout Atlantis, and Gaia was afflicted with a touch of madness. He began to kill everyone who stood in front of him, with or without reason.
The rest of the Astra fled to New Atlantis to take refuge there, but soon Gaia won a crushing victory over his brother and went to invade Atlantis 2.
And so the mill of another destructive war turned, which took with it the green and the dry.
It was clear that the Astra lineage would be wiped out at the hands of the mad king, Gaia. And so everyone knew that the end was near.
And as a last attempt, those of the Astra who could, fled far away from everything related to Atlantis and moved to a small, remote, and deserted continent.
Fortunately, Gaia did not care about our existence there as long as we did not interfere in his affairs, so we were able to hide there from his oppression. But we attack him and his machines whenever we can in a desperate attempt to reclaim what was taken from us.
But it seems that there is no hope.
We also did not know where Athenos had gone. Did he die? Or did Gaia capture him? And where did Gladious go? He is the reason for everything that has happened.
If he had not discovered that damned power, what happened would not have happened.
And most importantly, why did Gaia do this? Why did he use that power? Why did he destroy his people?
What is the point of living alone amidst machines that have no feelings? What kind of life is that!"
The old man fell silent, and tears streamed from his eyes like a waterfall pouring into its estuary.
Minora began to comfort him, but he did not stop weeping.
Meanwhile, the young boy stood, trying with all his might to hold back his tears, but some escaped from his eyes, and he could not restrain himself.