Atlantis 2

Jack opened his eyes and noticed that he was on land. “Thank you, Lord,”  he said gratefully. He was overjoyed to feel solid ground under his feet after what he had gone through. He looked at his surroundings and realized that he was in a room with walls made up of large, stone blocks. He could not see any windows. Instead large banners with the sign of the trident decorated the walls. Despite the absence of windows, the room was clearly lit. Jack concluded that the phosphor on the ceiling was responsible. Its glowing characteristics more than made up for the lack of sunlight. Suddenly he heard the footsteps of someone approaching him from behind. He turned around and saw an old man with long, white hair hanging over his shoulders. He had a blue trident on his chest.    

“Greeting,”  the stranger said to Jack. “I see that all is well with you. You are lucky I found you or else you would have surely perished.”

“I do not know how I should thank you,”  Jack said honestly. “I am forever in your debt.”

“You do not have to thank me,”  the stranger responded. “I am sure you would have done the same for me. I am called Olaf.”

“Pleased to meet you, Olaf,”  Jack replied. “My name is Jack.”

“Come with me, Jack,”  Olaf told him and they both left the room.

They entered a room with a table in the middle. Again, there were no windows to be seen, only banners that acted like curtains. The table was covered with food. “Please, make yourself feel at home,”  Olaf said. “I have prepared these meals especially for you.”  Jack was starving and he graciously accepted the kind invitation.

“I have not noticed anyone else around here,”  Jack said, while chewing on some seafood. “Can I assume that you live alone?”

“You could say that,”  his host responded, who was sitting on the opposite side of the table.

“Have you lived here very long?”  Jack said to keep the conversation going.    

“Longer than you think.”  Olaf said mysteriously.

“By the way, how did you find me and where are we?”  Jack asked.

 Olaf stared right into Jack’s eyes and said bluntly: “We are in my palace, deep under water, on the bottom of the ocean.”  Jack was perplexed and hesitated for a while, not quite sure what to say. Then he burst into laughter.

“Oh, now I get it,”  Jack said. “It’s a joke right?”  But Olaf was not laughing. His face had the same, calm expression.

“It’s the truth,”  Olaf said deadserious. Jack stopped laughing.

“Oh, c’mon,”  Jack said. “How can anybody live on the bottom of the ocean?” Olaf just stood up and walked towards the wall to pull the curtains.

“Damn!” Jack shouted, when Olaf had pulled the curtains. “We really are under water!”  Jack could see the fish swimming around.

“Still think I am joking,”  Olaf asked. Jack just sat there on his chair like a sack of potatoes with his mouth wide open. He clearly did not know what to say, so Olaf continued. “Listen carefully to the story I am about to tell you. It is about a great civilization and how greed, jealousy and lust for power caused its downfall and with it, brought an end to the world.”

--o--

 Click on Part 3 for what happens next in this series.