For all the change, the many cycles of extinction and transformation have led our present, modern, industrialized world, to become less wild, less diverse, and perhaps more susceptible to disaster. The current period of history, is not the first to face catastrophes, nor is it facing what could be considered the worst of such. Disease, riots, racial unrest all pale in comparison to the destructive cycles of the earth. Between earthquakes and tidal waves, great asteroid impacts, and wars, humans from the length of our existence have faced events that challenge our courage, and threaten us with extinction. Humans have changed the face of the planet by their actions, but there are still many mysteries yet unsolved, phenomenon not yet understood, and events that are so misunderstood as to be seen from a distance as pure enigma.
The story I am introducing, called The Aegean Sea is based upon three different sources of inspiration. First I am fascinated by lost lands, such as Atlantis, the various monument building ancient peoples and simply, the magnificent achievements of ancient people to create amazing things. The Great Pyramids of Egypt are simply one of many great sites. Second, I am a fan of H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith. They wrote, not always in prose, often in poetry, about the world we know that is made very small by the presence of powerful alien and supernatural beings. The ancient people, however bright, would perceive power as magic, technology as godlike, and beings able to control such things, as gods. Third, as a historian I am aware that there are undiscovered human civilizations and advanced for the time, sites. I owe this work to all of those inspirations. May our real world become a bit less dangerous, and more loving. Here are some books you might enjoy if the influences interest you...
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THE AEGEAN SEA:
Prelude:
No one knows the exact month or date
When a salvage bell and ship were lost
It was the Autumn of the year 1928
Attempting to recover a cargo ship
Lost in a freakish gale turned storm
It happened without great loss of life
But the cargo had value to the owner
So the search led to an island shore
The sea's current had pushed it there
Searchers finally were able to find it
Upon an uncharted island cove
To those men preparing to do their job
The world seemed normal
Until the salvage team went forward
Learning how wrong perception can be
The Expedition 1956
It doesn't move, but is sereneSomewhere the Aegean is calm
Staring out over the blue
A wreck lays there now, broken
From a distance an odd scene
Long abandoned by her crew
Upon a cove's beach she sits
As tide and time now destroy
All that remains of a dream
No human is left, no life at all
Upon the island's shoreline
The ship is evidence of a quest
Of explorers, collectors, warriors
Who'd followed a trail of clues
Believing they'd find a treasure
For ages it is said no one knew
The treasure had laid entombed
As the final testament of a land
An ancient culture, unknown
Passing through known history
Silently, secretly, purposely
The culture had existed there
Might this land possess legacies
Aspects of the present culture
The things we treasure and revere
Are they fruit of the seeds planted
Why did language and arts bloom
Rising from the darkest of ages
Was it serendipity or circumstance
Mediterranean Sea's deluge
Should've meant disaster or doom
Yet this island was protected
A barrier wall not built by hand
Rising up from the ocean bed
As if sculpted upon command
How could it be this civilization
Have been so hidden from view
Never charted upon a map
Greatness previously undiscovered
Excavations and archeological digs
Revealed temple grounds and walls
The ancient island's culture was rich
And it seemed that the kingdom
Amazing and dominant in influence
It was built with a style of architecture
That was different than any other form
Ever known seen anywhere before
It was a wonder to modern eyes
Due to her riches left behind
Such wealth, grandeur, allure
The treasures might be worth
More than the collective wealth
So far revealed on planet earth
The crew of the ship was small
Twenty sailors and laborers
Ten men trained in weapons
Two scientists, one archeologist
Expecting to find a tomb
Probably that of the Greeks
Or some known people
Developing from a distance
The few artifacts found whole
Allowed a terrifying thought
This was not a human culture
But it was advanced beyond belief
When the explorers realized that much existed below that should have existed above the surface, it was realized that the island was not on most maps because it appears and disappears with the cycles of catastrophe on the planet. And surely, the deluge of the Mediterranean basin took much of what had been above the surface and pushed it below.
Realizing no people known existed
Mentioned in texts or maps illustrated
Anecdotal searches revealed oddities
The archeologists prepared, rehearsed
Security teams held views, persisted
Believing unknown dangers awaited
This land without mother or colonies
Existence evidence that it was hidden
By forces of time and mysterious
The temple structure discernable
Traces of architecture of civilization
This island heretofore unmapped
Altars and dais ornate if also faded
But now a team visited unbidden
To discover or recover the purpose
An island verdant and germinal
Hidden in the wealth of creation
The various teams were trapped
By a system dangerous and pervasive
They had hoped to find opulence
Team members were slaughtered
Like sheep or goat for sacrifice
Bodies flayed, broken and torn
By freakish torture and violence
By an ancient temple or altar
The offerings taken in silence
Fear or resistance to be scorned
The structure was absolute mystery
But now was the hour of revelation
When the power of the altar
Was unleashed for all to see
If we understood everything, we'd rule the future
But both of the previous expeditions failed
With every failure we slow our progress
To not go forward, we should be ashamed
The fear of us committing the same errors
By not trying we refuse to fail or succeed
It is a brighter future to consider
Human event and wisdom must grow
We must expand human knowledge
Imagine if we refused steam, happy with sails
To now know a great artifice of antiquity exists
Should we refuse to explore, understand its purpose
We choose defeat, a lack of curiosity and imagination
Here we are in a world that suffers mental stagnation
If we understood everything, we'd rule the future
But both of the previous expeditions failed
With every failure we slow our progress
To not go forward, we should be ashamed
The fear of us committing the same errors
By not trying we refuse to fail or succeed
It is a brighter future to consider
Human event and wisdom must grow
We must expand human knowledge
Imagine if we refused steam, happy with sails
To now know a great artifice of antiquity exists
Should we refuse to explore, understand its purpose
We choose defeat, a lack of curiosity and imagination
But both of the previous expeditions failed
With every failure we slow our progress
To not go forward, we should be ashamed
The fear of us committing the same errors
By not trying we refuse to fail or succeed
It is a brighter future to consider
Human event and wisdom must grow
We must expand human knowledge
Imagine if we refused steam, happy with sails
To now know a great artifice of antiquity exists
We choose defeat, a lack of curiosity and imagination
This time the party came to finish
The last party never accomplished
Those explorers never got as close
They'd aimed upon the shallows
But they missed the whole scene
The walls broken quickly healed
This temple that they had found
While not any sort of holy ground
Beneath the ruins was a large structure
Immense in size and vile architecture
Despite the idea of it not making sense
The walls and columns were living stone
Though quiet, the stone was not dormant
Something evil surely called this home
Finding the dead bodies of my team
Covered in blood, drained of life
I wanted to be there for them
Instead, I started this final approach
I hoped something, anything
Would finally make sense
I had to face reality
With my crew was dead
I had to finish the journey
Or die just as they did
With the final mystery unsolved
Torn to shreds, trying to flee drowned
Just as those from previous expeditions
I decided to end it once and for all
After solving the labyrinth of tunnels
I knew I had to crawl through the slime
Or die without help from the outside
The tomb's depths proved far reaching
A myriad collection of narrow halls
Like the veins of a gigantic human
Or something less earth bound
Each step found tendrils and shards
Of the sharp tentacles and arms
Reaching out to simply touch me
Removing my surface skin
Each touch accompanied by sound
Leaving me a bloody messThen with every simple glance
I began to hear the voices in my head
Of every one of my friends now lost
Even had I longed to do so
I had no chance to turn around
The screaming voices
The bleeding flesh
The smell of horror
The scent of death
Began to drive me insane
