It had all been so perfect, so majestic. How did we come to this point? A lone woman leaned against the balcony of her apartment in one of the most exclusive megacomplexes in the city. She took one more sip of tea as she gazed out at the vast array of steel, marble, and stone towers that stretched from horizon to horizon. Pedestrian bridges, electrical wiring, air car routes, and server drones crisscrossed between them in a web that almost bordered on complete madness. Twirling a lock of her dark hair, the magistrate once again wondered to herself just where exactly things had gone so very, very wrong. Then again, this whole deplorable situation began from something going catastrophically wrong,  so why should its ending be any different? 

Almost ten generations ago, an errant piece of scrap metal in the Exalted Messenger’s  Jumpdrive came loose and heavily damaged the extremely sensitive machine. The built-in safeties had then engaged as designed, forcing the ship into making an emergency Truespace reversion into an uncharted, insignificant portion of the far arm of the Drakos Galaxy.  

Having the drive turned into countless kilograms of irreparable slag would have been bad enough, but the following cascade of system failures that followed were much worse. The sheer totality had led to the 40-kilometer long, 20-kilometer wide Imperial Flag Cruiser to plow into the only habitable planet’s lone supercontinent at an unimaginable speed. The sheer force of the impact alone vaporized everything for dozens of kilometers while the shockwave cleared the landscape for hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometers. Sensor readings from the few scanners that survived indicated that the entire landmass shook from coast to coast for twenty-three seconds.  The environmental damage from the collision was devastating, yet, that was not merely the opening notes to a symphony of death. The impact ignited tectonic forces throughout the planet’s crust.  Jagged tears swept across the landscape as mountains and valleys instantaneously formed and collapsed in on themselves as the very skeleton of the planet cried out in agony, barely holding itself together. Kilometer-thick plumes of smoke, ash, and  dust tore into the atmosphere sending the entire planet’s relatively temperate climate into an ice age, driving countless species of flora and fauna  into extinction. 

If the cruiser had been solely populated with just the lower races, the planet would still be uninhabited to this day. But this was the Crown Prince Corith’s flagship, there were five battalions of some of the finest Draconi warriors aboard, and they were made of much more durable materials than any of the slaves and support crews. Even so, losses amongst the crew were horrendous, while many more would die from either starvation or sickness before the planet’s temperatures once again began approaching a stable habitat. 

Yet, each Draconi life was gladly given for nothing matters more to a warrior than their duty to protect the Crown Prince, the last living descendant of the great Drakos himself and the sole heir to the Imperial Throne. Whether it meant giving up their rations, medical supplies, or, in rumored cases, their own flesh for consumption for the command staff to survive, it was done without question or hesitation.  Entire star systems would gladly perish to the last to ensure that the Drakos line, the line blessed by the Ancient Ones themselves prior to their leaving this plane of existence for something more, continued. The songs sung to this day recounted of  some having had done that very thing throughout the course of the expansion of the Draconi Empire.

Once the world that they were stranded upon had stopped trying to kill them in petty revenge for the devastation they had unintentionally wrought upon it, Corinth and the few Draconi troops finally left the remnants of the Exalted Messenger and began to claim this world for the glory of the Empire. Even so, this new campaign would have not been of any significance on the galactic stage. After all, what’s the worth of a single planet when your empire stretches over three-quarters of the entire galaxy with thousands of solar systems under your divine hand? But Corinth had plans for this untapped, virgin world. He intended it to be a domain that rivaled Dracon herself and would be used as a springboard to begin the conquest for the remaining quarter not yet under their direct control.

 No one could deny Corinth’s ambition, even if it might have led to a charge of treason against the Throne. Yet, he was trapped on a world where the locals were barely one step above throwing their own feces at each other with a technology base that was practically nonexistent. Indeed, this dream might have seemed impossible to any rational being. For the Crown Prince, one of the supreme intellects of the Draconi who always loved a challenge, he just viewed it as another puzzle to solve. Nothing had eluded his grasp before and nothing would do so now. Fortunately, there were also a few other advantages that fate had decided to lend him as well.

First, the emergency distress beacon was still functional. Though its signal was limited to a mere 50 light-years, Corinth knew his subjects would turn over every square meter of space if needed to find him. Second, while the surviving Imperial technology was slowly deteriorating due to lack of modern resources, he made the best use of his construction androids to lay the foundations for a city that would eventually grow to encompass over 10 million square kilometers. Finally, there was one more thing in the Crown Prince’s arsenal he could use. Draconi, compared to the lower races, had exponentially longer life spans and Corinth was barely out of his hatchling years. So even if it took tens of thousands of rotations, there was a very good chance that Corinth wouldn’t even have reached old age before rescue.  Still, he was also a pragmatic man and knew that, even if he wasn’t rescued, the line of Drakos must continue.  However, to not only keep the bloodline pure but to also avoid any wars of succession or a claw in the back from a “beloved” sibling, Imperial law stated that only a single heir would ever be produced, no matter how many concubines the harem included.. Time passed and the Crown prince did indeed grow older. Thus, it wasn’t Corinth who greeted Fleet Admiral Rashad that fateful day in the throne room of the palace but his daughter, Verita. 

Though an empire mourned the loss of their beloved Emperor, they were soon comforted by discovering that the heir to the throne would become the greatest military mind of their entire history leading the empire to its final conquests.

 However, Verita still considered this small planet of her birth her true home and proclaimed it the new Imperial Capital. Renaming the city her father built after Drakos’s beloved mate, Atlantis became the beating heart of the Drakon Empire. For the next hundred thousand rotations, Atlantis was the center of all civilization in the Drakos Galaxy.  

Yet, as with so many civilizations before it, the mighty Atlantis would be brought low. The Drakoni had brought countless slaves with them to their new capital, each race carefully selected for their own unique talents and abilities. Through some twist of genetic roulette, the Draconi had found that the planet’s indigenous species was one of the most pathetic they had ever come across. Lacking any desirable traits, apart from their rapid breeding, a program was initiated to rectify the situation. Through the Science Ministry’s machinations, Sources were added to the species’ genetic makeup, and though millions of potential slaves were lost, the resulting thousands more than sufficed to make up the deficit. After all, a single being that could weld steel with his own body’s energy was a much more valuable resource than a thousand who each required a plasma torch.. Yet the Ministry hadn’t decided to stop there. They had always been too ambitious for their own good. The magistrate sneered as she recalled her vehement opposition to the program. The Ministry’s scientists began genetic experiments that began blending various species of Atlantis with the planet’s indigenous species.  The eugenics programs thus led to some very unexpected but quite pleasing results. A percentage of these pathetic two-legged primates could now suddenly turn into much stronger beings at will, displaying a cross blend of the two parent species. Though, for one off-shoot at least, the blending had led to a psychosis that would cause two distinct personalities to emerge, constantly at war within the subject. The Ministry never did quite figure out why though. And now they never would, the magistrate thought with a sneer twisting her lips. 

Finishing her tea, she clenched the serving dish in her hand until the porcelain shattered into fragments that rained down on the patio. Those thrice-damned Reds and Violets. They were always too soft. We had been given our sacred duty from Drakos himself to spread across the stars for His glory! Covering the entire galaxy was finally within our grasp! Then the soft-hearted clanless decided to start a rebellion amongst the slaves, calling for equality amongst Draconi and the lesser races. No wonder Drakos turned his Sight away from us! Sheer madness!  We are the galaxy’s rulers, to co-exist is to lower our divine station! If it wasn’t for the fact that it was her of all Draconi leading them, every single traitor would have been executed and their rotting corpses hung across the towers. Taking a calming breath, she resumed her gaze across the cityscape. Still, at least this heresy won’t spread beyond this world to infect the remainder of the Empire. Our Accord made sure of that. Her face twisted into a wicked grimace. Too bad, in their joy at having won their battle, they lost sight of the war. They never once considered what would happen to Atlantis once they had agreed to return the planet back to its “original state” prior to the city’s construction. She sorely lacks her forebears insight. I just wish I could see the look on that s’lith’s face when she sees what she wrought. She softly chuckled. Didn’t you ever wonder why I chose to stay on as an “ambassador”? The one woman who absolutely hated everything about this mudball? Well, it’s too late for you now. I’ve already accomplished my goal. So go ahead, “my queen”, enjoy your little kingdom of equality and peace, while it lasts. The plants surrounding suddenly began swaying as if a breeze caressed them. An impossibility at that height considering the wind dampeners installed to prevent falling. Soon, the ground under her feet began shaking softly, an impressive feat considering the magister’s apartment was over 2000 meters in the air. She turned to the east where the city’s main power reactor, drilled directly into Atlantis’ molten core, suddenly erupted into a violent flash of heat and light. Against the dawning light, the sky appeared to have instantly added a second sun. The light so intensel, the pre-dawn sky immediately turned a bright shade of blue.  The Magister had only a few seconds left before the first shockwave reduced her to little more than a few errant molecules. That was just enough time for her to laugh as loud as she could. 

The initial explosion decimated a full third of the city. Over 3 million square kilometers vanished in flames within a minute. Untold billions of lives were lost. Yet the holocaust had just begun.

The sheer force of the explosion ignited tectonic activity that was unheard of even to Draconi science. The entire planet once again roiled and rocked to its very inner core of solid iron. Mountains of rock immediately thrust up through the supercontinent, only to collapse back in on themselves moments later. The vast cityscape shattered into hundreds of thousands of fragments as the supercontinent buckled under the strain. Finally, almost in an act of self-preservation to alleviate the strain, the supercontinent began to fracture and split apart, further adding to the incredible devastation..

For once the barriers holding the Great Sea were down, the waters began rushing to fill the gaps. Tidal waves the size of the greatest towers of Atlantis barrelled down on rivers of churning magma. The entire planet was being reborn. For months, the planet shook and reshaped itself. Even then, after The Great Calamity, aftershocks would continue for decades as the new tectonic plates settled themselves. The oceans would take just as long to recover with nearly all life in them wiped out. It seemed the Great Conclave’s plan to destroy the heretics had come to complete fruition. Most of the plant and wildlife species had become extinct. 

But due to a higher power, fate, sheer dumb luck, or a combination of the three, there were survivors. Barely a fraction of a percent of the original population but enough to give hope.  Enough to start the task of rebuilding the world once more. But things were irrevocably different now. The indigenous species blamed the Cataclysm on their gods and the things that were them but weren’t. With the lack of resources growing by the day, the indigenous species suddenly turned on their protectors and began slaughtering those who had once been called fae, Draconi for “friend”, into extinction. They had learned from their masters far too well when it comes to survival.  Once their crusades of bloodlust were ended, they were now the masters of Atlantis. The indigenous race now chose to call themselves Human, Draconi for “Only One”, and their home Earth, Draconi for “Land”. 

With much shorter lifespans than even the lowliest of the fae and being reduced to the primitive state they had originally been in, all of the acquired human knowledg would revert back to simple word-of-mouth passed down by campfires. In time, the truth of their past would become stories. Stories that became myths. Myths that would become legends. Legends that were forgotten. 

Much time has passed and, as the human race spread across the world, with civilizations rising and falling countless times,  one truth was held above all. One absolutely unquestioned truth: humanity was the only intelligent race on Earth and was sole master of their own world.  

Humanity couldn’t have been more wrong.