EPIGRAPH

“και τι δεν κάνατε για να με θάψετε / όμως ξεχάσατε πως ήμουν σπόρος”

“What didn’t you do to bury me / but you forgot that I was a seed”

— Dinos Christianopoulos

From Plato’s Critias, trans. Benjamin Jowett

“I have before remarked in speaking of the allotments of the gods, that they distributed the whole earth into portions differing in extent, and made for themselves temples and instituted sacrifices. And Poseidon, receiving for his lot the island of Atlantis, begat children by a mortal woman, and settled them in a part of the island […] He also begat and brought up five pairs of twin male children; and dividing the island of Atlantis into ten portions, he gave to the first-born of the eldest pair his mother’s dwelling and the surrounding allotment, which was the largest and best, and made him king over the rest; the others he made princes, and gave them rule over many men, and a large territory. And he named them all; the eldest, who was the first king, he named Atlas, and after him the whole island and the ocean were called Atlantic. There were many special laws affecting the several kings inscribed about the temples, but the most important was the following: They were not to take up arms against one another, and they were all to come to the rescue if any one in any of their cities attempted to overthrow the royal house […]

Such was the vast power which the god settled in the lost island of Atlantis […] For many generations, as long as the divine nature lasted in them, they were obedient to the laws, and well-affectioned towards the god, whose seed they were […] but when the divine portion began to fade away, and became diluted too often and too much with the mortal admixture, and the human nature got the upper hand, they then, being unable to bear their fortune, behaved unseemly, and to him who had an eye to see grew visibly debased, for they were losing the fairest of their precious gifts; but to those who had no eye to see the true happiness, they appeared glorious and blessed at the very time when they were full of avarice and unrighteous power. Zeus, the god of gods, who rules according to law, and is able to see into such things, perceiving that an honourable race was in a woeful plight, and wanting to inflict punishment on them, that they might be chastened and improve, collected all the gods into their most holy habitation, which, being placed in the centre of the world, beholds all created things. And when he had called them together, he spake as follows— (The remaining ‘Dialogue of Critias’ has been lost.)”

What follows is the Hermocrates.

Hermocrates and the New Solxeed

Cosmic Year 5000, 14,600 years after the fall of Atlantis

The realm and kingdom of Alpha Centauri

Planet Gaia-Centauri… formerly known as “Earth”

Hyperboria

“My beloved, it’s time.”

…

Critias stood up and started pacing round the room. His partner sat there with eyes closed as Hermocrates breathed heavily.

“So you want us to believe that you have nothing to do with Rigil falling? I’m not buying it,” Critias said.

“Since the day I discovered the Gaiyaaxeed, its power has only continued to baffle me, just as our Goddess remains ever mysterious.” Hermocrates replied as he sweat profusely. “We’ve only observed Rigil, Toliman and Proxima’s effects on our planet for not even a century. There is simply not enough data to make any kind of conclusion as to how this is happening. The one you should be questioning is the Solxeed, not me.”

“Listen, you’re gonna have to come up with something better than blaming Apollo. Do you believe him, Timaeus?”

The other interrogator leaned forward.

“What about Poseidon’s divine treasure, the Gaiyaaxeed? If you tell us exactly where it is right now, we can use it to stop this catastrophe and you can return to Atlanteos. Where… is it?”

“It is common knowledge that the xeeds are not only a power but a manifested cosmic being. They follow the will of their masters. We merely borrow their power.”

Critias yanked the journal from Hermocrates’s grasp.

“Maybe he wrote its location in here.”

Insolent brat, I muttered to myself.

He skimmed through the book, but the pages were empty. Just as I designed it, the words would only appear to a powerful Zodi wielder.

“Hey! It’s Saggitarius.”

I turned around in trepidation. Shoot. ZPAZE hunters.

“Synthesis!” I commanded.

Time around me and the three hunters froze, and we were taken back to a couple of moments just before they discovered me. I quickly changed my location and watched as they investigated the spot I was hiding, quietly moving on with their patrol.

Standing here waiting was a complete waste of time, and I was running out of Zodi.

“Hermocrates!” I spoke to him telepathically.

“Sagittarius?” he answered.

“I’m outside and I’ve got a clear shot. It’s either I snipe these bastards down or you get them to leave the room so I can bust you outta here.”

Knowing him, he would choose the more peaceful option.

“Alcyone’s wrath… this planet is getting hotter and hotter by the hour. Surely you don’t intend to keep this old man here without water?” Hermocrates said.

Critias sighed.

“After your drink you’re going to tell us where the Gaiyaaxeed is.”

“Come on, Critias, it’d be bad if he fainted on us.”

I watched as Critias and Timaeus left Hermocrates alone in the room.

Moments later I used instant transmission to phase into the room.

“Bro, we gotta stop meeting like this,” I chuckled.

“To the Titania Sanctum,” he said without delay.

“I don’t know why these fools couldn’t question you there if they really had to. It’s much more disastrous to be anywhere else; at least there you’d all be safe from the sun. And why do they keep kidnapping you? This is like the fifth time. By now it should be obvious you’re not a Zodi master, let alone knowing where the Gaiyaaxeed is.”

He grabbed the journal and locked onto my arm, staying silent.

Critias and Timaeus re-entered the room, dumbfounded.

“How did you get in here? The facility is supposed to block Zodi.”

“Great. I was hoping I didn’t have to do things the hard way, but oh well,” I grinned.

“Take it easy on them, they’re only Gaiyans.”

“Hmp, well so am I. By the way, I found a flaw in the crystal grid you guys put up. There’s a small interval where the grid isn’t active. Vulnerabilities like that are what make my Kairosys Zodi extremely valuable.”

Enraged, they both charged at me.

“Synthesis! Sextile! Orichalcys Arrow!”

I leapt into the air, drawing a string of light as a bow of light manifested, shooting eight arrows. They pierced the men’s arms and legs, pinning them to the wall.

“Hmp. Now that they’re taken care of.”

“I told you to go easy on them!”

All of a sudden they broke out in unyielding laughter.

“Orichalcys arrows are healing arrows. I can hit them with some more if you want them to laugh to death.”

“…Never mind. Quickly.”

I refocused my Zodi energy, envisioning the Titania Sanctum in my mind’s eye.

“Synthesis, Chronus Leap!”

And we disappeared, reappearing outside the Titania Sanctum, on the other end of the north-eastern region of Hyperboria. The old man instantly fell to the ground.

Outside was even worse compared to just a couple of hours ago. For the last eleven months, our sun Rigil Kentaurus has been falling. It’s finally come into Gaia-Centauri’s atmosphere to end us all. I doubt any of us would live to see tomorrow, unless I found a way to use the power she gave me.

“No, brother, the heat is much worse if you let your body come into contact with things.”

I put up a temporary shield of Zodi energy around him and me, but our bodies were still searing in pain from Rigil’s violent Novyohri rays. He at least managed to get up. Just then I sensed Apollo’s Zodi signature.

“What is it?” Hermocrates asked.

“The Solxeed. He’s heading this way… and… he’s with the Ra’helios.”

“Do you intend to fight Apollo right now?”

“No. But they might be able to help me stop what they caused.”

“Stop the falling sun? That’s impossible.”

Apollo and Ma’nuu landed just ahead, at the entrance to the Titania Sanctum.

“Why’d we stop?” Ma’nuu asked.

He looked over and noticed me.

“Sagittarius!”

Apollo smirked. “Well, if it isn’t the goddess’s chosen hero.”

“Do you see what you’ve caused, Apollo? Look around. Because of your own folly, you’ve condemned us all to burn and die!”

“Spare me will ya. I was only doing what our beloved Ra’helios asked of me.”

Ma’nuu looked down.

“I— I’m truly sorry. I did not wish for any of this. For decades, I have been working to avoid this very misfortune that plagues us now.”

“You’re the Ra’helios. You don’t have to apologize to this pitiful Centauri-Gaiyan.”

I could feel the glare of Apollo even more than the falling sun as we walked up to them. With a quick motion at the grand doors of the sanctum, they slowly opened.

“Who goes there!”

The guards on the inside peered out to see who had opened the fortress. I turned to look at Hermocrates.

“You go inside to your grandkids. This… might be the last time I see you.”

“Sagittarius.” I could hear the sorrow in Hermocrates’s voice.

“It is what it is. Don’t worry. I will save you. It’s the least I could do after you and father saved me… I promise, I’ll save you all.”

I nodded at the guards.

Hermocrates put a hand on my shoulder.

“You are our only hope…”

“Ophiuxha, it’s Grandpa! He’s back!” I heard a kid say.

“Do me a favour and don’t become a damsel again after I’m gone, will ya?”

I watched as Hermocrates’s grandson studied my motions initiating the doors of the Titania Sanctum. I shot him a half smile right as the doors shut without a sound.

“Thank you, brother… for everything,” I said quietly to myself.

Truth is, I had no idea what I was going to do. I had some semblance of a plan but had no idea if it was even going to work.

Think, Sagii, think, I willed myself. Raising my head, my eyes locked with Ma’nuu’s. It was worth a shot.

“Great Ra’helios, please come with me.”

“M— me? Where?” he said.

Suddenly Apollo hurled a blast of scorching Novyohri Zodi at me. I barely dodged it.

“Just what do you think you’re going to do, big shot?” Apollo asked.

“I’m taking Ma’nuu back to father’s Sanctum.”

“The Sol Sanctum? But why?”

“Goddess Gaiyaa entrusted me with a power I didn’t think I would ever have to use… one that would require my own lifeforce: the Thema Mundi.”

“She bestowed upon you that lost Zodi art?! No way,” Ma’nuu said.

“Since you clearly can’t, if Ma’nuu and I combine our power at the sanctum and amplify it by leveraging Rigil’s energy, we should be able to stop him from colliding with us. Please, we mustn’t delay!”

“Brilliant. Yes... This just might work. Apollo, we’ve tried for months to undo this to no avail. Let us join forces with Sagittarius and atone for the destruction we’ve unleashed.”

“How can you be so sure this lost Zodi art is even gonna work? According to the legends, the Thema Mundi only occurred once, during the Al’s creation at the dawn of the universe. Besides, it’s not like we’re in the Solkrystos realm anymore.”

“What’s the alternative?” I said. “Remember, Rigil is not even your original solar life force and Zodi signature. He might not destroy a Sun Oracle like Ma’nuu, but he’ll gladly get rid of a failed Solxeed like you.”

Apollo looked at Ma’nuu and sighed. “…Whatever you say. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

When we arrived at the Sol Sanctum, I was shocked to find my father lying on the ground.

“Father!” I ran over to him.

“Father, what are you doing here? You should be with Hermocrates and the others in the Titania Sanctum!”

“Sagii. Is that… you? Rigil… has drained my — The boy… Stop… the boy…”

“Boy? What boy?”

Ma’nuu laid his hand on him and he was immediately protected from the climate that weakened him. He got up slowly.

“I am indebted for the blessing, great Ra’helios.”

“Plato, are you alright? What boy do you speak of?”

Suddenly he became frantic with worry.

“Galileo! He has entered the Sol Sanctum. We have not a moment to spare. Quickly, this way.”

It was the first time I had been inside the Sol Sanctum. The temple’s vibe was the complete opposite of the solar tempest outside. We were completely shielded from it all; it was almost like the apocalyptic chaos outside was Maya. Like it didn’t even exist. The architecture my father had constructed was beautiful and, for some strange reason, unaffected by the wrath of the sun. We came to the centre of the temple, where a boy I had recognized from earlier knelt. It was indeed Galileo, Hermocrates’s grandson. I went up to him and gave a soft slap on the back of his head.

“Hey, what are you doing here, kid? How did you get out of the Titania Sanctum?”

He didn’t move.

Ma’nuu put a hand on his crown chakra, studying him.

“He’s probably just out from heat exhaustion. Strange. His state should be a lot worse.”

“The kid’s got some guts, I’ll give him that,” Apollo added.

Gold inscriptions covered the walls, written across a lapis lazuli variant of orichalcum, the stone father used to build the magnificent sanctum.

“It’s the Thema Mundi,” I whispered, my voice echoing in the cavernous temple.

I looked at the sutra around my arm. As it began to illuminate, so too did the letters and mathematical symmetry on the wall.

“Well, that must be a good sign,” I said.

Apollo yawned obnoxiously.

“So, is this the part where you save Gaia-Centauri, hot shot?” he asked.

“Right. We mustn’t tarry. Father, take Galileo and stand back.”

I handed him the boy. He caught a look in my eyes; something revealed to him that I was about to do something I wouldn’t be able to come back from.

“Sagii? What’s going on?” he let escape, dreadfully.

I smiled and began hovering around the room with the little Zodi I had remaining, reciting the ancient inscription passed down since time immemorial:

“Here we stand on the eastern void. The world ascends in the constellation of Cancer at exactly fifteen degrees, with the moon, who the world can connect through to the divine mother, Alcyone, resting on her throne of lunar waters. Right beside her, the goddess’s counterpart, Alcyone, radiant from the fifteenth degree of the Leo constellation, the divine father blazing forth with unmitigated solar-will.

Involuntarily, I stopped for a moment, captured by the images of a great sun hero and the constellation of the lion. It dawned on me that this was my first time actually seeing it.

But behold: let every sphere lend its power to this sacred degree. Mercury, whom you alone, Alcyone, will adhere to your warnings, in the constellation of Virgo, one sign away; Venus is in Libra, two signs away; and Mars guards the depths from the constellation of the Scorpion, three signs out. Our great and mighty Jupiter, at the same fifteenth degree in Sagittarius, the archer. Oh Saturn, who reigns over the frozen, dense boundaries of fifteen Capricorn, edge of the western void.”

The temple was filled with an iridescent light. I looked over to my father and saw Galileo had woken up.

“My beloved, it’s time.”

I heard Goddess Gaiyaa’s voice.

“Synthe — ”

“No!” Galileo said.

He broke free from Father’s arm and flew to the top of the sanctum and outside.

“Galileo, come back! What are you doing!” I yelled. He broke my concentration.

He kept flying up, straight into Rigil, with incredible speed, almost as if Rigil was empowering him.

Then he disappeared…

A violent explosion occurred, followed by the gut-wrenching roar of what seemed like millions of people from a great distance, gnashing their teeth as they perished.

“Sagittarius!” Ma’nuu called out to me.

I felt the power of the Thema Mundi fizzling out. I had to complete the ritual now or we would all perish.

Suddenly, light consumed everything, but I managed to invoke,

“Synthesis!”

At once, Rigil’s destruction ceased, and for a few seconds I glimpsed my father. Hermocrates’s face overlay with him for a spilt kairosyc second in my last moments.

And the sun was falling… no more.

End of chapter.

Author’s Note

The SXD books are essentially science fiction, but based on real astronomical and astrological research. They are intended to be read as an ultimate “Pre-Myth” story to every existing myth of the current human psyche and culture of myths, archived since the dawn of time. SXD attempts to weave these archetypes, characters, and myths into a grand origin tale of the cosmos. Thus, any mention of places and names of characters that have real-world counterparts are purely loosely related, or an alternate dimension of this story’s version, if you will — and may, or may not, go on to birth new iterations, namely the ones in our current species’ lexicon.

The Starxeed Descendance series is an unofficial ‘Dialogue of Hermocrates’ text — a literature experiment, acting as my own soul’s recollection of Atlantis fused into a fictional narrative of what Plato’s mysterious third book after Timaeus and Critias might have been: the ultimate astrological pre-myth, taking place in a rebuilt Atlantis 2.0 in the final epoch of our Earth. The vision for it is to provide supplementary nuance to these gods, deities, constellations, and archetypes. Who they were, and how they existed, before the solidification of what they represent today, and before the impulse and art of human story, tale, legend, and myth ever began. To create a fun, fictional story whilst also documenting true stories and teaching you astrology and cosmogenesis through a mind-blowing narrative. And to remind the world — maybe even the entire cosmos — that we are all… one.

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