Atlas

His silhouette obscures part of the sky and his shoulders scramble the clouds as he stretches out above the valley. Perched atop the cliff, I see one of his hands emerge from the mist, rumbling past me at close range—a hand that could seize the Colosseum, or perhaps even pick up the Asterion. He's a colossus, a titan, a gargantuan being to whom we are mere ants. But that's precisely what I'm aiming for. His hand suddenly drops down and plunges into the side of the plateau. I hang on tight to avoid falling as violent tremors jolt the countryside. Like a quarryman taking a stone, he tears off the rocky outcrop I'm standing on. Like a gardener uprooting a clump of earth, he lightly swings the small island he's just detached from the ground.

The trees around me are shaken as if by a hurricane. The moor is blasted by a biting wind as he carries it under his arm like a bulky package. With each of his steps, it feels like the world is quaking. I grab onto a stump to keep from getting blown away, and I can't help but laugh, half-nervously and half-madly. To him, I'm nothing but a tick on a buffalo, an insignificant gnat. Suddenly, I feel the entire atoll I'm standing on fall to the earth. No doubt he intends it as a delicate gesture. But to me, it's as though a terrible earthquake were shattering the world. Trees fall at the impact. Rocks spring up from the ground, which breaks apart and starts moving like the sea. And as a thick dust rolls in around me, calm is restored. In just a few steps, he's transported me leagues…

A titan in Greek mythology and son of Uranus, god of the night sky, Atlas fought in the Titanomachy—the war that pitted the gods of Olympus against their primordial predecessors. After finding himself on the losing side, Atlas is sentenced by Zeus to carry the heavens on his shoulders for all eternity. Atlas plays an important role in various heroic tales, including the twelve Labors of Heracles, as well as the legend of Perseus, where he is turned to stone by Medusa and transforms into a massive mountain range.

Basira

392 AC