Some stories find you in quiet moments. Others hit like a storm. This one found me at 2:39 AM, on a work night no less, refusing to let me sleep, an idea itching to break free. By 7:46 AM, the first chapter was in a Word doc. I'm sure I looked like something straight out of a fever dream in the morning. But that's how it goes. When the download comes, you let the madness take over.
This novella explores the impact of loss, mysticism, the occult, the lure of forbidden knowledge, and the thin veil between life and death. Inspired by Prompt #129 from the Open Novella Contest 2025: "The ink of our souls binds us beyond the pages of time."
Because that's exactly what happens in The Guardians of Atlantis.
This story takes place in the Third World Universe, inspired by the Hopi myth of the Four Worlds, where humanity has risen and fallen before, each age ending in destruction. In the First World, humans lived in harmony with the divine until their innocence was lost, and fire consumed their world. In the Second World, civilization advanced, but greed and corruption led to its burial beneath ice. The Third World saw the rise of great civilizations—Atlantis, Lemuria, and Mu—reaching heights beyond our own. But their arrogance doomed them, and a great flood erased their legacy. Now, in the Fourth World, humanity stands at another crossroads, teetering between wisdom and destruction. My stories explore the ruins of this forgotten past, where science and mysticism intertwined, supernatural beings and mortals walked the same paths, and the sacred blurred with the profane.
The Guardians of Atlantis is one such tale of those who seek hidden truths and the price of uncovering it. Although it runs parallel to the events of The Sky Gods of Atlantis, it stands on its own as a self-contained story of power, loss, and the eternal struggle between life and death.
As I began writing the first chapter and outlined what's to come, I realized Prompt #111 also implicated: "A single night can change everything. Even someone you thought you knew—like your closest friend." The theme will rise further into the plot.
The novella is set in a hidden temple in Western Kemp, where I imagine Ancient Egypt once thrived 13,000 years ago, in the region now known as Morocco and Algeria. The Guardians of Atlantis follows four initiates of Akh-Neteru. Hathor, Gavriel, Oronos, and Nalini seek forbidden knowledge, but some truths were never meant to be found. Nalini, having recently lost her husband, suffers a deep, searing pain from the severed spiritual bond they had forged: a bond far more profound than any earthly union. She can still feel his presence, as if he died with unfinished business.
She's willing to risk everything to bring him back to life.
As our heroes journey into realms and dimensions beyond life and death. Each of them uncovers profound truths, not just about themselves and each other, but also about the universe.
Enjoy this journey into The Guardians of Atlantis, where faith is tested, boundaries are broken, and the secrets refuse to stay buried.
-Sunny Ghauri