After The Web

All was well that first year. Communication was surprisingly easy though they spoke of places long since abandoned. Had they been watching us?

In the second year rights were given to those who rose from the depths. Our societies mingled and much was learned.

It was the third year when tensions began. Reports of disappearances and horrific experiments began to circulate. There was no proof but the rumours were enough.

Year four and sleep was no longer a sanctuary. The nights were pierced by a terrible droning and our fears invaded our dreams. When would we once again know peace?

War was on the horizon in the fifth year as the paranoia spread further through the people. Those from below the waves were asked to return. They refused.

The divide only grew in the sixth year. It would seem our fates had been sealed and all prepared for what was seen as the inevitable. No one's hands were clean.

Regret coloured the seventh year as we came to terms with how far we had begun to fall. It would not be long before blood would spill.

And yet, in the eighth year, the rumours so long ago forgotten were proven to be true. Monstrous images brought to the attention of all to ignite the fires of battle. It wasn't the one we had been expecting.

By the ninth year the forces of those above and below the waves were strengthened by a common goal. Those in power were overthrown and, for a time, we were lost.

But today is the tenth anniversary of that last day at the beach which I am proud to say I was a witness. Three million broke the surface and joined us on land to learn; to share; to experience what they had only seen through their watery filter and now they number nearly four times as many. Let us celebrate our coming together as people with common purpose so we might follow the example of the Sky Island Dwellers before us. On this anniversary we welcome a new day of unified knowledge. We shall be one.