The Fall of Atlantis

Author: Marion Zimmer Bradley

Originally published as two volumes in 1983: Web of Darkness and Web of Light. Combined into one volume titled The Fall of Atlantis in 1987.

Chronologically, it comes before all other titles, including Ancestors of Avalon.

Short Summary
A short plot summary of this book.

Longer Recap
Domaris and Deoris are sisters, born in the Temple of Light in the Ancient Land -- one of the many islands, including Atlantis, that make up the Sea Kingdom. Domaris is the elder sister, while Deoris is much younger. Their mother died when Deoris was born, so Domaris has been both sister and mother-figure to Deoris. Their father, Talkannon, is the arch-priest of the Temple of Light, and is mostly absent from their everyday lives. Their father-figure, and Domaris' mentor, is Rajasta, a senior priest. Domaris' role in the Temple is planned out for her according to her astrological birth chart. One of twelve Acolytes of the Temple of Light -- six men and six women -- she is to marry Arvath, her fellow Acolyte, whose astrological sign is opposite and complementary to her own. While she feels no passion for Arvath, she accepts her eventual marriage to him as a natural, unalterable part of her life.

This changes when Deoris is assigned as a scribe to Micon, a recently-arrived Atlantean prince who, together with his younger half-brother Reio-ta, had been captured by the outlawed Black Robe sect. The Black Robes had tortured the brothers to force them to surrender their hereditary ability to control certain elemental powers. At one point during the ordeal, Micon tore the mask from one of his captors, and the Black Robes blinded him so he would never be able to identify him. No longer able to bear his brother's torment, Reio-ta surrendered, allowing the Black Robes control of his powers. Though he escaped with little physical injury, his mind and memory were severely damaged. Micon's mind is intact, but he lost his sight and the use of his hands, and suffered internal injuries that will eventually kill him.

Now in hiding in the Ancient Land's Temple of Light, Micon is struggling to stay alive long enough to father an heir. This is the only way to keep his power from passing to the barely-sane Reio-ta. When Reio-ta meets Micon again during a rare moment of lucidity, Micon reproaches him bitterly, saying it would have been better if Reio-ta had let him die, or died himself, than give in to the Black Robes. When Reio-ta weeps to hear this, Micon softens and assures his brother of his love, acknowledging that Reio-ta surrendered only to save him. But by giving in to the Black Robes, Reio-ta only made Micon more vulnerable -- and so they can never meet again. In the meantime, Reio-ta lives as an unknown, low-level Temple servant, pitied and avoided for his feeble mind. Later on, the Grey-Robe adept and healer Riveda notices him and takes him under his protection.

Micon and Domaris meet and fall deeply in love. Although they cannot marry, the law of the Temple gives Domaris the right to bear a child to another man before her marriage to Arvath. Micon asks Domaris to invoke this right, and she agrees. In due course their son Micail is born. Micon survives only a few days after his son's birth, long enough to pass on his powers. Domaris grieves deeply after Micon's death, at times sinking into depression, and in general taking little notice of anything besides Micail.

Through all this, Deoris becomes increasingly jealous of Domaris' devotion to Micon, which leads to her alienation from Domaris and, ultimately, her rebellion. At first there seems to be no harm in her choice to enter the temple of the mother goddess Caratra, rather than the Temple of Light as Domaris had done. But in her desire to become not just a healer but the rarer female magician, she falls under the influence of Riveda. While Riveda is not a Black Robe, he is accused several times of not being stringent enough in punishing those Grey Robes who stray into Black Robe teachings. At one point, Riveda admits that he admires the Black Robes' ambition to use power without caring whether its purpose is for good or evil. Riveda accepts Deoris as his disciple.

Succumbing to his desire for power, Riveda draws closer to the Black Robes. At one point, a ritual involving Deoris and Reio-ta goes horribly wrong when an enchanted fire suddenly erupts and burns Deoris. Risking his life to save her, Riveda suffers severe injury to his hands. The jolt of the interrupted rite restores Reio-ta's sanity -- a fact that he keeps carefully hidden for fear of rediscovery by the Black Robes.

As Deoris slowly recovers under Riveda's care, they become lovers. A short time later, Riveda tells Deoris that she must return to Domaris' care to avoid suspicion, but first requests she perform one last ritual with her in a subterranean chamber. The ritual's purpose is to awaken The Man with Crossed Hands, but Riveda also seeks to conceive a child who will be dedicated to the forces of darkness. Deoris, unaware of the ritual's purpose and blinded by her love for Riveda, willingly agrees.

Now married to Arvath, Domaris is unable to bear him a child and has suffered several miscarriages. Deoris returns to Domaris' care and for a time, all is well. But one night, Domaris sees the terrible scars on Deoris' chest and demands to know their cause. In addition, she discovers that Deoris is pregnant and wearing a triple cord -- a girdle Riveda bound around her waist that marks her as his inferior rather than as the honored mother of his child. With mounting horror, Domaris learns about Deoris' relationship with Riveda and the blasphemous rituals he performed with her.

Enraged, Domaris tears the triple cord from Deoris' body and throws it into the fireplace. As it burns, she curses Riveda -- a violation of her vows as a temple acolyte. Then, in an attempt to save Deoris from the consequences of her participation in a Black Robe rite, she dedicates herself, Deoris and their children to Caratra lifetime to lifetime, through eternity, until Deoris' spiritual debt is paid. She then manages to slow some of the ritual's effects, but at great cost to herself -- she suffers a miscarriage that nearly kills her, leading to the end of her marriage to Arvath. But it is too late to save the Ancient Land; Riveda's actions have doomed it to eventual destruction.

Riveda is tried, convicted and sentenced to death for apostasy and abusing his power. Deoris' life is spared because of her pregnancy, and because she is vowed to Caratra, to expiate her sin over many lifetimes. Still, she is stripped of honor: she may no longer be called priestess or scribe. When Domaris confesses to having cursed Riveda, Rajasta has no choice but to expell her from the Acolytes.

Because Riveda's crimes are so grievous, Rajasta sentences him to the severest penalty: death by fire. According to custom, he offers the priests the option of commuting the sentence to a swift and painless death by poison. The priests refuse at first, but Domaris speaks on Riveda's behalf, noting that he could have let Deoris die of her magic-inflicted burns. Instead, he risked his life to save her and nursed her  back to health. Rajasta accepts Domaris' argument, and offers Riveda the jeweled cup. Riveda acknowledges Domaris' mercy, drinks, and dies instantly.

Reio-ta now confesses his identity to Rajasta and reveals the secret that Micon kept to his death: the Black Robe priest whose identity Micon discovered before being blinded was Talkannon, arch-priest of the Temple of Light and the father of Domaris and Deoris. Talkannon is also convicted during a purge of other Black Robes and sentenced to death.

A further inquiry reveals that Deoris had already been pregnant when she took part in the Black Robe ritual where she was supposed to have conceived the child of blasphemy. This discovery removes some of the stigma from her unborn child. Reio-ta offers to declare himself the baby's father to save it from namelessness, and Deoris reluctantly agrees. At the ceremony, Reio-ta gives the unborn child the Temple name Eilantha, "the effect of a sown cause."

As Deoris walks home from the naming ceremony, an earthquake strikes and Deoris is injured by falling stones. Reio-ta finds her and carries her to safety, where she bears her child prematurely. Injured and delirious after the birth, she believes her baby has died.

Domaris had been sentenced to lifelong exile from the Temple of Light for having cursed Riveda, but her departure was deferred until Deoris gave birth. Now that Deoris' child has been born, Domaris must leave. After the ship has departed, Reio-ta, returning to Atlantis on the same ship, asks Domaris to foster Eilantha, whom he has taken on board with him. He feared Eilantha would be ostracized for her parents' sins or killed as a sacrifice by the remaining Black Robes. Domaris takes the baby in her arms, swearing to raise her as her own, and gives the child her everyday name: Tiriki, "little singer." Thus Domaris raises Deoris' child, while Deoris stays in the Ancient Land with her young nephew Micail. After Deoris recovers from her injuries, she volunteers to bear a child to Arvath as a form of penance.

Years later, Rajasta and Deoris arrive in Atlantis, unaware that Domaris is gravely ill. Domaris had sent a message to Rajasta asking him to come to her, but since the temple had already begun to feel the effects of the deep disturbances beneath the earth, the message had never arrived. Deoris is reunited with Tiriki, whom she had believed dead. Rajasta and Deoris have brought Micail with them, and he meets his cousin Tiriki for the first time. Over time, Micail and Tiriki fall in love.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Reio-ta confesses to Deoris that he has loved her since he first saw her, and asks her to marry him. She agrees. Early one morning soon afterward, Domaris dies peacefully, surrounded by all who love her.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Upon hearing from Rajasta that there is a prophecy that Micail will found a new Temple in a new land once the Sea Kingdom has been destroyed, Micail and Tiriki ask to be married as soon as possible to ensure the continuity of their family and way of life.