***I do not own any or the Greek names.

Rebecca Nguyen

5/19/03

Period 2

Language Arts

The Fall of Niagara

One of the modern Seven Wonders of the World, the Niagara Falls, has come to us in mystery. How did this falling beauty come to be there? In this story I shall tell you of the conflicts of love and jealousy that created the Niagara Falls.

Long, long ago, about 11,600 years ago, inside a great city of power and wealth, a king sits with great sadness in his heart. This city was called the Continent of Atlantis. Atlantis was located where the Niagara Falls is in modern time, but was destroyed thousands of years ago because of the love between a goddess and a king.

In the great City of Atlantis, a city that rivaled the gods, Niagara, the new ruler of Atlantis, sits on his throne with a heavy heart. At the age of 26 he was already crowned king because of his fathers death. Now was the time where he had to marry, but he could not find a girl who was perfect to him. Every girl he met was greedy for his money and power. He thought he would never be able to find a suitable wife in Atlantis, so he set out on a journey to find the wife of his dreams. He searched every part of the world for a girl he would come to love, but found none. He returned to his city after 3 long years. His younger brother was ruling well while his absents, but he knew that his brother would not take over because he knew that his brother never wanted the place as king. He sat on a cliff that overlooked his beautiful city as he sighed a heavy sigh. He stared up at the skies as he wished on the first star of the night.

"Please with all my might, please send me the one who I am destined to be with," he cried tears of sadness. Little did he know that Aphrodite was watching over him. Aphrodite, goddess of love, kept it to be her duty to bring love into every single persons life, even though she was banned to find her own. This was the sacrifice she had to become a goddess of love. She never wanted anyone in the world ever to feel the pain of loneliness. She had heard of his trouble and lack of love. Whenever she found someone without love, this saddened her.

She searched for his soul mate, but to find that the person he was meant to be with didn't exist on Earth. She came to the conclusion that he was meant to be alone for the rest of his life. Aphrodite then decided that she should create a wife for him. She went to Zeus for permission to do this, and with a great reason he agreed. First she needed to find what kind of woman he wanted, so she decided to come down to Earth and find out on her own. Ares of course did not like this. Ares, also known as the god of war, loved Aphrodite form a distance, but he already knew that she did not love him. So he proposed that Athena came along with Aphrodite to make sure she didn't create the wrong person. Even though Zeus thought that this idea was ridiculous, he let it go, there was no reason not to be extra careful. So it was done, the next morning Aphrodite and Athena would leave to Atlantis to figure what this king wanted.

The next morning they left as planned. Athena rode on her chariot to Atlantis, as Aphrodite rode on Pegasus. Once they reached there, the whole city rejoiced to see the goddess of love; this reaction angered Athena in jealousy. She always hated Aphrodite for this, always taking away the attention form her. When they reached the castle they were greeted by the king, Niagara, Athena seemed to fall in love right there. Aphrodite, being the goddess of love, sensed her love towards Niagara, but ignored it.

"Niagara, I presume?" Aphrodite asked.

"Yes indeed. King of Atlantis, at your service. How may I help you Aphrodite?" he asked.

"I heard that you were in the need of a lover, am I correct?"

"Yes, but as you know, I have come up empty handed." he said with a sigh.

"You have been given the chance to have the woman of your dreams. I have had the permission to create a wife for you that you want. You shall make her personality and every aspect shall as well. Her personality shall only be made by the way you act, over the next couple of weeks we will be watching your every move to find a personality fit for her. If I am correct that your soul mate does not exist, then it shall work. Is this alright for you?"

"Well, my City is in need of a queen, so I guess it is right."

So it was settled, over the next few weeks Aphrodite and Athena watched closely to what he did and acted like. Niagara couldn't help but admit that over the few weeks he had grown to be fond of Aphrodite, but was always uncomfortable whenever Athena was around. He felt as if she only liked him because of his looks and position. Aphrodite on the other hand, never even thought of liking the king Niagara. She just did her duty and carried on.

Ares was watching them very closely, making sure that Niagara didn't take his love away, but it seemed impossible to find any moment that Niagara didn't complement on Aphrodite's beauty. This angered both Ares and Athena. Athena had been around with Aphrodite whenever she was around Niagara. She seemed to be ignored by Niagara, which made her angrier and angrier by the second. Jealousy boiled up inside of her as she watched the man she loved fall in love with Aphrodite, but she knew that there was no possible way that they could fall in love, because Aphrodite was cursed by a curse that made her unable to have feelings for any other, but somehow someway, she began to like Niagara a little. So whenever Niagara talked to Aphrodite, Athena always butted in with her rude behavior.

After the many weeks that they spent at Atlantis, Aphrodite finally fell in love with him. One night when they had returned to Olympia to research about they're situation, Aphrodite secretly snuck back to Atlantis to meet her love. She did this for over a month, leaving her duties, which meant that there was no more love in the world without her there to watch everything that happened. Hatred spread all over the world, sending Earth into a huge war. Brother against brother, kingdom against kingdom. Zeus noticed this sudden change, and decided to confront the other gods and goddesses without Aphrodite.

Meanwhile Ares and Athena made plans to destroy them both out of anger and jealousy. Even though they had fell in love with the ones they were about to destroy, their anger clouded their judgment. One god, Hades, amplified their anger. Hades planned this from the very beginning, every little part. He hated Aphrodite and Atlantis. Especially since Atlantis had a special power to keep them alive longer which made him get less souls.

Zeus talked to the gods and goddesses about what has happened and asked why this had happened. The first one to stand was Athena. She rose with a sudden speed that everyone jumped when her voice was heard.

"Aphrodite fell in love with the king and is planning to use him to gain control of the whole world for her own. She used her magic on him and is planning to kill us all!!" she yelled.

Ares was the next to stand and speak what he thought. "Athena is right. I heard her conversations with the king. She's been planning this all along. She lied to us all. We must destroy Atlantis before she is able to use his forces against us!"

Zeus was shocked, but not at the same time from their outbursts, but he did know that Aphrodite was sneaking off to see the king, but he didn't realize that she would do such a thing. So he decided to go and investigate for himself. He disguised himself as a servant and went down to Atlantis, where he found Aphrodite talking to Niagara in his room.

Meanwhile Athena and Ares planned this whole thing before. They now just had to make Aphrodite say something that sounded like she was trying to take over the world. They figured that maybe, they could tell her that they overheard Zeus talking about that he wanted to rule over Atlantis and was jealous of it's beauty. So that's what they did. They also told her that he was going to attack tomorrow and that she needed to some up with a strategy to beat him.

So Zeus was outside her window as he heard her discuss battle plans with Niagara about stopping him. He now believed that she was going to try and take over Olympia and the world. He went back to Olympia and summoned all of the gods and goddesses. Making a plan of their own.

When the day came, Aphrodite stood proudly with her king and his forces against all of the gods.

"Aphrodite! Your betrayal shall be punished!!" He yelled. He formed a lightning bolt in his hand and threw it at Aphrodite, as it formed a banned around her and pulled her back to Olympia and locked her there to watch the fate of Atlantis from a distance. She watched as the war went on, as one by one the people of Atlantis died. She screamed when each person fell. Finally when the city was burning she could see Niagara standing on the edge of the city. The sea behind him and the gods in front of him. Ares took his chance and killed Niagara. His blood fell onto the ground they stood on. Half dead he said his last words silently to Aphrodite. "Good-bye." and he fell into the waters below him. All the gods returned to Olympia, but Ares wasn't finished yet. He summoned a meteor that struck Atlantis, which made a crater where Atlantis once stood. Aphrodite watched with tears in her eyes.

Suddenly they heard the sound of an evil laugh. It was Hades. Everyone was surprised by this as he began to speak.

"You destroyed an innocent city Zeus. All the things Aries and Athena said wasn't true. I was controlling them through their anger and jealousy. Oh well, more souls for me." and with that he disappeared down into his underworld. Every god and goddess grieved for his or her mistakes, Aphrodite returned to where Atlantis once stood and cried.

People say that she never moved form that spot and cried the water that falls down the Niagara Falls. They say that you can still see her in the distance crying every night on the same day that her love was taken away. The very place that she stands has been named after her lover. So that's how the name Niagara Falls came from. It came from what had happened there at the place where Niagara, her lover, fell.

I made this up a long time ago and tried to keep it short, but if you want me to revise it tell me soon and I can make it sound a lot better and longer too!!! R+R (This story is supposed to be my version of how some type of landform was created.)