People usually talk about Atlantis, that imposing island with great military power, but they tend to forget Ailsa, a smaller island with an even greater secret, which unfortunately was also the reason for its disappearance... With these words, Pedro, an old storyteller from the village, used to begin his tale.

Ailsa was an island located near Atlantis, its inhabitants enjoyed one of the greatest privileges of all, a total and fully healthy life, its mortality rate in 100 years was negative and the birth rate was considered one of the best and there was a reason for this.

It was said that beneath its waters they treasured a great secret. Although their life seemed the same as everyone else's, they had an element which the other inhabitants of the world did not have and which had been kept among them from generation to generation. This element was _Respect for Mother Nature and her creatures_. They loved, respected and cared for every element of Nature because it represented Life, their most precious resource which was at the same time the foundation on which their beloved Ailsa, their home, rested.

They used the power of the waters to create the energy they needed. The fruits of the earth for their food, their work utensils were made of organic materials in order to avoid contamination. In this way they kept in harmony with nature.

Centuries later, the spiritual values of the inhabitants of Ailsa began to change, its caretakers became flexible and its inhabitants uncaring. The hearts of the regents and great authorities began to be filled with greed and ambition and everything began to change.

Ailsa was founded on a great rock, that rock was called by the Elders the "Rock of Life" because they believed it possessed special powers that had allowed them the life they had led so far. Some of its inhabitants began to forget the values of life and teachings and soon, tourism, which was only for adventure and recreation, became a way of dismembering the foundations of the island. Its own people began to sell off, piece by piece, the foundation of their home.

With the passage of time and the continuous extractions, the earth ceased to have the same capacity for fertility and the quakes began to get stronger and stronger. The people were no longer happy, they began to see sick and weak people, but this was no reason to reflect and even less reason to stop hurting the Rock of Life.

One dawn, the darkest of all, when everyone was still asleep, the foundations finally gave way, no one saw it coming. That day Ailsa succumbed to the greed of some and the carelessness of many and began to sink hopelessly, without stopping, and with it its inhabitants. All paid a high price for having given way to ambition and went to the depths of the sea. There was no time for crying or mourning. They all left with sleep still in their eyes.

It is said that even today, if you are a good observer, you can still see the lights that come on when the sea is very dark.