A descent will always lead to madness, one way or another.
The changing into our diving gear was quick, as we had been trained to get the equipment on as fast as possible. As we were settling in, we heard an announcement over the PA system.
"Expedition 12F will begin in 5 minutes. Please equip your gear and proceed to the loading bay to board your transports."
We entered our transports, sounding off our credentials to ensure our headcount was correct, preventing us from leaving anyone behind. Inside them, we saw all the equipment we needed prepared and ready.
My heart was racing, and the nervousness was kicking in. I tried hard to calm myself down, but I wasn't able to. This was evident to the other passengers in the transport. They looked at me with a warm smile.
A while later, Ms Amanda sat beside me and handed me a cup of water.
'Nervous kiddo?' she asked me warmly.
Drinking from the cup of water, I felt the tension in my body leave, and finally began to relax.
"Am now, thanks ma'am," I responded.
She brushed my hair, "Look at how mature you've grown, eh. I remember like it was just yesterday you were telling me about all your dreams for the future. Look at you now. Your parents would be proud of you, kiddo."
I heard the transport get dropped into the ocean and start moving. We took the time to get to the destination to rest and mentally prepare ourselves. Dr Roche was busy communicating with the leaders from the other teams.
The other members of the team were occupied with their own business. As for me, I decided to have a look outside the window to see the ocean in its beauty. The light passing through the ocean tinted the inside of the transport a nice Aegean shade. The marine life swimming by looked extremely peaceful.
Zooming past our transport was a school of fish which looked like a group of dancers, moving with elegance and grace. Near the bottom of the ocean were multiple different coral structures and crustaceans. Their vivid colours showed a huge contrast compared to the rest of the sea, providing it with a sort of vibrancy that couldn't exist on the surface.
About half an hour into our trip, I decided to take a nap to catch up on some sleep due to my excitement. My eyelids felt rather heavy, and so, the moment I closed my eyes, I drifted into a deep sleep. I would often dream whenever I slept, like anyone else, but the dreams I had would often be the exact same dream.
This dream has been appearing to me ever since the loss of my parents 14 years ago. The same dream appeared to me this time as well. It began with me drifting in an unknown space. It was white everywhere, foggy, making it difficult to see. Soon, an entity appeared before me, and it was unclear what its gender was as it appeared androgynous. Its voice was unstable, pitch shifting with each word spoken.
However, it only spoke one sentence without any variation, 'The deep will reclaim you, return to us.' The background also evolved every sentence, a cathedral slowly forming behind the entity and then slowly becoming decrepit and in disrepair. The cathedral would then fade away and become a wall of water. It was so still that it would reflect like a mirror. The entity would change its form, mimicking mine.
Its appearance looked mostly the same as mine, but would slowly change the more I stared. Its arm would slowly wither. Its right eye would soon become covered in a blindfold. Then, my whole body would fade to dust.
The first few times I experienced this, it was extremely unsettling. But over the years, I slowly got used to it, eventually becoming desensitised to the imagery. While the dream was happening, I mumbled what was being said in the dream, in real life, while not being aware of what I said. I woke up soon after the dream with everyone on the ship staring at me.
"Bad dream?" Iris asked me, looking rather concerned, alongside the rest of the crew.
"Nah, nah, it's nothing," I answered back, getting back up from my nap.
My response seemed to put everyone at ease, and they resumed their interrupted conversation. Dr Roche, however, stared at me a bit longer, with a look of concern on his face. He was turned back soon enough, due to another team calling him and informing him of the imminent arrival at the location of the ruins.
"Get your equipment ready, we're about to dive and explore. There will be danger, but there will also be lost knowledge and artefacts of the past. Remember why we do this." Dr Roche said in passing while preparing his kit. The rest of the team followed suit, equipping their oxygen tanks, breathing apparatus, and other equipment.
I put on my diving suit and took up my speargun, as I would assist Mr Wheeler in helping to protect the rest of my team. While I was wearing my equipment, I looked out the window and saw the ruins. They looked extremely different from what was shown in the images at the briefing, yet they looked extremely familiar to me.
"Hey Doc, if those are the ruins we are exploring, why do they look different from what the satellite images showed at the briefing?" I queried. He didn't respond, but looked outside as well. He seemed distraught at the sight of the ruins. I heard him mutter something under his breath, but I couldn't catch what he had said.
I went closer and tapped him on his shoulder, asking, 'You okay, old man?'
He snapped out of his trance and looked at me. He hastily put on the rest of his gear and rushed to the airlock to meet the rest of the team.
We soon heard the transport stop and park itself. We prepared to disembark, opening the door to the airlock to enter the ocean. I took a deep breath and dove in. The rest of the team followed suit.
Once we all dove in, what we saw in front of us was astounding.
A large city in almost perfect condition.
A large dome of air preventing the ocean from collapsing in on said city.
Architectural design would make a modern-day architect question everything.
It looked like nothing that existed in this world before. All of us were in awe of what was before us.
My nerves tingled, eyes widened. A nervous smile crept across my face. I felt something was off, yet I was so excited.
"Ahhhhh… So this is what an expedition is, huh?"
The transport was positioned right outside what seemed to be a docking port near the edge of the dome.
The other teams also communicated that they had reached their docking point and had disembarked.
We swam towards this sunken city. We were all focused on what was in front of us.
The short swim towards the city was full of anticipation. The swim felt like it lasted longer than its actual duration.
Soon enough, we entered this city. It was tinted in the same Aegean shade of the ocean. The layout was unique. Spherical in nature, with an odd layout to it.
"All teams, converge at the centre. We will explore outward," Dr Roche immediately communicated to the other team members.
We slowly made our way to the meeting point. Taking notes as we walked, our main conversation between the group was about the extremely odd architectural style that was employed in building these structures.
"This architecture, it's something that cannot exist on land. How is this possible?"
Ms Amanda pondered, asking the rest of us this question.
We walked towards our meeting point, noting down the unique aspects of this area we were in. The majority of buildings were overgrown with coral structures. Some of them were even made out of said coral. The buildings mostly followed an oblong structure, with sharp, contoured edges around them. They looked unorthodox. Yet something about these buildings stirred familiarity in me.
Pressing forward, we saw a large cathedral in the distance. Based on our calculation, it was the centre of this city, and we made our way towards it, making short stops along the way to document any interesting findings.
"This place, it's astounding. The tech here can't exist on land; we can't even fathom this level of architectural prowess. This city planning is so unorthodox. Yet it works fantastically," Joyce had begun obsessing over every little detail or discovery we made. Her infectious attitude affected all those around her, and we all started taking a lot more notice of all these minute details.
Looking over, I saw Dr Roche finally draw a smile on his face ever since we entered these ruins. I felt glad. He looked extremely uncomfortable when he first entered here. Seeing him smile made me feel relaxed, too.
"Hey, guys, looks like we've reached our destination," Mr Wheeler caught our attention. He pointed his finger forward, and we saw a large sprawling cathedral. It was a circular building with a large spire in the middle.
"What deity do they worship here to have a cathedral built here?" I pondered. I kept the question to myself, as many things about this scene felt familiar to me. However, anytime I tried to think about it, I would come up blank. I tried not to think about it as we approached the cathedral.
We saw in the distance that the other team members gathered around the entrance to the cathedral. There seemed to be some sort of incident, and so we rushed forward to see what it was.
"We should evacuate them so that they get the proper medical attention they need!" One of the medics was attending to a member who got pierced by a piece of coral in their leg.
Around the injured's leg, a large bloodstained bandage covered a gaping hole in his calf. Beside him, a sharp piece of coral was stained crimson. There was a discussion going on about who would accompany him to the evacuation point. That's when we heard someone volunteer to accompany the medic and the injured person back to base.
It was Iris. Her hand was raised, and she offered her assistance.
'But you were so excited to join your first-ever expedition?' I responded in question.
"I know that, but I'd rather everyone be safe than continue going deeper," she immediately replied to me, helping him up on his feet.
"Doc, I'll bring him to the evacuation point and accompany him to the medical centre. I assume that's fine?"
Everyone looked at him, and I could clearly see his eyebrows tip down as he thought of this decision.
After a moment of pondering, he questioned, "Are you sure? There might not be another expedition quite like this, y'know? "
Iris looked back, and in her eyes I saw only one emotion. Concern. Not for herself, but her crewmate.
Dr Roche seemed to realise this as well.
"Hmmm, go ahead, keep me updated on any complications throughout. I don't want to lose another talented maritime researcher to something that can easily be dealt with at base."
Iris and the medic assisted the man up, grabbing each of his shoulders, hoisting him up onto a nearby stretcher. After securing the injured in place, they then brought him to the nearest transport.
'Bzzzt.'
Our communication devices had received a sudden transmission.
"This is Iris to Base, we are evacuating an injured personnel, their leg got punctured on some coral. Extracting said personnel and coral for analysis."
We looked as she waved goodbye to all of us.
"Let us move on, ladies and gents. We have an objective that we must complete." Dr Roche brought everyone back to the mission at hand. To explore the ocean and these ruins.
As everyone walked towards the cathedral that lay in front of us, I stopped to look back at where Iris had left. It felt a bit lonely, having her leave. But she always put others before herself. Just like she did with me when I was still recovering from the death of my parents.
I turned around, running towards the rest of the group that were now opening the doors to this oddly structured cathedral.