Legends of the Sunken City: An Atlantean Adventure

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A loud splash echoed off the shore of a rocky island, a small research camp set up by the shore. A woman came up from the depths, though not taking a breath of air, and stepped out of the water, shivering slightly and looking uncomfortable. She was a middle-aged woman, with black hair dripping wet and falling down her shoulders, and dark brown eyes. She wore a dark blue wetsuit, slick from the cold, wet seawater. Stepping out of the water and wringing her hair out, she shuddered loudly, then turned back towards the water with a shiver. There was a second splash and a young woman with long, silvery white hair and piercing light blue eyes surfaced as well. A white tunic-like garment was draped around her shoulders, held up with silvery clasps.

"Miss Janet, where are you going?" the woman asked, looking confused as to why this woman was walking away. Janet looked back at the silvery-haired maiden, and sighed.

"Look, Fienna. Humans have to sleep. Besides, I have to document my findings. You said you wanted me to tell people about this place, right?" she replied. Fienna nodded.

"Must you leave though? I wanted to swim with you more. Show you more of our city," Fienna requested. A silvery blue tail splashed behind her, then curled beneath the waves. Janet shook her head.

"No, I can't. Not after what happened down there. I'm not going back down there even if you paid me," Janet retorted. Fienna looked devastated, but nodded solemnly. Janet sighed. "Fienna, dear. Listen to me. I won't go down there, but there might be a few people who will." With that, Janet grabbed a dark green towel sitting by her supplies, drying herself off, and then pulling a laptop from a nearby bag. She sat down on a cooler, slid an ornate necklace off of her neck, sitting it beside her, and began to type...

To Whom It May Concern,

I never believed the legends about the lost city of Atlantis. The stories tell that, thousands of years ago, Atlantis was once a prosperous nation with magic and wealth beyond measure. The people of Atlantis proclaimed themselves masters of the world's fate. For their hubris, the gods sank their mighty city and the kingdom was lost. Shows 'em right, I say. No one needs to have that kind of power and flaunt it around like that. But some people still think that Atlantis lives, sunken beneath the ocean, and its magic keeps the city safe. The legend also says that the city's vast wealth still sits undisturbed after all this time. For this reason, explorers and treasure hunters from all over the world have been searching for the city for thousands of years, all over the globe: the Mediterranean, Iberia, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, Antarctica. Wasting their time if you ask me.

Boy, do I have egg on my face. Turns out the legends were true. Well, partially true. My expedition found the city poking out of the sea near an island in the Mediterranean. Wonder how no one ever noticed it before now? I would never have found it were it not for a mermaid. An honest-to-goodness mermaid. With scales and fins and everything. Weird enough as it is, but then she gave me an amulet that allowed me to swim fast and breathe underwater. She's been giving each of us these amulets, as well as a guided tour of the City. This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder... This is probably where you stopped taking me seriously, and crumpled up this letter and threw it in the trash, but pay attention.

The mermaid's name is Fienna. She told our party that Atlantis sits on a nexus of magical power, and the citizens, after their city was sunk, used a great enchantment to transform themselves into merfolk so they could survive in their city even though the city sank. However, as time passed on, magic faded from the world, and the magic that keeps Atlantis alive is starting to fade as well. Citizens of Atlantis are disappearing mysteriously, and the lost city is now a shadow of its former self, the remaining inhabitants broken and fearful that they will one day disappear as well. She keeps telling me everything is fine, though, because her city's oracle predicted that people from the surface would come to bring the magic back to the City and save the Atlanteans from their fate.

She wants me to bring more of us "surface dwellers" to Atlantis to save the city. I think she's being overly optimistic. Everyone's heard the legends of the vast riches of Atlantis, haven't they? There are so many unscrupulous characters who are just gonna rob this beautiful place blind. Plus, while I was down there, I was getting this weird vibe. Something just didn't sit right with me. There aren't a lot of them left down there, and not everyone down there seems as friendly and welcoming as poor Fienna is. I always felt like I was being watched. Not just by the other merfolk, but by... well, everything. The damn place feels alive. And not the "friendly" type of alive. There's something sinister down there, and I'm not sure I want to go back down there any time soon. You people want to see it? Be my guest. I'm staying up on the surface where it's safe.

I've enclosed a map leading to the island as well as my coordinates. You won't find it on any conventional map, but if you head to this latitude and longitude, you'll find it. I also enclosed a few photos so you'll know I'm being serious. Anyone who reads this and feels free to check this place out, go right ahead. But be warned; there's more to this City than meets the eye, and if you're not careful you could end up as a permanent resident...

Sincerely,

Prof. Janet Harper, Harvard University

When she had finished typing up the letter, Janet enclosed it into an email, as well as the various photos she had taken, and hit Send. With that, she closed the laptop, stuffed it into her bag, and stood, sighing. "Well, that's over with," she muttered. "Let's just see how many people respond before I'm laughed off the face of the Earth and fired from my job." Fienna shook her head, looking worried.

"No, I won't let them put you on fire!" Fienna shouted. Janet smirked a little.

"Another figure of speech, dearie. Now all we have to do is wait." "How long?" "As long as it takes, Fienna."

Fienna looked disappointed by this answer, but she nodded. "Yes, Miss Janet. See you tomorrow then?" she asked. Dr. Harper nodded. With that response, a smile came back up on Fienna's face, and she dove below the waves. Her tail splashed as she descended, and soon all that could be seen of Fienna was a group of bubbles that soon faded.

Dr. Harper was sitting at a small desk she had set up on the island, near the coast. She had been typing away at her laptop, occasionally looking up at the ocean to see if anyone or anything besides Fienna had arrived. Outside the little tent she had set up shop in, there was a pile of coconuts and other assorted fruit, as well as some fish, all completely waterlogged with seawater. With a loud splash, Fienna surfaced again, dropping a few more coconuts at the pile, and waving her arms. "Miss Janet, I saw a boat! Someone's coming this way!"

Janet stood, raising her eyebrows. "Well I'll be. Someone actually responded. Let's see who it is," she muttered, stepping out of the tent to get a better look at those poor souls who actually took her seriously...

edited 17th Feb '17 10:11:41 PM by AllHailThrall

ON THE SHIP

Despite the rocking of the boat, the eldest member was sound asleep, her raven hair draped around her as she slept. Suddenly, she was suddenly awake, sitting up as she yawned. "Are we at the shore yet?" She asked, pulling her hair back/

On A Boat

Jonah had to wonder what led him to this moment. He was supposed to be on break, but the second he sees this letter and realizes he is in a position where he can investigate it, he got the idea to do just that? It was so... adventurous of him.

He had been just watching for the destination the whole ride, as he was unable to distract himself. And now that he could see the island, his anxiety grew. He didn't know if he wanted to do this anymore. It was impossible to stop now, though. Jonah was chewing on his bottom lip, unsuccessfully trying to quell his fears. Well, the anticipation always was worse than the pay-off, right?

The swimmer lady was up. Great, I was starting to wonder if she had a problem. Sleeping like a rock despite the rocky tide acting on the boat at all times was beyond me, as the awful headache from my poor quality of sleep the previous night had told me.

With that in mind, I probably should've found something better to do than mess around with this Tetris knockoff, because staring down at my tablet screen against the movement of the boat while trying to think about what I was staring at was not helping matters. So instead of continuing to do that, I looked up to see if our destination was in sight yet.

Indeed, on the waters ahead was an island with a small camp. It looked from here like a lump of rock with some trees. I'd get a better view of it when we docked. "We'll be docking any moment from the looks of it," I observed out loud, to no one in particular.

For now, I figured I'd grab a distance shot of it. The tablet camera not meeting my desired quality standards, I set it down and pulled out the studio-quality camera. I then made my way to the railing of the boat and, careful not to drop the camera like an imbecile, held it out and took a snap.

I then went back to where I had been sitting, put it away again, and then picked up the tablet again and opened up my text editor of choice, adding in some notes.

Jon

"Well, it's about damn time too." said a rather irritated young man that goes by the name of Jon, who's currently fiddling with his camera. "Out of all the ships out there, and it just had to be only the rickety one that goes here. Just great." And all so, just to see a fake make-believe Atlantis that doesn't exist. The experience had better be worth it.

And it looks like he's not the only one there, too. There are others coming along with him. Hmm. Might as well make small talk while waiting. "Okay, hands up. Who's actually looking forward to see how big of a hoax this whole trip would be? 'Cause I certainly am,"

And, god forbid, he hoped that there is no one here that actually believes in the letter.

BOAT

Loke smiled. "''The Keepers of the deep have sent us a message, come on! Aren't you excited?" She gave a smile, which combined with her scar and her sharp teeth? Made it disqueting.

"We'll be discovering new ground, even if we don't? We'll be able to say that we saw underwater ruins!" She walked over and looked over the edge of the water. "Who knows what lurks under them?"

The ship came to a stop at a nearby dock that seemed to have been constructed rather quickly, being mostly logs held together with rope, like tied-together rafts. As the boat slowed down and finally halted its movement, dropping a gangplank to step off, a small bullet-like shape moved through the water at an alarming speed, like a large fish, before stopping nearby one of the edges of the dock. Fienna poked her head out of the water to take a look, and upon seeing that there were humans on the boat, she grinned widely and clapped her hands a few times.

"Wonderful! The prophecy is being fulfilled! More surface dwellers are coming to save us!" Fienna exclaimed. Dr. Harper walked up the dock to greet the newcomers. She was now dressed in a white T-shirt and knee-length skirt, with sandals on her feet, her long hair tied up into a ponytail.

"Well, looks like someone actually paid attention to my letter. Not sure if that makes you brave or foolish, though I suppose those things go hand in hand. My name's Dr. Harper, I'm the one who sent the letter," she responded. "Welcome to the island. The locals, like Fienna over here," she said, gesturing to the woman treading water by the docks, "call this place Koryfi, meaning Mountaintop Island. I'm guessing this place was a mountain before the city sank into the waves. Explains why this place is so rocky."

She shook her head. "But I'm getting off-topic. Fienna here has been waiting for you guys to show up for a couple days now." Fienna nodded feverishly in agreement, and swam up to the dock, her silvery tail splashing above the surface as she swam, to examine the newcomers more closely, staring in wonder.

edited 9th Jan '17 10:33:06 AM by AllHailThrall

Jon

Jon looked at Loke with a quizzical expression that can only be described as 'What the actual fuck?'. "-... Oh, don't tell me you're one of those people." He mumbled. He was about to share a word or two with her, before they finally reached the shore.

On second thought, never mind. Now that they're here, he has more important things to do now. Like recording the entire trip with his camera as he focused his lens this self-proclaimed professor of Harvard.

"Yeah yeah, distract us with the entire exposition and history of the place some more, why don't you? We're all just here to see this so-called Atlantis. If it actually exists," He then sweeps his camera and focuses it on the girl on the water, Fienna, noting the obviously fake tail(to him) tailing behind her as she swam to them. "And I don't suppose she happens to be one of the actors- Oh, I'm sorry. One of those oh-so-called 'mystical' mermaids here, right?" he asked, already trying to find and poke holes into this whole 'Atlantis is real' myth.

As I wrote, the others began to make conversation. Specifically, one of the young men began aggressively declaring his desire to see the expected charade fail. This was met with an utterly bizarre statement from the woman that I couldn't find the means to respond directly.

So instead I added a line to my notes, reading out loud as I typed, "The woman is eager to meet a group she refers to as the, and I quote, 'Keepers of the Deep'. No such thing was mentioned in Harper's letter. Might be in on this. If not, probably delusional."

I looked up to see her giving a large grin to the similarly disturbed man, that I could not help but liken to that of the antagonist of a slasher. "Either way, she kinda creeps me out," I added.

I was considering taking notes on the young man who had initiated the exchange when our vessel ceased its motion against some manner of ramshackle dock, likely cobbled together relatively recently. It was then that this Dr. Harper arrived to introduce herself, the one she called Fienna, and this island that they had dubbed Koryfi, supposedly the Atlantean word for a mountaintop.

I made a note to see if this island had a proper geographical name, for use in my official report, as well as to search for any puns or references that would betray its etymology. That second thing had nothing to do with the task at hand, I just felt like it.

On another note, that same young man from before was at it again. Someone had no chill, putting no effort into concealing his adamant disbelief.

He was also recording all this. Huh.

I took note of this exchange. "One of the young men stoutly denies the authenticity of this show. Not very good at subtlety, or perhaps just cranky from the boat ride. Judging by the camera, may be a fellow reporter with similarly poor luck in assignments."

It did get me thinking, though, perhaps I should record this myself. After all, I appeared to be confronted with the main attraction of this matter. If any part of it merited being preserved in video, it would be this.

Granted, if I had my way I wouldn't be here to record any of this in the first place. But such was work.

I offered a handshake to Dr. Harper. "Greetings. I'm Ally Kikuchi, with the Sheraton County Register. Permission to film on-site?"

Jonah

Jonah worked hard to ignore those around him. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to anyone, except that crazy girl, but that he never felt comfortable engaging in conversation with strangers. He kind of needed the other party to initiate the conversation for him. So he just observed awkwardly as they started to dock.

Well, that was a rather abrupt welcome to this place. Or rather, he wasn't expecting there to actually be anyone here. And then there was that mermaid... that the other guy was proclaiming fake. A reasonable conclusion but there were a few things that seemed out of place regarding that. Mainly the fact that he didn't think someone could swim so well without the use of their legs unless it was the only way they had ever swum. But he had talked to people like this guy before, and they were all stubborn in their views as anything else. It would be a lost cause to bring up information that contradicted his views.

Those two were focusing on Dr. Harper. He might as well try to converse with the mermaid(?). He went over to the girl and asked "Um... what prophecy?"

Dr. Harper reached out and shook Ally's hand, nodding. "Permission granted, Miss Kikuchi. Film all you want, I'm not gonna stop you. Can't say the same about whatever's lurking below the waves," she replied, shrugging. Fienna tilted her head at Jon calling her an actor. "Actor? I do not act, but we have wonderful performers in the City Square. Oh, it would be glorious if I could show you a play, you would enjoy them so much! If only half of the cast had not vanished already... it would be a swell time."

She turned towards Jonah, who asked about the prophecy. "Oh, our oracle foretold of your arrival. She said that those from the surface, those who still walk on two legs, would come down to our City and return our greatest treasure to us, the magic that is the lifeblood of our land. Our city is dying, surface dweller. Will you not help us in our most dire hour?" she asked, her eyes becoming wide and frowning slightly as she looked up at him.

DOCKS

Loke paused, an odd look on her face as she stared at Fienna, walking over and kneeling on the edge, reaching out and cupping Fienna's cheek. "The Keepers of the deep..." She whispered before jumping into the water and hugging the mermaid. "''Thank you! I've been searching for you for so long..."

OK, first of all, this whole thing was bringing up more questions as time went on. Oracle, magic, pleas for help, the whole thing seemed very... fantastical. He wasn't really a skeptical person but this was definitely a point of interest. He would give this whole thing a chance, as he had nothing to lose if it was fake, though he did have his... What was that girl doing to the mermaid's face?

He... didn't know how to respond to that. If he wasn't terrified of her, he might have tried to intervene, but as of now he was kind of standing there in a mix of confusion and disbelief.

Jon

Woah. An actor trying to deny that she's acting in front of them. What a surprise. He sure didn't see that one coming.

Jon's sarcastic line of thought would've continued had it not been for the crazy woman(barely a few minutes into the expedition and already, he encountered a nutjob. This day has certainly been going along swimmingly well) who suddenly dove into the water and hugged the 'mermaid', all the while mumbling about Keepers and how she's been waiting so long for this...

"... Okay, you guys either hired a couple of very talented actors to make all this thing seems totally legit, or that woman legit has a loose screw on her head somewhere which, if that's the case, then she seriously needs help," Jon say, to no one in particular, before looking over to them, particularly towards Loke.

"All right, look, whoever you are, calm down. You might scare off that 'mermaid' of yours that you so desperately want to see if you keep that up,"

edited 11th Jan '17 11:11:47 PM by JustSomeGuy732

"Well, then I hope my equipment can withstand an encounter," I said jokingly, letting out a giggle. It seemed rather silly to imagine that this would get to that point, but I supposed I'd play along for now.

With the consent and formalities out of the way, I took out the studio camera yet again, returning my tablet to my bag (conveniently at my side). I decided I would capture any sight of interest; surely any extra footage could be cut in post. And with some clicks and a push, I began recording.

I narrated, "Sheraton County Register. This is Ally Kikuchi live from the island of...Koryfi, did you say?...with Dr. Janet Harper—say hi—investigating a supposed archaeological/paranormal find what are you people doing."

I had panned the camera to my right after introducing Dr. Harper on film to find the lady from the boat enthusiastically invading the Fienna lady's personal space, much to the justified bafflement of the two young men. What the f—?

"You know what. I'm just, gonna assume you're in on this, ma'am," I said, uncomfortably stepping away from the scene yet still filming it for some reason. I didn't fathom in the slightest that it would make the final cut, though perhaps it would be useful if we needed to get her psychiatrically evaluated.

Fienna looked far from invaded, she was clearly enjoying the attention, gazing back into Loke's eyes with a somewhat blank-looking smile. When Loke leapt into the water and hugged her, Fienna started laughing and hugged her back tightly, twirling around. "I had no idea surface dwellers were so affectionate!" she giggled. Her silvery tail flapped wildly as she clung on, hitting against Loke's legs several times as it did so. Finally she let go of the diver, and smiling at her, swam up to lean against the dock and look at the other three newcomers, with an expectant smile at the two boys.

Her curiosity was then piqued by the camera held by Ally, and she looked at it with interest, tilting her head slightly like a confused puppy. "What is that thing you hold by your face?" she asked. "Is that a magical relic from your realm?"

Dr. Harper snickered a little, shaking her head more at the scene. "Please excuse her. She has little experience with 'surface' things. Look, Fienna told me that she needed people to accompany her to the City to set things right. Fienna can make travel arrangements, if you guys are still willing to go." Fienna nodded and looked up at the three with wide eyes.

"Oh, please do come with me, if you won't, please tell other surface-dwellers so they will come as well!" she exclaimed pleadingly.

This mermaid was now labelled in Jonah's eyes as odd. The random hug thing would have left most people at least indignant. She seemed to be relishing it. How... interesting?

Jonah was starting to believe this Atlantis business a bit more. He wasn't a skeptic. He came in without any beliefs on the validity of the whole affair. It was the earnestness that was convincing him. If this was an act, then a lot of it would be pure improvisation. It didn't add up to him that someone could react to their personal space being invaded like that without any delay if they were making it up on the spot. Of course, this was all just the impression he was getting. He wouldn't make any judgement without even seeing this sunken city.

Speaking of which, how exactly were they supposed to get there? Atlantis was supposed to be underwater so... oh, the mermaid will make travel arrangements... yeah, there were some questions he had about that.

Deciding that he didn't really put much stock into the effectiveness of asking someone who seemed so naive, Jonah turned to Dr Harper and started to ask about that. "Wait, what do you mean by travel arrangements? If it's an underwater city, then we would be using a submersible or something, right? I don't see how someone 'unfamiliar with surface things' could be of much help there. Unless you're suggesting another method?"

Jon

He looked back and forth between both Loke and Fienna. "So, 'mermaids' are clueless as hell about 'surface' things and doesn't understand the concept of personal space. Right." He sighed, before perking his ears up at Jonah.

"Well, it has occur to me that we might possibly have to go underwater to see this mythical kingdom. The word 'Atlantis' is a very big clue to that, so thank god I've brought my own swimming equipment."

"Unless, like you said, she has something in mind," I turned to Fienna. "So, what, does your *ahem* 'civilization' have, like, an 'ancient, totally not man-made steampunk-ish' sea transport that allows us to travel underwater? Or will you temporarily turn us into mermaids via MAGIC, and have us be able to breathe there or something?"

it's still very clear from his tone of voice that he's still skeptical about the whole thing.

"You don't seem to have many reservations about being suddenly hugged by a total stranger," I remarked to the apparent mermaid. "Is that a cultural thing or are you just that excited to have people here?"

As I did this, I watched her tail for any sorts of movements that would be unnatural for a mere human in a costume. Not that I expected to see such, but who knew. Maybe they had more advanced special effects than 'slap on a piece of cloth'.

We were talking about Harvard people. They could do that if they wanted, I'm sure.

I realized I'd unconsciously let the hand holding the camera fall slightly, and raised it back up. Speaking of, Ms. Fienna was asking what it was. I suppose no harm could come from humoring her. "They're cameras. They record events shown to them. I work for a news outlet, we use them in the business."

Huh? Travel arrangements? My, this was awfully extensive for a prank. Perhaps I'd stumbled into a particularly creative tech demo of some sort. Maybe this assignment would prove worth the resources after all. In any case, the mention of underwater transit certainly stirred up some conversation. In particular, the pretentious young man seemed intent on needling these two on the fakey-fakeness of whatever method this would transpire with.

I looked at him. "That second thing sounds a bit hard to fake, in fairness, if only because we would need to fully cooperate for the illusion to hold.

"But sure." I turned back to Dr. Harper. "I suppose there's no harm in following you two down...however you intend to do so." I suspected it would be some new form of underwater craft; it seemed the most probable guess.

I declined to ask if this hypothetical vehicle was safe. Surely such a high-end university wouldn't approve it for civilian use otherwise, much less if it involved obtaining volunteers in such a vague and roundabout way. They wouldn't, right?

Fienna smiled and leaned on her forearms against the dock. "I don't know... I like hugs," she replied innocently, her tail flicking into the air and curling in a very fish-like way. She tilted her head to the side. "What is a submersible?" she asked. Then before she could get an answer, Jon asked if they would have to turn into mermaids. Fienna shook her head. "I could turn you into a merman but there would be no way to turn you back. The enchantment is permanent. Such a shame, there is nothing I would like more than to visit your world. And see more of your artifacts like your cameras."

She sighed, then went over to a box that had been put on the docks, digging into it and pulling out a couple of amulets, each carved out of some coppery-bronze metal that was hard to identify, with ornate patterns in the metal and a small blue glow emenating from a hole in the metal. She moved to begin handing one to each of them. She went to hand one to Dr. Harper and she vehemently shook her head.

"No no no, you're not making me put on one of those again. I'm not going down there, Miss Kichuchi. But you and Fienna can go down there if you really want," Dr. Harper stated. Fienna looked saddened, but then she perked up again and looked over at the four visitors.

"The magic in these necklaces will allow you to breathe underwater and swim at great speed. Almost as quickly as an Atlantean!" she giggled. "But you will keep your legs. So just put them on and follow me, I will lead the way!" With a laugh, she made a leap into the air and dove into the depths, her silvery tail being the last thing one could see before it vanished under the surface. Dr. Harper approached the four. "Keep your wits about you. The City is lovely, but there are dangers that lurk there. Don't lower your guard."

edited 14th Jan '17 11:28:05 AM by AllHailThrall

Jon

"Hey, you might never know. They might even have a hypnotist or something with them and we're already under its spells," Jon responded back to Kikuchi. "Which would suck, yeah. But hey, it's possible,"

He then inspected over the amulet that the 'mermaid' kindly gave to them. "So, I'm suppose to believe this amulet can make us breathe underwater and swim like an Olympic swimmer? Sure haven't seen them in any commercials or in the internet for whatever reason," So it's either a complete hoax or a complete waste of secret state-of-the-art tech, to be used on this fantasy.

"... This expedition do have my insurances covered if something were to happen to me, right?" Jon spoke to Dr. Harper, undressing until only his swimwear that he's been wearing underneath his clothes beforehand is left and put the amulet on.

Yup. Still not noticing any noticeable difference.

At first, when Jon put on the amulet, there was indeed no noticeable difference. Soon, however, he began to feel dry, the air somewhat heavy, and a bit a tingle going through his body, radiating out from his neck where the amulet rested. There was almost an imperceptible hum in the air as the magic of the amulet took effect. It wasn't quite a thirst, but there would soon be a dryness to the air that Jon would not have noticed had he not been wearing the amulet. It began to seem so much better to enter the water than stay in the dry land of the dock.

Dr. Harper put her hands on her hips. "I should've warned you, the amulet's a bit much to take at first. I thought I was going nuts when I first put it on," she explained. She looked him up and down. "If I had known kids were gonna come and follow my letter, I would've made you guys sign a waiver. I'll try and make sure you're accounted for if anything happens, though I'm not sure if my boss is gonna be happy about that..."

edited 14th Jan '17 2:27:38 PM by AllHailThrall

"I interviewed a hypnotist for a school project once and that shit doesn't even work unless the person being hypnotized allows it. Just saying."

Oh. Well apparently that particular method wasn't desirable anyway. Meh.

Fienna then swam off, perhaps to signal the person operating the vehicle that they were ready to carry the volunteers down wait what?

I examined the amulet she gave me with the utmost confusion, holding it in front of my face, turning it over looking for a breathing mechanism or some other special mechanism but seeing none. "I don't get it," I inquired. "Is this some sort of nanotechnology or...? I was expecting some sort of craft, um."

Swearing I heard a dull hum, I looked at the same young man I had been kidding. "Hey, do you hear that?"

Jon

At first, he did feel nothing. Then, slowly, he felt the air around him is starting to oppress him, odd as it sounds. as though the very air that he's starting to breath is fast becoming dry. Very dry. Uncomfortably dry.

"What. What the f-,"

Ally's inquiries went right past him as he's still too busy panicking over this latest development to really notice the magical humming. His head turns around, as though looking for someplace to make his sense of dryness go away. From there, he stopped when he looked at the sea before him.

Water.

All of a sudden, that body of water looked really inviting to him. Tempting him. It is as though it is begging him to dive into it. To embrace the sea as his own and swim freely on its waters.

Has he had but a moment to consider his own thoughts, he would at first think that he might be onto some kind of drugs or something, to have this kind of effect. As it is though, that thought went out the window in favor of getting rid of the uncomfortable air.

It was only after several seconds of diving into the waters and have his breathing comfortably stabilized that his head shortly surfaces into the water and looked straight on at Dr. Harper.

"Okay. First off. might want to consider giving a warning earlier next time," He said, rather calmly for someone who'd just experienced something like this a moment ago.

Said calmness was short-lived the next moment.

"Secodly, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?!?!"

edited 14th Jan '17 3:53:47 PM by JustSomeGuy732

Jonah didn't really understand the other's questioning at this point. If these amulets could make someone breath water, the most obvious thing to do was try it out. He highly doubted a mere hoax would have anything this advanced.

Having thought it through in his mind, and wanting to see how far this rabbit hole might go, Jonah took an amulet and donned it. And then, he felt something most peculiar. Dry. Uncomfortable. Highly unpleasant. Definitely needed to get in the water.

The hum could go unquestioned for now, he was going to try it. He dipped his face into the water and opened up his mouth. After a few moments of combatting the natural instinct of not inhaling water, he managed to breathe it in. Time to see if this worked. If it didn't, he'd be able to cough it out easily, as he made sure to not inhale a stupidly large amount.

And it worked! He could breathe it in, and it actually felt better than the seemingly dry air! Seems like the other guy was having a similar experience. Jonah could only explain this with magic. No amulet would be able to hide technology capable of altering a person's mind and physiology like that. No amulet this size, at least.

It might as well have been a miracle. This couldn't be fake. This whole thing had to be real, because otherwise, Dr. Harper wouldn't be using it for what seemed to be a hoax. Jonah had to ask "Do these also deal with water pressure? Also... Um... Can I... Can I keep this after we're done here?" He hoped the answer was yes. He really did. This was already shaping up to be the most interesting thing he had ever done, and a souvenir like this would definitely be amazing to have.

But wait, there was more! If this thing could make him swim better then... The possibilities opened up by this little amulet were humongous.

edited 14th Jan '17 4:11:27 PM by pillowmantis