Atlantis | Travel Brilliantly

A t l a n t i s

For travel's Travel Brilliantly contest!

At times it feels we wander aimlessly. The destination we were chasing seemed to get farther and farther away the more we pursued it, although Evelyn seemed sure it was near. I had no choice but to take her lead. She was the one who'd done the research. She's sure it's here, somewhere. 

I've been sitting in this pod for a two weeks; maybe more. It's a structure far too big for one person, but most definitely too small for two. The tank-like treads on the bottom pull us across the ocean floor. Sometimes we move at a slow crawl, and other times we speed through the water like there's no resistance at all.

"It's just up ahead." Evelyn's voice, just as artificial as she is, sounds odd through the speakers of this craft. Inserting her into it had been a heat of the moment decision, but now in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, I knew there was no turning back. I was mostly okay with that. Part of me continued to wonder if we were chasing the impossible. If maybe Evelyn's hunch wasn't as sure a thing as she made it out to be.

"You said that an hour ago." I reminded, leaning back in my painfully uncomfortable leather seat. All I see is darkness ahead, as Evelyn's lights only illuminate the few yards in front of us. Sometimes a fish swims by, drawn by the light produced, but it would never hang out in my field of sight for long. The path we're taking is oddly desolate.

"This time I'm sure." Evelyn said. Her voice is toneless, so I can never tell just how serious she is, or how sure. I never question her. She hasn't ejected me out of this ship and into the vast deep blue yet. Knowing her, she wouldn't hesitate if I annoyed her too much. She's never been a fan of those who doubt. It makes me second guess my decision to give her full control of the ship.

A few minutes passed, and they were just as long as the last. The material of my chair stuck to my skin, evidence of how long I'd been sitting there. That didn't prompt me to move. Instead, I simply stared ahead, watching for something that probably wasn't there.

"Here." Evelyn suddenly halted, successfully jolting me into a sitting position. I squinted through the dome window in front of me expectantly, but I couldn't immediately make out anything in particular. It seemed just the same as the rest of the ocean I'd seen so far. Dark, cold, and reasonably void of life. While I had read about the amazing lifeforms that enjoyed lurking on the ocean's floor, I had so far failed to spot anything too notable.

"I see absolutely nothing. I hope you realize that." I told her. "Not everyone can see through the dark like you can."

Evelyn remained silent, but the brightening of her lights told me she'd been listening. I found myself leaning forward as the outline of a clearly-massive structure became apparent in front of us. Covered in green moss and weathered well, it was still recognizably a wall. A very large wall, at that. It towered over our little underwater tank by at least eight feet or so. Probably more if I had to guess.

Evelyn backed up, engines whirring. I stared as her lights became brighter: brighter than I realized they could ever be. They illuminated more of the wall, and more details became apparent as my eyes adjusted. The individual bricks became visible to my eyes. The wall stretched longer than I ever would have imagined, and suddenly, all doubts I had in Evelyn were gone. She was right.

We began to move again, only this time it was slower. Evelyn seemed to be taking as much time as I was soaking this all up. The gargantuan wall seemed to curve, buried partially in the sand. Fish hugged its walls as they swam as though they'd protect them from harm. Smaller organisms, none of which I could name off the top of my head, fed on the moss generously presented to them.

Another construct came into view. Pillars, clearly man made, climbed higher than the walls themselves. They supported an chunk of what looked like stone that arced magnificently, even with all the pieces of it that had become loose and fallen to the sea floor. We headed right for the grand entrance, picking up speed. I couldn't help but grin.

"We found it." Evelyn seemed just as in awe as me. Here we sat, staring right at something we'd only even dreamed of. Her lights surely didn't stretch far enough to cover all of the grand sight before us, but I knew it was there. Some of it had been buried by sand, surely, or weathered away by time. But remnants remained, just waiting for us to explore them. They will serve as proof that all the work we've done hasn't been for nothing.

We've discovered The Lost City of Atlantis.