Exploring the flooded world

"Sure, why not? It would be quite the discovery to see what's hidden behind this body of water. But first, we should make a hole big enough for me to get inside." said Vlad to old Nius while frowning at how small the hole was currently.

"Sure thing lad, let's get going. I'll tell you from start, this is your idea, you're finishing it. I'll just help you out a bit with the enlarging of the hole. I'm too old for diving down or other activities as such. I'll just leave you kid to explore what's there. Kid, if you, by chance, find marks of an advanced civilization, just share them with me. The other miners are not trustworthy enough to hold such information."

'Sure old man, I'll tell you everything you wish to know about what lingers deep down. But if I find any crazy stuff such an immortality elixir, that's mine for the taking. I might sound like a brat, but who doesn't want immortality? Such things are not to be shared around.'

"What do you mean by that old man? What could happen if, for example, I share this news with others such as Kipset and Inorra?" asked Vlad curiously, the old man.

"Lad, don't bother yourself, first go explore that hole and after you tell me what's going on inside I will decide what we do with this hot potato on our hands. If things are just signs of a lost civilization and nothing more than that, you can easily share what's nside with those brats. However, if things are messy down there, let's say you find a large weapon there, we'll have to keep this secret between us."

"If you say so, gramps. If it's really as you think of this hole and I hope I don't get to see any crazy stuff inside. I don't mind it, not one bit. We'll have a long talk after I see what's behind this water path."

"Good, that's my boy. Now let's get going and enlarge this hole for your fitting, before other idiots get back here to disturb us." Smiled Nius evilly at Vlad, feeling glad that the boy was smart enough not to waste precious time on a series of questions that wouldn't lead anywhere.

Thus after handling their discussion without any incidents, the young man and old man started hitting lighter around the hole filled with water not to crumble more of the floor beneath their feet.

In no time, the stone's around the hole slowly but surely detached from the hole, transforming themselves into a circumference of a human body. It took the two of them some time to complete this task. Still, at last, having a simple goal in mind, the two worked efficiently to not cause any disturbance around the mine, or worse, shatter the floor.

'Hmm, this one is big enough that I can enter inside. Argh, it's been a while since I swam, hope I still can do well with this task and not be drawn in by an accident.'

Looking at the hole the size of his body width, Vlad started with a serious face at the water inside the hole with light in them. He had never seen such a thing in his life, first or this new one, all he could do now was to remember clearly the unique feeling he got from this experience. Later he looked at Nius, who was the same as him, staring at the water with his old eyes and a serious face that could say many things about his state of mind. He held in his eyes a small flicker of youthness from this feeling of discovering new things.

'The records in the royal library discussed some theories that the Sun King when he was preparing his descendants for ruling the kingdom, he left a certain inheritance of his for one of the descendants more befitting to carry on his will. But the locations for where this inheritance of his could be, was lost in history, or most likely the enemy of the Sun King interfered, removing this part of history from the records.'

'Ahem, I blanked out for a bit. If this place really holds any signs to where the founding king inheritance could be left, this is all a good sign. This can also test if the boy is part of the royal family because with the Sun King abilities it would be easy for him to set a test for future descendants.'

He woke from his thoughts when he heard Vlad's words.

"Well then, if you excuse me, old man. I have to take a bath now. Right, I don't know how long I will be inside, but don't worry. Just keep an eye for the outside and everything would be fine." Gave Vlad a small chuckle directed at the old man while preparing himself mentally for his next set of actions.

'Here I come, Lady Fate, be kind to me. Show me one of those gifts of yours because after all this suffering of mine, just one small help would break out relation.'

After some minutes, finally, Vlad jumped in the hole. He didn't go dive down directly but instead choose to stay a bit to the surface level get used to the water temperature. As he waited to get used to the water coldness, he stared with his dark-green eyes straight into old Nius face and said with a grin on his face.

"Old man, when I'm out, don't forget to relax a bit, the water temperature isn't so bad, just enough to relax your muscles and mind. Also, you can wash your clothes for a bit, but start slowly or the dirt you accumulated would wash away. Ohh, right, I remember, my clothes are also dirty."

Smelling the clothes on his body after hearing Vlad saying that made the old man frown, making him a bit embarrassed. Taking his sweaty shirt off, he threw it on Vlad's face yelling, annoyed at him. "Fuck off brat, check it does it smell so bad? Annoying brat, I'm boiling right here, and yet you have the mood to crack jokes on me? Just get inside already, there's no time for jokes."

"Blasted old man you should really check the water temperature before you said that I'm slow. Hmph, if one person is annoying that's you. I will keep in mind what you said for later times." said Vlad before taking a deep breath and diving down towards the unknown before giving the old man a middle finger.

As he dived down, he could hear a bit Nius cursing him a bit and stomping his foot in anger, making the water shake a bit from his force. This tremor give Vlad a big surprise, but he continued without stopping.

When he dived down, what met his eyes was blurriness, Vlad wasn't a perfect swimmer, but he knew his ability to hold air in his lungs was something decent, learning to swim since young. Keeping that in mind, at first, he started exploring little bits of the path, not trying to act heroically and just go with the flow of the moment. Swimming underwater for some time made his ears hurt like hell from the pressure picking on his eardrums. Remembering what he should do in this kind of situation without panicking, he held his nose with a free hand and blew some air into his ears.

Instantly the pain in his ears lessened, but the discomfort was still bothering him. Still, not enough to disturb Vlad's calm state. He continued going forward underwater, looking around himself. He could see some resemblance of some stairs followed by a leveled floor.

As he stared around himself for a sign of some forgotten treasures, his time also passed inside the passage. Keeping in mind that he only had approximately six minutes of air in his lungs. He thought of going back to the surface and try again to adventure further than he did now. However, when thinking of going back, he found an opening to go to the water's surface to refill his air.

Moving in on his latest target, as he closed into the surface. From the underwater blurriness, he could make out the figure of some statues that were submerged underwater standing in an imposing manner, with a slight resemblance to how the Roman soldiers would hold themselves with their heads looking up towards distance.

Swimming and blowing air in his nose, with shocked eyes, he figured out what the submerged statue figures were. It was a pair of human giants who were holding their spears in a guard stance. Their big eyes seemed to stare deep at your soul, even though the giants were clearly stone statues. Vlad, even when he was underwater and could see their body without missing anything. The craftsmanship the older ones had put to display was a sight to behold. It left you truly shocked, seeing the statues that guarded something.

'Amazing, this is simply unbelievable. Such craftsmanship and precise cutting in stone, it's almost like those guards got turned into stone instead of being just stones carved by some masters. I'll look a bit more into those carvings, maybe I can find any sign of secrecy from them without worrying of lack of air because of this roof opening.'

With the air left in his lungs, he started looking around to see if he could find other ancient sights and any mysterious signs on the giant soldiers. Like this, his first try on the stone guards began. He started with their middle body. Looking intently at the guard's decorated armor and various signs on his armor but nothing that he could figure out in his first try.

Going up, he was met by a flat roof, having space enough for his head to stick out. When starring from the surface, he could see a little bit better. When Vlad moved his eyes towards the guards, behind them was an open entrance, to where he didn't know. The stone statue seemed to be positioned facing one another with their spears held down like they were waiting for their rulers to give orders. As he refilled his air tank, he dived down again and again until he figured the story of those guards.

[Vlad's POV]

(First check of the guards) 'Those stone guards have something strange about them, those signs on their armour is not for nothing. It's almost like the characters for this world language, but with big variations. The way they were made, together with those signs it's impossible that those carvers had nothing to do, and just scrambled some characters on those glorious soldiers because of boredom.'

'To imagine that somewhere in a distant point of the past existed such an advanced civilization that could build such grand projects.'

'I wonder what happened here, for such a place to be left abandoned and eaten by the times. Such mystery to behold. '

(Second check of the guards) 'Here I'm again looking at those intricate characters. Let's see if I can find any words with those marks on one of the guard's chest mail armor. "A W A I T "what that meaning? Argh, let see, "A W A I T "that should be waiting out. Good, I figured out a word from that ancient derivation of the language. Let's check on the other guard what the characters on his armor say to me. Ahh, I need to go to the surface and refill my lungs with air;

(Third check of the guards) 'This one, it's a bit more complicated. The characters from little Inor doesn't make much sense with this guard, but at least I have a puzzle hint. "W O R T H "is this the word that would mean, someone deserving of entering here? Or did I miss translated the words on the two guards armour? Ahh, my head hurts a little bit from figuring out what each of those words mean. I should go to the surface and think more freely with some supporting air.'

(Splashing out) "So if I'm not wrong, and I might really be wrong. The words on those guards mean, "I await the worthy one?" Who's waiting for who? Damn to think that even those ancients were as crazy as the Romans. Can't they be more direct and already say what the fuck they want?

Well, better recheck it again, maybe I forgot any word on the guards, which I doubt, but it's worth checking.

(Fourth check of the guards) "There's nothing more on the guards. Only the word "AWAIT" and "WORTH" which don't make much sense, left alone. The best I can do is my interpretation "I await the worthy one."

"Haha, to think I would be made to do puzzles again at my age. But if solving those puzzles I can get a generous reward, I don't mind it at all."

'Looking around, it seems to be the right way to continue and should proceed onward. It's unknown what awaits me on the other side, but that's more than interesting as an outcome.'

'Sigh, to think that I would feel excited in these moments. It truly feels weird that in a forgotten corner of a world, there would be waiting for you such sights. For sure the old man will be out of his mind after I tell him what I found together with the message on the guards.'

'Now, let's see what's waiting for me.'

[General POV]

Still with his head out of the water and breathing normally, with his eyes focused on the statues, he said. "On guard, proud soldiers there's someone worthy of everything held inside so make way. It will not be long before I meet the one waiting for me."

With all said, Vlad took a deep breath and dived down again to see what awaits on the endpoint. He passed the stone guards and started to see how the walls began to shrink down. It seems that the stone guards being there had some meaning because when Vlad looked right and left, in the blurriness of the water, he could figure out some images carved on the walls. One that stuck out the most was of a majestic temple curved on the wall with the most carefulness. The water did it's part in this regard and conserved the intact image of the temple.

Choosing to admire a bit the temple's figure on the wall, he stared until he felt that the image got memorized in his mind. Swimming forward and passing the temple's image, he could see the figure of some animals on the wall. The animals on the wall had irregular forms.

'What in the world? What are those monsters on the walls? Did the ancients have to draw them as a warning for their future descendants or there's a deeper meaning behind this?'

Furthermore, some of those creatures were bigger than others. Vlad was shocked because he had never seen in his life such monstrosities as the animals depicted on the wall. Still, he could remark that some of the monsters and even the normal ones looked to have similar traits to animals he knew from his world. Not long after finding those figures on the walls, he remembered the stories of the ancient Greeks talking about monsters like the ones on the wall. Chimaeras, manticores, all stuff of legends were right in front of his face.

Feeling his time depleting while staring at all the different figures on the wall. He sensed every bubble of air leaving from his nose left Vlad to choose going forward. He wasn't going to stop in his way until he reached a safe point.

The path swallowed by waters changed in Vlad's vision. His eyes, from all the blurriness they had to endure, started to form right in front of him, a stairway going up, leading to the unknown.

Noticing the stairway's start, Vlad put his hand on his nose. He blew some air to fill the air inside his ears, to remove the uncomfortable feeling he had in his ears the entire way till this point. He felt excellent when seeing the stairway, it was still dark underwater, but the stairway gave him the feeling of seeing the light from the other side.

With that in mind, he ascended following the direction of the stairway. When looking right and left, from the time he passed the walls engraved with diverse figures, Vlad could notice the continuing shrinking of the stairways. The stairways were shrinking, and at the same time, Vlad's remaining air in his lungs started to deplete. He was struggling to ascend.

When noticing that he hardly could keep his breath when proceeding to ascend, his mind turned to panic. His body started to plunge a little back to his starting point. Those were signs of a future dead man.

'Not yet, I'm not going to die in such a pathetic way. How many of those moments haven't I overcome, the only way I'll die is against an absolute being. Argh, my heart hurts, wait, something is going on.'

However, instead of panicking more than needed, he removed from his head all the dark thoughts he initially held. At the same time, his eyes turned colder while emitting some dark lights. With a much sinister and cold face, he pushed himself in this situation. He started ascending with the remaining air he had left in his lungs. In just seconds, the boy that began smelling death turned to climb from the water while following after the stairway.

Finally, he could see something ahead of him as the lights released by Vlad's dark-green eyes went back. A ray of light could be noticed entering his tired, cold eyes. Adrenaline started to kick in, with untapped potential. His body gave everything it had in its reserves. With each passing second, the ray of light got even more prominent.

Splashing out from the depths, he only thought of the sudden change that he felt starting from his heart. 'That pain in my heart, that sudden power burst that helped me out of that hard time, what was that all about? Did something happen with my body? Let me check it.'

Suddenly a boy started to be seen surfacing from water while coughing continuously to recover from his early meeting with death. Before he observed his surroundings, he took his dirtied shirt and started checking on his chest. Then suddenly, his eyes stopped on something that clearly shifted a bit in size.

It was a chest birthmark in the form of a little black-grain circle. The small circle was right on top of where his heart was. The full circle got increased slightly, but it slowly shrank down, getting to its initial grain size, like it was coordinated by Vlad's subconscious.

'This mark, wasn't this mark little Zagreus birth mark? How did it increase and how did shrink down right in front of my eyes?'

'There's something going on with my body that I simply can't understand what it is. But, if this small thing actually saved my life back then, I have to figure it out how it works.'

Getting back from his distracted self, he noticed that what was surrounding him was a lake-like body of water and that not far from where he was, there was a lush rainforest. When looking up, he could see the dense green rocky walls opening up from the sides. Letting rays of light shine upon him but also allow a stream of water to flow like a waterfall down towards the lake. The walls were high on the sky, covering the lake and forest safely that it housed, but one could clearly see that the roof of this chamber collapsed.

Taking deep breaths to recover from his tired state, he started to slowly swim toward the lush rainforest while looking around with amazement at the mystical place he stumbled on. Reaching the shore, he could see a dense jungle, looking the same undisturbed way one could say since their growth. Scanning the zone around himself, while nodding his head pleased, he said to himself.

"The search has officially begun. The one waiting for me, I hope your challenge or traps are not something that would lead me to nowhere."

....

A/N: Hope you like this feeling and what will happen soon.

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