The Strength to Go On | Write to Rank 2023

Green Belt | Oxygen

Harsh yellow light cast from the flood lights behind me as I went through the checklist my boss had handed me a few minutes prior.

Goggles?

I took a deep breath, checking it off the list.

Wetsuit?

Check.

Oxygen?

I hesitated here. What supplies I had were scrounged from an abandoned room, and it showed from the half-empty oxygen tank that weighed on my back. I didn't know how deep I needed to go—hell, I didn't even know how to scuba dive—but I didn't have much of a choice. We needed to get to the bottom of this. Literally.

My eyes flickered to the room's center. Ocean water poured over the ledges of four, concrete walls, accumulating in the center in dangerous spirals like a whirlpool. It spun down and down with a deafening roar, dousing everything in a salty mist.

The depth sensor we had dropped into the drain cut off at 50 feet. It meant something was down there, perhaps even the artifact we looked for. It was rumored to be a small item lost to the waves, hunted for centuries until the hunt was shut down years ago, back when the world first started going downhill.

Now, the world was about to end but, unlike the movies I watched as a kid, it didn't have a hero to save it. That's why we were here in this facility in the first place—to make one. And we knew this artifact could do exactly that.

I checked oxygen off of the list.

When I looked up, I saw my boss striding toward me, dragging a long, steely cable behind her that pulled from a reel bolted to the wall. The wetsuit I wore had a band of metal gripping the waist, and I could only assume that meant I'd need to be hooked up.

She handed it to me without a word, and I promptly attached it to myself, giving it a few test tugs.

"Are you ready, Ronan?" she asked when I finished.

I shook my head. "No, I think I forgot my scuba training at home."

She laughed at that. "You're going to be fine. If you're not, we'll pull you up."

She led me down the walkway to the center, her boots clanging on the perforated steel.

"I'll be right here the whole time," she reassured.

I nodded. We didn't have much time to get this done before someone found us, stopped us. And I had too much at stake to be stopped. My family was already gone, but I couldn't let them die in vain.

"Good luck. And—" She smiled at me, and our eyes locked. They were brown, with little flecks of green. The shoulders of her windbreaker were ridgelined with a sharp, yellow sheen from the flood lamps.

When I succeeded, this was going to be what our savior looked like.

"—Thank you."

There was a level of sincerity in her voice that made me nod in silence and crouch down. I swung my legs over the edge. And without another thought, I pushed myself in.

~

When I was a kid, I remember being horrified by the notices at the beach, warning of riptides and showing drowning, clipart children. I would sit on the sand and my imagination would take me to the bottom. I'd be dragged, too weak to kick or fight, by Poseidon himself, his hands like a vice grip on my arms.

This wasn't much different.

The ocean pounded against my skin so violently it left bruises. Bubbles roared past my mask in a violent fury of white. I could see nothing. I felt nothing, yet everything. My body was battered in spirals, no amount of swimming experience capable of pulling myself upright.

And then...

It was over.

My shoulder slammed into stone, my body ricocheting off before floating to the ocean floor. I landed on my rear. A pressure weighed on my lungs with each breath as I gathered my bearings, looking around.

I was surrounded by dark rock formations topped with coral and algae. Ambient lighting emitted from the algae, and when I looked up, I saw the whirlpool spinning above my head, almost as if it had carved this place with its raw power.

It was strange, almost magical.

But I didn't have time to sit and stare.

I glanced briefly at my scuba tank, ensuring I had a few minutes to look around. And then I kicked up, scanning the floor for anything out of the ordinary, drawing my fingers over rock surfaces to make sure I didn't miss any nook or cranny.

My imagination told me the artifact would look like something Poseidon would wear. A small, but mighty accessory. Something easy to conceal amongst the coral.

I took a route through a narrow cave, just broad enough to fit my shoulders. It wound and twisted in random patterns.

I swam for maybe ten minutes, my breaths getting more ragged as the tunnel seemed to close in on me. The claustrophobia started hitting here. It took everything I could to continue forward, hand by hand, pulling myself between the rocks.

That's when I saw it. There, a small gold and aquamarine bracelet, sitting harmlessly in the center of the tunnel. Pebbles were scattered around it like it had been dropped there with some force.

I didn't hesitate, scooping it up carefully. I didn't dare put it on. Afterall, my boss was the one who would wear it, who would become the hero we needed, not me.

I propelled myself back the way I came.

It was a wonder no one had found it yet. It seemed easy enough. I found it first try, without much effort, and I still had—

My blood froze when I saw my scuba tank's pressure meter. The pin lingered on red. How? I hadn't been down here that long! My stomach dropped when I saw the tunnel winding endlessly in front of me, and I realized I was hyperventilating.

No. No no!

I pulled at the cord attached to my back; kicked with all my strength. I clutched the bracelet to my chest as I propelled myself forward in desperation.

Why weren't they pulling me up?

I yanked at the cord again, but nothing happened.

No. I needed to resurface. I needed to get this back. They were counting on me!

The sides of the tunnel started fading, darkening. My muscles grew heavy, my pulls weak. My head rang. Before I knew it, I was lying on the pebbles, gasping, my eyes wide and watering but seeing so little. I managed to turn onto my side, but I still couldn't see the exit.

I was going to die here.

At least... at least I had brought it closer.

They could get more gear, another diver. They'd be successful next time.

My head fell to the ground and I stared at the gold in my hands.

Or, maybe they wouldn't need to. Maybe the hope in me hadn't died out yet.

With the last ounces of my strength, I slipped the bracelet over my wrist and felt its power seep into me.