She swam gracefully, her emeral scaled tail flexing powerfully and propelling her through the water. Her long black hair, with a hint of greem, and looked surprisingly alike to seaweed. She blended with the ocean life like any other creature that lived in the blue depths. She drew up along side Williams capsule of air. Then the capsule started to descend.
It jerked as it started moving, but then glided smoothly, and to Williams astonishment, sank into the sand at the sea bed, and went even through the bedrock. Then, all the beauty of the sea life he had seen so far was dwarfed by the beauty of what he saw next. The capsule emerged from the bedrock, into a great underwater cavern.
Shimmering green rock layered the walls, jewels set in it, plants thriving on it, but that was only a start. Collosal pink-red squid pulsed their way through crystal clear water. Sea horses, all sizes, peacefully floated near the bottom of the cave, just above pure white sand. A shark weaved between stone columns, but showed no sign of agression.
The mermaid swam alongside the capsule again, waved a hand, and William instantly fell , writhing in pain. His legs felt as though they were alight, and his lungs felt as though he had just inhaled sulphuric acid. Unable to scream, he instead slammed his hands into the floor of his air bubble.
He awoke not long later. He looked around. He was in a room, marble floored, beds in rows. It sort of resembled the surgeons rooms he remembered from his time serving as an amputatist. But much, much cleaner, and about a thousand times more pleasant.
Then he realised he was under water. And he had no air bubble this time. Thinking he was about to die, he jumped up, but something didnt feel right. He felt his neck. There were four slits on either side.
The mermaid from before entered.
"Dont worry. Its only temporary" she said in a soft, silk smooth voice.
William wondered how it was possible to talk underwater, but dropped the thought. He'd spent years wondering what happened after death, then realised he had no way of knowing.
"My name is Elona." she said.
"Welcome to Atlantis."
He stared at her. Atlantis was a fairy tail. A childrens story. A myth. It was said to have sunk hundreds of years ago.
"Thats not possible." He shouted.
He must be going crazy, he thought to himself. He'd seen it before: madmen at circuses, blabbering on about how they could fly, or how they were actually one thousand years old, and had magical powers. All of them crazy, in a world of their own.
"Really?" she asked. "Im pretty sure its real. I should know. Ive been living here for three hundred years."
It seemed as though he had just joined them.
