The Search of Atlantis

[Inquista]

El General put on his aviator shades and smiled. "Oh, I'm ready. Now... vamos!"

...

After departing from the Port of Saint Dominico, and traveling a short while into the Mediterranean, the SS Burro Marica found itself some 50 kilometres off the Inquistan coast.

Temperature-wise, it was a hot and humid day. Temperatures stood at approximately 34 degrees. Worse yet, however, was the wind. The SS Burro Marcia shook from side to side as heavy winds battered the vessel. The heavy winds were blowing the crew around, and as El General and his colleagues stood in a circle on the front deck of the ship, they found themselves having to shout in order to communicate clearly.

"According to Inquistan folklore, Atlantis should be located within a 30 kilometres radius of... exactly here!" El General shouted as he gazed upon his GPS device. "Or, at least, that what the Inquistan Wikipedia page says. Yes, my hunches are based only on the most trusted sources of academia."

El General put away his GPS device and called for the ship's captain to immediately stop the vessel. The ship came to a very abrupt halt, and the entire crew went flying forward as the vessel halted and a strong gust of wind blew over. A member of the Inquistan investigation team flew through the air and landed in the water.

"Eh, he'll be fine, I'm sure. We can save him later," El General said nonchalantly as he gestured for the rest of the crew not to panic.

The Inquistan General then quickly zipped up his wet suit, put on his diving mask, attached his oxygen tank, and collected the rest of his diving gear. "Are we ready to get into the water?"

[Spain]

The Spanish crew was fine at least, just 1 was a bit injured. Some of the Spanish helped the Inquistans to rescue the fallen investigator, at least he was fine and he knew how to swim. The wins was indeed bad, as there was a storm in the Baleares that splitted in 2 at Red Croatia. It was a DANA or Gota Fría in Spanish, or in English, 2 cold fronts. Some Spaniards were ready to launch the systems just in case something was found.

Víctor found himself wearing his wet suit and approaching the really old-fashioned pirate diving plank. He put on everything he needed and answered El Capitán after seeing the map for a last time: "According to my maps, it's also believed to be located here. The academia had really good information, as many other Spanish academias. Let's get into the water, I am ready to find Atlantis, and I think you too"

Both, the Minister and El Capitán got into the water and swam to the bottom. They had a system in which they could tell the boat to get some ropes and pulleys if they found something of interest. Both got into the bottom and started to search. "There's nothing around here." Calvo-Sotelo said. Suddently, the Spanish Minister was dragged by a strong current. It was dark down there, but enough to see him leave the side of El Capitán. Víctor managed to release himself from the current, and saw something:

"Juan Bernardo, it's not Atlantis, but you might want to come over." The Minister said on his walkie-talkie.

[Inquista]

El General swam carefully under the water, and managed to muster enough strength to stop himself from being pushed away and separated from the crew by any incoming currents. Even with an underwater flashlight in his hand, El General could barely see anything. It was ominously dark. Equally, it was ominously quiet.

Suddenly, a voice cracked over his walkie-talkie. After listening to his Spanish colleague over the walkie-talkie, El General turned to his side and swam up to the Minister. The Minister pointed and El General gasped. "¡Oh Dios mío!"

[Spain]

There it was, the... port?! Some sunk old boats with stone anchors were there, in the Mediterranean. Both approached to the anchors and exactly, they were from the same century Atlantis existed and also sank. "There's evidence something was here lots of centuries ago, but also that anchors have got here by the currents. That one is moving!" Said Víctor. He took one of the ropes to pick things and got it along the anchor. He ordered the crew to get it into the boat, and so they did.

"There's nothing more to see here than boats and anchors as we can see. This is not Atlantis, but for sure it's Atlantis related. We still have oxigen to explore one of the sunken boats. Choose one and let's see if we can find something of interest." Said the Minister. He was really sure about this being related with Atlantis, but the current also showed how things are coming to stop here, in the Inquistan coasts. That meant Atlantis could exist, but even better, that it could be near the Mediterranean or in the middle of a current from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.

[Inquista]

El General pointed towards the ship on the left-hand side. "There's something about that one... which speaks to me."

The crew made their way to the ancient ship wreck. The ship was very, very old. There was no telling how old it truly was. Despite its ancient age, it was in astonishingly good shape. The ancient ship was mostly intact. It was beautifully and ornately designed, with exquisite and rich decorations. It certainly wasn't an ordinary vessel for its time, nor did it seem to be any sort of ship used for war. The wide and deep hull of the ship likely meant it was designed for transporting something. Considering the ship's appearance, perhaps it was designed for transporting gold or treasure? At least, that was the General's hope.

At the side of the hull was a large gash. The space around the ship was dark enough, but as the General pointed his flashlight into the broken hull, all the light emitting from the flashlight seemed to completely disappear. The inside of the hull wasn't just dark, but instead, it seemed to contain a dark void which ate all light that came its way.

The General was unphased. He nonchalantly turned to look back, to see if the crew was seeing what he was seeing. After a quick nod and a thumbs-up, the General announced he would swim into the hull of the ship. "Cover me," he declared into the walkie-talkie. He soon disappeared into the darkness.

El General was swimming virtually blind. The light from the flashlight only managed to light up three centimetres before his eyes. After some time, he finally saw some sort of surface, which seemed to be the bottom of the hull. He then scaled around the bottom of the ship, shining the light closely to his eyes, looking for anything. He couldn't find anything apart from old wooden debris.

After a few minutes, the General was just about ready to call it quits, when something suddenly caught his eye. An old, rusted piece of metal flashed in the periphery of his vision. El General picked up and examined the piece of metal by holding it directly before his eyes. It seemed to be a sort of coin. El General then looked down below and noticed that the part of the ship directly below him had a small opening. "Muchachos, I think I've found something," he whispered.

He grabbed the opening and pulled a piece of debris away. El General revealed what appeared to be some sort of hidden trap door, which contained a large swathe of coins within it. However, just as El General laid his eyes on the coins, the coins then suddenly disappeared under a thick, black cloud. For some reason, light could not exist within this ship.

Suddenly, the General felt his leg being grabbed by something. Split seconds later, he was flung backwards. A giant 9-metre long squid emerged from the hatch. The squid grabbed El General again using on if its tentacles, and it began to violently shake him. The squid also continued to emit a thick, black cloud of ink.

El General called for help over his walkie-talkie, but then dropped it, alongside his flashlight, as the giant squid shook him. El General refused to panic, and instead, managed to wrestle himself out of the squid's grasp. El General then rushed directly towards the creature, and elbowed it directly in its head.

[Spain]

The crew and Víctor went fast to help El General in his battle against the giant squid. They all got to hit it, and they ended up killing it. Dinner was served, and they could sell the parts that weren't going to be eaten in all the trip: "I guess we have the dinner for many days. The Bocata de Calamares is very famous en Madrid, so I think that will be our dinner tonight." Calvo-Sotelo said.

The crew proceeded to get the squid to the boad by slicing it. They couldn't get the 9 meters entirely, because the boat would sank as the other boats here. Calvo-Sotelo approached to El Capitán and the Inquistan legend told the Minister what he had seen. Both entered the room where the coins were, this time with no squids in the area, and grabbed big bags. The ropes were going in and out and after the squid was sliced and up there, they started to get the coins up.

While they were collecting the coins, the Jaws Soundtrack started to play on the frecency of the walkie-talkie. Everyone in the crew except Sotelo and El Capitán were looking at them, expecting this was just a ringtone and not what everyone would have expected. The coins were fully collected and the song was still going on. Sotelo looked at his little mobile in his waterproof plastic bag and dimissed the call: "It was me, there are barely no sharks in the Mediterrane-"

He was suddently interrupted by a crew member on the boat: "SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK!!!!!!" He shouted. Everyone became nervous, it's like the squid attracted it. The crew left the bottom of the sea safely but really fast, forgetting about El Capitán and Víctor Calvo-Sotelo, which didn't hear a thing. When Sotelo was interrupted, there was an interference he couldn't fix. Both came out of the ship and saw nobody in the dark: "Guys, where are you?" Sotelo said.

"SHAAAAAARK" The crew screamed. Sotelo and El Capitán went up to the boat and saw the shark. They both stayed calm, and were rescued on time just when the shark was due to attack them. The SS Burro Marica started to head towards Red Croatia letting the shark aside. Sotelo removed his wet suit and examined the coins. It was surprinsing what he found... "Juan, you might want to come over here again. The coins say "Atlantis" on both sides, but look... It also says Iberia and Inquista." He said. Meanwhile, a fried squirt smell came out of the boat. The Bocatas de Calamares where in progress.

[Inquista]

"¡Increíble!" El General exclaimed as he examined the ancient coins. The coins seemed to be made out of some sort of metal, and so it was a miracle that they managed to survive in rather good shape under the water for a few millennia. The writing on the coins was legible, and they indeed seemed to be the currency of Atlantis.

"Hmm, those ancient ships must have been treasure ships, carrying the wealth of Atlantians," the Captain observed. "This is a great sign. This means the Atlantians were traversing across this area. The fact that it mentions both Inquista and Iberia is an astonishing discovery. Is it possible that there was an ancient Antlantian Empire, and that Iberia and Inquista were both under its control? Historians will have a lot of things to debate about."

The ship quickly made its way to Red Croatian waters. El General snacked on some of the Bocatas de Calamares as they prepared for their next excursion.

[Spain]

Víctor ate some of the Bocatas de Calamares too while they prepared to their next immersion into Red Croatian waters. Víctor didn't expect nothing under the sea but over the sea. The ship navigated between the islands, heading to the smaller of all of them. "This bocatas are simply delicious. Anyway, now we are not going under the sea, but over it. I'm sure that in Red Croatia nothing hapenned under the sea, because there's no evidence and the radar has said nothing. So, that's why we came here."

The smallest island in Red Croatia had a little port, but enough to get the boat there and not allow any other ship to park in there. "About the coins, I think Historians will have to decide over the content when we finish this expedition. At the moment, this is a secret thing, so I guess no one but the crew knows about it. Now, we need to go up that mountain. According to this book which is reasonably new, there's something strange at the top of that mountain, which is an active volcano. Are you ready?"

[Inquista]

El General quickly got dressed into an explorer's outfit and put on his hiking gear. The Captain then completed his outfit change by putting on a safari hat.

"I am ready to traverse any mountain," the General announced as he puffed out his chest. An active volcano? The General wasn't worried in the slightest bit. The General then put on a heavy backpack, which contained various types of hiking gear and equipment. El General then jumped off the boat onto the island shore. "Ready when you are. Lead the way, muchachos."

[Spain]

Víctor and some of the crew from Inquista and Spain were ready to go. They all went off the ship and started to walk around the city towards the forest and then the mountain. The people, who hadn't seen any foreigner in a while, started to approach Víctor, El Capitán and the crew to offer them some things in exchange of money: "Take this soft toy by 5 euros and you'll be happy forever and ever, even when you die." Said one.

The finally got to the forest and started to go to the volcano. "That people is crazy" Said Víctor while walking. A minor earthqueake shaked the island. A crew member said: "It's been a 2.5 one. There's no risk the volcano explodes or something as of now, but stay tuned to the earthquakes. Let's hurry up." They started to walk fastaer and in 30 minutes, they arrived to the top.

[Inquista]

The team finally reached the top of the volcano. As they reached the top, smoke began to emit from the crater of the volcano. At first, the smoke didn't seem particularly strong or thick, but it quickly became thicker and thicker. El General opened up his backpack and pulled out some face masks, which he distributed to the members of the crew.

El General attempted to scan the inside of the volcano, but it became increasingly difficult to do so with all the smoke. However, the General managed to scout out what seemed to be some sort of chest which was sitting on a ledge located 6 metres down from the inside of the volcano's crater.

"Look down there! On the side, on that ledge jutting out! It looks like some sort of chest," the General called out. El General took off his backpack and opened it up. He pulled out a rope and handed it to the crew. I'm going to climb down to the ledge, grab the chest, and then you'll need to hoist me up using the rope. Is that understood?"

The General quickly hurried to the side of the volcano's crater, with the one end of the rope in his hand, and carefully scaled down. Descending down the inside of the volcano was very tricky. The rock felt very hot, and the insides of the General's hands burned slightly as he scaled down. The smoke was also quite potent, which burned El General's eyes as he looked down. After scaling down about 5 metres, the General simply dropped himself onto the ledge. The General then grabbed the chest, which was enormously heavy.

El General was basically a body building beast, so he wasn't too concerned about his own ability to carry the weight of the chest. Instead, he was worried that the crew couldn't hoist up the combined weight of himself and the chest. Just then, the volcano began to slightly rumble. Another mild 2.5 richter earthquake began to shake the island. Black and deeply opaque smoke began to rush out from the centre of the volcano.

"Quick! Pull me up! I think it might be errutping! i Vamos!" El General yelled as he pulled on the rope with one hand, and the chest in his other.

[Spain]

The crew started to pull El General up as fast as possible, and they got it out in just 3 minutes. They were running down the mountain when the volcano exploded. The explosion's sound was loud and distrubing to everyone's ears. Now Víctor could understand why the Island was nearly deserted and the mountain had lots of volcanic stones on it. But there was no time to take any sample, so they all were supposed to run. Someone insisted on taking samples, while the others were just running.

The crew got to the ship safely and started the departure procedures. The people on the Island asked for them being evacuated, and no one remembered about the crew member because they were not told about that. But he came running and shouting, and Víctor looked at him: "WAIT, WE HAVE A CREW MEMBER THERE. LET THE PEOPLE UP TOO, FAST!" Everyone boarded the ship fast and the lava was approaching, they all were going to die ina ship, searching Atlantis. People closed their eyes, somes prayed, others just played their violins and others just were setting their rooms as they brought all their personnal objects with them. Víctor hugged el Capitán and started to pray, the sky became black, an explossion took place once again.

All they could hear was silence. Víctor decided to open his eyes to see the world for the last time and he did so. He stopped hugging el Capitán and see the boat sailing far from the Island, really fast. "WE'RE SAFE!!!" Everyone then opened their eyes and started to clap and cheer. "LET'S HAVE A PARTY TONIGHT, LET'S CELEBRATE!!!" The people left the front part of the boat into their rooms and Víctor headed to the chest. "Juan, would you like to open it this time?"

[Inquista]

El General studied the elegantly decorated chest, which was made out of some sort of metal, but was covered in iconography and inscriptions. The images etched into the chest depicted a large, sprawling and beautiful city. Presumably, the city etched into the sides of the chest were Atlantis. However, the writing on the chest was indecipherable. It was written in a language that seemed very similar to the writing on the Atlantian coins, except it contained new types of letters, and the writing seemed to be jumbled and followed no discnerible grammatical pattern. Perhaps the writing was written in some sort of code? Perhaps it was written in a much more ancient version of the Atlantian language, or perhaps a different dialect? Either way, the General couldn't understand it. This was for Atlantian scholars and linguistics to figure out.

The General tried to pry the chest open, but it wouldn't open. It was very securely locked. There was a keyhole located in the centre of the front of the chest, which the General studied for a minute. The General again attempted to rip the top of the chest open with all his might, but he began to worry that he would destroy or break the top of the chest. El General was hoping to keep the full integrity of the chest in tact, so as to not destroy such an ancient and pretty artifact.

"This chest needs a key. I'd rather that we not destroy it. Perhaps we can find a key for it? Maybe once we find Atlantis, we can find a key..." El General thought out loud, talking to the rest of the crew.

Annoyed that he couldn't open the chest, the General decided to open some champagne bottles instead. The General walked to the cooler, opened it, and took out some champagne bottles. The General popped several of them, and sprayed the members of the crew in celebration.

"Tonight we toast, but tomorrow we continue our exploration!"

[Spain]

A new day appeared in the eyes of Víctor Calvo Sotelo. He got of his room after getting dressed, and saw where they were. Home sweet home. The boat had crossed Gibraltar and stopped in from of the coasts of Zahara de los Atunes, a coastal village in Cádiz Region, Andalucía. The siren started to sound, there was something huge there and they had to research. very ate breakfast as soon as possible. Had they found Atlantis in front of the Spanish village, or would it be under the lands of Doñana, as many studies said. No one knew. And more importantly, would they find the key they all were searching for? Víctor said they could.

Víctor dressed up on his wet suit along with El Capitán and went under the sea in the search of Atlantis. Would this be their final search? Would they find what they were searching for? It had been alredy a week and nothing clear, nothing related with the city other than chests appeared. Something needed to exist, and Víctor was sure something was here. He swam with El Capitán, with their lights on, searching for something that could say Atlantis existed. Maybe a whole city, just one building. But there needed to be something there.

[Inquista]

A long time had passed while El Capitan and the crew were diving under the water. The Captain carefully shone the light at the bottom of the seabed, looking for anything. It was still. Quiet. In moments like these, the Captain felt at ease. The peaceful surroundings of the ocean floor left the Captain with nothing but the sound of his own breaths, and the sound of the moving water around him.

This location seemed like a bit of a bust. The oxygen in the Captain's tank was getting low. Perhaps it was time to quit? The Captain figured he would give it more time. More moments passed as the Captain shone the light on the floor bed, exploring the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. Soon enough, the Captains stumbled upon something.

A crater. A massive crater. El Capitan noticed what seemed to be the edge of giant hole, which then began to extend as far as they eye could see. It seemed as if a massive asteroid had come and struck this part of the ocean. The Captain shone his light into the crater, but it was much to deep for the light to catch the bottom. El Capitan called for the crew to come to him.

"I think we need to go down there and see what lies within."

[Spain]

"Exactly" answered Víctor Calvo-Sotelo. "But first, we will need to get some more oxygen. Let's go up to the surface, get the oxygen and we will come back again to, finally, explore this crater. No one can die here, Juan Bernardo, and I think we all have low oxygen." The crew and the 2 main characters of this story came back to the surface, got new oxygen bottles and entered the water again.

The crew, with Víctor and El Capitán on the lead, entered the crater, which had never been mapped by Spanish scientifics or researchers. It was dark, like if the Atlantic Ocean prepared a surprise for them. In one of the craters side, Calvo-Sotelo saw something shining. "What's that Víctor?" Asked one of the crew members. "Let me check" Said the Spanish minister, going to it. It was a silver key, the one they had been searching for ages after finding the chest in that Red Croatian Island.

They continued swimming down, the altimeter said they were 92 meters under water, the preassure was high and suddenly, the crater ended and they entered in a similar thing to a shopping centre floor. Víctor turned on his torch and, there it was... "JUAN BERNARDO, WE DID IT!" Shouted the Minister. "IT'S ATLANTIS"

The sea had conserved the city really well, and a member of the crew discovered another exit, which was kind of faster. Víctor awaited for el Capitán to say something, the mission was a success. Atlantis existed, and it was found by Inquista and Spain in front of a Spanish village.

[Inquista]

The Captain was stunned by the discovery of Atlantis. He always knew it was real, but he finally felt vindicated. All those naysayers were wrong! A feeling or pride and happiness washed over him.

"¡Dios mio!" El Capitan exclaimed. "This is amazing. We found it!"

The Captain checked the GPS coordinates and saved the location. His eyes gleamed as he looked at Atlantis below.

[Spain]

The Spanish and Inquistan crews took photos, made videos and before leaving, they left the Spanish and Inquistan flags on a free side of Atlantis, next to its entry. Everyone left with the photos, videos and some of the treasures. When they got to the ship, the Red Croatian refugees by the volcano, the crew members, Víctor and El Capitán celebrating eating some dishes made from the big calamari and typical Spanish and Inquistan food.

The Spanish part of the crew said goodbye to the Inquistan crew, which came back by plane with similar treasures than the Spanish got. They promised to cooperate back on its research and everything they could get to know. The coordinates were saved, the photos were publised and everyone was happy with their work. They had done it.

The End