Chapter Text
The sea held many secrets, many dangers but also many treasures. Viktor Nikiforov, world’s most famous treasure diver, knew that all too well, but nothing has ever stopped him from exploring the sea. No monster kraken that wanted to eat him and no poisonous fish that tried to kill him. No caves that were so dark that you couldn’t see anything and definitely no great sharks that thought he was food. Not even his boss, Yakov, yelling at him to be more careful. Viktor only cared for two things: treasures and his beloved dog Makkachin. Although he was overflowing with money, he lived a rather modest life. After all he spent more time in the water than on land, which resulted in people calling him a fish or a merman.
However, there was one thing that Viktor strove to find: Atlantis. Some people believed that he was mad for believing that he could find the sunken city one day. So many other people have tried before and no one had come even close to the ruins that Plato told about. The story of Atlantis was told by the philosopher around 360 B.C. The founders of Atlantis, he said, were half god and half human. They created a utopia; their home was made up of lush islands that contained gold, silver, and other precious metals and it supported a rare, exotic wildlife. There was a great capital city on the central island, but because they became greedy, petty and morally bankrupt, the gods became angry and sunk the city as punishment into the sea in one terrible night of fire and earthquakes. Viktor loved the story and the mystery behind it. He wondered if it was really true, since most people believed that Plato was nothing but a philosopher with too much fantasy in his head, but he didn’t care.
Today he got ready to explore an unknown part of the sea. He was told that the currents might be dangerous (he ignored Yakov’s protests as usual), but Viktor’s curiosity outweighed his fear of the unknown.
“Vitya, for the last time, it’s too dangerous! You are a treasure diver, not an explorer!” Yakov warned, but Viktor didn’t listen, continuing to don his diving gear.
“Take care of Makkachin for me~” Viktor chirped cheerily, before setting the diving mask over his face. The last thing he heard before the water engulfed him was Yakov shouting his name.
All that Viktor could hear now was his steady breath. He checked his oxygen tank one last time before diving deeper into the ocean. The water soon turned dark the deeper he dove, but Viktor was used to it. He turned his flashlight on, his mind void of any thoughts. He must’ve been swimming for an hour or two when he finally reached the ground. Viktor felt relieved that the rumors of strong currents and spiky rocks seemed to be wrong. He swam slowly over the ground, sometimes stopping to move his hands through the sand whenever he thought he saw something shiny. So far however, his luck didn’t seem to be on his side, because he found nothing but glass shards and a rock now and then. How did glass shards come here anyway? He did not see any shipwrecks or broken bottles, so glass shards shouldn’t be here.
All of a sudden he felt someone or something watching him. He shivered, quickly turning around, but saw nothing but the darkness. Though he could swear that something swam by, but it was probably just his mind playing tricks. He sighed, continuing his search. After some time, it became difficult to move in the water. Viktor didn’t notice that a current has brought him further down to the bottom and the oxygen in his tank was running out soon. No matter how hard he tried, the current didn’t let him swim up.
“I can’t die here!” Viktor thought frantically, trying to level his breathing, because the more he struggled, the more oxygen he wasted. Just when he thought it was all over, he suddenly felt hands at his waist and someone guided him to a safer spot where the current wasn’t so strong. Viktor caught a glimpse of a blue fishtail before he was released, but saw nothing else when he turned around.
“What... was that?” Viktor wondered, heart pounding. Was it just his imagination? No he definitely felt gentle hands at his waist, but the fishtail was another story. Just when Viktor thought he was going mad, a soft blue light caught his attention. Swimming closer to it, he gasped when the light became stronger. In front of him were ruins that did not look like they were man-made. Gold, silver and other metals covered the ground and the light seemed to become stronger in the center of it all.
“This can only be Atlantis...” Viktor breathed in shock. “I found Atlantis!” He exclaimed, but his joy was interrupted by a loud high-pitched signal alerting him that he was almost out of oxygen.
“No one will believe me that I finally found the sunken city... but I’ll come back and prove that I’m not a liar!” Viktor thought, as he pushed himself from the ground, quickly swimming up to the surface.
He failed to see his rescuer following him, making sure that Viktor safely made his way back up before they disappeared into the dark sea.