Chapter Text
On a peaceful and sunny day, a leisurely day of rest for the lazy shark, she woke up later than usual. "Oh nyo! I'm late for the stream!” As she rushed to get out of her bed, sloppily getting entrenched in the fluctuating water bed, she realized the fortunate truth. “Oh never mind, I forgot I'm not streaming today."
Indeed, she took a break from streaming because she had some matters to take care of, she was just too used to her regular life nowadays that important matters of the past don’t seem to matter anymore.
She still woke from her waterbed and headed for the computer, her streaming equipments scattered around on her desk. She sent a message to her friend Ame. "I'll be gone for a day, wish me luck!"
Amelia was a time traveler, she probably already saw her message before Gura even sent it, however her power worked. Gura then equiped her long shark hood over her naked body. maybe she should wear pants for once since she was going into the ocean… oh well, it’s not like anyone would see her anyway.
She looked in the mirror and saw her bright red eyes and hood. That scared her somewhat just before they changed back to blue, time was of the essence! At least, she attached her hair into pigtails since having them flow freely in the water was a pain in the butt.
She grabbed her trident and her necklace, a very nice pearl necklace that she had for a long time. She was now ready to go! Her house was right next to the beach so she could just walk over there and not impede the public transport system of this city.
While walking knees deep in the water, she saw the dock next to where she first came to the land, when she first joined this organization, Hololive. An organization of mythical creatures, humans, demons, spirits and fish, everyone was welcome at Hololive if you had what it takes to be an idol.
Gura swam past it, it brought her lots of good memories since it was her first connection with the surface, where she met all her friends and where she became a star working for Hololive, all good memories till now.
A boat nearly rammed into her, but she dodged at the last second. When resurfacing, she chewed them out. "Hey! Watch where you're going!"
The surface was scary so she finally plunged and swam at full speed across the bay, deep enough so no more boats would bump into her. She was swimming along the floor, leaving a trail of sand in her way.
She reached a cliff edge, her ticket to the mythical city of Atlantis. This particular cliff was bloodied, not real blood but metaphorical, the conflicts that happened here when the water hadn't reached the height it was now at. Anyway, it's been so long the cliff was all eroded, any trace of blood was long gone and the cliff didn't look at all like it did back then, so did it really happen when no one else was aware of it?
She bumped into something that pinched her tail. Turning around, there was a couple of shrimps attached to her tail. "Hey! No touching!"
All three shrimps started squeaking, Gura answered. "That's no excuse, you've been bad shrimps so I'll need to punish you three." They looked in anticipation, Gura could only salute their determination. "Huh! If you insist!" She swallowed them whole and moved on, there were so many shrimps in the ocean, but their participation in the ecosystem was greatly appreciated, and it's not like they were gone entirely, they were now part of her.
The way down took forever, she felt the change in pressure and she had to stop once to decompress, she forgot to empty her lungs before plunging in the ocean and she didn’t want to blow her lungs up, she needed them on the surface.
The temperature drop down here was also important, but nothing for a mighty shark like her, she experienced colder climates… much colder than even the deepest part of the ocean.
Her hood turned bright red and steam started to come off from inside the hood, the heat was so much water evaporated on contact with her skin, her bright red eyes longed for something in the distance, anything… but there was nothing anymore.
She grabbed her trident and slammed it into the cliff, piercing and shattering the rock like Styrofoam. Her sturdy trident served her much across her existence, the teeth had long been chipped and damaged, the trident’s surface was scratched from the many blows it endured, but it’s sturdiness was commendable.
The steam stopped pouring, her hood turned back into blue, her war teeth retracted inside her jaw, she must be extra cautious from here on.
The last dash towards the city of Atlantis was upon her, she reached the bottom of the ditch. The only reason she still remembered the road to Atlantis was because every year, she took this same route, that way she won’t ever forget it. Ame once asked her the way to Atlantis, but Gura couldn’t remember, she could only feel it.
The sandy bottom of the sea was gorged with many critters, they were once abounding and living in harmony, but ever since the fall… Nothing was ever the same. The monochromatic appearance of creatures down here was a good indicator.
The atmosphere was heavy, sands blocked her way forward and covered a massive chunk in front of her. After four or five millenia, the generator was still in function and the shield was still intact. Gura went in blind, the heavy dust in the water rendered vision impossible and the longer one stood among the heavy cloud of sand, the heavier they became because of the accumulation of sand on their person. Gura was accustomed to the way it worked, but not how it worked, otherwise she would have deactivated the damn energy shield.
Once outside the cloud of sand, she could see the magnificence of Atlantis, the huge towers lurking over the massive palace, the plentiful of residence inlaid among the rocky cliff, the many temples dispersed along the route and the spacious garden that had been overtaken by corals and algae. The huge gates were open and fishes swam across the open aired section.
Gura walked through the gates. The mythical city of Atlantis had a gravitational field, a pressure equalizer and a carbon purifier, tools used to make life possible down there, otherwise, the pressure and impurity of the breathing oxygen would have killed most life before they even got the chance to adapt.
That was it, the pressure pump finally snapped, that’s why the atmosphere was so heavy, Gura looked around her and saw many fish laying on the floor, they had been crushed under the sudden change in pressure and it happened recently. They were once loyal subject of the ruling class of Atlantis. Gura swam forward, slowly drifting along the current sending her near the palace.
The grand royal court with it’s numerous statues had been ravaged, the statues survived erosion for thousands of years until salt snuck in through the open floodgates. They were already unrecognizable, Gura didn’t keep them in her memories despite their many achievements under her governance.
The path to the palace remained mostly intact, a good thing since she didn’t want to have to clean the future debris that may cover the palace one of these days when she’ll come back.
Gura swam through the open palace, the majestuous interior still shining in silver and gold plated walls and pillars. The palace had a vertical set up where the main hall dove all the way through the oceanic floor, inside the caverns underneath. The throne room laid under the floor, the biggest room in the palace with a golden throne standing firmly, anchored into the ground.
Gura swam past the many scintillating suits of armor ornamenting the room, this room doubled as a preparation room for the army of atlantean lancers, so the monarch could feel the might of his army. She reached the throne adorned with scintillating crystals and rare pearls. She grabbed her necklace, slowly placed it on the throne, once her dream to attain.
The necklace at its rightful place, she finally spoke. “Επέστρεψα. Back home again.”
The necklace moved slowly by the underwater current, it now rested at it’s rightful place. A cold current came to disturb the calm water, the pressure intensified under the steam accumulating on the ceiling of the throne room, A hand came to press on her shoulder, all too familiar.
“Welcome back, Gura!”