"Dad, look out!"
Matthias' voice crackled through the radio. Jean-Eric twisted away, kicking furiously as the massive sperm whale shot through the dark waters.
They had been searching the walls of the Zahhab Region's continental shelf for invasive lionfish, on the request of some conservation group. Matthias usually left this sort of thing to his wife, Alana, but she was busy packing for a whale migration study. So Matthias and Jean-Eric had gone, and it had been as dull as Matthias had expected.
Until, that is, they heard a very strange sound: a ghostly, echoing tune reverberating across the ocean floor. These five notes had somehow caused sperm whale they were following to attack. The huge mammal seemed quite fascinated by their movements. Now it was chasing them, a rather one-sided pursuit, as it was much faster.
"I've never known a sperm whale to be this aggressive, even a male," Jean-Eric panted in his radio.
"Not now, Dad," Matthias replied. "Quick, over here!" He pulled his father under a ledge as the sperm whale charged again. They weren't going to be able to dodge it for much longer.
The ledge opened into a small cavern in the cliff. The area was large enough to accommodate both divers, but too small for the whale. The area was long and low, a rectangle cut deep into the rock. They could still see the angry whale swimming around outside.
"We should be safe in here. I'm sure we'll be fine soon," Matthias said, catching his breath. "It's only an animal, after all."
Just as he finished, the strange song echoed through the cavern again. The sperm whale reacted savagely, thrashing its body and repeatedly ramming its back into the cliff face. The cave walls trembled and shook, stirring up sand and debris. Jean-Eric swam close and grabbed Matthias's arm.
"There's got to be another way out," he muttered, looking all around the small cave. "There. In the back." There was a small pile of rocks reaching up to the low ceiling. It appeared completely ordinary, but Jean-Eric's careful eye had noticed the path of the wall: curving in, as if it were the beginnings of a tunnel. "If we dig it out-"
The strange noise stopped as suddenly as it had started, cutting him off mid word, and so did the crashes from the whale. By the time the dirt settled, the sperm whale was gone. Cautiously, Matthias swam toward the opening and looked out. He could just make out the outline of the whale, swimming off into the distance. Satisfied the danger had passed, he returned to the cave.
"What were you talking about, Dad?" Matthias asked.
"There's something strange about this cave. You see the back wall there, with the rocks?" Matthias nodded. "And how it curves in? Almost like-"
"A tunnel," Matthias breathed. He swam over to the area, shifting a few rocks to get a better look. "Here," he said, grabbing a large rock. "Help me shift this."
Together they tugged the rock aside, and Matthias bent in to get a better look.
"I think you're right," he said, running a hand along the wall. "It does look like…" His voice trailed off as he spotted a glint of blue. "What's this?" He pulled out a hollow stone cylinder, covered in strange holes. It was a beautiful deep blue, a color that reminded Matthias instantly of the ocean at night. "Lapis lazuli, do you think?"
"Whatever it is, there's more," said Jean-Eric, reaching down to pull out a cone and disk of roughly the same size and material. The cone was as covered in holes as the cylinder, but the disk seemed to only have one hole, in the center.
"Be careful," Matthias cautioned, turning the cylinder over in his gloved hands. "It's obviously been worked with. Don't want to damage it."
"If it survived being buried in a rockfall like this, I doubt I can do anything to it," the older man replied, taking it from Matthias and storing both pieces in his diving bag.
"Let's take these back to the island," Matthias said. "Let Nancy have a look at them."
"Nancy?" Jean-Eric looked doubtful. "That young trader? Fresh out of college? What does she know?"
Matthias grinned. "You might be surprised, Dad. Nancy's been helping us out a lot recently, appraising things and whatnot. She's always been spot-on so far. I bet in a few years you'll be calling her for every little thing."
Jean-Eric hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "Very well, if you trust her, I trust her. Either way, let's get these things back to the top."
A.N: Hello! Forever the Optimist here, with my lovely coauthor and sister Ward Orphan (go look her up if you like the Ranger's Apprentice books). We've got a brand new story for you, even though I expect only three people will ever read this, but congratulations to you fortunate few! If you've ever played the Endless Ocean games, then good for you and read on, for many unsolved mysteries will be answered. If not, I don't know what you're doing reading fanfiction for a game you haven't played, but good for you! And if you're a fan of mine, then bless you and review so I know who to appreciate properly :) Can't promise when we'll be updating this, as it depends on how much time we get together, so stick around! Just keep swimming!
-Forever the Optimist and Ward Orphan