Cassie

The June weather showed the temperature here was 25 degrees Celsius, unusually warm for this area South West of Sweden. Each step we walked along the watery corridor away from the first-class foyer, was kindda scary, the vessel creaked and cracked as we moved closer towards the light coming from the far side of the pathway. It smelt of dried seaweed and fish, yuck! The soldiers accompanying us looked scared shining their flashlights into any murky green darkened space they could.

"ya nenavizhu etot chertov korabl'-prizrak," a soldier said quietly, shaking in his boots.

"Ha, ghost ship, Ivan, you fool," another soldier said, mocking the scared guy. I didn't know whether it was my mind playing tricks on me or what, but I swear I heard voices, just echoes of noise as they whispered around the eerie corridors.

Crash Claaaanck.

A mercenary dropped his flashlight, making me and Ivan jump out of our skins. Redd told them to move on and be quiet, with a grunt from the giant. We climbed down from the foyer deck to the upper deck, I know right!? Confusing.

The rooms on the upper deck were in shambles, destroyed by the forces of the tide. The ocean had swallowed the liner whole, and spat out what it didn't like. With so many watertight compartments it was easy to see that most of this part of the ship was water free, unfortunately not debris free - It would take a century to clear the way properly. Looked like Redd had partly cleared a path around this labyrinth of destruction.

Broken pipes, architecture and decorations were coming off the wall. Parts of the ship still remained intact even though it was kindda odd looking at upside down paintings and doorways. Walking through one set of rooms, led to a type of dead end, kindda like an invisible wall in a computer game, guiding you down a linear path. I'm not a fan of invisible walls and mazes and this detour around another set of rooms was getting annoying.

"Keep close Ms. Drake!"

I sortta branched off a little peering through the gaps, just to take another peek. I might never return here and wanted to see as much as I could. There was only one safe route to the First-Class promenade stairwell. We walked through room 082's wall to get into 080's room then the giant blasted through the dresser which had fallen and blocked the path, with his devastating KS-23 shotgun. Parts of the dresser flew in all directions. Clearing the path led to the west stairwell.

Another makeshift ladder led up to the promenade area and straight into the First-Class lounge. The chairs were scattered around the ceiling, but the tables were still hanging above. I felt a gulp pass my throat as I could see this wasn't a safe place to be. Hoping that none of the dark thick brown oak tables fell from above and squashed me.

Walking through the cocktail bar I had a vision of what I believed it might have been like in here, the rich women in their glitzy ball gowns and the men in their James Bond tuxedoes. They had no idea what was gonna happen. Not a clue!

The wall in the cocktail bar was damaged and it led to the Cabin Class dining room. Another blast from the gun to make a bigger hole for us all to walk through.

"Are you shooting in here is a good idea?" The giant just grunted at me.

Why did they have to be so destructive, this a piece of history? I tried to say it out load but decided to keep it to myself. Ahead there were brilliant white flashes and sparks, I could see what used to be the outdoor Cabin Class pool was now completely underwater. Unmanned craft and some divers were outside looking around the area. The pool furniture lightly hit against the thick glass showing what once would have been a lovely view. As we walked into the Cabin Class ballroom. It was pretty much a mess like the first class, only the mess was a little less glamorous.

"Where are we going old man?" I became angry, my feet were killing, I mean it felt like we'd be walking for ages.

"Be quiet little girl," the grunting and deep mumbles came from the giant as we moved forward towards an elevator shaft.

"I'm starving you got anything to eat?"

One of the soldiers bit the head of a flopping tuna, gasping for water and handed it to me.

"You know what, on second thought, I'm not that hungry."

The soldier spat out the bones and grunted at me. "Huh!"

The deeper we got into the first-class areas, it was obvious to me that Dr. Knight hadn't hidden the jewel in her room, but it felt like that was where we were going. We moved down towards the Lido deck and were standing at the entrance to the First Class Suites. Peering in we could see they were empty of water but the damage caused by the sea was pretty severe, the table inside the Albatross suite was bolted, to the now functioning ceiling. But the Four Poster Bed, the wardrobe and dresser, were all destroyed by the impact of each item smashing into one another.

I pictured what this room was like before the crash, this was where she stayed on board the ocean liner. Walking over to the broken mirror, which once looked expensive I looked deep into the jagged glass as my face showed more than one side, I felt a chill down my spine as I imagined what the night would be like for the doctor.

What if she escaped, what if she was being chased? How frightened she must've been! My thoughts were kindda creepin' me out as I took a deep breath and turned to face Redd Fisher. I couldn't help thinking she was dead but there was something that didn't feel right. Was the body they found someone else? The glass in the mirror showed different parts of my face.

"She wasn't one of the bodies on board, was she?"

"Very good Ms. Drake, she was not, it would be forty years later when she was found now called Evelyn Namba, she obviously didn't want to return to what she may have left behind."

"She didn't hide it here old man," I said smirking at him, showing him that he wasn't dealing with a scared little girl. My bravery was trying to get the better of me, it was trying to move up through my gut and break free. Creating an unnatural confidence in conceiving a plan of escape.

But where would I go? And I can't just leave Jamal with these psychos! I thought about what would be my next move, finding the jewel was something I really wanted to do first. If I could get it before they did, it might stop 'em from doing what they wanted with it.

The three statues Redd had located contained more information on the Slave Trader's cipher. Someone was freaked out about what was being spread around, but one thing was sure they were all connected.

Dr. Alexandra Knight found something in a statue of a slave trader in Denmark, the cipher that started the search for the Stone of Eve. The first cipher led Dr. Knight to Kwainaba, where she found the bodies of the slave trader Yutz Dinsk and two other bodies, one, an African man and another a Romanian woman. The bodies were badly burned and they had strange markings on their backs.

It was as though the trader got spooked by something and felt it best to bury the bodies so no one else could find them or they were all killed to protect a secret. And now Redd Fisher has all the ciphers, using them to decode Dr. Knight's cryptic clues, he was slowly working out where the trail would lead.

Now Redd Fisher would shake the hornets nest as he retraced the steps of Dr. Knight. The last time she was seen was on board the liner. Redd's information about the whereabouts of the doctor was pretty accurate. I remember seeing some notes in Redd's craft about her likeness to Lady Ramsay, and the eye witness accounts of her movements on board the ocean liner, which were from a porter who explained to the police what he could about the night.

Hari Vincenzo had been telling the tale for years about what happened on board the SS Petoria, but no one believed him, not until Redd Fisher heard his story. It's amazing whom money can buy. We looked around the room some more but the place had been scavenged much earlier.

Was Fisher Enterprises beaten to the treasure?

The giant pulled apart the broken bits of the room...angrily...swearing in Russian.

"You said we didn't need the jewel; we can open the city gates without it!" The giant said glowering at Redd.

"Patience Matvey, you're becoming anxious."

Redd was searching the bathroom area. There were many places underwater but this area was safe to search. But my gut instinct was telling me the jewel wasn't here, I thought they were getting warmer though. Matvey moved a piece of the damaged bath as a rat or something with a tail ran out at him.

I don't think it's a good idea to laugh at probably the ugliest monster in the closet, but that's what one soldier did. The small bulky Russian mercenary went flying across the bedroom area and straight through an already broken window. He got up coughing and trying to catch a breath. No one spoke a word not even a wise crack from me.

"Come Ms. Drake let me show you something." Redd held out his hand directing me to the Tourist Class area. There were hundreds of multi-coloured cables coming from the blocked passageway as we turned a corner inside the metal corridor. Cables for power, phone and water were being fed from the outside in.

The humming sounds made the ship feel alive, as though the pipes and engines were still operating as normal. But really for over seventy years the vessel had lay deep under the Baltic Sea. The ship still moved slightly as the cables keeping it from reaching the bottom tried to hold this part of the sealed ship in place. If the liner were to drop our bodies would be crushed from the pressure.

It felt so strange how everything looked upside down, it was too difficult to get over how weird I felt, like being in a multiverse where we were the right way up and everything else was upside down.

Why had the authorities not found this wreckage yet? My thoughts were constantly, firing questions. There was just too much about all this that didn't add up.

"How are you keeping this place a secret?"

"Money, how else?"

The passage from the main hall was cut off mid-way and we climbed down to a room which looked like an auditorium. This was the central part of the ship and was used as a classroom to teach the children on the three-day trip from Italy to New York. Now it looked like some sort of warehouse.

The ceiling had been converted into a floor. Crates of equipment and barrels with Fisher Enterprises' logo on them were littered all over. Looking up at the stage, it was still mostly fixed but construction equipment had been set up to prevent it falling. All the red chairs, although withering away were still bolted to the floor which was now the ceiling. The wall had been rebuilt to keep the place from flooding.

Redd, the giant and his goons said nothing as we reached another part of the ship, but because the ship had broken in to two the other part had sunk below. We went through a sealed door and walked across a man made glass tunnel. The marine life was swimming passed as we walked across the tunnel, which led to a huge underwater monitoring station attached to four towers.

I looked down and could see the other half of the ship deeper below the waters. Various lights were flickering around and vehicles rapidly moving in the water, were searching the wreck.

Had I walked into a villain's lair?

Inside the control room were various computer screens, servers and CCTV monitors; Redd Fisher's expedition was being controlled from here. The unmanned craft, the welders and the deep-sea divers were being commanded to do what was needed to find the red jewel, I could see these machines searching much harder to reach areas than a person could help look. It was all happening on the monitors.

There were other divers and unmanned craft exploring submerged parts of the ship we were just on and by the look of things, they appeared to be focused on the pool areas, but I didn't think that was the best place to look. These idiots were looking for the jewel found at Kwainaba they were kindda thinking what I was thinking, but they thought it might be in a swimming pool on the ship somewhere. I thought it was a bit more specific than that.

I could see why they thought it was a pool, though. The images on another screen showed the three pool areas for the classes, First, Tourist and Cabin. Cameras recorded the bad guys dismantling the pools, checking around the pump areas and looking through the pipes and under each of the pool's tiled flooring.

"We've found nothing, where should we look next?" Redd had angry eyes, what did he want with the jewel, if he knew Dr. Knight wasn't aboard, why does he think it's here? I couldn't help wondering what they needed it for.

Aike, a tall African American researcher with brown scraggly hair and thick black glasses greeted Redd, he was surprised to see him. He seemed overly excited by this whole thing, like he didn't get out much.

"Sir, we weren't expecting you today, pull up the latest data for Mr Fisher?" Another researcher said to Redd looking at me, "who is she? Is she here to help us locate the stone?"

"Give up old man, she's too smart for you!" I said trying to break their spirit.

I looked at the cipher being written out word by word on the screen. The translation was still a little off but they were close and it was all making sense. Each time a suitable word could be used in the context of the sentence it was added from each entry made in Dr. Alexandra Knight's journal.

My translation wasn't totally off the wall, as I read out the words on screen. I coukd see why they were thinking pool.

"UP OR DOWN BRINGS STATUS FOR WHOM COMMANDS HIGH AND LOW, HOT OR COLD TO GET RELAXATION FREE AWAY, BACKWARDS OR FORWARDS PUMPS PAST OR FUTURE, NOW LEAP NEVER JUMP TO AVOID _" This was just getting weirder and weirder, they seemed to be adding words as well.

I didn't want to help them with anything, they were already deep in research mode. Finding more about the existence of the stone and they believed they had everything needed to find it.

Aike began typing keys on the three keyboards. On another screen Jamal's face, and body appeared. His features animated as the body turned around showing his back. A gold outline began drawing around his back, it was a map. An unknown part of Africa.

On another screen the silhouette of a girl appeared and a red error:

INSUFFICENT DATA

INCOMPLETE TRANSFER

I looked at the gold outline of the map on his back on the computer screen, it appeared like it might have been missing something. From the computer diagram that was constructing the 3D model the map was either uncharted or not part of the whole blueprint.

From the look of it, they needed the girl but were trying to build the location themselves.

They could tell it was Africa but they couldn't understand where in Africa. Sir Francis Drake had also tried to look for the island, and by all accounts he may have found what he was looking for - The Stone of Eve.

"Did you find the girl?" Aike said pulling up information about Jamal's village and the camera footage of Redd's bloodthirsty capture. It was just like Jamal had described, only more violent and a lot more chaotic.

"Last I heard, Sergei had her," the old man had a half smile, but he wasn't being completely honest. From what I heard on board Redd's submersible craft, Sergei may no longer be a part of this. Killed by one of their own.

Redd Fisher took out his phone, "seems we've run into a problem though, find everything you can on this woman?" Redd said holding out his phone, showing an image of a beautiful woman. He walked over to the original cipher and stared at it. Looking up at the image of the woman who was now on the screen. She's a professor of African Archaeology and language; they couldn't really find much else on her. The more they dug deeper into the woman's background the more mysterious she became.

"Who is she sir?" Aike said looking deep into her eyes. She had the eyes of a silent assassin and an Elven goddess.

Redd stared at the researcher, "she has the girl. And I don't know how, but I think she's killed Sergei."

The words from Redd enraged the giant, he became angry and needed to be tamed. Redd asked him to be patient, he said, that they'd find her and kill her.

"What does she want?" Aike asked wondering what she knew as the computer searched through the database.

"I don't know, but I think she knows more than she's letting on, if I was to guess, I'd say she was MI5. The computer finally made a match to a Dr. Charlotte Knight. It showed some story about her graduating Oxford in the UK...

"I'd say that's an alias, wouldn't you?"

The look on her face had similar features to Dr. Alexandra Knight, but she wasn't a relation. Everything about her made me imagine what it may have been like for her growing up. Did she follow in her doppelganger grandmother's footsteps? Was she too in the search for the Stone of Eve, or was there more to her involvement?

Aike found a connection, using some black box method. The way these guys get things done was criminal in nature and kindda worrying.

"Looks like she's one of the true protectors," Aikes words put a puzzled look on Redd's face. He knew this group had large numbers and was spread throughout the world protecting everyday joes like him from finding secrets that could destroy the world. Some of these false protectors existed as corrupt government officials and other key players in power. Similar to the Majestic 12 this consortium protects the truth from being unleashed.

The dossier on the protectors of the stone was deep and its members large in number. Russia clearly thought they were the ones holding all the cards, but the UK and US still hand their hands to play.

"I thought Sergei was head of this cult?" Aike said unable to take his eyes off Charlotte.

"Who watches the protectors?" I joked at them, they thought they had it all figured out.

RING BUZZ RING

Redd's video phone began buzzing and ringing.

"Ah, Dr. Knight, we were just talking about you."

"Took you long enough to work it out. How the story unfolds, my employer tasked me to watch over your Russian student, and it turns out he was quite a naughty boy. Of course, they don't tell me everything. The mystery uncovered always leads to more questions to ask the parties involved."

"So, you've been assigned to stop me from finding the stone?"

"I know you need this little girl here, for what purpose I don't know, but you're not the only one who wants her, I see the Drake brothers are involved in this too. I had the pleasure of making their acquaintance."

I wasn't entirely sure what my dad and my uncle were doing right now, but I could sense they weren't too far from Charlotte's position. Redd and Charlotte seemed to know more than I did about my dad and my uncle, had they done this before?

Redd had put the video call on the big screen in the control room. The little girl looked nervous and scared, was this Alex, the girl Jamal spoke about?

"Mr Fisher, I took an oath as it were to protect the stone, to not allow anyone to uncover its secrets, and the best way to keep a secret is to know nothing about said secret, so here we are, you need the girl for some reason. What is she to you?"

"Listen, and heed my words, I will take her from you, that I can assure you, but let me show you what will happen to this little Drake, if you don't hand the Romanian girl over to me."

I looked a little scared as one of the soldiers flicked out a switch blade and pointed it at me.

"Ms. Drake, please take a seat!" Redd said, but I was happy to stay where I was.

I shook my head, but the giant picked me up and plopped me down on one of the chairs, tying my wrists to the cold metal arm rests attached to the brown leather chair.

"Okay if you insist," my words had a tremble in them, what were they up to?

I looked at Charlotte with a little fear in my eyes.

"Okay Mr Fisher, I'll call you back in an hour." The feed went dead and I sat there wondering what was going to happen next!

"Seems we have another Knight on the board," Redd said smiling, "another infamous chess piece, I wonder if she's as furtive as the intrepid explorer who was on this ship." Redd sat down in a chair next to me and continued, "planting her likeness on Lady Ramsay to fool us, smart."

"What are you talking about old man, she evaded the likes of you for nearly forty years." I said knowing what I know from Redd. Mrs. Namba's body was found inside her mansion, in the 90's her body was discovered after reports of two boys had broken into her home.

Police found that she had more than a little history to her, her journals detailed her epic adventures. The investigation led the detectives on the case involving the missing passengers to her being one of them. They surmised she was one of the missing people aboard the SS Petoria. Blood results revealed she was the real Dr. Alexandra Knight.

"What did she die of?" I asked Redd.

"Red Poison."

He had Aike pull up Dr. Knight's autopsy report. The report showed that the archaeological doctor had an unusual substance in her blood, it would regenerate tissue at an accelerated rate when the body was in a state of shock, but it accelerated the aging process.

"A repairing mechanism found in Acomys Kempi and Acomys Percevali." Redd pointed out.

Aike smiled and started pulling up data about the African Spiny Mouse.

"What sets the creature apart from other mice is its ability to regrow complete sets of hair follicles, sweat glands, fur, skin and most importantly, scientists have discovered actual tissue regrowth, can you imagine the possibilities in human regenerative science?

"So, she was in Africa?" I asked Redd wondering how this so-called Red Poison entered her system.

"When the beloved doctor returned from Kwainaba, she didn't realise she'd be bitten." Redd described the bite as though Dr. Alexandra Knight had become a superhero.

"So did she start to climb drain pipes and fly through the air, is she invincible?" I said mocking his words.

"Not quite Ms. Drake." He paused for effect and lit a cigar, "too much tar on her lungs caused her respiratory system to fail and she eventually died."

"Yeah, but not before she found the Stone of Eve." There was excitement in my words as I imagined what she may've seen. She escaped death once, could she escape it again? I thought.

"She may have seen the stone, somehow, her along with her late husband Kenichiro Namba. But I believe nothing could have been done without the help of Cassandra Morgan." Redd smiled and opened up one of my deceased Grandmother's journals.

I saw it, Evelyn; the stone was lustrous and its glow beckoned a call of unprecedented mystery. Sir Francis Drake realised its true power and with such a small part of it in his possession believed the true blood stone would cause the destruction of the world. If he found it on his journey, had he returned it from whence it came? Now I can feel its power running through me, altering my mind unlocking the cerebral locks that cage my curiosity. Her sparkle is dangerous and the reflective light more so, please don't let anyone find this, it's not supposed to be removed, it will be our undoing and humanity will be its cause of effect. No more can I feel like this, no more can I bear such a burden. Look after my flock, this is truly a greatness from a small beginning.

Her chaotic words were written with such passion and enthusiasm and I had a feeling this wasn't her first Rodeo. Redd flicked a few pages back.

To locate the key, find the masters three.

For only but a few can see.

This was the riddle that began the search, Redd was on the hunt for the jewels, only a select few had these Jewels, so far two had been discovered - there was still one more to find.

I looked around the room, wondering if we were safe here, it felt weird as I watched some of the knickknacks moving around the table.

Turning my head towards the model of the ship they'd constructed in the centre of the room; I asked a very important question.

"What happened on board the SS Petoria?"

Redd played a video showing what they found inside a hidden area of the ship. Some technology that Nikola Tesla would recognise. Redd's team discovered a giant electro magnetic coil, it seemed to have malfunctioned and emitted an electro magnetic pulse that spread for miles causing anything electrical in its path to get confused.

No one knew what was happening, their instruments knocked them off course and straight into the path of the MS Copenhagen. The freak storm didn't help either. But there was no record of a storm near where the last position of the ocean liner was recorded.

If this was down to the huge electro magnet that caused this destruction. Dr. Knight may have seen something she couldn't explain.

"Do you know who the boys were Ms. Drake that found the elusive Dr. Knight inside the mansion?"

Beep, beep, beep.

The sound from the RADAR interrupted Redd's revelation. One of the many operators in the room switched the screen to show a submarine. It slowly passed by as we all became silent. It looked military and really long. The blackness of the sub was scary, it looked like it was searching for something.

What were they searching for? I thought about why we were here and who else could be in search of the treasure? Had Charlotte sent the marines to our location? The questions were piling up, and the mystery surrounding the ship was also becoming clear.

The sub carried on, allowing everyone to take a deep breath.

"Find out who that was, I'm paying a lot of money to be here" Redd said to the giant as I watched him leave the room. He looked pissed.

There was a lot of ways outta here, I'd seen too many movies that involved lairs like this being attacked by the good guys. I tried to remain calm and think about the mystery, which was becoming more and more exciting by the moment. Turning my head I could see a way to the diving area, if I could escape maybe I could get there.

Everyone's attention was on Charlotte and the cipher, they didn't notice me planning an escape. Their backs were to me, these idiots were blind, not only would I escape, but I'd get the jewel and rescue the boy as well.

For I am Cassie the adventurer extraordinaire, a fortune hunter that stops at nothing to seek their fortune. My daydreaming was broken by a guard pacing near me, he broke my concentration where I thought the jewel may be. These guys were thinking pool, but I was thinking something a little smaller.

I really wanted to explore the second part of the ship, but first I wanted to know something else. And even if I found the jewel, I couldn't leave Jamal behind.

"What cave have you discovered?" I asked Redd as I thought back to the black and white photographs of the structure, inside his underwater carrier. Of the many caves in Sweden, there were some that were still hidden and until recently this must have been one of them. When an archaeological team had discovered a relic in the ground it led them there. The island was near Gotland, so I was sure we were closeby.

Could the answers to the existence of creation be behind the walls of the temple inside that cave?

"The temple is part of the underground city, known as the broken city." Redd said happy to share the finer details with me.

"This temple was once used to worship the mother, a type of creature formed by god, not made from Adam but with the ability to nurture and protect, this cult made up of elite Varangian soldiers believed she would choose those who made their way back to her."

Redd continued speaking about whomever would find out they were the true link to her bloodline, would be rewarded with true immortality.

He took a breath and continued, "It is said that her blood has fantastic powers and that the blood of the pure runs through her veins. Only one true bloodline exists that can harness this power and only two people in the tree have the ability to show where the true beginning really began."

He sounded like some kindda madman, telling his followers to follow him for he was the true believer. He'd most likely lead them to a gruesome death.

"You see Ms. Drake with the advent of social media we can uncover more without the need to find the start of any trail. Now here we are in the present and my team and I are one step closer to finding the stone and with it we can explain the unexplainable."

Yep! Said like a mad man wanting complete power.

"Why do you need it? Are you having trouble meeting women?" I said mocking him. The giant had returned and walked over to me and started grunting, raising his hand as though to slap me. He smelt awful like a dead animal.

"Your bodyguard needs a bath," the words left my mouth and I was hoping they didn't pick up what I was saying. The giant's hand comes hurtling towards me...

"WAIT!" The commanding voice of Redd stopped the giant from laying a hand on me.

Shit I thought to myself.

"Huh," Redd's mutterings pushed me to feel like this man thinks as much as I do. He had his head researcher, Aike change some of the words. The last sentence changed from

NOW LEAP NEVER JUMP TO AVOID THE TILED

To...

NOW STEP NEVER JUMP TO AVOID THE FLOOR

Redd gets excited and pushes aside one of the operators. He types a few keys on the keyboard and brings up the path Dr. Knight supposedly walked. It showed her walking around the ship, but just before the MS Copenhagen hit, her last whereabouts were unknown. Redd and his team had worked out where she was by deciphering the writings in the journal as being locations of places and room numbers making her somewhere close to the captain's quarters, next to the Tourist class pool area.

"It's in the captains bathroom!" Redd shouted out; I had the idea it was a bathroom but the rest of the cipher must be describing the captain. I couldn't understand why she hadn't come back for it, unless she had and this was all for nothing. From what I could tell they, we, I, was determined to find this jewel and now I had pushed the old man one step closer to finding it.

Beep beep beep.

The submarine had come back.

"Torpedo, torpedo in the water, bearing five degrees south, three degrees north, brace for impact." An operator called out as the torpedo hit us blowing the control station up and out towards the large window.

"Who the fuck is shooting at us?" The giant said picking himself up, the sounds of alarms echoed around the ship, warning of immediate danger. "Pull up the screens," Aike typed some keys as we rocked again, we could see deep sea divers in military garb on the monitor.

BOOM

Another blast knocked me across the room, as my ropes on the chair began coming loose and sheets of metal and water began raining down from above.

"Sir we need to go," Aike and the team said gathering what they had on the table.

The whole room began moving as I felt myself leave the ground and smash into the walls breaking the chair. As though I was inside a washing machine, tumbling around. I fell again and grabbed hold of a metal sheet keeping myself moving. I pulled myself up and began heading for the open hatch in the floor.

Closing the hatch, I ran across the tumbling corridor trying to keep myself up right.

I ran and ran until I found myself in the diving room with scuba gear, the suits were too big but the breathing apparatus would be fine.

SPLASH, I fell into the cold water below after opening the hatch. The sounds of alarms and explosions could be heard inside the structure muffled in my ears.

The ship was just a few lengths away as I quickly swam around the area, looking for the captain's quarters. I caught the oxygen pipe on some razor-sharp steel as I tried to quickly get in and out. Now I was running out of breath as I pulled against the current, climbing inside a very narrow gap of even more sharp steel and glass.

Gasping for air I climbed up and found myself inside the control room, this was now the right way around and the glass was cracking from parts of the monitoring station that had be blown out this way. Each crack showed a little more water coming through.

"Oh shit!"

I ran across the observation area each large step was another crack, I ran as fast as I could jumping into the diagonally sloped corridor, sliding down as I looked up as the water began to follow me. I jumped and hung on to a piece of metal which was a pipe leading to the captain's quarters.

I could see the room below, it was underwater.

Taking another deep breath I plunged into the water, and swam towards the captain's restroom. Inside was the room where the jewel was, I was sure of it. But not in the bath, under it. Dr. Alexandra Knight must have come looking for the captain but when she realised what was happening, she hid the jewel here hoping no one would find it.

I reached underneath the bath and found a loose tile, removing it lay a ring, it was heavy and just sat there waiting for someone to find it. I could feel a little dizzy as I saw an opening above to get outside.

Making my way up towards the gap, I could see Redd's craft. I swam up towards the window where we were before and peered in to look at Jamal. He was free once again and directed me around the craft.

The craft was empty as I made my way on board to rescue him.

We ran towards one of the escape pods and shot through the ocean, rising higher and higher.

SMASH

We hit a piece of floating debris cracking the pod as water came rushing in.

"Jamal we've gotta get outta here." I said thinking about what we had done so far, we put on the life jackets and overrode the controls to get out of the escape pod.

We swam to the top looking at the destruction from the towers.

The water was cold but the sun was out and we knew we'd get dry in no time. Making it onto the island's beach, I rolled over and held up the ring I'd found. The symbols matched the ones I'd seen in the cave from the photographs.

We could hear boats in the distance heading towards us.

"C'mon Jamal we've gotta go." I pulled his hand as we began running into the forest in front of us.

The floor broke away and we fell, smashing through wood and weathered ceramics as we landed on the floor with our backs still in one piece.

The dust fell into my eyes as I could see the hole we'd made falling down. I cleared the dust away and rolled over breaking the sun's rays, as a little light shone inside the huge cave.

This place was new and where had it come from? I thought and walked further in. We could see the ruins of a lost city inside the cave. The grey rocks and weathered wood gave off a feeling this city had not be used for centuries.

"This must be the city Elder Izza was talking about, we've done it Jamal, we've found the broken city."

Thank you for reading. Next time we'll return to Nate and co. and visit another city underground, only this one is in London. We'll learn of its secrets before returning to the broken city and learning what lies inside.