Crystal Of The Sunken City

One night, under the blanket of twinkling sky, a huge chunk, in the eastern coast of an island known as petropia, situated in the middle of an ocean, falls apart and get sunk deep beneath. With that, the eyes witnessing that calamity, open up and that young man confronts reality that it was just a nightmare. He wakes up with a strong sense of uneasiness. After overcoming that state, in the next moment, he look around and sees a book shelf filled with novels of great people, their discoveries, inventions and autobiographies. He turns aside and sees a lot of paper work and files on his desk with a magnifying glass kept in a vessel near the window, shining brightly. He sighs and says exhaustingly - "Another day, another case, I am tired of it now. I guess, I should quit this job." He stands up, gets in the bathroom and recalls while taking a shower, ' a female voice, speaking with him on phone "Hello sir, there's a case you might like to investigate." He asks - "What's that?" She continues – "You know the city known as petropia, that city got sunk into the ocean." He asks – "So what is special about that?" She replies – "There's a story, a conspiracy more likely…" He says – "I am coming." ' A few moments later, he suits up and face himself in the mirror, adjusting his tie. He says – "My name is Ryan and yes, I am an archaeologist. My job is as same as you all see on the television. A legend unlocking the mysteries of the world. Although I don't wear a mask while doing this and I am not a vigilanty either. I guess, there's no time to explain you all of this. Just watch me." A few hours later, near the port of utopia city, Ryan and that woman (his secretary) were walking and discussing with an urge to get on the ship.While discussing, she says – "While investigating, our team found something strange about the city of petropia." Ryan replies arrogantly – "Come on Gwen, you are taking out ghosts from their graveyard. That Island was heavily unstable at the first place. What happened was inevitable. The people should have evacuated that land at the very moment, the first chunk fell." Gwen replies – "Exactly, what happened was unfortunate. But, you know that lady who survived that catastrophe?" Ryan says – "Multiple people died and survived that earthquake Gwen, don't twist the story more, as it already is. Now speak up." Gwen says – "My apologies sir. The ship is waiting for us." They both went in the ship and it start sailing. Meanwhile, in the utopian museum, miles away. Multiple broadcasting medias were gathered to spread information about a newly found artefact, (A broken crystal made up of pearls.) kept in a glass chamber, on a wooden stand. One female reporter of a particular news channel, was reporting about it, in which she says – "They say, when you choose a path you dreamt of, in your life, everything becomes crystal clear. Although, as you all can see, that is not the case with this one. (Referring to the broken crystal.) Legend says that this crystal is a symbol of love. Love, which unfortunately got shattered due to the miserable incident happened with the petropians." Reporter says – "I am thirsty. A glass of water please." One scout boy gives her a water bottle. She starts drinking it. And suddenly, out of nowhere, a visual of petropia city collapsing down in the sunset, strikes her mind and with that, she coughs out all of the water in panic. She starts breathing heavily in fear. Seeing her, everybody in the museum, gets in panic too. Her team ask her if she has any condition or if she needs help or something. For which, she responds – "No thanks, I am just fine. I guess,it's work stress. I need a little rest. Is there any substitute for me? I want to go home." A few moments later, while driving her car, going back home, she talks to herself – "What's with that dream I had there. May be I got too attached with that story. Come on Stacy, what are you? A psychopath. No, no, no, no, NO!! Just calm down, take a deep breathe and think rationally. Is there any logic behind all of this? No! That's it! Nothing special. You are just overthinking things. You have to stop thinking and focus on driving. Oh my god! (While dodging a car in the front, at the very last moment) focus, focus, focus on the road." She adds – "Wait a minute, I wonder, what that grandma might be doing…..? You know my next move, right??" She turns her car and went straight towards north. After a while, in an old not-so-well house, Stacy gives a knock and calls out that grandma, who was busy, taking care of the people around there, at that moment. That grandma stops and turn around. She looks at Stacy and gets amazed. Stacy went near her and give her a warm hug. Grandma says lovingly – "Oh my dear Stacy, how have you been?" Stacy replies – "That question should be mine. Long time no see, grandma." While sipping tea, they both start chit-chatting, sitting on the chairs confronting each other. Stacy asks worryingly – "What do you mean, you are fine?" "You are taking care of the people of your own age, when will you take care of your own?" – she adds "I am the one to be blamed too… But, you have to take rest. You need it too. Are you listening me??" – she adds and asks angrily. Grandma says – "Oh my, somebody's got anrgry there. (She laughs pleasantly) Stacy replies – "There's nothing to laugh about. It's serious, you know." Grandma says – "You know, you remind me of that girl, my son fell in love with."Stacy replies annoyingly – "I know grandma, you told me that story and about that crystal too. What happened with them was unfortunate." Grandma asks – "And what is happening with me, is a misfortune too? Is that what you are saying?" Stacy says hesitatingly – "I didn't mean it like that.. I just… I am sorry." Grandma- "Stacy, you are like my daughter. I am not blaming you. But, whom to blame? Is the question, I deal with everyday. This nature or the lives within?" Stacy replies – "I don't know but, you remind me of my history teacher." Several kilometres away, Ryan's ship was stucked in the middle of the ocean due to a giant thunderstorm hovering in front of them. Ryan asks – "Gwen, are we on the correct site?" Gwen replies – "The radar is showing the same coordinates as petropia, sir." Ryan says arrogantly – "No doubt about that. I can see our graveyard facing towards us. What do you say, should we give a knock?" Gwen apologise to him, ashamed of herself. Ryan shouts angrily – "Don't apologize, just turn the ship back dammit!!" Gwen frighteningly says with a crackling voice – "Y-yes sir.." But, suddenly the storm start pulling the ship inward. Everybody in the ship gets panicked. Gwen immediately orders the captain to turn the ship back and he Rogers that. As well as Ryan, who was standing near the edge of the uppermost deck, start running inside the ship. But, the heavy wind currents lift his body and suck him inside the storm. Ryan shouts loudly – "Wyaaaaaahhh…" Gwen sees that and with having the guilt of not being able to save him, inside her heart, she collapse in the spot and become unconscious. Someone 's eyes open up and theysee through a glass window, of a building near a beach, 18 years old teenagers (a girl and a boy) were chit-chatting under the coconut tree. In the next moment, Gwen opens her eyes and find herself lying in the utopian hospital. She hears the voice of Stacy reporting about the crystal of the museum, on the nearby television. Then again she recalls the flashback of Ryan getting sucked into the storm. And with her eyes filling up with tears, she says in regret – "If only I could have saved you… I am sorry… I am sorry…" She cries. Then she hears her team inquiring about her condition from the doctor and she pulls herself together. After getting discharge from the hospital, nearly a week later, Gwen went straight to Ryan's house. She went in. There was no one in that house except her. As she explores she see a picture frame of Ryan and his dad (Ryan laughing and looking at his dad's smiling face through the magnifying glass, he is holding. And his dad blessing him, with his hand on Ryan's head.) She enters his room. She looks around and see his desk. She walks towards it. Looking at the paper work on it, she says – "You were a hell of an archaeologist." Then all of a sudden, her eyes falls on a drawer under the desk. She pulls it out of suspicion and see a very ancientlooking book with torn up, muddy pages and some scratches on the cover. She takes it out sits on the chair. And while looking at it, she recalls a month back, when petropia collapsed, utopians rescue multiple people during that calamity. Two among the people, were that grandma and a lady wearing a lab coat, crying for their dead childrens. A few days later, after enduring and overcoming through that tremendous pain of loss of lives of the loved ones, their shelters, wealth, happiness and a part of themselves. Utopian government authorities assign multiple teams of archaeologists to investigate about petropia. One of which was Ryan's team. In a cold climate and rainy weather, their ships set on  sail and embark towards the sunken land with the courage and hope of discovering something magical. One of the workers, under the supervision of Gwen reports that he found a broken crystal and a book in the ocean. She pass that information to Ryan. He thinks for a while, sipping a cup of coffee and something just strikes his mind. He says – "Let the museum have that crystal but give me the book. I want to see it." In the present, while recalling all of that Gwen asks a question to herself, looking at the book, turning it's torn up pages and wondering – "What might he would be thinking choosing this book over that crystal?" " Although it's broken. But, still, what's the reason behind it? I want to know." – she adds. Then suddenly, she notices some old traces of blood marks on some of the pages of the book. She notices many paragraph s of handwritten work, which got blurry moving forward. Some because of the water and the other because of blood. She gets frightened for a while. She immediately turns the pages and to her surprise, there was nothing written after that. In fact the pages were filled more with dirt than words. She re-looks from the very beginning, while coming up on a conclusion in her mind that it might be a story. And now after being a secretary of an archaeologist for years, she finds out that it's a story after all. She turns the pages back and look at the title. It says 'Crystal of 200 pearls.' She gets shocked. She recalls about that broken crystal, kept in the museum. She says suspiciouly – "This story… It reminds me of that. Is it possible that there might be a connection between this book and that crystal. Yess! Come to think of it, both of them had the same traces of blood. But, the question is who wrote this story? This might be the case he had been studying secretly. No wonder about that. This explains why he would choose a dirty book over a precious crystal."After thinking about it for a while, she says – "Yes, that doctor…(She takes the book with her and sits in her car and went towards a certain direction.) That lady who survived that catastrophe, she might know something about this. She tried to claim that the crystal belongs to her. Although, nobody listened her unfortunately. But, now I realised there's gotta be something between her, the crystal and the paranormal activities occuring near the site of petropia. Can't say anything until we find out." Meanwhile, near the coordinates of petropia, the sky was darkish purple filled with shooting stars falling and twinkling around. The ocean was surrounded by wind currents and hurricanes. He (Ryan) opens his eyes and f inds himself standing in the middle of all that chaos. All of a sudden, the water beneath, start pulling him inside. Even before realising it, he starts choking up. With all of the strength in his body, he open his eyes and see his dad in front of him. His dad says – "Hey kid." Shocked for a while, without knowing what to say, Ryan tears up. Ryan asks – "Dad….?" (With a crackling voice) "Does that mean, am I dead?" His dad replies – "What do you think?" He says in a hurry – "Then where are we? I want us to get home." His dad soothes him and says – "That doesn't matter." "Let's have a chat." – he adds A few moments later… Ryan says – "So this is what happened with me. After you were gone, I was all alone. I read your novels and your discoveries. I became an archaeologist. Just as you wished when you passed that magnifying glass to me." He sighs – "I worked hard. It was stressful . Sometimes, I felt like giving up. But I carried on. There were cases where I felt I might die. (he laughs) Although, I am havingthat same feeling right now." (He takes a deep breathe.) And here I am right now talking to you…" Ryan looks at his dad for a while and start panicking – "But, you…were… (He pulls himself together) Where are we? What is this place? I remember the thunderstorm pulling me inside and then…" His dad smiles at him pleasantly, puts his hand on his head and say – "I am proud of you, son." Ryan tears up and say – "You see, there was this girl, she was my secretary. I… I don't know, maybe I hurted her." His dad replies – "You know, when you were born, I didn't have that much money. I thought of quitting this job multiple times but, then your mother always used to make me remind of the little son I have. And that gave me the courage to work hard everyday. I gave you everything, all the luxury but, the real problem lies in here, your overconfidence." "Life gives us opportunities, it's upon us, what we do with them." He continues (While the thunderstorms start provoking) "Now, I am passing the glass to you again. Trusting you with one more responsibility. And I trust you completely. Be a good man, kiddo." Then his dad start disintegrating into glitters. Ryan gets panicked and says frighteningly- "Dad, dad, dad, what's happening?! Your body… It's vapourising… No, no, NO!! (While tearing) Dad… Hey… Please… Don't go. Don't leave me again." His dad says – "Calm down, pull yourself together. My purpose was to just lead you to the correct path. Even I don't know, how I came here. All I know is, you have to let me go and stand on your own feet. I too don't want to leave you but, I am happy that I got the chance to talk to you again. And to be able to see my little kid, all grown up. Now it's completely your journey and I know, you are gonna make it right" (While tearing up.) "Long time no see, kid."Ryan hugs his father tightly while, the tears drop out of his eyes and his dad vanishes in the atmosphere. Meanwhile, Stacy was talking to her grandma She says – "So, that girl gave that crystal to your son, right?" Grandma replies – "Yeah, she made it for him, out of pearls, they collected together, as a token of her love. But I don't know, something happened between the two and it all got ruined up. It's painful." Stacy - "What happened?" Grandma replies - "I told you, I don't know. But there's someone who knows it and I want to meet her." Stacy asks - "Who?" Grandma - "That doctor." Standing on the doorstep of that doctor's house, Gwen calls out - "Ma'am can I come in?" That lady opens the door and say - "Yes please, how can I help you?" A few moments later… Doctor cries out and says - "I told them, that the crystal belongs to me. My daughter made it. But, the government didn't listen to me. You all ignored me like a psycho lady blabbering on bullshit. But that's not it. (She cries) My daughter made it for her closest friend." Gwen soothes her and says - "Calm down, I apologise for what happened on behalf of them. But, please listen to me for one second. I will get you that crystal back. But, you have to answer my questions." Gwen adds - "A week back, our team noticed some strange paranormal activities near the coordinates of petropia. We went there and my boss got sucked inside a thunderstorm hovering over there. But, there's more to it. (She shows her the book) When we found the crystal we found this book with it. But, he took it maybe to investigate or something. I don't know. But I had this vision of a girl and a boy talkingto each other under the coconut tree. That's why, I don't know why…" Doctor interrupts and says - "But, we can save them." "You are searching for your boss, right? That's why you came here, is that so?" - She asks. Gwen replies ashamed of herself - "Yeah, I am sorry but…" Doctor says "I have those visions too. If you can save your boss, I am searching for someone too. Can we save my children too? Please help me, I am begging you." Gwen says - "Hey, hey, miss, don't say that. I will try my best and we will save everyone." At night, Stacy was sleeping in her home. Ryan, on the other side, running on the water, start trembling, as he feels a huge shock wave under his feet upto his head and he see the pieces of petropian land surfacing and combining above the ocean. In the next moment, he was standing in the middle of petropia city. He runs and look around but, the city was completely empty. Meanwhile, all of a sudden, Stacy finds herself on a beach, near the sunset. She walks forward and see a girl sitting on a bench. The girl says – "Run, the city is going to sunk in the ocean." Stacy asks suspiciously – "huh? Then what are you doing here ? And by the way, how did I come here ?" The girl replies – " Even I don't know. But, this is our home and it's going to collapse." Stacy shouts while sweating – "Oh my god! This is petropia…!!" On the other hand, Ryan meets a boy. Ryan asks – "So this is petropia, right? And you are the writer who wrote that book?" The boy asks – "Do you have it?" Ryan replies- "I had it but, I lost it now." The boy asks  - "Do you want to hear that story ?" "I will show you. But, before, there's someone, I am searching for. Come with me." – he adds. They both start running towards a certain direction.Ryan says while running – "If somebody told me that this is going to happen, I wouldn't have believed. But now, I guess, I do." On the other hand, Stacy and that girl were running. Stacy asks – "Where are we going?" She replies – "Towards a friend. But, we better hurry or it will happen again." But then suddenly, the land start shattering again and everyone gets in panic. But, the water currents crushes the land and swallow everyone on it, inside. Stacy wakes up in her house, sweating and coughing. She pulls herself together and says – "It was just a nightmare. But, it was not normal as  I was living in that dream. As if I could die in it." The she suddenly coughs out a little water. Seeing that, she fears. She dresses up and immediately went towards her grandma. Meanwhile, Gwen meets that doctor and says – "I researched a lot and I found out the reasons behind our visions of that city. This phenomenon is known as lucid dreaming. You know what I told you about the paranormal activities happening there. I think, these all are bounded with multiple strong emotions, memories and unconditional affections of the people, towards each other. That their energies still exist even though, the bodies are perished. It's kinda like déjà vu." She adds – "That's why, I am asking you to tell me that story. Please."