Two months had passed since the sudden vanishing of a crew of deep sea divers and scientists in the Black Sea off the northwest coast of Turkey. Recently, fossils of a serpent-like creature were uncovered the region, so the Istanbul Science Association of Turkey (ISA) began employing the most experienced deep sea divers and miners from all over the world to scavenge the area. The now-missing crew only had disappeared a few days into the great search with seemingly no explanation as to what happened. The story had broke around the world and hundreds of tips and theories were presented to the ISA to no avail. Now, after months of mass hysteria and bewilderment, the ISA sought to continue the underwater expedition and reached out to me and my team.

My crew and I were somewhat shocked by the offer, but we decided to go ahead and accept. The group consisted of myself, the leader and most experienced of the bunch, while the others, Laura, James, and Grant, were all much younger and more energetic. I should also add that James, perhaps the most unique person in the group, was quite spiritual and wise. The proposal disrupted our project in the Mississippi river dealing with biological diversity, but we decided that this was an opportunity we simply could not pass on. It would not only advance our personal careers in the field, but it would also change the world of science and fossils forever.

The ISA supplied us with a private jet to complete the flight from Jackson City to Turkey. On the flight, we were given information about the region, and instructions as to how we were to go about our underwater search. Grant and Laura, two of the younger divers, were evidently anxious throughout the flight, unable to sit still. James, on the contrary, was a lot calmer and slept for the duration of the trip. The pilot finally announced that we were closing in on landing, and suggested that we looked at the sea from an aerial view.

The sun shined on the giant body of water, giving off a glistening dark blue tint on the surface of the Black Sea. Tall hills and mountain ranges surrounded the sea on all sides, isolating it from all civilization. Miles away from the region, we landed in Istanbul and were immediately greeted by delegates from the ISA. They rushed us over to headquarters, and there we met Captain Duygo. Duygo did not have the appearance of a stereotypical leader. He was short, skinny, so he was not the most physically intimidating man I have ever seen. He was almost a little over-excited to see us.

Quickly, Duygo gave us the rundown of our mission and set us up with advanced diving gear and a high-tech transceiver. After sending us out in a car destined to the shore of our location, we began to discuss the plan. James had brought up to us that he also shared some of his concerns about how quickly and oddly we were just thrown into the mission, but Laura quickly shot them down. “Why shouldn’t we trust him” she rebutted. “Duygo is widely respected throughout the world.” Still, James and I remained concerned about him.

As we traveled through the forest to the coast, the scenery was quite odd. There were no leaves on any of the trees and the grass was all dead. This was especially peculiar since it was a hot day in the middle of the spring. The occasional bird would fly above the car, but other than that, there was almost no sign of wildlife for hours.

Finally, we reached the beach and began to set up for the hunt. Our escort then connected our transceivers to one another, and we began to hear Duygo over the built-in headset in the mask. He instructed us to dive down to a depth of 2,000 meters, and enter a cave-like structure. Laura and Grant led the way down into the depths of the sea, while I closely followed and James stayed a distanced away.

The water was dark, and I mean it was so dark to the point to where even our flashlights could not illuminate the water farther than a few feet. However, the flashlights were helpful in keeping our group unseparated, as we used them as a guide to follow Laura and Grant. Throughout the descent into the dark water, we were swarmed with eels and other slimy, long snake-like creatures. Duygo then came in through the transceiver again, “Don’t worry about the sea life here, your suits will keep you protected. Anyways, in another 100 meters, you’ll have reached the correct depth.”

“This must be the place” claimed Grant, pointing at a sea cavern that left the side of the mountain indented. “Alright let’s get this done,” said Laura, already beginning to enter the cavern. Hundreds of eels then followed Laura and Grant into the entrance of the cavern. “I think I’m going to hold back,” said James worriedly. “I don’t know how I feel about all of this.” It was clear James wanted to stay back at the entrance of the cavern. “James what are you doing? We were sent here on a mission, man, don’t back out now” yelled Grant. After a little bit of a back and forth between James and Grant, we finally decided to let James stay at the cavern entrance while the rest of us explored the cave. “Call me through the transceiver if you need me for anything.” Laura, Grant and I then left James and began the search.

“I see you left James behind. That’s fine, I guess” said Duygo somewhat aggressively through the transceiver. “Just make sure you get a picture of the fossils and send the coordinates to me.” The crew traveled through the cave’s entrance for about 30 minutes until we reached a large room with two paths heading in different directions. Here, we decided to split up and place bright tags along the sea cave walls to find our way back together. Laura and Grant went to the left-most path, while I followed the passage on the right.

As I traveled through the skinny passageway, the connection of the transceiver grew weaker. Duygo’s voice and instructions were incomprehensible at this point. Suddenly, the walls began to violently shake and James’ voice came through again. “Uh, guys, I think you may want to hurry up in there.” Then I heard it. Horrifying screams echoed through the cave. It sounded as if Laura and Grant were being burned alive in lava. “Laura! Grant! Come in!” I yelled.

Panicked, I frantically swam back in the direction of the main cavern room. There, the water was once again eel-infested, but the eels were seemingly duplicating. Hundreds, if not thousands of them clouded my vision, and I could hardly make sense of any directions. “James! James! I need backup!” A loud roar erupted from the depths of the cave, near Grant and Laura were.

James quickly emerged from the entrance of the enormous room. “Boss come on, we need to go!” He took my hand as I was still frozen in horror of what the demon in the passageway could have possibly done to them. James rushed me out of the water and lied me down on the shore. He then berated me with questions. “Boss, what happened in there? Where are James and Laura? Come on boss, answer me!”  I still was speechless, but eventually I explained what I had heard and seen in the cave. “Boss, what are you talking about? There were only a few eels, you’re probably just seeing things” he explained. “Laura and Grant probably just disconnected from the transceiver, give them time.”

We lied down on the shoreline until morning. Still, Grant and Laura were not anywhere in sight. “Hey, what are you doing!” Duygo’s voice emerged from the forest behind us. “James, you are sabotaging the expedition, you’re coming with us!” His guards rushed over and handcuffed James, and he then pointed at me. “And you! You get back in there and find the fossils. I can assure you Laura and Grant are still in there looking, I just spoke to them.”

“Boss, don’t do it! He’s using us!” James warned as they shoved him into the back of the van. Duygo reached out and touched my shoulder. “Now, now, we brought you here on a mission. We had a deal. Don’t break it.” I looked past Duygo, saw James banging against the back window of them. He mouthed the words “Don’t do it” one last time, before the van took him away. “Come on now, let’s get you back in there.”

Duygo put the reassembled the suit, put it on me and connected the transceiver. “Your friends are still in the left-most passageway. Go find them, and take a picture of the fossils.” It was no longer as bright as the day before. Dark storm clouds suffocated the sunlight, transforming the Black Sea into endless darkness. Before diving back in, I hesitated, looking back at Duygo. He gave a slight nod.

The plunge back into the water was even more difficult to navigate through than the first one. The eels immediately began to swarm me on the way down, but determined, I continued until I reached the cavern entrance again. The cave began violently shaking once again, but once again, I ignored it. “Boss help! Please!” Screams of Laura and Grant bounced off the walls. “Laura! Grant! Somebody respond!” The eels, seemingly attracted to the sound of panic swarmed me once again.

Then I saw it. The eyes of eels. They were human-like. Two eels stood out directly in front of me. Laura’s and Grant’s eyes were encapsulated on the eel. Kicking and flailing, I began to try and distance myself from the eels. “Hey, just stick to the plan! We need the pictures!” Duygo’s voice came through the transceiver once again. Quickly, I rushed to the main room as the eels pursued me.

When I reached the giant space in which I was saved by James the day before, A giant fossilized serpent focused on me intensely. “Great that’s the one” Duygo said. The serpent let out a devastating roar that flung me back against the wall of the room. “Duygo? Duygo! I need help!” My screams were left unanswered as the serpent began to close in on me. The last thing I could see was the giant serpent opening its mouth. Pitch black.