Kingdom of Lyonesse

It was a fine evening when Sam came to my home to work on our geography assignment. Sam had always been a geography aficionado, so I considered him a book full of knowledge. He used to make journals and diaries dedicated to lost and forgotten lands. That day when we were studying “The Lost World of Atlantis”, he told me about many similar kingdoms that exist on pages of history but not in reality: kingdoms like El Dorado and Lyonesse etc.

I was always intrigued with his wholesome knowledge about forgotten lands. Sam, unlike many other students of our class, was a fan of Dr. Deanne. Dr. Deanne, a slender middle-aged woman, was our geography teacher and Sam’s mentor too. He would even go to her house to talk about wiped-out kingdoms. Deanne always welcomed Sam. As she would learn from him more than the other way around.

After two months we were done with our semester exams and Sam considered it a good time to do something out of the ordinary. Just like last year’s break, when he and Deanne went to explore Lyonesse but found nothing. After some time, Deanne and Sam revealed their plan of re-trekking to the ruins of Lyonesse.

To those who do not know about Lyonesse, it is a fabled land which was civilized. Historical evidence suggests that it existed beneath the waters of Scilly. It has reportedly occurred in ancient English literature which adds to its authenticity. The legendary story of Tristan and Isuelt tells about its existence. Lord Tennyson describes Lyonesse as the death place of King Arthur where he lost his life to a deadly battle. It is said to be located near Cornwall beneath the waters of Celtic Sea, England.

I readily accepted the offer and packed my bags. Deanne assigned me a task to find a male cartographer, a female photographer and an oceanographer. In a matter of a week, I and Sam found all three of them. The photographer was my first cousin Tara who readily accepted the offer; Jason was the Cartographer, a map-maker who lived down the street; the oceanographer, my grandfather: Jason who worked with the Royal Navy. He had a worn out midget submarine in the garage. It took two days to mend it so we could use it as our conveyance.

Monday, 9:00 PM, 2010 we launched our submarine into the Celtic sea while complete darkness surrounded us. We chose to travel at night so no one could notice. We travelled 8 hours under water and found nothing. After 6 hours what we saw amazed us. We all stood jaw-dropped. The underwater drone camera had captured the proof of Lyonesse’s existence. What we saw was a broken statue and a wrecked building with statue guards guarding it. That’s when we knew that we had unleashed the great kingdom of Lyonesse. While we took pictures of the building, Deanne and Sam seemed uninterested. They whispered things to each other which made me dubious.

As we moved forward, we saw that on one of the buildings there were hieroglyphics. When we looked closely at our screen, Jason told us that it was a map of Lyonesse. After some time we were in front of the repository. We took out our divator masks and swim suits. One by one we jumped into the depth of the ocean. When all of us were amazed by the magnificence of Lyonesse, Sam and Deanne were intrigued about the vault. We cracked the vault’s code, which was just a puzzle. The moment the safe door opened, guarding statues turned towards us with a rumbling sound.

Deanne said, “You guys stay here, I and Sam will go to collect the treasure, Tara and Natalie will hold the door, and Jason and Grandpa will keep the submarine ready until we come back.”

Just when Sam and Deanne tried to get into the repository, the statues held their swords in front of them and said something in oceanic language which means:

“You cannot go inside unless you give the offering to King Tristan!”

“We have brought you the offering, now let us go and collect the treasure”, said Deanne pointing right at us.

The stone horse became alive and ran in our direction. As I tried to escape, Sam tried to strangle me. But Grandpa saved me. Meanwhile Jason made his way into the repository to collect gold. Just when he was about to enter, one of the statues took him. We fought for our lives and escaped. We all were saved but Deanne and Sam’s greed took them because their “Offerings” ran away. They knew that the land was cursed and they had to offer human lives to get the treasure.

They vanished into the air like ashes.

I, and Natalie, got saved by luck but that day will remain in my memory. What if Sam didn’t play on us? He would be still alive.

That’s what greed does to you.