John materialized among a crushing, cold darkness of the Ocean in a maelstrom of utter disorientation, shock, and primal terror. Too confused for proper thought, and engulfed by the inky blackness of the deep sea, his instincts screamed desperately for survival. He propelled himself upward, limbs flailing in a frenetic, desperate rhythm toward what he thought was a faint glimmer of light far above. This was a nightmare, a plunge into an abyssal hell.
Or... was it?
As the initial frantic seconds stretched into minutes, John realized something astonishing.
He wasn't suffocating.
Each gasp brought not the expected flood of seawater, but... nothing. There was no burning in his lungs, no choking desperation. Instead, there was only a bizarre, surreal, but perfectly comfortable sense of... calm. The icy chill of the deep, which should have been a bone-numbing, paralyzing cold, was strangely absent. Instead, all he felt was a mild, almost soothing, and -- dare he say -- refreshing coolness enveloping him.
John's frantic ascent slowed as bewilderment took over. He paused, floating calmly in the watery void, and that's when he noticed it – the ring on his finger. It glowed with a soft, silver-white luminescence, casting an otherworldly aura around him. The light seemed to permeate his very being, forming a protective bubble of sorts, shielding him from the crushing pressure of the deep, from the suffocating absence of air, from the frigid embrace of the ocean depths. A sense of awe replaced his panic. This was no ordinary ring; it was a bastion against the very forces of nature that should have claimed his life. An "Emissary-Class Artifact," his grandfather's letter called it. Did the letter speak true, then? It must have been the truth!
Emboldened and curious, John ceased his currently unproductive attempt to reach the surface and turned, instead, to descend back towards the ocean floor. If he indeed had the power to manipulate doorways, then it should be a simple matter to swim back down, find the door from whence he emerged, and will himself back.... it made as much sense as everything else he experienced today.
As John swam downwards, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, aided by the ring's ethereal glow that seemed to have adopted his vision to his current environment. The ocean around him was no longer a suffocating tomb but a realm of mysterious beauty. Bioluminescent creatures, like living jewels, drifted lazily in the water, their soft light painting surreal streaks in the dark water. Schools of fish, iridescent and alien, flitted through the gloom, undisturbed by -- or simply uncaring of -- his presence.
But it was what lay below that took his breath away – if he still needed to breathe, that is. As John descended, the ruins of a colossal underwater city came into view, revealed to his newly-adopted eyesight. Towering spires and grand basalt archways loomed out of the darkness, their once-majestic forms now succumbed to the relentless embrace of the sea. Some sort of coral and sea flora clung to the ancient stone, and schools of colorful fish swam through the gaping windows and broken doors of long-abandoned buildings.
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The "door" he must have emerged from was part of what appeared to be a temple or official building of some sort, its architecture a blend of the grandiose and the mystical. Carved figures of unknown deities and humanoids with fish-like features adorned its walls. The entrance – his unwitting portal to this underwater world – was an archway, standing solemn and unyielding amidst the rest of the ruin. John took his time, floating calmly before that ancient, submerged arch -- a solitary figure illuminated by the ethereal glow of the ring. The ruins of the once-majestic underwater city surrounded him, silent and haunting in their forgotten grandeur.
This was it, the moment of truth. He would either succeed in traveling back or... well, there was no point in speculating now. Gathering his resolve, John reached out, his hand hovering before the ancient stone. The realization of his situation – the bizarre truth of his family's legacy and the fantastical power at his command – was overwhelming. Yet, amidst the uncertainty, a glimmer of hope sparked within him. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the image of his home, the simple, familiar comfort of his upstairs bathroom. He envisioned the small, unassuming room in as much detail as possible: the faded wallpaper, the chipped porcelain sink, the towels hanging on the rack. He focused on these details, willing the power to guide him back... and somewhere deep within his soul, something answered.
The results felt rather anti-climatic, and came to him easier than even breathing. There was no fancy transition, no slow fading of the surroundings, nor light show of any kind. There was no giant swirling vortex of light and color dragging John to his next destination. There was merely a simple, utterly silent shift in reality as the Great Door heeded his call. In one instant, John was swimming through an underwater archway on an alien world. In the next, he simply ceased to be there and appeared elsewhere. He found himself standing in the bathroom of his house, the stark contrast leaving him momentarily disoriented. The familiar surroundings of his home suddenly enveloped him – the slightly peeling paint, the linoleum floor with its pattern of faded blue tiles, the humming of the old ventilation fan installed back in the 70s. Soft moonlight filtered through the small frosted window, casting a soft glow on the fixtures.
For a moment, John stood there, his mind racing to comprehend the journey he had just undertaken. He was no longer in the depths of a mysterious ocean but in the mundane safety of his own home. The reality of what had occurred, the proof of the Great Door's power and the ring's protective embrace... his family's history and, indeed, his new destiny... was undeniable.
John glanced at his reflection in the mirror. The man looking back at him was the same, yet irrevocably changed. His eyes held a new depth, a reflection of the wonders and secrets he had just begun to uncover. The ordinary bathroom, a place he had visited countless times before, now felt like a sanctuary, a grounding point in a world that had just expanded beyond the limits of his imagination. The events of his divorce and recent unemployment, seemingly so devastating before, were now almost laughable in their insignificance. Slowly, John realized that his family once held absolute power, that he now held absolute power, and the future was limitless and infinitely bright in its possibilities. All he had to do was muster the courage to seize them.
Although currently nighttime, sleep was hardly possible in the face of the recent revelations -- but, who needs sleep when absolute power was only a step away? Gathering his resolve, John cracked his neck, squared his shoulders, and stepped deliberately towards the bathroom door while keying up a new destination to the forefront of his mind.
It was time to get to work.