[…]
I tried climbing back up the wall I had descended, but it was too slippery to get a good grip on. This meant that I only had one option left, which was to swim through the flooded region. After a short swim, I came across a staircase descending into a hallway filled with water. As I was able to see that there was another staircase back up shortly after it, I took a deep breath and dove down the first staircase. After a bit of swimming, I reached the second one and rushed upwards.
When I resurfaced, I was in a completely different place. No longer was I in the seemingly infinite subway station; this new region, scarcely lit by dim lights underwater, was completely covered in bluish ceramic tiles.
I rose out of the water and began walking on the slippery floor. As I walked, water dripped out of my wet clothes and bag. Suddenly, the hallway opened into a massive swimming pool. I saw no lights above the pool or in the water; instead, the pool was almost completely dark. Only its edges were visible, lit by lamps inside the other hallways leading here. I considered drinking the water, but it smelled strongly like chlorine.
I dipped my feet in the water and found it to be surprisingly warm. It looked like I would have to swim through the pool, so at least I wouldn’t be freezing. In fact, it was colder outside the water than in it. Since I had nothing better to do, and I was already soaked, I jumped into the pool. The sound of the splash echoed loudly all around me.
I had picked a large hallway on the other side. I planned to swim there to try to locate a safer area. While my destination was quite far away, the undulating water made my journey relaxing. It was only shortly before the halfway point that this changed.
Suddenly, the water cooled noticeably, probably by several degrees. Then, greenish light began to shine from the depths below me. I stopped to look, but couldn’t see the source clearly. While at first quite dim, the light grew brighter, revealing a vague shape—one I quickly identified to be the skeleton of a massive organism. The creature was moving through the bottom when it suddenly stopped, perhaps sensing my presence. The sounds of howling echoed throughout the pool.
I quickly began swimming away as fast as I could. Suddenly, the creature shot up. It missed me only by a few feet and instead jumped into the solid roof, phasing right through. After a few seconds, the creature reappeared from the roof and fell into the water, creating a massive wave that thrusted me far away from my original course.
When I was again able to move purposefully, the nearest edge of the pool was a great distance away. However, I was only about a dozen yards away from a small ship, which was visible only because its silhouette stood in front of the lights from the hallways. I slowly swam towards the ship and then climbed onto the deck.
As of writing, I am on the ship. This ship has consistently been floating in a single direction, but I am not sure where it will end up. Other ships similar to this one have appeared on the horizon. I guess I’ll just have to wait.
Librarians’ Note: This is the last entry in the diary. When the diary was found in the Library, it was still soggy.