12th of April 2038
Hello, this is Jonathan Newmann and I’ve started this diary in order to record my journey as my crew tries to reach the end of the Marywrath tunnel.
The tunnel was discovered by my colleague, Katherine Marywrath, who has dedicated her whole life to exploring the depths of the ocean and, while studying the behavior of the Monitum morsamans, a rare species of fish that has its home 2000ft. deep into the Atlantic Ocean, came across a hot wave of water in 2021 that seemed to be coming from underneath a stone wall whose beginning and end could not be determined.
Katherine and her crew went farther to explore the source of the heat that rose like a wall on one side of the stone and uncovered a fissure in the ocean floor, about 10 feet wide and 100 feet long, that seemed to plunge into the darkest depths of the ocean, emanating a barrier of heat that rose up to the surface.
It was such a strange phenomenon, that she didn’t know what to believe, but what was stranger was that beyond the ‘barrier’ a tunnel was carved in the stone wall, big enough for a hospital to fit in, and the only way to access that was to cross the wave. Her submarine attempted to get to the other side, but were unsuccessful.
Her hypothesis stated that the wave of hear was unbearable and kept anyone from entering the tunnel, and the experiment was dismissed. Luckily, out technology has evolved since 2021 and I can proudly say that we have gathered the resources needed to explore the tunnel.
This could be a huge step towards evolution and towards a better understanding of the world beneath us, and my colleagues and I have speculated that the tunnel could be at least four million years old.
What is stranger is that, although the tunnel is at least 2000ft., and little light reaches our submarine, a source of light seems to be coming from beyond the heat wave. Katherine has refused to go with us. She said she sensed something wrong and wanted to retire, and we respect that.
Today, I, Jonathan Newmann, Annalise Falkner, Horace Lombard, Phillip Beauregard, Kahani O’Sullivan, Marika Jester and Julian Paulson attempt to cross the heat barrier and explore the hidden wonders of the Marywrath tunnel.
13th of April 2038
Our journey has begun and we are beyond excited. So far, things have been good. We are approaching the barrier and ready to cross it. Our surroundings meet Katherine’s notes. The temperature is around 52F and the pressure 27.82Hg.
14th of April 2038
We are crossing the barrier. The difference of temperature is enormous, but our submarine, Timeria 2022, can take worse. This is what we’ve built it for. We can make out the tunnel right in front of us. It looks like a cave, but we can’t see the end.
Julian keeps joking that it might be just a cave and we’ve wasted out resources for nothing, but Kahani and I believe in something greater. There is fear sprinkled among us, but we can’t back away now.
15th of April 2038
We are 2 days into our journey. We haven’t stopped moving since we entered the tunnel and its beginning is starting to fade away. Now there’s only a small ray of light caressing our submarine.
We have noticed that the tunnel goes deeper into the ocean, and Julian has freaked out a little, starting to doubt this experiment. He fears that we’ll find something bad down there, but I’m pretty optimistic. Our submarine is the best to have ever been made. We can take anything and we’ve been equipped with supplies that last twice as much as the planned length of the journey.
Our surroundings haven’t changed much since we entered the tunnel. Same tall, rock walls and little life. The same species have followed us since the beginning: Inimic pavidus, with its colorful tail swirling around, Letum iudicius and another species we haven’t seen as much. Horace has identified it as Sospes lux, but we’re yet to give it a definite name.
16th of April 2038
We’re still going down. Current depth is around 4000ft.
17th of April 2038
Some of my crewmates are growing more and more impatient. After a very heated discussion, we’ve decided to call it quits if we don’t find anything in the next 3 days. I find it completely immature to give up.
19th of April 2038
Apparently, the reason why Annalise and Kahani want to give up is that they are afraid. Unbelievable. We have reached 8000ft. and noticed no changes. I assume it’s quite unsettling, being surrounded by darkness and feeling like you’re going down to the depths of hell. Quite silly, I’d say.
23rd or April 2038
We’ve reached 16.000ft. and more crewmates have grown uneasy. However, there’s been a change in landscape! Some new species have appeared to greet us. We have yet to identify them. They’re not so colorful as the previous ones.
27th of April 2038
Two weeks into our journey and everything went quiet. No fish. No life. Just an eerie silence surrounding us. The tunnel has grown bigger, we tried to measure it, but we kept getting different results. Julian joked that it might be the mouth of a giant. Me and Horace laughed, the others didn’t.
29th April 2038
This morning started like any other morning. We drank our coffee and watched our cameras, hoping to find something new, anything. Then, the third radar went crazy. We checked it and saw a large figure approaching us, larger than a blue whale, larger than anything we had ever thought of. It was very hard to maintain my calm appearance.
I have never felt so fearful since we started this. It passed us slowly and we all held our breath. It planted a seed into my heart, and as much as I try not to water it, it’s growing. Fear.
1st May 2038
25.000 ft. more enormous figures. This night our equipment caught very low frequencies. We have never heard these before. Marika tried to see how it sounds like on a higher pitch. She refuses to tell us what she heard and won’t let anyone hear it.
2nd May 38
Julian snuck out of his room in the middle of the night and tried to listen to Marika’s work. She, unfortunately, is a very light sleeper and woke up immediately. They had a fight and now she’s guarding them with her life.
5th May 38
We have received more “messages”. Marika keeps listening to them and I can see her grow uneasy. I saw her crying the other day.
We’ve ran out of things to do and started getting worn out by each other. Horace has got some serious anger issues.
10th May
Marika’s mental and physical health has worsened. She keeps listening to those “messages” and refuses to sleep. We have tried talking to her, no luck. Kahani, Julian and Horace have taken her side and insist on calling it quits. Yeah, and return to our base? What will we tell everyone? That we saw some large shapes and got scared? We would bring shame to our department.
12th May
One month since we departed. Marika has died from sleep deprivation and our team is split in half. One in favor of continuing the journey, the other too afraid to go deeper. Cowards.
We’ve all listened to the “messages”. They sound funny, not concerning. Like people screaming. We’ve reached 30.000 feet.
16th May
The submarine headlights went out. We can’t see anything outside anymore. I have started to think about my family. I miss the light of day.
20th May
We don’t know whether we’re going up or down, left or right.
22 May
Our lights went back on, but we really wish they hadn’t. There are people outside the submarine. Their carcasses float around like fish. I have never seen anything so terrifying.
We’ve reached 36.000 feet and surpassed Challenger Deep. Our team is equally proud and horrified.
25 May
The corpses keep getting fresher.
26 May
Horace killed himself.
27 May
We want to go back. We keep receiving low frequencies. We are too afraid to try to see what they’re saying.
30 May
We are unable to reach the base anymore. I saw a mermaid today. She told me to open the door.
4 june
Julian keeps insisting that those are not mermaids. What else are they, then? He says mermaids aren’t that big and they have only two arms.
6 june
I never believed in the Megalodon. Today, upon seeing a half-eaten one lying on the ocean floor, I have started to doubt myself.
7 june
We don’t have enough supplies anymore. We drew straws to decide. Kahani is no longer with us. The frequencies make my head vibrate, and I don’t like what they’re saying. We decided to turn off the headlights because we don’t want to see what’s outside anymore. I think we should abort. It’s pointless to keep going.
10 june
Julian, Phillip, Annalise, Jonathan. The four survivors. I have managed to clear my head and our supplies will cover us for 3 more days deeper and all the way up. We have so many supplies now. Thanks, Kahani.
11 june
They are begging us to open the door. Phillip and Julian almost gave in. Good thing Annie and I are down-to-earth people. Today, though, I didn’t see any mermaids, any fish, corpses or half-eaten sharks. The hallucinations have ceased! I figure there must’ve been a gas leak in the submarine. There is no other way those things are real. Everything is quiet now. Very quiet, very calming.
12 june
The bastard almost opened the door. We locked him up with the others. He keeps screaming at us to let him out. I’m starting to give in. I want to go home.
21 june
We were supposed to turn back. They didn’t listen. I cracked, I wanted to open the door, now I’m locked here, in this room, with Phillip’s corpse. They locked me up too. I can hear Julian and Annie from the other side of the door. They’re concerned about me. I’m going to end up just like Phillip. I’m going mad.
30 june
I hear lullabies and church bells.
40 june
My ears hurt from all the screaming.
55 june
Today, I managed to get out. I’ve searched the rest of the submarine, looking for Annalise and Julian, but I couldn’t find them. I’m all alone here.
The greatness of the ocean is fascinating. The ocean floor is moving, I don’t know if it’s a good thing, but I’m hypnotized.
60 june
Today, days after plunging into the Marywrath tunnel, I, Jonathan Newmann, have reached its end. I can’t describe it. It’s fascinating and overwhelming. My teammates are all with me, waving from outside the submarine, encouraging me, and I have never felt so loved. However, my journey doesn’t end, it continues by foot now.
I must uncover the secret. I can sense a meaning, but I’m not certain. Now it’s not a tunnel anymore, but a stone stomach. The earth swallowed us whole, and it is my duty to search its guts. This is where we part now. Don’t worry, the journal will reach the light, I will make sure of that. My only wish is to not send anyone down here anymore.
Lock Katherine Marywrath up and ask her how she found out about this, how she lured us here, and how she knew about me and my background, about Annie and Phil and the others. No human deserves this fate, but now I have to keep going. All my love to little James and lovely Sarah. I will attach a lovely photo.
JONATHAN NEWMANN, 2038
The manuscript was found in a metal box, at the entrance of the Marywrath tunnel, on the first of August 2038. That was the only sign we ever got from Timeria 2022. Along with the diary, a very blurry photo showed Mr. Newmann, smiling and waving, sitting next to a submarine window.
Through the stained glass, one could make out an oddly shaped hand pressed against it. Katherine Marywrath drowned herself after reading the journal.
We have ceased to investigate any further. This is the devil’s work.