Chapter 27The Central Sea

At first, I couldn’t see anything. My eyes weren't used to the brightness, so the sudden light was just too much, and I had to close them. When I could open them again, I just stood there, totally stunned. Seriously, nothing I could have imagined would have created a scene like this!

"The sea - the sea!" I blurted out.

"Yep," my uncle said, sounding pretty proud.

"The Central Sea. No future navigator is gonna argue that I discovered it, so I get to name it."

And he was right. A huge, endless stretch of water - like the end of a lake, maybe even an ocean - spread out before us, disappearing into the distance. The shoreline was all curvy and pretty, with soft, golden sand mixed with tiny shells, like the leftovers from some ancient creatures.

The waves kept crashing - with this really weird, deep sound you usually only hear underground. A little foamy stuff popped up as the wind whipped across the clear water, and spray kept hitting my face.

This massive rock formation towered above us, super high, leaving only a small opening, but where we were, there was plenty of beach. Everywhere you looked were peninsulas, cliffs, and these gigantic rocks, worn down by the waves for ages and ages!

And as I looked around, those huge rocks seemed to fade away like a fluffy cloud.

It was totally an ocean, with all the usual inland sea vibes, but seriously wild - so intense, cold, and raw.

Something totally freaked me out and confused me, too. How was I even seeing this huge stretch of water instead of just being swallowed by darkness? The whole place was lit up like it was daytime.

But it wasn't the bright, awesome feel of the sun. Or the pale, chilly glow of the moon. Not the sparkle of the stars either. This light, way down here, was different. It flickered and shimmered, super clear and white. It wasn't even that hot.

It felt electric - like a constant aurora borealis, only way stronger, lighting up the whole ocean cave.

The ceiling above us, like a sky, was all swirling, cloudy stuff. I would’ve thought that with the pressure down here, water couldn’t even evaporate. But somehow, some science I forgot, there were these thick, heavy clouds rolling across it, kinda hiding the top.

Electric currents made the light and shadows wild, especially around the thicker clouds. Deep shadows would pop up, then suddenly, a beam of light, super bright and beautiful, would break through. But it didn't feel warm.

It was just... sad. Like, really sad and gloomy. Instead of a beautiful blue sky with stars, there was this heavy granite roof pressing down on me.

Looking around, I started thinking about this theory from this English captain. He thought the earth was like a huge hollow sphere. Inside, the air glowed because of pressure, and two stars - Pluto and Proserpine - were circling around in a mysterious way. What if he was actually right?

Seriously, we were trapped - like, stuck in a massive hole. It was impossible to tell how wide it was; the sides just kept getting wider until they disappeared. The length was a total mystery too. A haze on the horizon blocked our view. And the height? It had to be miles to the roof.

Looking up, I couldn’t even see where the roof started. The clouds were way up there - like, two thousand yards high - way higher than any clouds on Earth. That was probably because the air was so thick.

I’m calling it a "cavern" to give you an idea. I cann't describe how intense it was; words just don’t do it justice. I don’t know if this weird space was caused by the earth suddenly cooling down when it was melted, but I’m not sure. I’d read about some crazy huge caves - but nothing like this.

The huge Guachara grotto in Colombia - Humboldt, the smart guy, checked it out - and the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, which they’d only explored a little - those were just tiny holes compared to where I was standing, speechless!

With its foggy clouds, its electric glow, and this huge ocean just chilling in the middle! You really need imagination to get a sense of how awesome and massive this cave was.

I just stared, totally speechless. There were no words to even begin to describe how mind-blown I was. Standing on that weird shore, I felt like some random person from another planet, seeing Earth stuff for the very first time - like, a whole other reality.

It would've taken a whole new vocabulary just to explain what I was feeling, and my brain just wasn’t cutting it. I looked, I thought, I reflected, I admired, totally stunned, with a little bit of fear mixed in!

The crazy sight actually brought some color back to my pasty face. I felt like I was seriously getting better from just seeing it. Plus, the thick air felt super lively, filling my lungs with oxygen I wasn’t used to.

You can imagine, after being stuck in a dark, awful tunnel for forty-seven days, breathing that salty air was amazing. It was like a warm, reviving hug from the ocean.

My uncle was already past the initial shock.

He was vibing with Horace, the Latin poet - his idea was