In the Shallows
As you touch the page, you find the world around you fading away and dissolving into an entirely new scene; suddenly, you're overlooking a vast expanse of water, stretching out as far as the eye can see. In another instant, you feel yourself waist-deep in the water itself, on a shallow sandbar, seemingly in the midst of an ocean.
It must be summer, or whatever counts for summer in this place -- the water, though bitterly cold, is probably not enough to kill a person. It is an extremely opaque color; several tiny silver fishes dart to and fro beneath you, quick and small enough to elude capture. The shallow area is perhaps half of a square mile; after that, it drops off sharply to the east and north, while it gradually slopes off to the depths in the south and west. On closer inspection, it is not a sandbar at all -- beneath your feet is a squishy substance. Every time you move, it's like stepping on a waterbed; it gives and sways beneath your weight, like some odd underwater moss.
Two twin, black spires stick out of the water around you, as well as some other significantly shorter man-made objects. One spire is just to the north of where you're standing; the other is slightly to the southwest. Both are accented in an unfamiliar architectural design that seems to consist largely of sharp angles -- a stylized sea creature is engraved in sharp angles in the one to the north, snarling soundlessly. The spire to the southwest is bare of any recognizable beings, but several large symbols (writing, perhaps?) are boldly carved out of it. Both spires seem to be created from some rock substance that looks akin to black marble -- it is hard and unmoving. On closer inspection, there are several windows that dot the northern spire; and on the southern spire, the entire top floor appears made of windows, with no walls anywhere, but it?s impossible to see, from this angle, what might be up there.
Neither of the spires appears to have any entrance in them; all around them is solid, impenetrable wall.
There is also what looks like a track of some sort coming out of the water and running halfway around one of the spires -- the northern one -- before disappearing again into the water. Don't get too close to the edge, though. Because the water is so clear, it is easy to see that there are huge gaping holes to allow something through them and onto the track.
Besides the spires, there are also several other objects above ground. One is a pedestal, halfway covered from the wind, that looks to be carved of the same black marble material as the spires. Atop it is a ragged old journal, nondescript and rather dull-looking.
Around the pedestal in a semi-circle are six different, smaller pedestals, each, upon closer inspection, with a symbol or carving of some sort on them. The carvings are in a brilliant silver-blue; probably an alien metal, as it has not rusted despite the water.
Additionally, there is a much larger building to the west, directly behind the pedestals, that has several stairs leading out of the water and to a huge door with no handle, only a button to one side. Compared to the spires, it is incredibly plain and simplistic, with no hint of carving on it whatsoever ? shockingly bland and seemingly out of place here.
There are creatures aplenty here, it seems, if one only would wait for them; birds are calling out from somewhere in the east, and perhaps there is some aquatic life to see ... ?
From here, you can explore the general area, or you can try the door. You can also pick up the journal and read what it has to say, or get a closer look at the symbols on one of the smaller buildings nearby.
