Entry 784: The Phosphorescent Reef of Aethel
The initial scans indicated a localized distortion, a shimmering within the abyssal currents south of the Shattered Isles. I christened it ‘Aethel,’ after a half-remembered fragment from the Navigator’s Guild – a name whispered to have referred to a haven lost to the tides millennia ago. What I found surpassed even my most outlandish predictions.
The reef itself is constructed not of coral, but of solidified bioluminescence. Giant, pulsating structures—some resembling colossal jellyfish, others mimicking the skeletal remains of prehistoric leviathans—emit an ethereal, shifting light. The color palette is dominated by cerulean blues and viridian greens, punctuated by flashes of crimson where pockets of concentrated energy are present. These ‘energy blooms,’ as I’ve termed them, seem to be responsible for the temporal anomalies.
I recorded five distinct shifts in localized time streams during my observation period. One instance saw a squadron of what appeared to be Roman Legionnaires – clad in remarkably well-preserved bronze armor – engaged in a brutal skirmish with… something. The ‘something’ remains unidentified; it resembled a serpentine entity composed entirely of solidified light, its movements unsettlingly fluid and lacking any recognizable anatomy. Another shift yielded a brief glimpse of a Victorian-era airship, descending through the water before abruptly vanishing into what appeared to be an infinite gray void.
The most perplexing observation involved the “Echoes.” These are not visual phenomena but auditory – fragments of conversations and events repeating themselves, layered upon one another. I heard snippets of a 17th-century pirate ballad, followed by the frantic commands of a naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars, then abruptly a child’s laughter from an unknown era.
Preliminary analysis suggests that Aethel acts as a nexus point, a place where the fabric of time is unusually thin. The energy blooms amplify this effect, creating localized temporal eddies. I hypothesize that it's not merely a distortion but a *fracture*, a wound in the timeline itself.
Note: Risk Level - Extreme. Containment protocols are currently inadequate. Further investigation is… discouraged.