Nate B Quill

This is a story written based off of a writing prompt, found on Reddit. Here is a link to the prompt, where others posted their own short stories.
“Centuries ago, a sentient crown of ancient and terrible power was cast into the sea so that it could never tempt or corrupt another soul. Now, a submarine happens to come across it.”

As the submarine approached the sea floor, a faint warm glow echoed off the cold steel frame of the ship. Out of curiosity the crew decided to deviate from their mission for a moment to see what was the cause of such an odd phenomenon. 

As they inched closer to the source of the light, the submarine sped up. It continued to race towards the sea floor while the entire crew huddled around a small window on the side of the ship. 

The light went from a warm breath of fresh air to a burning flame as bright as the sun, but the crew didn’t take their eyes off of the mysterious object for even a moment. The light reflected off the pupils of the crew members, turning their eyes into burning balls of yellow, almost as bright as the lightsource itself. 

One member of the crew managed to blink for just a moment before running away into the back of the submarine. He returned fully equipped with a wet suit and a tank full of air. 

The moment he left the submarine the suit began to crumple like a tin can. He was attracted to the object like a magnet, the closer he got the more difficult it was to turn away.

Once he was within just a few feet of the ball of light it was revealed to be a golden crown with an aura of light surrounding it. Mesmerized, the diver put it on. 

As the crown approached his head, warm light turned into fiery heat. The moment the crown was placed onto his head a heat wave went out in every direction. The submarine evaporated into the thin air along with the diver. 

The crown fell to the ground with a clink and lay there as if nothing had happened at all.