Journey Into the Deep — Guy S. Stanton III

In a dusty attic there lies the means by which to access another world. A sunken world long unvisited by man. There is a choice to be made between good and evil, a choice that could alter the very existence of mankind, as it did once before. An ancient evil no less potent with the passing of time is ready to be unleashed on the world of men once again and yet there is hope. Hope, that is, if the right choices are made. Eli didn't care about much. In fact his continued existence depended on not being put in a position to care about the greater outcome of life around him, which had stolen from him what he loved most in life, his family. Now his family consisted of an unlikely pairing of misfits, who make up the crew of his salvage ship, Celestia's Prize. He needs money, if he hopes to keep up with the payments on his ship and the avoidance of the life he once lived on land. His wish is to remain at sea away from the world and the painful memories of his past. Those in desperate need of money are not known for wise decision making so when Eli catches the hint of a Civil War era treasure fleet enroute for England from the beleaguered Southern Confederacy, in a desperate bid to buy the allegiance of the English Crown into joining in on the side of the South, he's more than intrigued by the salvage opportunities to be had. The treasure fleet disappeared, but now, thanks to research and some speculative instincts, he now has the key by which to find it. At least he thinks so, but treasure, so often illusive, weaves a tale of a different nature. A tale of greed and enslavement by one's fellow man and the gateway to a possession that chains the soul and unleashes hell.