[ Somewhere far from the Old World - somewhere closer home yet too far off ]
Beneath the water's restless churn, hidden from moonlight, stars, and the howls of the living world above, the waterlogged cave groaned like a beast in slumber.
It was more like an air pocket than an actual cave.
The walls dripped with condensation. Every now and then, a tremor of waves lashed above the surface of the stone ceiling, like muffled thunder rolling far away.
In the deepest corner of this tucked away underworld, Beta Dax Blackmoon sat alone.
His fingers moved steadily, dragging the whetstone across the edge of his blade. Metal rasped softly. Its rhythmic scrape kept him tethered to sanity.
He hadn't seen sunlight in days…weeks… Maybe months… maybe more.
Time had begun to bleed… it was getting hard for him to keep his orientation right. And the monotony around him was actually driving him crazy.
