The water boils around us, a chaos of bubbles and black blood as the giant eel writhes in the cave. Its multiple jaws snap, each movement sending vibrations that rattle my suit. Mira's alarm keeps flashing, her tiny but dangerous tear threatening doom at this depth. The pressure at 800 meters is merciless, and I know a larger rip would condemn her to a gruesome death. Yet she stays focused, her plasma shots lighting the darkness like lightning. "Kaël, move!" she yells through the comms, snapping me out of my daze. I grip my plasma lance tighter and aim for the eel's red eyes. My shot misses, hitting a scale that shatters into glinting fragments. The beast roars, a sound that reverberates in my bones, and charges toward me.
Taro, still trapped in the eel's coils, fights with raw strength. His vibrating blade slices through a segment of the monster, releasing a jet of blood that clouds the water. The eel loosens its grip but retaliates. One of its secondary jaws sinks into Taro's leg, drawing a guttural scream. His suit holds, but I see blood floating around him, a red cloud mixing with the black. "Taro, hang on!" Lira shouts, diving toward the eel with unnatural agility. Her plasma lance pierces an eye, and the creature recoils, its body convulsing.
Soren, beside me, trembles, his breathing erratic in the comms. "I can't… I can't do this," he whispers, his voice breaking. I want to shake him, tell him to pull it together, but there's something in his eyes—a terror beyond the fight. He stares at the eel, but I sense he's seeing something else, something the Abyss is whispering to him. "Stay with me, Soren," I say, my voice steadier than I feel. He nods, but his hands shake on his lance.
Kaelin and Vora form a deadly duo, their synchronized shots hitting the eel's flanks. The cave walls tremble, luminescent coral fragments collapsing around us. The altar holding the runic sphere wobbles but stays in place, as if anchored by an invisible force. Lira barks a new order: "Kaël, Soren, secure the sphere! The rest, keep the pressure on!" I swim toward the altar, Soren beside me, but the eel seems to sense our intent. It turns, its multiple jaws opening in a silent scream, and charges straight at us.
I shove Soren out of its path, but the eel is too fast. One of its jaws grazes my suit, leaving a scratch on my arm. My suit's alarm flashes red, but the tear is superficial—for now. Soren, panicked, fires blindly, his plasma shots hitting the cave walls. "Control yourself!" I yell, but he's on the edge of hysteria. The eel pivots, its sinuous body blocking the cave's entrance. We're trapped.
Mira, despite the tear in her suit, dives toward the eel, her weapon spitting blue bolts. She hits another eye, and the beast screams again, its body writhing in pain. But it retaliates with terrifying force, coiling around Kaelin. The veteran struggles, her plasma lance digging into the scales, but the eel tightens its grip. A sickening crack echoes through the comms, and Kaelin's body collapses, her suit torn. The pressure crushes her instantly, her scream cut short. Vora roars in rage, diving at the eel with desperate fury, but its tail slams him against the wall. His suit holds, but he lies still, stunned.
Lira doesn't falter. "Kaël, the sphere! Now!" she yells. I swim to the altar, my heart pounding. The runic sphere glows, its engravings pulsing as if alive. I reach for it, but a strange sensation washes over me—a whisper in my mind. Not words, but a presence, an invitation to dive deeper, to uncover the Abyss's secrets. I shake my head, pushing the feeling away, and grab the sphere. It's warm, almost burning, despite the icy water.
Soren, beside me, seems frozen. "Kaël, you hear it, don't you?" he whispers, eyes wide. "The Abyss… it wants us to go deeper." I ignore him, clutching the sphere to my chest. But deep down, I know he's right. Since the first dive, I've felt something—a pressure in my mind, as if the Abyss is speaking to me. I push the thought away. Not now.
The fight rages behind us. Taro, wounded but standing, slices another segment of the eel, releasing a cloud of blood. Mira, weakened by her suit's tear, fires with deadly precision, but her breathing grows uneven. Lira and Vora, back in the fray, unleash a barrage of shots. Finally, the eel collapses, its body convulsing one last time before sinking into the cave's darkness. The water stills, but the silence is heavy, broken only by our ragged breathing.
Lira swims to us, her gaze hard. "The sphere?" she asks. I hand it to her, and she examines it briefly before securing it in a container. "We're ascending. Now." But Mira shakes her head. "My suit… it won't hold." Her alarm still flashes, and I see the fine crack on her arm widening. Lira stares at her, face impassive. "You're coming with us. We don't leave anyone." Mira laughs, a bitter sound. "Don't be stupid, Lira. If I ascend, I'll slow everyone down. Leave me."
I want to protest, but Lira silences me with a look. "We don't abandon anyone," she says, but her voice lacks conviction. The ascent is agonizing. The pressure grows with every meter, and Mira's alarm blares relentlessly. Halfway up, she collapses, her body imploding in a sickening crunch. I close my eyes, unable to look. Kaelin is dead. Mira is dead. Taro is wounded, Soren is on the brink of madness, and Vora is barely conscious. Only Lira and I seem intact, but I feel the Abyss pressing on me, its whispers growing louder.
Back in the submarine, I collapse on my bunk, the runic sphere secured but meaningless against our losses. Lira sits beside me, silent. "Why do we do this?" I whisper. She doesn't answer right away. Then, in a low voice: "Because the Abyss takes, but it also gives. And if we stop, the surface falls." Her words don't comfort me. The whispers in my head grow stronger, promising answers if I dive deeper. I close my eyes, but the Abyss won't let me rest.