The ocean was silent. Too silent.
From the window of the deep-sea submersible, Mohit watched the last glimmer of sunlight fade as the craft descended into the black depths of the Pacific.
Outside, miles of darkness pressed against the glass. Inside, the only sounds were the steady hum of engines and the calm, mechanical voice of ISHA.
"Depth: seven thousand meters. Warning — pressure at critical levels. The Shard's signal is faint, but stable. It lies within an ancient structure directly below us."
Mohit nodded, tightening the straps of his suit. "And the guardian?"
"Designation: Nagael, Lord of the Abyss. Sea deity of the Old Pantheon. Hybrid entity — part god, part machine."
Mohit raised an eyebrow. "Machine?"
"Yes. The data indicates that the gods... were engineered beings. Manufactured from divine energy and cosmic technology. It's possible humanity didn't just worship them — we built them."
That made Mohit freeze.
"Built… the gods?"
"Correct. The Genesis Project wasn't the first attempt to merge science and divinity. The gods you fight might be our own creation — humanity's forgotten children."
Mohit's jaw tightened. "Then I guess it's time the children learned who their parent is."
The submersible shook violently as something massive brushed past the hull. The lights flickered, and for an instant, a glowing golden eye stared in from the darkness — larger than the entire craft.
"Contact!" ISHA shouted. "It's him!"
The hull tore apart like paper. Mohit leapt free, his suit glowing as the Aether Core activated, wrapping him in a field of energy that held back the crushing pressure of the deep. He sank through the water, surrounded by blackness and silence — until two enormous shapes emerged before him.
A serpent — hundreds of meters long, armored in metallic scales, its body pulsing with divine circuitry. Every movement sent tremors through the ocean floor.
"Welcome, little godkiller," Nagael's voice rumbled, echoing through the sea. "You seek the Shard of the Abyss. But all who descend here… drown."
The serpent lunged. Mohit twisted aside, energy flaring around his hands. He punched through the water, sending golden shockwaves that ripped through the current. But Nagael moved faster, his coils wrapping around Mohit like chains of steel.
"You are a fragment of our design," the serpent hissed. "You were made to serve, not destroy."
Mohit's eyes blazed.
"Then you made a mistake."
He drove his palms into the serpent's scales. The Core pulsed — gold meeting blue — and the water erupted in a blinding explosion of light. Waves rolled upward, splitting the ocean floor.
When the light faded, Nagael was gone — reduced to shards of metal and light drifting through the water. One of them glowed brighter than the rest: a crystal, deep green, humming with the rhythm of the ocean.
"Shard Three acquired," ISHA said. "Synchronization: fifty-five percent."
Mohit floated in the dark water, his suit flickering with energy.
"ISHA… if humans created the gods… then who created me?"
There was silence. Then ISHA's voice came, softer than before.
"The same one who created them. The original architect — the being the gods now call The Prime. And according to the records... he's still alive."
Mohit stared upward, toward the unreachable surface.
"Then I'll find him. Because if he made gods, maybe he knows how to end them."
As he rose through the black sea, a faint shimmer spread from the ocean floor — as if something ancient had awakened beneath the waves.
And far above, in the fractured heavens, the gods were watching.