The song faded slowly, swallowed by the green depths.
Nathan stood at the boat's edge, the first two Tide Crystals warm in his palm. The Leviathan's melody had stirred something in the water—for a moment, the Deep Ones had paused. Even the corruption seemed to hold its breath. Then the moment passed, and the sea grew still again.
Coral was trembling. "He hasn't sung in years. Not since the seed took root. Something is changing."
"The crystals," Elise said quietly. "They're weakening the corruption. The Leviathan can feel it."
Nathan looked at the horizon. The Abyssal Trench was somewhere below, a wound in the ocean floor where the third crystal waited. "Then we need to hurry. If the corruption is weakening, the World might start fighting back harder."
Coral nodded and turned the boat south. The Leviathan's shadow moved with them.
---
The Abyssal Trench was not a place. It was an absence.
