The Leviathan's dying convulsions shattered the seabed beneath us.
Time fractured as the seabed collapsed. Cho's scream stretched into a distorted echo, her outstretched fingers grazing mine before the current tore us apart. My bioluminescence flickered—pink light spiralling through the abyss like dying embers—as I tumbled into the trench.
*So this is how the ocean claims its own.*
Then—
**Heat.**
A hand caught my wrist. So scorching compared to the icy depths it nearly burned. My vision cleared just enough to see Long, elegant fingers tipped with retractable claws
A Pearlescent grey skin shimmering with oil-slick iridescence in the darkness
And a forearm corded with muscle**, veins glowing faintly blue beneath the surface
That was the first shock—his skin burned hotter than any deep-sea creature should. His fingers, long and elegant with translucent webbing, tightened as he pulled me from the abyss's grip.
**CHIP SCANNED:**
*" Unknown lifeform. Core temperature: 103°F. Bioluminescence: Null. Threat level: Unreadable."*
I looked up—and the abyss *looked back.*
His face emerged from the darkness like a vision conjured from the deep's most forbidden dreams. At first, all I could make out was the living coral mask that clung to his features like a second skin, its bioluminescent tendrils pulsing gently through the grooves and ridges. The mask seemed to breathe with him, the coral filaments weaving intricate patterns across his cheekbones and forehead like some ancient, underwater crown. Then, as if sensing my gaze, the mask rippled liquidly, retreating to reveal the face beneath - and my breath caught in my gills.
His eyes arrested me first - twin pools of liquid mercury that shone with their inner light, the pupils' vertical slits like some great oceanic predator. They reflected my face at me with startling clarity: the fear in my widened eyes, the way my hair floated like a dark halo, the subtle changes the transformation had wrought in my features. Something was unnerving about how those alien eyes studied me, seeing far more than I wanted to reveal.
When his lips parted, I noticed they were slightly too wide for a human mouth, the corners hinting at hidden sharpness beneath the surface. His voice didn't reach me through the water like normal sound - instead, it vibrated directly through my bones, resonating in my marrow. "If you want to live, stop glowing."
The command thrummed through me, setting every nerve alight even as my mind scrambled to process his words.
Behind us, the Leviathan's spawn answered my fading bioluminescence with shrieks that turned the water viscous with their hunger. Their cries seemed to snap him into action, his grip tightening on my wrist as he assessed the approaching threat. The mask began reforming over his face, the coral tendrils knitting back together even as he pulled me deeper into safety, away from the creatures drawn to my fading light like moths to a flame.
He moved with the inexorable certainty of the tide, his powerful form cutting through the water as if the crushing depths offered no resistance at all. Before I could protest, he pressed a gelatinous creature against the sensitive skin of my neck. The parasite adhered instantly, its translucent tendrils burrowing painlessly beneath my scales. I gasped as my bioluminescence dimmed to near-nothing, the vibrant pink glow that had made me so visible fading to a faint shimmer. "Temporary," he murmured, his voice vibrating through the water and straight into my bones. "But necessary." Without pausing, he arrowed past me with startling speed, his body uncoiling like a released spring as he caught Cho's limp form before it could tumble further into the abyss.
I watched, transfixed, as he produced a vial of swirling silver liquid from some hidden fold of his strange, seamless clothing. The substance glittered like mercury as he injected it into Cho's neck, her body jerking slightly at the contact. "She clings to life," he said, his voice carrying an odd note of respect. "Barely." Then he was at my side again, his broad palm pressing against the small of my back as he guided us deeper into the trench. The heat radiating from his skin was shocking in the frigid darkness, a living furnace that fought back the abyssal chill threatening to seep into my bones. "Keep your eyes on me," he commanded, and though every instinct told me to be wary, I found myself obeying without hesitation.
My CHIP chose that moment to glitch violently, its normally crisp display fracturing into jagged lines before resolving into a warning:
*" Subject identified: K'thal of the Forgotten. Former CHIP host. Status: Rogue. Danger: Immeasurable. Recommendation: Fleabyss
The words pulsed red in my vision, an insistent alarm that should have sent me kicking for the surface. But as I met K'thal's mercury-bright eyes, saw the way the water itself seemed to bend around his form,
I made a choice that surprised even me – I stayed. The danger he represented was undeniable, but in that moment, the promise of answers, of survival, outweighed the risk. So I followed him deeper into the abyss, my hand still tingling where his fingers had brushed against my scales.