A massive tentacle— thick as an ancient tree trunk and armored in glistening, obsidian-black scales— burst from the depths of the Dark Sea.
It rose like a monument of ruin, towering into the storm-lashed sky. Against the chaos and gloom, it loomed as an immense shadow, an extension of something far vaster buried below. Seawater streamed from its slick, coiled surface in heavy rivulets. Each droplet caught the pale blue light of the Mawshade's scales for a moment before vanishing into the dark.
Then, it fell.
Without warning and with terrifying speed, the monstrous limb came crashing down.
The Mawshade reacted instantly. It twisted its vast body with violent force. Its form coiled in an arc, and jerked them sideways with such suddenness that Maya's stomach flipped. The tentacle struck the water just behind them with a force that could seemingly level cities. The impact sent a monstrous explosion of black brine skyward.
The wave slammed into the two Dreamers a heartbeat later.
Maya was nearly thrown from the serpent's back. The shock of the cold was absolute— bone-deep and suffocating. It stole the very air from her lungs, clawed through her soaked, battered Aegis like teeth. Her arms screamed with effort as she clung to the jagged spike of ice. Her fingers had gone white with strain, blood retreating from the chill.
But she held.
Because she had to.
Beside her, Cade clung on just as tightly. But while Maya had turned her head against the earlier blast, her eyes squeezed shut against the spray, Cade had been looking ahead. At the place where the towering tentacle had emerged from.
The weight of the moment was real, almost palpable. But Maya felt like it was nothing compared to what she saw flash in Cade's abyssal black eyes a heartbeat earlier. Just after the tentacle had struck, Cade hadn't succumbed to its force like her. No, his eyes had darkened beyond even the blackness of the Dark Sea.
Whatever line Shroudkeeper thought there was, it had been crossed. And now, he was... livid, no other word for it.
Beneath the fear and the exhaustion, Maya herself was seething.
But she could not do anything. And neither could Cade. Not against the Corrupted monstrosity they were facing.
The Mawshade was still reeling from the evasive twist. It began to right itself. The elongated body of the serpent curled violently.
But the nightmare wasn't done.
The tentacle withdrew in a slow, coiling slither— only to rise again.
It breached the water in a silent, towering ascent, framed by mist and storm. It hovered, high above them now, poised like a blade above a condemned neck. Its scales gleamed wetly, catching the dim, flickering light of the Mawshade's glow. And then it paused, motionless, as if savoring the moment.
Maya's breath caught. Her heart slammed against her ribs.
They wouldn't survive another strike like that. The Mawshade had already spent its one desperate dodge. It wouldn't be able to dodge for a second time.
There was no time to run.
No...
But just as the tentacle began to descend, it faltered.
Mid-strike, it hesitated. Its movement jerked slightly, as though something invisible had gripped it midair.
What…?
Maya's eyes snapped to Cade.
He was staring at the leviathan's appendage with grim focus, unmoving. The storm howled around them. Wind and water battered their frozen grips. But his eyes remained fixed— black and bottomless, like wells cut into night itself. No fear. No doubt. Just unshakable, unspoken defiance.
And then, Maya understood.
Cade had felt fear moments ago— raw and bone-deep, just like she had. But now, that fear no longer lingered in him. It had left him… and latched onto the ancient leviathan instead.
Whatever foul instinct ruled the thing in the depths, it had recoiled.
Terror had devoured it.
But Maya knew it wouldn't last.
Hesitation was not surrender. And if they waited, if they gambled even a second longer, they'd be torn to pieces.
"Go," she hissed to the Mawshade, voice nearly lost in the wind. "Now."
The serpent didn't need further command. It wheeled its immense form around the frozen tentacle, frost trailing from its snout as it carved a wide arc through the roiling dark. But suddenly, the waters churned violently beneath them, disturbed by more than just motion.
Because the abomination was not finished.
Another tentacle rose from the abyss of the Dark Sea— then another. Then a third. Their colossal forms broke the surface like black towers, shining wet in the Mawshade's glow. The sea boiled. The darkness trembled with the wake of something immense stirring below.
The leviathan was awake now. Awake and angry.
The Mawshade roared, its cry high and piercing, not of fear but of fury. Icy mist billowed from its maw in torrents. It froze the very air as it thrashed through the rising gauntlet of limbs.
Maya and Cade held fast, their bodies jolted by every lurch, every spin. The serpent twisted violently. It dodged one sweeping limb only to be forced between two others. The Echo's movements were desperate, barely scraping past annihilation. The tentacles came from every direction. Each of them swayed with intent, hunting.
Maya's mind reeled.
There was no plan. No strategy.
No escape.
Not here. Not in the heart of the Dark Sea.
The tentacles closed in.
They were slowed, yes— dulled by Cade's innate aura of fear— but they were still relentless, still deliberate. The thing beneath the surface wasn't just striking. It was watching. Playing. Like a child teasing an insect before the final blow.
Maya's heart slammed against her ribs. Her breath came in shallow gasps, ragged and fast. Cold water soaked through her armor. Her cauterized wound throbbed with agony and yet, she barely noticed.
Amidst the chaos, her gaze darted to Cade— his eyes locked onto the writhing limbs, his jaw clenched tight with unspent fury. One hand remained firm on the Voidfang's hilt, but they both knew— steel and will wouldn't be enough against this thing.
"If the way cannot be found, we will carve it from the abyss..." Cade muttered, his voice nearly lost beneath the roar of the Sea.
Maya narrowed her eyes sharply, not sure if she'd heard him right. Was he really dropping movie lines in the middle of this hell?!
"What?!" she yelled, her voice raw against the storm.
Cade met her eyes. Something had changed in his gaze— his black irises seemed deeper, as though something was staring out from within him now.
Something cold and quiet… and murderous.
What the hell is he thinking now? Maya cursed internally— just as the Mawshade reared again, dodging another monstrous limb and hurling her into another spray of stinging brine.
After a beat, Cade shouted, "We're no match for it, Maya! But this thing— it's not the only monster down here! There have to be others. We need to turn one against the other. Pit it against something its own damn size!"
Maya's stomach twisted.
She understood instantly. And the understanding brought no comfort.
"But how the hell are we supposed to do that?!" she screamed back. "We're about to be squished!"
Cade's eyes flicked to the gap between two rising tentacles. Both of them were still sluggish with the remnants of his unnatural fear. That gap wouldn't last, though. Gritting his teeth, Cade turned back to her, drenched and determined.
"I've got a plan!" he said. "But it depends— how long can you hold out here alone?"
Maya blinked at him. Once. Twice. And then again.
"What?" she muttered to herself, half in disbelief.
She kept staring at him, hoping he'd flinch. Joke. Laugh in the face of certain death. But he didn't. The look in his eyes was dead serious.
Eventually, a hoarse laugh tore from her throat, swallowed by the churning storm and limbs around them.
"Gods... you really are serious! Of course, you are. What else did I expect from a braindead lunatic?!"
But beneath the biting sarcasm was something else. Something steadier. Something that trusted him.
"You really think you can pull it off?!" she asked, her voice barely carrying over the roar.
"I won't know till I try," Cade answered. His voice no longer shook.
Maya stared for a second longer, then sighed and looked away.
"You'd better not die on me," she muttered. "I did save your sorry ass, remember...?"
She gripped the Mawshade's icy ridge tighter, bracing herself as the serpent writhed beneath her. Black water surged all around. The world screamed.
"Alright," she said. "Go. I've got this!"
Cade hesitated— but only for a moment.
Then, without another word, he turned and leapt from the serpent's back, vanishing into the churning black below.
***
The Dark Sea churned and screamed around Cade as he plunged into its abyssal depths. It welcomed him like a grave. Black waves crashed overhead. The remnants of the storm ripped across the surface, sending roaring winds and fractured spray down into the blackness below.
If Cade's gaze could pierce the veil of darkness, he would've seen lightning lick across the churning starless void. Its pale reflections danced over the violent waves before being swallowed by the suffocating dark.
The titanic tentacles of the ancient leviathan loomed. They writhed through the frigid air like the limbs of a long forgotten god reaching down from the sky above, as if trying to remind the mortal realms that it wasn't dead yet.
From below, their scale was surreal— vast silhouettes veiled in layers of darkness. The icy blackness of the Dark Sea swallowed Cade whole. The water was thick, suffocating, and every stroke felt like wading through tar. Above him, the chaos of the struggle between the Echo, Maya and the towering tentacles of the ancient leviathan grew smaller.
He cut deeper, and the dim glow above vanished altogether.
The water was thick, viscous— more like liquid shadow than sea. It clawed at him with every stroke, trying to drag him under. The cold stabbed through his armor like knives.
Moving through the black waters, the pressure building in Cade's lungs exceeded that which he could bear. He tried to claw his way up through the darkness, hoping to break the surface to finally breathe. But he'd moved too deep. In his struggle to find a way out of the chaos, he'd delved too far into the abyssal depths.
He could no longer hold his breath.
So, without fully in control of his own body, he breathed in deeply.
He'd expected the black waters to rush into his mouth, his nose, his lungs and choke him to death.
But strangely enough... it didn't.
In fact, Cade found that he could breathe just fine inside the darkness of the the Dark Sea.
What...? he thought, bewildered.
Cade didn't know if it was some enchantment of the Ebonveil Plate that allowed him to breathe underwater. Or if it was the very nature of the Dark Sea itself.
He was more inclined to believe it was the latter.
After all, the Dark Sea was a sea full of True Darkness. And Cade was Stygian— a vessel for True Darkness. Adding to that was the fact that he was an Abyssbreather. So, it would only make sense that he'd be able to breathe inside what was essentially his natural element.
Even still, all of that was irrelevant at the moment. He could breathe. And that was good news. He'd look into the specific reasons later. Right now, there were more pressing matters to attend to.
Now that he could breathe, Cade decided to dive even deeper. His breath came slow and measured, but every cell in his body screamed in protest. He forced himself to stay focused.
He couldn't afford to be afraid. Not yet. Not now.
Fear was his weapon, yes, but right now, he couldn't afford to let it seep out.
Because if he did, the horrors he was trying to find would ignore him. Normally, that would be a very desirable outcome. But right now, he needed to be noticed— needed to draw something far worse than the already present leviathan to their location.
Stay cool, he repeated internally. You're gonna make it. Maya's gonna make it.
He knew his plan was reckless; it was borderline suicidal, but it was their only chance. If he was alone, he could have avoided the tentacles by dissolving into his Darkness, or by making use of his Innate Ability.
But Maya had no such options. Her blizzard was all but useless against the ancient horrors of the Dark Sea. Adding to that was the fact that she was already exhausted, battered and broken. Without the serpent's Echo, she wouldn't be able to swim through the black waters for long.
Cade could somehow envelop himself and Maya in the Darkness, if they could swim by themselves, but a creature as massive as the ice-clad Echo? That was simply out of the question. Not to mention the fact that the Echo seemed to exude some kind of dim glow. So, it was impossible to remain unnoticed while moving on top of it.
The icy snake, for all its strange powers, was no match for the ancient leviathan though. No, Cade needed something bigger, something fiercer, to turn the tide.
Cade swam even deeper. Finally, he felt like he moved through the gap between the two massive tentacles that were towering above him and Maya mere moments ago.
His chest ached. Not just from the pressure, but from the bitter taste of memory. That feeling of helplessness he'd felt earlier, during the battle against the Mawshade— it was still stark in his bones. He hated it. He hated every second of it.
He had promised himself that he would never feel that kind of weakness again. Not ever. He'd carve a path through hell itself before giving in to something as pathetic as fragility.
But just like always, Fate had decided otherwise.
It had led him into the presence of an abomination so steeped in dreadful power that any ordinary Sleeper would have crumbled beneath its mere existence. He'd only just resolved to never bow to anything's power ever again— only to be met with the very embodiment of overwhelming force.
Fate truly had a twisted sense of irony.
Still, Cade wasn't one to bow easily. No, he was an anomaly. He was the very definition of different. Both he and Maya were. So, he would not let his resolve crumble so swiftly. The vow he had sworn to himself echoed through him like a second heartbeat.
If Fate truly wants us dead... then it'll have to try harder.
The deeper Cade dove, the heavier the Sea became. It wasn't just water anymore— it was thoughtless, ancient malevolence. The Sea was watching him; it was a living thing, after all. It was feeling him. Its pressure pressed into his skull, into his lungs, as if whispering promises of surrender. He felt like he was swimming through his own Abyssal Void, his own Darkness made manifest.
Still, Shroudkeeper pressed on.
The Ebonveil Plate clung to him like a second skin, its unknown enchantments somehow lightening his body in the water. It was helping him float— helping him rise, when all else pulled him down. When Cade sensed the seafloor looming too close, he pushed upward with everything he had. His legs burned, his muscles screamed but he refused to yield.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, his head broke the surface of the black water and he looked back in the direction where he had come from. The silhouette of the abominable leviathan's tentacles loomed in the distance, made apparent by the dim glow of the snake Echo's icy scales.
Maya... he prayed internally. Please, stay alive.
With that, he took a deep breath and steadied his mental state. The most dangerous part was about to come. He pushed his hands above his head, his legs flailing to keep him afloat. That wasn't much too difficult. The Ebonveil Plate seemed to make him lighter in the water.
With a final breath, Cade summoned two Memories into his two outstretched hands.
First was the Radiant Eye, and second was the Flameheart Forge.
As soon as the black, abyssal orb dropped into his left hand, his surroundings were lit up with a bright red glow. As the compact, dark brazier with an eerie blue flame materialized into his right one, the light surrounding him only grew brighter. Then, he breathed out a wisp of Darkness and covered the Radiant Eye in it. As soon as he did, the glow turned twice as bright.
He also felt a slight tug at the back of his mind. It was his Flaw. Maya was far away, so the Flaw was no longer suppressed. But he banished the feeling easily enough. He'd built up enough resistance to not succumb to such meagre pulls of rage.
Cade held the Memories aloft. The light cut through the darkness like a beacon. He waited, his heart pounding, his senses on high alert. The fear was there, gnawing at the edges of his mind, but he pushed it down. He couldn't afford to radiate it now. He needed to be seen.
Come on, you fuckers... he thought desperately, gritting his teeth. Don't you dare ignore me now.
It didn't take long. The Sea answered his plea almost immediately.
The water around him began to shift, a subtle current that grew stronger with each passing second. Cade's grip tightened on the Radiant Eye and the Flameheart Forge as he felt the presence of something massive approaching. The darkness seemed to thicken. The pressure in the water increased until it felt like the Sea itself was alive.
Then, in the next moment, Cade felt it. Truly felt it.
______________________________
No thoughts today... I'm busy asl. Barely got time to review and refine this chapter before publishing.
If you got anything to say, I'm listening...
Anyway, hope you liked it! Until next time, people! :]