Chapter 2: Echoes in the Deep
A static crackled through the comms, distorting Tobias's voice as he murmured, "No way…" His hands hovered over the controls, fingers tense.
Elise barely registered him; her focus was locked on the impossible structures materializing in the abyssal dark.
Stone towers, their surfaces worn smooth by time, rose from the ocean floor like spectral sentinels. Some stood tall and unbroken, while others leaned at unnatural angles, crumbling relics of a forgotten age. Strange carvings lined their surfaces, twisting in patterns that seemed almost… alive.
A chill prickled along Elise's spine. Her breath fogged against the glass as she leaned closer. "It's not just ruins," she whispered. "There's something—"
The flicker returned. A shape glided between the structures, too fast for the lights to catch. Not a trick of the current. Not a fish.
Tobias cursed under his breath. "Something's moving down here." His voice was sharper now, the skepticism stripped away. "Tell me you saw that."
"I saw it," Elise confirmed, her pulse quickening.
The submersible's floodlights swept over the city again, and for a fleeting moment, she swore she saw a doorway—an entrance carved into the largest tower. Beyond it, darkness yawned, thick and impenetrable.
"We need to get closer," she said.
Tobias shot her a look. "Are you insane? We don't know what's in there."
"That's exactly why we have to go." Elise's voice was firm. "This isn't just ruins, Tobias. Something—someone—left this behind. And if we don't investigate, who will?"
Tobias exhaled sharply but didn't argue. With a reluctant nod, he adjusted the thrusters, angling the submersible toward the looming structure. The hum of the engines deepened as they drifted forward, the darkness closing around them.
The moment they crossed the threshold, every instrument on the sub went dead.
The lights. The controls. The comms.
Silence.
And then—
A whisper.
Not from the speakers.
From the water itself.