I woke up in my cabin. I glanced at Alastia—she was still sleeping peacefully, and I decided not to wake her. I stepped out onto the deck and shivered. October in the north is a ti when the sun simply decides not to show up for work anymore. Around
was a pitch-black, dense darkness, barely pierced by the magical lanterns on the masts.
I walked to the very edge of the railing, peering into the black water. At one point, it seed to
that a strange call was coming from the depths. It was as if sothing massive and cold touched my consciousness.
Splash.
I lost my balance (or maybe just leaned over too far) and tumbled overboard. The icy water burned my skin, but I didn't even cry out, imdiately sinking into the depths. Down there, in the thickness of the ocean, I felt an alien presence.
Suddenly, soone's hand firmly squeezed my palm. I turned around. In the dim light emanating from my skin, I saw Alastia. She was in a single chemise, her hair loose and flowing in the water like tentacles. She put a finger to her temple and twirled it—her signature gesture aning, "Zenhald, you're an idiot."
I didn't argue, only pointed downward. And we swam.
eting in the Darkness
We descended lower and lower, to where sunbeams had not reached for thousands of years. The pressure built up, but magic held us. At the very bottom, I saw it. A huge, scaly beast was crawling slowly over the silt. It had a strange body—massive, covered in bone plates, with two powerful, unnaturally twisted legs right in the middle of its torso.
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I ignited a magical light in my hands to examine this wonder of nature. The beast turned sharply. Its eyes, devoid of pupils, flared with anger.
Where did such an abomination co from? flashed through my head.
Alastia didn't wait for explanations. She thrust her palm forward. BANG! Ten neat, through-and-through holes instantly riddled the monster's body. A thick, dark liquid poured from the wounds, but the beast didn't even slow down. Before my eyes, the flesh began to pull together, regenerating at a frantic speed.
I looked closer and noticed a pulsing crimson core inside its chest. Without hesitation, I concentrated energy into one short, precise strike. BA-BOOM! The core shattered into dust, and the beast instantly went limp, settling to the bottom as a lifeless heap of scales.
The Aftermath
We began our ascent. As soon as our heads broke the surface, I created a powerful flow of warm wind. A second later, we both stood on the deck, absolutely dry, as if we hadn't dived to the bottom of the ocean at all.
I sat on a bench, breathing heavily and contemplating what I had seen. Grimoire approached , wrapping himself in his cloak.
"What happened? I heard a noise under the water."
"If that was the sa monster you were talking about, we destroyed it," I replied, trying to speak confidently.
Grimoire sighed in relief, but I knew in my heart—that beast was no accident. And it was definitely not alone down there. There could be hundreds of such "gifts" in the depths.
"Well, alright," I thought, looking at the calm surface of the sea. "We'll deal with that later."
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