My eyes shot open once again. They stung like a thousand needles, and terror gripped my chest as the realization crashed over me like an icy wave—I couldn't breathe. I gasped, my mouth wide open in desperate search of air, but all that greeted my greedy lungs was frigid, salty water.
I was in the sea.
All around me, the endless deep blue stretched into infinity, a vast, muted canvas of despair. Hope flickered in the back of my mind; surely, the surface wasn't too far above. Instinctively, I closed my eyes, fighting to prevent the burning sensation from overwhelming me.
Panic seized my body, and I flailed my arms, willing them to propel me upwards. Yet they felt heavy and unresponsive, as if shackled by the very water that threatened me. UP. Which way was up? Struggling to visualize my position, I fought against the weight of the ocean pressing down on me, but my limbs remained unyielding. My mouth flapped open and closed like a fish out of water, each breath a futile attempt against the unrelenting current.
Minutes ticked by in agonizing silence, the cold water invading every orifice, draining the life from my body. Finally, at long last, I felt my right hand begin to move slightly, breaking through the fog of paralysis. But it was too late.
The unceasing flow of water had caused my airways to contract instinctively. I managed to close my mouth, but any trace of oxygen within had long fled, leaving me gasping for something that would never come. I had no energy left to thrash about; I was simply floating in the deep blue. Hope ebbed away like the tide, surrendering to the inevitable darkness that loomed in the shadows of my heart.
My heartbeat slowed—far slower than any living thing should pulse. Minutes turned into eternities as I drifted deeper into unconsciousness. My head drooped onto my chest, and my hands floated limply beside me. Blue hues began to paint my skin, a sign of the life slipping quietly away. My body convulsed one last time before it succumbed to stillness, crossing the threshold into whatever lay beyond.
In the boundless void, a strange memory flickered in my mind, a side view of myself—naked, vulnerable, marred with a circular scar etched into my stomach, that damned eagle.
Then, out of that eerie stillness, a shadow emerged. A predator, moving gracefully through the dark waters—a Megalodon. My heart raced even in death as I recalled tales of this ancient creature, a distant relative of the great white shark. It was said to reach lengths over sixty feet, with teeth sharp enough to sever flesh and bone with ease.
Drawn by the scent of my blood, which had diffused into the water during my futile struggle, the colossal beast swam closer. Its massive body undulated rhythmically, cutting through the depths with an elegance that belied its terrifying power. As I hovered in between the realms of life and death, my corpse twitched involuntarily, the final echoes of a struggle past.
The cavernous maw of the Megalodon widened, revealing rows of glistening teeth sharper than knives, glinting like obsidian under the dim light filtering through the waves. With a sudden surge, the titan propelled itself toward me, its tail sweeping through the water with hypnotic grace, closing the distance between predator and prey.
Boom.
The world went silent as its jaws snapped shut. My lifeless body slipped into the cavernous belly of the beast, absorption into the primordial abyss. Here, I would cease to exist in the mortal realm, devoured by the embodiment of nature's raw fury. Yet, beneath that despair lay an unexpected acceptance. In death, I became part of the cycle, interwoven with the very essence of this ancient predator, a whisper in the depths of the ocean—eternal, silent, and free.
As the darkness embraced me, a final thought echoed in my mind: perhaps in this surrender, I would find peace among the currents, a fragment of my spirit forever entwined with the unsung songs of the sea.