The underwater world around Marco grew colder and darker, and the deeper they descended, the more the pressure seemed to build. His breath came in quick, short gasps, the air in his tank feeling thinner with every passing second. The faint glow of their diving lights flickered against the darkened waters, illuminating only the shadows of rocks and distant figures. But something felt off. Something was waiting, just beyond their reach, lurking in the silence of the abyss.
Marco's hand gripped his comms, but there was no response. Julian's voice, once a comforting presence in the back of his mind, was gone. He looked around, eyes scanning the depths. But in the suffocating silence, he couldn't see his partner.
"Julian?" Marco whispered into the comms, but there was only static. He cursed under his breath, kicking his fins harder, his body cutting through the water with urgency.
And then, as if summoned by his desperation, the light from his torch flickered once more. The beam wavered and then steadied, piercing the darkness ahead.
But it wasn't just darkness. The water had begun to glow—a soft, eerie luminescence that pulsed rhythmically, like a heartbeat. It was the entity. Marco could feel it, like an electric charge in the water, crawling beneath his skin. The sensation was overwhelming, both foreign and familiar at the same time.
His heart pounded in his chest. His instincts screamed at him to turn back, to surface and get the hell out of there. But he couldn't stop. He had to understand what was happening. Had to see it with his own eyes.
And then he saw it.
A massive, dark shape moved through the glowing waters ahead of him, its form shifting and changing like it was made of the water itself. Tendrils—long, slithering, and impossibly intricate—reached out from the shape, writhing in the current, almost as if sensing his presence.
The air around Marco seemed to crackle, thick with the weight of a thousand unspoken thoughts, a pulse that reverberated through the water like a call. The entity was waiting for them. It was calling them, drawing them in with an invisible force.
Marco felt a sudden pressure on his chest, the water growing heavier around him, as if the ocean itself was trying to hold him down. He kicked harder, but the pressure was suffocating.
Then, out of the swirling depths, Julian appeared. His figure, though blurred by the thick water, seemed to materialize out of nowhere. Marco's relief was short-lived.
Julian's face was pale, his eyes wide with terror. He reached out, grabbing Marco's arm with a force that startled him.
"Get out, Marco!" Julian's voice crackled through the comms, barely audible above the buzzing hum that filled the water. "You have to leave—"
But Marco couldn't hear the rest of the sentence. The glowing light surrounding them grew brighter, pulsing faster, and suddenly, the tendrils shot out from the depths toward them. The water seemed to thicken, warping in impossible ways as the entity moved, responding to their presence like it was alive—aware.
"No!" Julian shouted again, pulling Marco back with all his strength. But it was too late.
Before Marco could react, the tendrils wrapped around them. The world went still, the pressure becoming unbearable. His body was dragged toward the center of the entity's glowing form, and for a brief, terrifying moment, Marco thought he might be crushed under the weight of it.
Then, a voice—no, not a voice, a thought—slammed into Marco's mind. It wasn't just words, but a feeling. An overwhelming sensation that washed over him like a wave, crashing into every part of his being.
Join us.
The thought was clear, undeniable, and the voice was everywhere, inside his mind, in his heart, in the very essence of his existence. It wasn't speaking to him. It was merging with him. Becoming part of him.
Become part of us.
The glow intensified as the tendrils coiled around Marco and Julian, tugging at their limbs, pulling them deeper into the heart of the entity. The pressure was suffocating, but at the same time, Marco felt an inexplicable pull, an urge to give in. To let go of everything that was holding him back.
But then, the thought shattered. A distant memory, a flash of Julian's voice calling to him from the surface, broke through the haze. The fear, the urgency—it was a tether that pulled him back to reality.
This is not you, Marco thought, fighting against the pull of the entity. You are not part of this.
With every ounce of strength, he wrenched his arm free, his heart hammering in his chest as he fought against the tendrils that tried to drag him deeper. The entity's thoughts wrapped tighter around him, a siren song urging him to stay. But Marco fought back. No. I will not become part of this.
He reached out for Julian, who was still struggling against the tightening grip of the tendrils. The pressure in the water was becoming unbearable, the pulse of the entity's energy vibrating through their very bones. But there was something in Julian's eyes—something that made Marco realize they weren't completely lost.
He extended his arm, grabbing Julian's wrist with a fierce determination. We have to escape, Julian. Now.
With everything they had, Marco and Julian kicked their legs, propelling themselves upward, away from the heart of the entity. The water seemed to fight them, but they fought harder, their minds focused on nothing but the surface above them.
The light around them began to dim as they ascended, the tendrils retreating, unwilling to let them go. The voice—the thought—pulsed one last time in their minds, but it was weaker now, fading as they swam faster.
Finally, they broke the surface, gasping for air, the boat waiting just a few feet away. Marco reached out, pulling Julian up onto the deck as the boat sped toward them, the engine roaring in the silence of the night.
The cove was far behind them now, but the weight of what had happened lingered. The entity, the thing beneath the surface, was not gone. It was still there, deep in the water. Watching. Waiting.
"We can't go back," Marco said, his voice hoarse from the dive. "We've seen too much."
Julian nodded, his eyes haunted. "We have to tell someone."
Marco shook his head. "They already know, Julian. Whoever's behind Project Leviathan. They've been watching us for years."
The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. They had just scratched the surface of something far bigger. Something they couldn't control.
They were part of something now. And that something was not going to let them go.