Chapter 3: The Drowned Whisper
Elise's breath hitched. The whisper wasn't static. It wasn't the ocean shifting around them. It was something else—something speaking.
Tobias slammed switches, his voice tight with panic. "Controls are unresponsive. We've lost power."
The submersible drifted forward, pulled by an unseen current. Beyond the glass, the ruins stretched endlessly, their twisted carvings writhing in the dim glow of their emergency lights. But it was the darkness inside the tower's entrance that swallowed Elise's attention.
The whispering grew louder.
It was not one voice, but many. Layered. Ancient. Calling.
"Elise," Tobias hissed. "We have to back out. Now."
She barely heard him. Her hand pressed against the cold glass, heart pounding in her chest. The whispering was not just sound. It was inside her head. A language she did not know yet somehow understood.
You have come.
You have seen.
Now you must listen.
A shadow passed in front of the entrance. Elise's stomach lurched. It was massive—a shape that moved unnaturally, limbs shifting like liquid. Not a fish. Not a shark. Something worse.
Tobias yanked her back. "Elise, snap out of it! We are leaving!"
The submersible jolted. The unseen current had become a force, pulling them in.
Tobias fought the controls, but the ship did not respond.
The darkness inside the tower swallowed them whole.
And then—
The whispering stopped.
A single voice, clear and cold, echoed through the void.
You are not the first.
The lights flickered, illuminating what waited inside.
Elise screamed.