Chapter 10: The Awakening
The deep rumble grew—a vibration in the water, a pulse that sent a chill down Elise's spine. The giant whale and moss-covered turtle shifted, their glowing patterns flashing in urgent warnings.
Tobias swallowed hard. "Okay. Okay. So the whale and turtle are the landlords. What the hell is waking up now? The ocean's eviction notice?"
The Deep Elf ignored him, eyes fixed on the darkness beyond the temple's threshold. The carvings on the walls flared, symbols rearranging themselves in a frantic, shifting language. The whale let out another deep, resonating song—not just sound, but a message.
Elise felt the words in her bones.
"It rises. It should not rise. It must not rise."
The turtle, slow but deliberate, tilted its massive head toward Elise and Tobias, its moss-covered shell glowing brighter. The bioluminescent fungi pulsed like warning lights.
"Flee."
Then, from the depths of the city, something moved.
The temple walls shuddered. A great cloud of silt exploded outward as a shape unfurled from the abyss. A monstrous silhouette loomed beneath them, its sheer size making even the whale look small.
Tobias grabbed Elise's arm. "We need to GO."
Elise barely heard him. She was too busy staring at the glowing eyes emerging from the dark.
Not two. Not four. Dozens.
The Deep Elf exhaled sharply.
"It has awakened."
A serpentine body slithered forward, covered in twisting, chitinous plates that pulsed with sickly green light. A maw lined with spiraling teeth yawned open, revealing layer upon layer of something that should never exist.
The whale let out a thunderous call, the turtle's shell ignited in a bright, burning glow, and the Deep Elf raised their hands—symbols igniting like fire.
Elise gripped the controls of the submersible.
"Hold on!"
Tobias barely had time to yell before the entire city erupted into chaos.