The descent into the deepest regions of the Abyssal Trench showed the effects of the BloodGate on the underwater ecosystem. What should have been the coldest, darkest waters Grim had ever experienced were instead uncomfortably warm, heated by a gate that seemed to emanate from the very sea floor itself.
"This isn't natural," Lin said, her voice strained as she struggled to maintain her ice barriers in the elevated temperatures. "The water down here should be near freezing. Instead, it feels like a warm bath."
Suanni's flames, which had been flickering uncertainty in the chaotic environment above, now burned more steadily in the heated water. "The BloodGate's activation is affecting the entire Trench," he observed. "It's like someone lit a furnace at the bottom of the ocean."
