Epics of Noche 4, Asylum

EON CH 16

GOLDEN PEARL.

1777, APRIL 03rd, SUNDAY 12:45pm.

Contrary to the previous room, the stairwell was no pitch black. In fact, it was almost the opposite as it was lit up by a golden light from higher up.

"I don't remember any part of the asylum being this bright," Noche commented.

"We should proceed with caution," Boots grumbled.

"Mmm Keep hope," Baxter said. "SommMme steps mmMmight be darker than others, but w-weee should keep climmMmbing."

Noche approached the water-covered stairs and ascended. After a few minutes of traveling, she located the source of the light. A massive porthole window a few stories big; it made her look like an infant. However, it was what was on the other side that was illuminating the room. Floating in the black abyss was a behemoth anglerfish.

"Oy, oy, oy! Don't ell me that's one ov their experiments!" Timmy stammered.

"No creature gets that bi-bi-big naturally," Baxter said.

The giant sea creature floated in place. Unmoving and staring into the window, as if guarding the stairwell. After a brief pause, Noche continued up the stairs.

"No-Noche! What are you doing!" Timmy shouted.

"What? It's on the other side of the window," she said. "It's not like it can stop us. Not if this asylum is as invincible as the Grave brothers make it out to be."

"Yah, but that's a window – not DriveMetal," he said. "If that thing breaks, we'll all drown! Even if yah swim out there, we're so far below the surface yah'd suffocate before reaching the halfway point."

Noche stopped at the window and stared at the giant anglerfish. The two seemed to lock eyes as a glint of purple whizzed past her.

The massive sea creature floated back away from the window, shadows shifting around the room as the light from the antenna grew more distant. It charged forward and slammed into the glass – spiderweb cracks formed as water poured out by the gallon.

"Run!" Timmy shouted.

The gray-haired man didn't wait for anyone to respond, he took to the stairs and flew past Noche, Baxter turned back the way he came.

"The prisoners! The doo-door protecting them is gone!"

"Baxter no!" Noche shouted.

She ran back down and grabbed Baxter.

"There's no time, we have to—"

The giant anglerfish slammed into the glass again and it exploded. Noche reacted fast enough to throw the bear man up the stairs, where Timmy managed to catch him. However, she couldn't avoid the open maw of the massive deep sea fish. It swallowed her as intense water pressure restrained every inch of her body.

Everything went pitch black and she slammed into something meaty as the anglerfish started swimming. The brine stung her eyes, and her ears popped the moment she was submerged. However, she could tell the fish was swimming down. Going deeper into this ocean's abyss.

Noche held her breath but she didn't get much air to begin with. The further down they went the more the pressure on her body increased – yet she didn't let it distract her. She summoned a left arm made of corruption. White fire erased a hole in the giant fish's head, causing it to twitch and die.

The blonde swam out of the new opening as her lungs began to burn. If it wasn't for her incredible augment, the immense water pressure would have crushed her into the size of a golf ball. Still, it caused tremendous strain on her body and it was difficult to move.

She looked all around but there was no light here; no way to distinguish up from down. Noche couldn't even make out where the asylum tower was. Only one thing caught her eye, what appeared to be a sinking wooden galleon ship. She could barely make out the plaque on its side.

"Golden Pearl? That can't be right," she thought. "That ship sank over a century ago. How deep are these waters?"

A dim gold light caught Noche's eye. She looked down expecting to see the anglerfish somehow still alive, however, the carcass was in a different spot from the light. Then the golden glow became two, which became four, which became dozens. As the lights grew closer Noche could make out hundreds of needle-like teeth bunched together in the swarm of approaching giant anglerfish.

They all had their mouths open and were all swimming straight toward her. She tried to swim up in a vain attempt to outpace her pursuers, but it was all for naught. They were rapidly approaching, and she couldn't even make out where the asylum was. As the air in her lungs turned to fire something large moved within the depths.

Like a kite in a hurricane Noche was thrown around – she couldn't make out what had happened. However, when she had stopped spinning, she could make out all the anglerfish were gone. In their place was a large red cloud, and the faintest sight of some gargantuan snake or tentacle.

Then her eyes widened when she saw something open a mouth large enough to treat a cruise liner like a pill. Each tooth was the size of a mountain and there were rows upon rows of them like a shark. The size was beyond comprehension, she was an ant next to this thing. The mouth retreated further into the dark depths until it vanished somewhere in the abyss.

"Fuck that," she thought.

Her air was at its limit and the edges of her vision were starting to go dark. She still couldn't find the asylum and without the glow of the anglerfish's antenna, it was pitch black down here. The familiar feeling of death started to hang over her. If she didn't do something, she was going to die, and risk losing her revenge against the Grave brothers.

As if acting on its own her mind concentrated on the sight of the stairs. The location she was at before the anglerfish broke the glass. As darkness crept into the edge of her vision there was a flash of gold surrounded by black mist. However, this time rather than her sword appearing, the entire world changed.

She was still underwater, but the pressure had decreased dramatically and she could see the stairwell. With her augmented super strength she swam to the surface and took in a life-giving breath of air. Water was filling this room with incredible speed and it had almost reached the top. There Baxter and Timmy were waiting frantically by the locked door.

"Oy Baxter, urry it up! This water is as cold as the warden's heart and I don't wanna die in the cold."

"I'mmMm trying, but if easy to pick these locks, we would've done it ages ago."

"Are you sure you've done this before Baxy?" Noche said. "You're looking a little wet behind the ears."

Baxter smiled and turned to the blonde.

"Yuuur alive!"

Noche grinned and walked towards the door. She raised a left arm made of corruption towards the metal.

"H-Hold it!" Timmy shouted. "If ya melt the whole door, the water will follow after us. Just melt the lock so we can close the door behind us."

The blonde nodded, raised her pointer finger, and jabbed it into the locking mechanism. With that she swung the door open, all three of them ran inside, and Noche slammed the door shut. Barely a second later water began pouring threw the small hole in the metal.

Noche stood up and turned to the group with a smile plastered on her face. It dropped when she noticed there were only three of them here.

"Baxy... Where's Boots?"

The bear man was caught off guard. He searched around before locking eyes with Noche again.

"Wa-Wasn't he with yuu?"

Noche's eyes went wide as a puddle of water reached her feet.