Deepwoken: Divers

Breach: First Battle

Pakki and Faust were circling a half-collapsed wall, occasionally stabbing at a thresher on the other side.

"The damned... Thing... Just will NOT die!" Faust said as he repeatedly cut and stabbed at the creature.
Suddenly, the thresher stopped trying to attack and follow them, instead burrowing into the ground.
"It's gone into the ground again..." Pakki said, backing off. "....I have an idea.
He said as he signalled for Faust to follow him.The thresher dug underground at high speeds, smelling the two divers to know their location. It decided to go for Pakki, since he smelled of blood, however as it got below him, it realized something: There was no more ground. Faust was holding his greatsword out above the void, Pakki holding onto it with both hands bleeding. "OKAY, PULL ME BACK, PULL ME BACK!!" He exclaimed as the thresher fell into the void.
Once on the ground again, he began breathing heavily, picking his cleaver up.

They looked around, realizing they were the only survivors still outside.
"Oh god... We-We've got to get back inside." Pakki said as each creature they'd seen before was still after them, maybe even more had appeared.
Faust stopped him. "The black thing... It was invisible before..." He stayed quiet for a moment before jumping to the side as the alpha sharko revealed itself, trying to grab him. "Listen for it's footsteps!"
Pakki ran back towards the remains of Castle Light. Faust slowly backed up, parrying a few strikes from the sharko before jumping over the rubble and going to hide inside Castle Light.

Faust and Pakki found an empty room, locking themselves in. Pakki just stared out of a window, leaning on a chest beneath it.
Faust sighed. "We should get our wounds treated... All the black divers are out."
Pakki gritted his teeth, opening the chest to see if there was anything inside. "Hey..." He said still looking out the window. "You can see the light of the overworld from here..." He searched the chest, pulling out a dark red gem, unintentionally painting it in a bright coating of fresh blood. "I swear... On everyone that died here..." He took his cleaver and smashed a tiny hole through it. "I'm going to feel that light on me..." He ripped a piece of his diver clothing, putting it through the hole he made on the red gem. "...No matter what."
Faust narrowed his eyes at him a little. "Yeah yeah... Enough of the big talk, let's just get our wounds treated so that we don't bleed out like idiots..."
Pakki's hand shook a little. "This time for real... I wanted to sacrifice myself... But I lived... We nearly died to a single one of those things... One of the weaker ones... They'll break through the makeshift fortifications easily. So those people died... For nothing then, right?" He put on the red gem necklace he made. "I want this to be a remainder for myself. That I want to become strong. Really strong. So that no one has to die for no reason like this again..."

Faust looked at him, thinking back to the fight before smiling a little. "....Fuck it. I'll go with you. Out of here."
Pakki turned to look at him. "You know... It's basically a suicide mission, right?"
Faust wrapped both of their hands with ripped pieces of clothing to stop the bleeding before offering him a fist bump. "So what? I'll just beat the odds."
Pakki smiled. "Narcissistic as ever." He bumped his fist, both of their bandages stained with blood already.

"We should join the others." Pakki said. "They're probably deeper inside.. right?"
Faust shrugged. "Probably... Let's try going further."
Pakki slowly opened the door to the room they were in, spotting the deep owl they saw earlier.He looked at it for a moment before going back in the room. "The owl's still there..."
Faust thought for a moment. "Run to the other side."
Pakki narrowed his eyes. "I don't wanna be bait--"
"Just trust me." Faust answered.
"Fine... But if you get me killed, I swear.." Pakki reluctantly got ready, running to the other side of the hallway, hiding behind the wall. The owl heard him, slowly walking towards the wall.
Faust proceeded to make a loud noise in the room, the owl stopping and turning to look at that instead. And then it returned to approaching Pakki. As it got dangerously near, suddenly, there was another noise. This time, the owl turned towards Faust, going towards the room. Pakki saw his chance and ran into the second, main room that the owl was in, opening a door and hiding behind it, looking at the owl through the keyhole. The owl did not turn around, convinced there was someone in Faust's room - which another loud noise seemed to confirm.
Pakki's idea raced with ideas, thinking whether or not he should intervene, the owl's heavy footsteps acting as a clock counting back before it would catch Faust.
Just as the owl was about to reach the door, a small, orange flame came out from behind it, curving around the door.
It exploded with a bang, blinding the owl as Faust ran to the room opposite Pakki. The owl soon recovered, fast approaching the main room it was just in. It wasn't happy in the slightest.
Faust went inside the room opposite Pakki, taking his greatsword and slamming it into the wall facing the room he just ran out of, making the wall collapse.
The owl heard the noise and practically ran back to the room the pair were originally hiding it, assuming the noise came from there.

Faust and Pakki ran forward, deep into Castle Light. "What the hell was that...?!" Pakki demanded.
"I hit the wall a couple of times to weaken it... Then I broke it from the other side. Genius, I know." Faust responded.
"It's... Whatever, it worked..." Pakki shrugged, carefully opening the next door, leading into the last room of the castle. In there, sat tens of divers. As Colt and Gwen saw Pakki and Faust, they ran up to them, Gwen hugging onto them both, Colt laughing a little out of embarrassment.
"You are both. INSANE. Do you have ANY idea what I'd have done to you if you didn't come back?!" Gwen complained.
"Sorry, sorry..." Pakki sighed. "...Is this... All of us...?"
"No... There are still a bunch of us left in the other rooms, gathering our remaining supplies and all..." Colt responded.
Faust looked at a journeyman sat in the corner, hugging their knees. People weren't taking this lightly.
Gwen focused, doing a few handsigns before summoning a Deep Star. "Here... Rest up."
Faust and Pakki sat down next to it, slowly regenerating. They were used to it, Gwen specialized in using the Song to heal others and managed to develop a special version of this already difficult technique.

And thus, they were safe... For now. The four friends were the only ones who stayed up late. Sometimes crying together, sometimes laughing. They slept unknowing whether or not they'd wake up the next morning.