One shots

The Deep - Beyond the Abyss

The water pressed around me, thick and heavy, as I drifted further into the darkness. The glow of the Aronnax was a distant memory now, its lights fading into the inky black. All that remained was the soft hum of the suit and the faint beam of my helmet light cutting through the void.

I wasn't alone, though. Fontaine was right beside me, her figure a steady presence in the dark ocean. I glanced over at her, her calm breathing through the communicator echoing in my ears. It always amazed me how she could stay so composed. While my heart raced with excitement and a bit of fear, Fontaine seemed focused, calculating—always in control.

"Are you sure this is safe?" I asked, my voice coming out more nervous than I intended.

"Safe?" Fontaine's voice crackled through the communicator, a hint of amusement in her tone. "We're hundreds of meters deep in an uncharted trench, searching for a creature no one's seen in centuries. How could it not be safe?"

I could hear her smirk through the comms. Typical Fontaine. Always the one to poke fun at my cautiousness, even though she was just as curious as me. Maybe more.

"We're getting close," she added, her tone becoming more serious as she adjusted the controls on her suit. "The last reading was just ahead."

I swallowed, adjusting my own suit as we drifted forward. The sonar scan we'd picked up had been strange—anomalous, Dad said. But I knew what it really meant. It meant we were about to find something no one else had, something hidden deep beneath the ocean that had been waiting for us.

The thrill of discovery washed over me, pushing aside the nerves. This was why I loved being out here, why I craved the unknown. Exploring the deep was like unraveling a mystery, one layer at a time. And now, with Fontaine by my side, we were on the verge of cracking open the biggest one yet.

"Look!" Fontaine's voice snapped me back to the present.

My eyes followed her beam of light, scanning the dark waters ahead. At first, I didn't see anything—just more murky depths. But then, slowly, a shape began to emerge from the darkness, huge and ghostly pale, like a shadow moving beneath the surface.

My heart skipped a beat.

"Is that...?" I whispered, trailing off as the creature came into full view.

It was massive, its body moving with a slow, deliberate grace that sent a shiver down my spine. Tentacles, long and sleek, undulated through the water, glowing faintly as if lit from within. Its eyes—two dark, enormous orbs—seemed to peer through the depths, watching us as we watched it.

"The Kraken," Fontaine breathed, her voice filled with awe.

I couldn't speak. We'd heard the legends, of course. Stories of the Kraken, the ancient guardian of the deep, passed down through generations. But seeing it now, face to face, I realized how much the stories had left out. There was something almost... majestic about it, something that made you feel small and insignificant in its presence.

It didn't move aggressively. It just hovered there, watching us, as if weighing our intentions.

"What do we do?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

Fontaine was silent for a moment, her eyes locked on the creature. Then she took a deep breath, her usual confidence returning. "We came all this way, Ant. We're not turning back now."

I couldn't help but smile. Of course. Fontaine was never one to back down from a challenge.

We drifted closer, cautiously, making sure not to startle it. The water around us seemed to hum with a strange energy, and I couldn't shake the feeling that the Kraken was more than just an animal. It felt... ancient. Like it had been here long before we ever set foot on the Aronnax, and would be here long after.

As we approached, one of its tentacles reached out, slowly curling toward us. I held my breath, every muscle in my body tensing. Was it going to attack? Should we retreat? But before I could panic, the tentacle stopped, hovering just inches away from us, as if waiting for something.

Fontaine extended her hand, her movements slow and deliberate. I watched, barely breathing, as her fingers brushed against the Kraken's glowing skin. There was a flash of light, brief and soft, like a ripple in the water, and I felt a strange warmth spread through the water around us.

The Kraken's eyes seemed to soften, its body relaxing as it hovered in the dark. I exhaled, the tension in my chest finally releasing.

"I think... it trusts us," Fontaine whispered, her voice filled with wonder.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The Kraken—this legendary creature—wasn't a threat. It was something far more incredible. It was a guardian, just like the stories had said. And for some reason, it had let us come this close.

"We have to tell Dad," I said, my voice shaking with excitement. "We found it, Fontaine! We actually found the Kraken!"

Fontaine grinned, her eyes sparkling with the same excitement. "Yeah, we did."

For a moment, we just floated there, staring at the creature as it slowly moved away, disappearing back into the dark abyss. The silence that followed was heavy, but it wasn't empty. It was full of the weight of everything we'd just seen, everything we'd just discovered.