The descent is slow and inevitable, a surrender to the crushing dark.
I drift down toward the smoking black vents. I drift down toward the Shell.
The main opening approaches. The erratic blue light spills out onto the white sand below, a beacon in the suffocating dark.
And then, movement.
Two distinct figures emerge from the glowing shell.
One figure is larger, though not by much, and heavily scarred. It is not the Great White. It is the familiar monster of the trench.
The other figure is lean. He possesses hair resembling spilled ink in the dark water. He wears a shredded mesh vest catching the blue vent-light.
Vaelis.
He is alive.
He swims beside the shark, his lean body moving with an ease that defies the crushing pressure of the abyss. The deep water should have pulverized his delicate bones, but he is unharmed. No dark poison courses through his veins, yet the ocean's weight ignores him completely. He wears no chains, shows no signs of a struggle, no fear of the beast at his side.
He holds the monster's hand.
My altered heart stutters in my chest.
No. The denial remains trapped in my frozen throat.He's fully charmed you. The beast broke your mind.
The two figures stop swimming. They look up into the dark water.
My descending body catches their attention.
I must look like a terrible nightmare to them. I am a betta-mer floating rigid as a corpse in the deep. My dark eyes are wide and black. My hardened skin shines a bruised, unnatural violet hue from the toxic draught.
Vaelis recoils in horror. He darts behind the shark.
He seeks protection from me. He uses the monster as a shield.
The shark swims forward. He puts his body between Vaelis and my descending form. He looks up at my paralyzed face.
The monster does not look angry. He does not look triumphant or feral.
He looks sad.
He turns his head. He says something silent to Vaelis. He uses his scarred hands. He makes strange, sharp gestures in the water.
Vaelis shakes his head in refusal. He points an accusing finger at my rigid body. He looks furious.
Leave her to sink,he is saying to the beast. The betrayal burns in his golden eyes.
I want to scream my defense.I did this for you! I drank poison to save your life!
But the abyss has stolen my voice. I am nothing but heavy debris in the cold current, a betrayal frozen in my limbs.
The shark shakes his head, a slow motion that sends dark tendrils of hair floating around his face. He refuses the prince's silent command and pushes off the white sand. He swims up toward my sinking body.
The monster approaches.
He is terrifying up close, a solid wall of dense muscle and jagged scars that catch the blue light of the vents. I know he could snap my paralyzed spine with one hand.
He reaches out for me.
