Round 258

The creature's hide glistened with a sickly light as it surfaced again, closer this time. Merrin stumbled backward, mace raised defensively even though she knew it was useless against such a foe. The thing that emerged was no mere beast—its form ancient beyond counting, skin glowing with an unnatural bioluminescence, eyes like chips of frozen starlight scattered across its hideous bulk.

It moved with impossible grace, muscles sliding beneath chitinous plates in ways flesh could never mimic. The water cascaded from its body as it rose, each droplet trailing slime that caught the torchlight and refracted it into something sickly and wrong.

Merrin's stomach twisted. She'd faced horrors before, but this... this was something else entirely. The thing had taken Varikka. Dragged her under like she weighed nothing at all.

Merrin couldn't let that happen. Couldn't abandon her friend to whatever waited in those depths. She had to go after her. Had to dive into that nightmare and bring Varikka back, or at least make sure the thing didn't take anyone else. The surface broke again, closer this time. Merrin stumbled backward, mace raised defensively even though she knew it was useless against such a foe.

Merrin's stomach twisted. She'd faced horrors before, but this... this was something else entirely. The thing had taken Varikka. Dragged her under like she weighed nothing at all. Merrin couldn't let that happen. Couldn't abandon her friend to whatever waited in those depths. She had to go after her.