- 20 minutes ago
Beneath The Tides A Mermaid's Vengeance
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00On the 28th of February, 2026, the human fleet launched a devastating invasion of the deep sea realm.
00:07The merfolk rose to fight back.
00:10What followed was a catastrophic war that shook the very depths.
00:14Until humans retreated to land, and the merfolk sank into the darker abyss.
00:18Each side, licking their wounds, rebuilding in silence.
00:22I live in a crystal palace, standing in the rainbow coral forest in the underwater valley.
00:27My name is Lyra, the most rebellious mermaid in the deep sea realm.
00:32And today, I'm about to do something the Elder has strictly forbidden.
00:36Sneak up to the surface and spy on the humans.
00:40Lyra!
00:41The Elder's roar erupts, his silver scars burning bright.
00:45The surface again? Humans will slaughter us all!
00:49I push hard, breaking the reef's border. His voice fades.
00:53The water pales from deep blue to light blue as the light blazes.
00:55I break the surface. Cold rain hits my face.
00:59Pink black sky. Monster clouds hover the sea.
01:02Then I see it. A white yacht.
01:04A figure is hurled from the deck and crashes hard into the water.
01:08Golden hair fans out from the rain.
01:10A wet white shirt clings to his body, outlining ripped frame.
01:13Even in the chaos, his face is striking.
01:16Sharp nose, closed eyes, drenched lashes.
01:19My heart misses a beat.
01:21Not fear, but him.
01:23Three sharks close in. Smelling blood.
01:25I should go. Sink back down.
01:27Pretend I saw nothing.
01:28But...
01:29He is sinking.
01:30My instinct wins.
01:32I'm already moving.
01:33The heart of the deep burns against my chest.
01:36A blue shield erupts, forming a barrier.
01:38The sharks are thrown back.
01:40I grab him and push for the surface.
01:42He storm rages.
01:43Waves slam us down.
01:45My tail bleeds against the rocks, but I don't feel a thing.
01:47At last, I drag him onto the shallows.
01:50This is the first time I have ever been this close to a human.
01:54My first real look.
01:55He is still bleeding.
01:56I hesitate.
01:57Then press my palm to the wound.
01:59Healing light glows.
02:00This pale blue glow vivid against the rain.
02:03The bleeding stops.
02:04Skin mits back together.
02:06The moment it heals, his eyes snap open.
02:09My heart stops.
02:10He saw it all on my silver tail.
02:12The light.
02:12Everything a human should never see.
02:14I bolt.
02:15Desperate for the ocean.
02:17Suddenly, his hand grips my wrist.
02:20You saved me.
02:20I'm Dorian.
02:21And you are.
02:22I wrench free.
02:23He lets go.
02:24I don't look back.
02:25I dive.
02:26A splash above.
02:27I stop and look back.
02:29He jumped.
02:30The man who nearly drowned just dove back in.
02:35Humans cannot breathe in seawater.
02:37If this goes on, he will drown sooner or later.
02:41Damn it.
02:44I swim back.
02:46I rip a silver scale from my tail.
02:48Pain explodes instantly.
02:51Blood blooms into the water.
02:53I press the scale to his throat.
02:56It melts in, leaving a silver mark on his skin.
02:59He chokes.
03:01Then opens his eyes.
03:03Then he breathes.
03:05No water.
03:06Just fresh air.
03:08I...
03:08I can breathe.
03:10My god.
03:10My god.
03:11I'm breathing underwater.
03:13He spins like a child.
03:15Gulping deep breaths.
03:16Laughing like a madman.
03:18His joy makes me forget the pain in my tail.
03:20I lead him down.
03:22The water shifts from pale blue to deep blue.
03:24The light slowly dimming.
03:26Jellyfish drift by.
03:27Then...
03:28The deep sea realm.
03:29Rainbow corals.
03:31Crystal palaces.
03:32Glowing coral blossoms.
03:34Pink, blue, and violet light weaves together.
03:37Tropical fish dart between the formations and a giant manta glides above.
03:41I guide him through the heart of it.
03:43Crystal streets.
03:44Anemone lanterns.
03:46And shimmering plazas.
03:48What is that?
03:50That is the sacred pool.
03:52Home to the heart of the deep.
03:53The heart of the deep, our most sacred treasure.
03:56Passed down through generations.
03:57It holds the power to heal and keeps the entire ocean in balance.
04:02Without it, the deep sea realm collapses.
04:05He nods.
04:06Something unreadable flickering in his eyes.
04:09Suddenly, the current turns ice cold.
04:11Fish scatter.
04:12My heart tightens.
04:13The elder surges forward with a dozen guards.
04:16His face is pure fury.
04:18Scars glowing in the dark.
04:20Lyra!
04:20Lyra!
04:21What have you done?
04:25Guards surround us.
04:26Coral spears aimed at our throats.
04:28Hostility burns in their eyes.
04:30A human?
04:31You've doomed us all.
04:33If the hunters find out, they'll slaughter everyone.
04:36He won't!
04:37Kill him.
04:38Now!
04:39Before the words have even faded,
04:41the three guards lunge.
04:42Spears aimed for his heart.
04:44No!
04:44I will take it.
04:47The heart of the deep scorches against my chest.
04:50The blue shield erupts between us.
04:52I stand my ground as Princess of the Deep.
04:55But they won't stop.
04:56They come at us from every direction.
04:58I strain to hold the barrier.
05:00But I'm draining fast.
05:01I can't hold it.
05:02I drop the shield.
05:04A massive whirlpool.
05:06Scraping the guards away.
05:08I grab his hand.
05:09The vault.
05:10The guards can chase without hesitation.
05:41We weave through the corals.
05:42Be here.
05:43He smiles.
05:44And leans in.
05:45I stay.
05:46Then...
05:47He kisses me.
05:48My heart races.
05:49Ready to burst.
05:50He is so warm nothing like the cold ocean.
05:53The world spins.
05:55I'm on the rocks.
05:56Touching my lips.
05:57His warmth still lingers.
05:59We say goodbye.
06:00He walks away.
06:01And I watch him fade into the dark.
06:03My heart full of hope.
06:04I don't notice.
06:05As he turns away.
06:07A small red light blinks in his pocket.
06:09The footage is uploaded.
06:11A massive armed platform drifts far out at sea.
06:14The heart of the deep found at last.
06:18Assemble the team.
06:20Gear up.
06:21Target the deep sea realm.
06:23Dorian stands on deck.
06:24Wind in his hair.
06:25He looks at Lyra on his phone with those pure eyes, that innocent smile.
06:29He pauses for a second and shuts off the phone.
06:32He heads for the armory.
06:37I sleep deeply that night.
06:39Dorian's kiss, his promise.
06:41They echo in my mind.
06:42The next night, I wait.
06:44The waves roll in, but he is a no-show.
06:46I tell myself, something must have gone wrong.
06:49I make excuses for him, swimming back with a heavy heart.
06:52I don't notice the water trembling.
06:54The tremor is faint at first, like a heartbeat from somewhere far away.
06:59Corals flicker.
07:01Jellyfish flee.
07:02Then, a violet flash rips through the dark.
07:06A sonic wave hits.
07:07My world shatters.
07:09A piercing shriek.
07:11Heavy speed is flowing.
07:13Shards fly.
07:14I scream.
07:15But I can't even hear myself.
07:17Submarines grind through our reef monstrous.
07:20Cold.
07:21Bristling with cannons.
07:22Our history coral trees snap like twigs.
07:25The lights go out.
07:26Replaced by blinding searchlights and scarlet alarms.
07:29Silver nets.
07:30Rain down.
07:33The bleeding mermaids.
07:34The shot hunters.
07:36The nets drop my people.
07:37The sound of burning flesh is sickening.
07:39They struggle as their scales peel away.
07:42Spinning and sinking like falling stars.
07:44No.
07:45This can't be real.
07:46I sob, but the explosions swallow my voice.
07:49The water turns red.
07:51Blood blooms from a thousand wounds.
07:54Blooming and spreading through the water.
07:56Swallowing everything.
07:58The beautiful bioluminescence bleeds into crimson.
08:01The elder charges.
08:02The barrier explodes from him, blocking the next wave.
08:06But a mechanical arm smashes it.
08:09And it breaks.
08:11He is thrown back.
08:13Slamming into a crystal pillar.
08:15His scars splitting open in clouds of red.
08:17Luna's tail is torn off.
08:19Bone exposed.
08:20Leaving her spinning helplessly in place.
08:23A young guard takes a silver spear to the chest.
08:26He looks down in shock.
08:28Then sinks forever.
08:29I want to save them.
08:31I don't know where to start.
08:32Lyra!
08:33The heart of the deep blazes.
08:35Healing light surges.
08:36I rush toward her.
08:39A silver bullet finds my shoulder.
08:42I collapse.
08:43The light dies.
08:44My strength fades.
08:46I'm sorry.
08:47I'm sorry.
08:48I'm sorry.
08:48I'm out their names without sound.
08:51I couldn't save them in time.
08:52My fingers falling into the rubble.
08:54Blood seeping out, but I feel nothing.
08:57I lie in the blood and watch.
08:59Watch my people fall one by one.
09:01Watch the coral forest burn to ash.
09:03Watch the deep sea realm.
09:05My home.
09:06Destroying.
09:07Staying stolen.
09:08A hatch opens.
09:09A human swims out.
09:11His mechanical arm gleaming.
09:13He looks toward the sacred pool.
09:15Greed in his eyes.
09:17Cain.
09:18The commander of the shark hunters.
09:19He is holding someone.
09:23Give me the heart of the ocean, or I'll kill him.
09:26No, Dorian.
09:29Give up the heart, or he dies.
09:32I look at the carnage.
09:35Luna.
09:36The elder.
09:36My fallen people.
09:38Forgive me.
09:40Please.
09:41I'll give it to him.
09:42Just let Dorian go.
09:44I drag myself to the pool.
09:46Every move tearing my wound.
09:47The heart sits there.
09:49An immense blue gem glowing softly.
09:52My hands are shaking.
09:53This is our life.
09:55Our history.
09:57What the elder gave his life to protect.
09:59What my kindred keep safe.
10:01Holding it feels like digging our own grave.
10:03Dorian collapses.
10:05Coughing.
10:07I feel a twisted sense of relief.
10:09At least he is alive.
10:10I hold the heart of the deep out in both hands.
10:13And extend it toward Cain.
10:15In the instant, before I let go.
10:18Dorian draws a silver dagger.
10:20And drives it into my shoulder.
10:23Cain.
10:24Explode.
10:24I scream.
10:26The heart falls.
10:27The silver burns my skin.
10:28It is not personal.
10:30It is strictly business.
10:32Then, he pulls the blade out.
10:35Blood spurts.
10:36I collapse.
10:37The heart of the deep rolls to Cain's feet.
10:39He snatches it up.
10:41The light dies in his grip.
10:43An act.
10:44All of it.
10:45The storm the wreck staged.
10:47The story the promises lies.
10:49I thought I found love.
10:50I only found the knife that killed my people.
10:53I was a fool from the start.
10:55Cain watches me.
10:57Raised his mechanical arm at my chest.
10:59Not to capture me.
11:01To kill me.
11:02And then, the elder lunges.
11:04Shielding me.
11:05The arm crushes his chest.
11:07The harpoon pierces his back.
11:10He glows with his final strength.
11:12He looks at me calm.
11:14Live, Elyra.
11:16The silver harpoon drives through his chest.
11:19Blood erupts.
11:20He sinks into the ruins.
11:23He's spent a lifetime protecting.
11:26No!
11:27No.
11:28No.
11:29I want to hold him.
11:31To say I'm sorry.
11:32To say he was right.
11:34But I can't move.
11:35All I can do is watch as he sinks.
11:38Sinks.
11:39And disappears into the dark.
11:41I killed him.
11:43I am swept toward the edge of the deep sea realm.
11:46And I fall into the dark abyss below.
11:49I fall through the darkness.
11:51Watching the deep sea realm grow smaller and more distant.
11:54I see Cain's victory laugh.
11:56I see Dorian wiping my blood off his knife.
11:58My people.
11:59My home.
12:00My life all gone in fire and blood.
12:02I did this.
12:03It is my fault.
12:04I brought him here.
12:04I gave them the secret.
12:06I made excuses for him again and again.
12:08I handed them the knife.
12:09I fall through the dark.
12:11Live.
12:12It is not your fault.
12:14But that is a lie.
12:15It is all my fault.
12:17A shell drops toward me.
12:19I try to move.
12:20My body refuses.
12:22It hits my tail.
12:24Silver white scales peel away one by one.
12:27Scatter like snow.
12:28Flesh tears.
12:29Bone breaks.
12:30I keep falling deeper.
12:32Darker.
12:32The sun is gone.
12:33Only the void remains.
12:34I should just die here.
12:36But I won't.
12:37Not because I want to live.
12:39But because I want revenge.
12:40Hate burns.
12:41I hate Dorian's lies.
12:43I hate my own stupidity.
12:45I hate Cain's slaughter.
12:47But mostly, I hate myself for ever loving him.
12:50Something wakes up inside me.
12:52My tail changes.
12:53Black scales grow.
12:55Glowing with violet light.
12:56Dark veins crawl up my arms across my face.
12:58Black energy gathers.
13:00Pure violet lightning.
13:02I reach out the water to its black.
13:03The rocks melt into smoke.
13:05This is the power of revenge.
13:07I'll trade my pain for their lives.
13:09But I didn't get to be happy for long.
13:11A massive shadow rises.
13:13Deep violet.
13:14Tentacles miles long.
13:16Eyes locked on me.
13:17The dark beast closes in slowly, its tentacles unfurling.
13:21This is its domain.
13:22I'm the intruder.
13:24The black energy gathered in my palm once again.
13:27Entering combat mode.
13:28The tentacles suddenly struck violently.
13:30Carrying the whistling sound of tearing through the seawater.
13:36The tentacle strikes.
13:38I blur past it.
13:39My tail slicing a blur through the water.
13:41It grazes my shoulder.
13:42The rock wall melts into black smoke.
13:45It is faster than I thought.
13:47Who cares?
13:48I've already died once.
13:49Another sweep from the left.
13:51I dive under, skimming beneath it.
13:53It lunges again.
13:54This time, many tentacles at once.
13:56But dark power boils in my veins.
13:58Like fire like venom.
13:59I stop dodging.
14:01With the tentacles right before impact.
14:03I lash out.
14:04My black spine rips through its flesh.
14:06A tearing blast of sound erupts.
14:08Violet venom sprays, corroding the beast.
14:10It shrinks.
14:11Thrashing in agony.
14:13It thrashed wildly.
14:14Smashing the trench to rubble.
14:16I forge a blade of black energy and slash its eye.
14:18The beast convulses.
14:20Its vast body crashes to the bottom.
14:22Crashing into the sand.
14:23Its tentacles grow weaker.
14:25But they don't dissolve.
14:26I swim close.
14:27Dark energy seeps from my palm.
14:29Covering it.
14:30It shudders.
14:31Then goes still.
14:32It submits.
14:33I stare at it.
14:34Feeling a twisted heat.
14:35Not joy.
14:36Just raw rage finding a target.
14:38The world took everything.
14:40Now, it gave me this.
14:41Fine.
14:42I'll collect every debt.
14:43The shadows move.
14:44Thousands of fanged barracudas surge up from the depth.
14:47Giant groupers emerge from the shadows.
14:49And lanternfish gather.
14:51Lighting the trench eerily.
14:52They gather silent.
14:54Then bow like a dark tide.
14:55The whole abyss belongs to me.
14:57Dark current seeps from my fingertips.
14:59Healing my broken body.
15:01My scales grow back.
15:02Not silver.
15:03But obsidian black.
15:04I close my eyes.
15:06My consciousness travels upward.
15:08Piercing through the darkness.
15:10Reaching for the surface.
15:11Armed platforms.
15:12The shark hunting team celebration banquet.
15:15And also Dorian.
15:17Dorian.
15:18My fist clenches.
15:19That name used to make me flutter.
15:21Now it only makes my jaw lock tight.
15:23Bleed hate.
15:23My army is ready.
15:25The beast rises.
15:26Its tentacles unfurling through the darkness.
15:28Blotting out the light.
15:30I lift my black tail and head for the surface.
15:32I'm coming.
15:33Wait for me.
15:38Cane's on the high deck.
15:39Holding the heart.
15:41Shouting to the crowd that tonight is the greatest night of the shark hunters.
15:46Tonight, the shark hunters make history.
15:49I'm in the corner.
15:51Sober.
15:52Watching the sea.
15:54Then, hundreds of seabirds explode from the surface.
15:57Bolt in terror and chaos.
15:59I look where they're running from.
16:01The water looks wrong.
16:03A black tide is swallowing the horizon.
16:05Glowing with a sickly violet light.
16:08I shove people aside.
16:10And scream.
16:11The wave is already here.
16:13A 30 foot black wall crashes down.
16:16The instant, it hits the deck platform to us.
16:20I grab a cable to hold myself.
16:22Black floods over my legs.
16:24The dark violet liquid burns.
16:26Searing my skin like acid.
16:28I clench my teeth and hold on.
16:30Watching holes eat through the deck as the steel corrodes.
16:33The hiss of melting metal.
16:34Rising.
16:35Someone goes overboard.
16:36A scream.
16:37Then silence.
16:39Under the surface.
16:40Thousands of blue eyes swarm.
16:42Dense as star sky.
16:44They surging toward the people in the sea.
16:46No splashing.
16:48They just vanish into the black.
16:51Another massive jolt.
16:53I grab a beam and look back.
16:56Three giant tentacles.
16:58Thicker than the platform.
17:00Slicked with corrosive, dark, violet liquid.
17:03The metal hulls groan under the pressure.
17:05Buckling like paper.
17:07They snap in half and sink into the abyss.
17:09Throwing up columns of black spray that blot out the sky.
17:13Cain screams.
17:14Fire!
17:14Fire!
17:15He charges with his mechanical arm.
17:17But the beast bats him away like a fly.
17:19He hits the steel and doesn't move.
17:22We unload everything.
17:24But the explosions just disappear into the water.
17:28No impact.
17:30Then...
17:31She appears.
17:34My breath...
17:35Itches.
17:36Not the black tail.
17:38Not the red eyes.
17:39But the face.
17:41Lyra.
17:42Is that even her?
17:43She stands on its head.
17:44Her black tail balanced on the great body.
17:47Hair whipping in the wind.
17:49Crimson eyes burning in the firelight as she looks down at us.
17:52Cold.
17:53Calm.
17:54And lethal.
17:55Her army swarms.
17:56A barracuda streamed beneath the surface in dense formations.
18:00The platform shakes from the force.
18:02It's below.
18:03Lanternfish swarm onto the deck.
18:05Their eerie lure lights pulsing in the dark.
18:08Herding men into corners like prey.
18:10Total collapse.
18:12Men drop their guns and prey.
18:14Some run.
18:15Some jump.
18:16None return.
18:17Her gaze finds me.
18:19Across the fire.
18:21Through the chaos.
18:22She stares at me from the top.
18:24No emotion in her eyes.
18:26She raises her hand.
18:28And slowly makes a fist.
18:29My stomach drops.
18:31She recognizes me.
18:33The tentacle rises.
18:34Blotting out the sky.
18:36It slams down.
18:40I bolt for the interior.
18:42I'm shaking.
18:44I'm actually shaking.
18:46I dodge through flames.
18:48Burst pipes.
18:49A tentacle slams down.
18:51I roll left just in time.
18:53The tentacle slams into the deck behind me.
18:55The steel corrodes and collapses in an instant.
18:58Two crew members disappear into the black water.
19:01Without even a cry.
19:02I don't stop.
19:04I cut through room three.
19:06Grab it.
19:06I'll take.
19:07Keep running.
19:08A tentacle drives in through a portal with sudden precise force aimed at my back.
19:12I flatten myself against the inner wall.
19:14It duck.
19:15It grazes my shoulder and punches clean through the opposite bulkhead.
19:18Two men crushed, collapsing steel, driven into the black water.
19:23No sound after that.
19:26That close.
19:27That damn close.
19:29I realize she isn't attacking.
19:32She is playing with me.
19:34West deck.
19:3550 meters.
19:36I kick open a door.
19:38Burst into the deck.
19:40Three tentacles drop from different directions.
19:42Locked onto me.
19:43I cut and weave without stopping.
19:45One slams down on my left, shearing the rail.
19:48One rakes past overhead, slapping a guy into the sea.
19:52One sweeps in from the right, and I vault off the edge and flip over it.
19:57It sweeps the rest of the crew into the abyss.
20:00The lifeboat is right there.
20:02I jump in.
20:04The engine blows.
20:06Throttle down.
20:08I scream across the black water.
20:10I don't look back.
20:12I know she is there.
20:14The black moves are capable.
20:17Acid splashes the hull.
20:18Accurate stench of burning metal clawing into my lungs.
20:22The engine is redlining.
20:23But the waves aren't fading.
20:29He can't escape.
20:31I walk the waves.
20:32I'm just watching him struggle.
20:34I'm not chasing.
20:35I'm following.
20:35The black wave rolls against the hull.
20:37He feels me.
20:38I know he can.
20:39I dive.
20:40Riding the current.
20:41I'm faster.
20:42I pass the stern.
20:44The hull.
20:44The bow.
20:45The water explodes.
20:46I rise from the waves.
20:48My black tail on the tide.
20:49My hair streaming in the wind.
20:51Standing directly in his path.
20:52The boat slams to a halt.
20:54He looks up and sees me.
20:55His face goes ghost.
20:57White.
20:58I stare at him.
20:59My chest tightens with pure burning hate.
21:01I want to rip him apart.
21:03The same face.
21:04Golden hair.
21:05Ocean blue eyes.
21:06I used to think they were my world.
21:08Now they're just a joke.
21:10I tilt my head.
21:11The beast rises.
21:12Flotting out the sky.
21:14Lifting the entire boat out of the water.
21:16He pulls a flare gun and fires.
21:18The tentacle bats it away.
21:20The flare detonates on the tentacle.
21:22The burst of white light dies instantly.
21:24Without leaving the scorch.
21:26He fires again and again.
21:28One shot.
21:29Two.
21:29Three.
21:29The tentacle bats each one.
21:31Like swatting flies.
21:32He drops the gun and sags.
21:34Gasping for air like he is drowning.
21:36I'm sorry.
21:37I shouldn't have lied.
21:38I'll do anything.
21:39Please.
21:40Let me go.
21:41The tentacles close in.
21:42Pressing down toward the mountain.
21:44He backs up and hits something.
21:46A kid.
21:46Shivering in the corner.
21:48He freezes.
21:49Then desperation takes over.
21:51He grabs the boy and puts a gun to his head.
21:53Let me go!
21:54Or I'll kill him!
21:58I glance at him once.
21:59A tentacle strikes.
22:01It slaps.
22:02The gun falls into the sea.
22:04He screams.
22:05The kid falls to the railing.
22:07Clinging to the railing.
22:09Terrified.
22:09Dorian crawls up.
22:11His voice cracking.
22:12Please.
22:13Lyra.
22:13I love you.
22:14It started as a job.
22:16But then it was real.
22:17Please.
22:18You love me?
22:19So you stabbed me?
22:20Lyra.
22:21So you watched my people die in silence?
22:24I.
22:25So you wiped the blood off and celebrated with Cain?
22:29He goes quiet.
22:30I raise my hand.
22:32Black energy gathers.
22:33The tentacles crush him from all directions.
22:35Holding tight.
22:36He screams and struggles.
22:38His bones snap.
22:39One.
22:40Two.
22:40Three.
22:40His roar turned to screams.
22:42From screams to moans.
22:44Then silence.
22:45The black water swallows him.
22:47Silent.
22:47Like he never existed.
22:48I float there.
22:50Watching the water go still.
22:51No relief.
22:52No joy.
22:53Just a heavy hollow silence.
22:55I turn.
22:55And look at the bell.
22:57The kid is still there.
22:58Shaking.
22:58But he hasn't run.
23:00Something is in his hand.
23:01The sea wind lifts a corner of it.
23:03The shell bracelet.
23:05Exactly like the ones our children wear.
23:07I go still.
23:08Our kids made those.
23:10That night in the reef.
23:11Those little faces.
23:12I close my eyes and take a breath.
23:15The tentacles retreat.
23:16I don't look back.
23:17I swim for the platform.
23:18Dorian is gone.
23:20But it is not enough, Kane.
23:22The heart.
23:22My people's blood.
23:23He is next.
23:28I find him in the ruins.
23:30Three claw marks on his chest.
23:32Bone deep.
23:33Blood soaking his gear to a dark rust red.
23:36The platform burns behind him.
23:38Black smoke blotting the sky.
23:40Firelight flickering across his face.
23:42He is clutching the heart.
23:44Knuckles white.
23:45No fear in his eyes.
23:47Just hate and greed.
23:48I see him.
23:49And I see them.
23:51Luna's shattered tail.
23:52The young guard's disbelieving eyes as he sank.
23:56The elder's face in the last moment.
23:58They're gone.
23:59Dissolved in red.
24:00And he is still breathing.
24:01Holding our life in his hands.
24:03Dorian's gone.
24:04One more debt to settle.
24:16One more debt to settle.
24:18Opening a line of blood.
24:20I land with my teeth clenched and unleash black plates.
24:24Slicing his arm into junk.
24:26The wreckage tumbles across the deck.
24:28Scattering sparks.
24:30He pushes himself to his feet.
24:31He raises the heart.
24:33It glows with a sick, rotting light.
24:36It's edges eaten through with black.
24:38Like a rotten heart.
24:40He throws everything at me.
24:42I don't move.
24:44My dark barrier shielded me and tears the light apart.
24:48The blast pushes me back.
24:50The steel plating warps beneath me from the heat, searing my feet.
24:57I walk toward him.
24:58Grab his collar and lift him.
25:01My black energy is a needle at his chest.
25:04He looks down at it.
25:05Then looks up at me.
25:06No begging.
25:07Only defiance.
25:08This is how a greedy man dies right in front of his prize.
25:12I let go.
25:13The black energy tears through him.
25:15His body loses all weight and collapses.
25:18Sinking into the scorched steel.
25:20The heart rolls to my feet.
25:22Cracked, black, and dead.
25:24Its blue light completely extinguished.
25:27I stand there and look at him.
25:29He killed the elder.
25:30He killed my people.
25:32He destroyed my home.
25:33I came back from hell for this.
25:36Carrying this black tail.
25:37These crimson eyes traveling this far.
25:41Finally.
25:44Cain snaps his eyes open pure madness.
25:48He grabs the heart, tilts his head back, and opens his mouth.
25:52He swallows the heart.
25:54Black light bleeds through his skin.
25:57Bones snap.
25:59Rapid and dense.
26:00One after another.
26:01His skin tears open.
26:03Black armored scales erupt from within.
26:06His spine turns into spikes.
26:08He swells and twists.
26:10Crushing the deck and sinking the platform into the sea.
26:13The man is gone.
26:15The man is gone.
26:15In his place.
26:16A lidless giant face.
26:18With eyes burning like lava in the dark.
26:21In his chest.
26:22Heart of the deep glows.
26:23Faintly dark violet.
26:25Pulsing like a black core of a monster.
26:28The thing rises.
26:29Blotting out the sky.
26:32I stand in its shadow.
26:34Dark power boiling in my veins.
26:36Yet for the first time.
26:38I feel small.
26:39It is not fear.
26:40But the primal instinct of a body facing something truly gargantuan.
26:44It hasn't even moved yet.
26:46But the entire sea is already trembling under its weight.
26:49Then it moves.
26:50A fist slams into the black water.
26:52Sending a shockwave from the seabed.
26:54That flips the ocean within 300 meters.
26:57A wall of waves exploding to blot out the stars.
27:00The remaining skeleton of the armed platform shatters completely.
27:04Steel fragments scattering like shrapnel into the black abyss.
27:07The beast lunges first.
27:09A dozen tentacles coiling around the monster's arms.
27:12Dark violet venom pours from its suckers.
27:14Hissing as it corrodes the black scales.
27:17And widens the cracks.
27:19The thing lets out a low roar.
27:20And wrenches its arms apart.
27:22Tearing through three tentacles as black venom sprays.
27:25The beast shrieks.
27:26Shakes the sea.
27:27Retreats.
27:28And lunges again.
27:29Thousands of barracudas surge from below.
27:32Swarming the monster's lower body.
27:33With bites that could pierce steel.
27:35The sound of their feeding echoing across the ocean.
27:38The thing stoops and drives both fists into the sea.
27:41A seabed explosion blasting the barracudas away.
27:45And staining the water dark violet.
27:47The school tumbles in the shockwave.
27:49Regrouping and pressing in again with even greater density.
27:52Lanternfish die from above.
27:54Eerie lights detonating across the monster's head in rapid succession.
27:58Completely sealing off its vision.
28:04A swarm of lanternfish vanishes.
28:07But the rest don't retreat.
28:09Continuing their suicide dives.
28:11The whole stretch of sea is chaos.
28:13But I can see it each of the monster's strikes is heavier than the last.
28:16And my beast legion is regrouping slower and slower.
28:19This war of attrition will be our end.
28:22I charge in.
28:23Dark power erupts from my palms.
28:25As I flash repeatedly at the hardened chest.
28:28Three.
28:28Five.
28:29Seven stripes.
28:30The scales shatter.
28:31The crack widens.
28:32And a jet of violet light hurls me back.
28:38I didn't break through.
28:40I dodge but I'm a split second too slow.
28:43The shockwave slams into my ribs.
28:45Feeling like they've snapped.
28:47And sends me crashing into the sea.
28:49The water explodes around me as I sink ten meters.
28:52With a dull ache in my chest.
28:54I grip my teeth and burst back through the surface.
28:57The dark light in my palms noticeably dimmer.
28:59The beast legion is still fighting.
29:02The creature's tentacles locked around the thing's legs.
29:04The barracuda biting at its back.
29:07The lanternfish erupting overhead in a constant barrage.
29:10But the thing sweeps one arm casually and tears two tentacles free.
29:14The creature shrieks and falls back.
29:16The barracuda school is scattered.
29:18I charge and strike three more times.
29:21The fissure widens a fraction.
29:23Dark violet light jets out again.
29:25Hurls me back.
29:26Five steps this time.
29:28Pain surges up from my right ribs.
29:30My knees nearly buckle.
29:32I press one hand to the water's surface and force myself straight.
29:36My vision blurs.
29:37Then refocuses.
29:39The dark energy in my palms has been reduced to a single faint ember.
29:43This can't go on.
29:45The thing tilts its head back.
29:46Energy gathers in its palms.
29:48Growing brighter.
29:49Evaporating the surrounding water into black mist.
29:52A wall of heat rolls toward me.
29:54It is going to end this fight.
29:56But I see it.
29:57In the moment of charging, the fissure in its chest cracks slightly wider as the energy surges through it.
30:03Deeper than at any point before.
30:05One more time.
30:07The last time.
30:08I drop low and grip the last ember of dark power in my palm.
30:12Aimed at the fissure.
30:13The energy in its palms reaches its peak.
30:16It bends down and takes aim at me.
30:22In the shadow of the platform's wreckage, a steel beam crashes down.
30:27Just that one sound.
30:28The thing's head turns.
30:30In the shadow of the ruins, a pair of eyes.
30:33The child.
30:34The shelled chain on his wrist sways gently with his trembling.
30:37The thing walks toward him.
30:39I don't think.
30:40I'm already moving.
30:41I slam into it from the side.
30:43No plan.
30:44No strategy.
30:45Just forward.
30:45Every last drop of dark power I have left floods into both palms.
30:49I drive them straight into the fissure in its chest.
30:52Black energy surges through.
30:54Directly into the heart of the deep, dark violet light detonates from the crack.
30:57Burning through my palms.
30:59And spreading up my arms.
31:00The thing lets out a low roar.
31:02Raises its other hand.
31:03And condenses its energy to a single point.
31:06And drives it into my back.
31:08I am launched through the air.
31:09Spin twice.
31:10And crash hard into the surface of the sea.
31:12It feels like something has kicked through my chest from the inside.
31:15All the air gone from my lungs in an instant.
31:18I fight my way back up through the water.
31:20Cough up a mouthful of dark red blood.
31:22And watch it dissolve across the black surface.
31:24Get up.
31:25It is not over.
31:26I burst out through the surface and hover before it.
31:29Looking up.
31:29Pain pulses up from my right ribs.
31:31My left shoulder is still bleeding.
31:34The dark power in my palms is down to its last ember.
31:37I can't break through head on.
31:38The gap in strength is too wide.
31:40But I am a creature of the sea.
31:42I close my eyes.
31:43Dark power rises from my spine.
31:45Not pushing outward but sinking down into the water.
31:47Into the ocean floor.
31:48Into the deepest current of this stretch of sea.
31:51The water feels me.
31:52It begins to tremble.
31:53It begins to turn layer by layer.
31:55It surges upward from the depth.
31:59The thing senses something that looks down at the surface.
32:02Too late.
32:03Waves rise simultaneously from every direction.
32:06Enormous.
32:07All-conseeing blotting out the stars.
32:09Blotting out the moon.
32:10Closing around the thing from every side.
32:12Each wave carries dark violet venom.
32:14Corroding the black scales.
32:16Seeking into every crack.
32:17I hang at the center of it all.
32:19I press the very last of my dark power into the sea.
32:22Close.
32:23The great waves slam together from all sides simultaneously.
32:26Crushing the thing inside them.
32:27Dark violet light explodes from the center.
32:30Illuminating half the night sky.
32:32The roaring cuts off.
32:33The waves haven't broken yet.
32:35The heart of the deep drifts slowly free from the dissolving body.
32:38Covered in black cracks.
32:40Dark violet light pulsing weakly through them.
32:42Right before my eyes.
32:43At this moment.
32:44My body gives out completely.
32:46Right ribs.
32:47Back left shoulder.
32:48Every wound ignites at once.
32:49The dark power goes out.
32:50Even the sea can no longer hold me.
32:52I begin to sink.
32:53Deeper.
32:54Darker.
32:54Consciousness becomes a thread stretched almost to breaking.
32:58The heart of the deep drifts just above me.
33:00I reach up.
33:01From somewhere I don't understand.
33:03The strength comes.
33:04I cradle it in both hands.
33:06The instant I touch it.
33:07Dark violet light erupts from the heart of the deep.
33:10Spreading with unstoppable force along my arms.
33:12Up my spine.
33:13Into the curse mark on the side of my neck.
33:15The entire stretch of sea turns dark violet.
33:18I try to let go.
33:19I can't.
33:20The heart of the deep has rooted itself to my palms.
33:23Something breaks open inside me.
33:25Flooding up from the depths of my blood without end.
33:28Completely out of control.
33:29The great wave.
33:30Not yet fully broken.
33:32Is lifted again by the dark power.
33:34Growing taller and blacker.
33:35Hearing its dark violet light.
33:37Rushing toward the bright and glittering coastline.
33:42The wave blots out the sky.
33:44A black wall of water laced with dark violet light bears down from the horizon.
33:49The pressure wave at its crest sweeps seabirds from the sky.
33:52Overturns every vessel in the harbor.
33:54Cracks the buildings along the shore from their foundations.
33:57Glass shards pour down like driving rain.
34:00People are running in the city.
34:01Shouting, screaming.
34:02Children crying.
34:04All of it compressed by the wind into a single wall of noise.
34:06An old man goes down in the street.
34:09A child is swept from its parents by the crowd.
34:12Windows that weren't closed in time explode outward in the pressure wave.
34:15A shoe on the pavement.
34:17A bag.
34:17A phone still lit up.
34:19I see all of it.
34:21I feel nothing.
34:22The dark power has sealed me off from the world.
34:25From all sound.
34:26All warmth.
34:27All weight.
34:28I am no longer myself.
34:30I am only the wave.
34:31The black force.
34:32A destruction in the act of happening.
34:34300 meters.
34:35To the shore.
34:37Then I hear a small and delicate sound.
34:39The sound of shells clicking together.
34:42In the instant.
34:43Before the wave strikes the shore.
34:45I see him.
34:46In the water.
34:47A child falls.
34:48Knocked down by the surge.
34:49He struggles back to his feet.
34:51Knocked down again.
34:52He rises again.
34:53The crowd floods past him.
34:55No one stops.
34:56The shell chain on his wrist sways in the black water.
34:59It is him.
35:00The child from the lifeboat.
35:01My eyes lock onto that chain and cannot look away.
35:04The youngest children of our people would thread chains like that.
35:07When the coral forest bloomed in spring.
35:09On the night the forest was destroyed.
35:11I saw those small figures.
35:13Wearing chains just like it.
35:14Struggling in the silver nets.
35:16Their scales peeling away one by one.
35:18Falling like stars.
35:19Those children were the same age as him.
35:21Something detonates in my chest.
35:23Something that existed when I was still Lyra.
35:26Still living in the coral forest.
35:28Still ignorant of how much darkness this world holds.
35:31It surges outward from my chest.
35:33Slamming against the black barrier.
35:34And the force of it shakes me through.
35:36The black barrier begins to crack.
35:38I want to resist.
35:40The uncontrolled force is still surging outward.
35:43But the shell chain is still swaying.
35:45I clench my teeth.
35:46Bow my head.
35:47And with every last fragment of my will.
35:49I pull the heart of the deep tide against my chest.
35:54It fights back.
35:57Dark violet light erupts from the heart of the deepened wave after wave.
36:01Burning through my palms.
36:02Spreading up my arms.
36:04Charring my skin inch by inch.
36:06My body begins to shudder.
36:09My bones feel like they are being burned through from the inside.
36:12The ancient power surges outward.
36:14Trying to drag me under again.
36:17Trying to turn me back into the wave.
36:18Back into the destruction.
36:20But it is real.
36:22It is mine.
36:23It is what the elder pressed into my hands as he died.
36:26What my people spent their lives defending.
36:29What no one will ever take from me.
36:31I press that light.
36:32Slowly.
36:33Carefully.
36:34A little at a time.
36:36Into the cracks of the heart of the deep.
36:38The dark violet power strikes back.
36:41Curling my whole body outward.
36:43I arch my spine and hold.
36:45I press again.
36:46And again.
36:47And again.
36:48The cracks begin to close.
36:51Every millimeter.
36:52Demanding every last ounce of strength in my body.
36:56The black cracks draw together.
36:58Little by little.
36:59The dark violet light begins to ebb.
37:01The heart of the deep grows warm in my arms.
37:04Not the burning heat of destruction.
37:06But the warmth of something alive.
37:09The temperature of the sea when the coral forest blooms in spring.
37:12The tsunami recedes.
37:14The black crest lowers inch by inch.
37:16The dark violet light spreads thin across the surface and dissolves.
37:23I sink beneath the surface.
37:25Deeper, darker.
37:27And then.
37:27In all that black.
37:29I see a point of blue light.
37:31Pushing through a crack in the rubble.
37:33Faint and small.
37:34I swim close and lean down.
37:36The coral.
37:37Newly grown.
37:38Soft and young.
37:39No longer than my fingernail.
37:41Yet there in all that charred ruin.
37:43It glows with pale blue light.
37:45Alive.
37:47I set the heart of the deep gently at the center of the ruins.
37:50Blue light seeps outward from it.
37:53The first ray.
37:54The second.
37:54The tenth.
37:55Like someone lighting lanterns one by one in the darkness.
37:58Light travels along the ocean floor.
38:01Flowing into every crack.
38:03Every patch of char.
38:04Every fragment of shattered coral.
38:06The fragments begin to tremble.
38:08They begin to glow.
38:10New branches grow from the broken places.
38:12Young blue.
38:14Carrying the color of the coral forest in spring.
38:17The deep sea realm wakes.
38:18Not a remnant.
38:19Not ruins.
38:21A true waking.
38:22The silhouette of the crystal palace.
38:25Emerges again from the dark.
38:26The shell paved streets.
38:28Glow once more.
38:29The enormous sea anemones.
38:31Unfurl slowly in the bioluminescent light.
38:34And schools of colorful fish come swimming back from the distance.
38:38One.
38:39Ten.
38:40A hundred.
38:41Filling the deep sea with light like a sky full of stars.
38:45I float in the light and watch.
38:47As long as the heart of the deep endures.
38:50The deep sea realm endures.
38:53It has come back.
38:54I lift my black tail.
38:57And in the light that has found its way back, I swim toward the deep.
39:01The deep sea realm endures.
39:03The deep sea realm endures.
39:03The deep sea realm endures.
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