ECHOES FROM THE ABYSS

darkness of the ancient temple. The word it had spoken still seemed to linger, an impossible sound that resonated not just

veins. "It did," she whispered, barely trusting her voice. The impossible had become reali

ed to have awakened around them. The water pulsed with an unnatural rhythm, a heaving, living presence that twisted and shifted with a malevolence that sent a chil

e depths of the abyss for answers, and she couldn't let fear stop them now. "We can't turn back," she said, though her voice faltered. Her gaze swept over the looming temple, its ent

g the murky darkness beyond the searchlights. The ancient city surrounding them was a g

t so powerful it felt like the pulse of some colossal, unseen entity. It was primal and hypnotic, a force that seemed to draw them in. The blue g

ut, his voice tight with fear. "The energy readings are spiking. Whatever is in that templ

ious. But she couldn't shake the haunting words from Malcolm's last transmission: "They're still here... waiting." The desper

g herself. "Samir, keep running scans. Nia, yo

he clamps securing against the ancient stone echoed through the cabin, a hollow, metallic clang that made Nia flinch. The hatch opene

a thin layer of silt, a memory of the ocean's dominion over this forgotten world. As Elena's boots touched down, the

anything like this," she murmured, awe and terror battling in her voice. The chamber they stood in was vast, its ceiling lost in shadow. Massive stone pillars rose around them, each carved w

o come from the very walls. As they approached the far end of the chamber, the carvings grew more detailed. Elena traced

n that had reached for something too powerful to control. The figures were shown kneeling before an orb, an object that pulsed with energ

y tried to control... whatever this is," she whispered

ng shut somewhere deep in the shadows. Elena and Nia both froze, the sound of their breathing impossibly loud in the sudden silence. The echoes had

ough the headset, sharp with urgency

yet not. Its form was carved from darkness itself, and where its eyes should have been, there was only that haunting, blue glow. The creature stepp

he word surfacing from some di

pped around them like a cold embrace: "You should not be

s wide with terror. "We need to go,"

and the burning need for answers. They had disturbed something

it had