The world cracked open.
The flood that had nearly drowned him stilled—water hanging midair like frozen glass.
Every droplet shimmered with faint inscriptions, ancient and trembling, as though the entire trial had been scripted in a language the sea itself had forgotten.
Jayden fell to his knees, chest heaving. The water withdrew from his lungs in thin silver threads, leaving the taste of salt and iron behind.
He could hear his heartbeat echoing through the silence—steady, defiant, alive.
The current guided him, steady and patient, as if the whole ocean wanted him to move. Jayden's body screamed to stop, but his instincts knew rest meant death. He drifted past the corpse of the eel, past broken spires and shattered domes, until the ruins gave way to a yawning chasm.
Blue light pulsed from below, drawing him closer.
He sank through columns of drifting sand until the seabed split open into a tunnel of black stone. The water grew colder, heavier — the kind of cold that made his teeth ache. Strange runes marked the tunnel walls, glowing faintly with a rhythm that felt alive.
He passed through.
The tunnel widened into a cavern so vast it swallowed his breath. It wasn't empty — a whole town lay inside, frozen in glassy ice. Buildings of coral and crystal leaned under centuries of frost. The streets were paved in silver shells, and suspended figures — humanoid silhouettes encased in clear ice — stood like statues mid-stride.
Jayden stared in disbelief.
He brushed a hand against one of the frozen shapes. Beneath the ice, he saw a man's face twisted in fear — mouth open in a scream that would never end.
A whisper brushed against his ear, soft as breath.
They drowned without water.
Jayden jerked back, heart racing. "Who's there?"
No answer. Only the creak of the cavern and the slow crack of ice under unseen pressure.
He tried to steady his breathing. The water here was dense, syrup-thick. Each movement dragged against him, forcing him to push harder. The light dimmed until only the faint glow from the frozen town lit the way.
As he moved deeper, the whispers returned — hundreds of voices overlapping, ancient and broken. Some begged. Some cursed. Others just wept.
The weight of their sorrow pressed against his mind.
He stumbled through a narrow passage between two frozen houses and emerged into what might have once been a plaza. In its center rose a massive statue — a woman with flowing hair carved from sapphire, her hands outstretched toward the ceiling. Around her feet, runes flickered weakly.
Jayden stepped closer. His reflection stared back at him from the statue's glossy surface — pale skin, blood on his temple, exhaustion in his eyes. For the first time, he noticed something strange about his reflection.
The eyes.
They shimmered faintly, like there was light hidden behind them.
Jayden frowned and leaned closer. "What are you…"
The statue's eyes flared suddenly with deep blue light.
The ice cracked.
Jayden jumped back as fractures raced across the plaza, slicing through the ground like lightning. The entire frozen town groaned. Then, from beneath the statue, something massive stirred — a sound like chains breaking underwater.
The floor collapsed.
Jayden was thrown backward as the statue shattered. From the pit beneath it, a creature crawled out — long and slender, its body armored in shards of ice and bone. Its head was a skull wreathed in tendrils of frost. It looked almost human, until it opened its mouth — a jagged spiral of teeth that howled without sound.
An Aberrant, higher grade than before. A Feral-class monster.
Jayden's pulse spiked. He had no weapon. His limbs ached. But there was no time to think — the creature lunged, and the fight began.
He dove aside, barely dodging the claws that tore through stone like wet cloth. He grabbed a broken pillar, swung it into the creature's leg — it cracked, but the beast didn't even flinch. It backhanded him with such force that he crashed into a wall, stone and ice raining around him.
Blood drifted from his mouth in slow red ribbons.
He coughed, pushed himself up. His arm hung uselessly. The creature was coming again — slower this time, savoring the moment.
"I can't win this", he thought. "I can't even run".
The beast reared back, its frozen chest glowing with cold energy. Frost spread across the floor, racing toward Jayden's feet. He leapt aside, rolled, grabbed a shard of ice and drove it into one of its tendrils. The beast screeched, striking wildly.
One blow grazed him — and pain exploded through his ribs. His vision flickered.
He fell to his knees, chest heaving. His mind screamed to give up.
Then something — deep and ancient — stirred inside him. His mother's soft hum, his father's laughter, the warmth of a home that no longer existed.
He gritted his teeth and pushed himself up again. "Not yet…"
The creature lunged. Jayden moved. Not with speed — but with "will".
He sidestepped at the last second, seized the glowing core at the center of its chest, and slammed his hand into it. Frost burned his flesh, but he didn't let go.
The cavern lit up with a burst of pale light. The monster thrashed, shrieking, and then — it stopped. Its body froze solid, mid-movement, before crumbling into dust that shimmered away in the current.
Jayden stood there, shaking. His hand was blackened with frostbite. The air — or whatever passed for air — felt thick with power.
And for the first time since waking, the silence felt… watchful.