Page 13 of Drenched

Sebastian’s light shifted downward, landing on a long, coiled shape etched into the stone. The details made my skin crawl, each scale, each hollow eye socket.

“That’s the Vurrax. It wraps around you and squeezes. You won’t see it coming in the dark.”

We moved further in. His beam swept across another figure, sleek, overlapping scales that seemed to shimmer when we moved.

“The Silvershrike,” he went on, voice low. “Reflects light. Messes with your head. Makes you see things that aren’t there.”

A faint noise echoed from deeper in the cave. I jerked my light around, heart hammering. Nothing but shadows.

Sebastian’s jaw tightened. His light found another carving, thin, stretched limbs, almost human but wrong.

“The Drowner’s Hand. It hides in algae beds. Looks like someone reaching for help... until it grabs you.”

I clenched my jaw, my stomach twisting. My light caught the last carving, and a cold dread settled in my bones. A skeletal figure stared back, mouth frozen in a silent scream.

Sebastian’s fingers curled around the flashlight. “The Sirenshade. It calls to you, sounds like someone you love. The more fear it senses, the stronger it gets.”

He didn’t say anything more. He didn’t need to. The cave felt like it was holding its breath, and suddenly, so was I.

“Why are these here?” My voice echoed slightly in the stillness, louder than I intended. “Who made them?”

Sebastian didn't look at me. His flashlight stayed fixed on the carvings, moving slowly over each deliberate mark. “No one knows for sure,” he said after a moment. “Some villagers believe ancient people lived here long before Sarkivik. They worshipped the ocean - the Abyss - and everything in it. My people think these carvings were left behind to warn anyone who came after them.”

“Worshipped the ocean?” I asked, my voice tinged with disbelief. The idea sounded almost ridiculous. “You're saying they believed in some kind of... Sea God?”

“That's exactly what I'm saying,” Sebastian replied. His beam lingered on a particularly jagged carving. “To them, the Abyss wasn't just water. It was alive. Something they couldn't control. Something they feared.”

I turned my light back to the wall, studying the sharp lines and unsettling shapes carved into the stone. The detail was too intricate, too purposeful to feel random. Whoever had made these had seen something - or believed they had.

“How does anyone know these aren't just myths?” I asked as doubt crept into my tone. “You're talking like this is fact.”

Sebastian moved his light to the next carvings. “Because the Abyss doesn't leave room for myths. People here still feel it. They see things no one can explain. Look at Amanda. My sister hasn't aged in twenty-five years. How do you explain that?”

I stayed silent, my grip tightening on the flashlight.

“This ocean holds secrets, Pearl,” he continued. “The algae might be one of them, but it's not the only one. Far more dangerous things hide out there. Sailors have disappeared into these waters for centuries. Entire ships.”

His words felt too big, too impossible. I couldn't look away from the carvings, their silent warnings carved deep into the walls.

At the farthest edge of the wall, I noticed something else. Sebastian hadn't pointed it out, but my light found it on its own. This carving wasn't like the others. It wasn't a creature. It didn't have a body. It was a shifting cloud, jagged and uneven, itsedges blurring into the stone. The only clear part was the eyes, pitch black, deep and endless.

The eyes stared back at me, carved with such detail that they almost felt alive. My breath hitched. My chest tightened. Those eyes. I’d seen them before.

In my dreams.

My knees went weak. Recognition hit me all at once, crashing down like a wave.

Sebastian’s voice cut through my panic. “That’s the Abyss,” he murmured, his voice lower now, almost reverent. “The master of the oceans and the master of those creatures.”

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t look away. The eyes, they were the same. Dark, endless, staring back at me. The ones that had pulled me down into the abyss, swallowed me whole.

Suddenly, Sebastian grabbed my arm. “We need to go.” His flashlight flickered in the dark. “The tide’s coming in. This place floods.”

I didn’t fight him. We rushed, our footsteps splashing through shallow puddles on the cave floor. The air grew heavier with every step, like the walls were closing in on me.

When we finally stepped outside, the sun had risen, the light chasing away the shadows. But those eyes ,dark, endless, and alive ,stayed with me. And I knew they weren’t done watching.

Chapter Five

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