Page 43 of Frostforge, Passage Six
Thalia moved toward her, stepping carefully on the sloped floor.Bodies pressed close around her—frightened civilians huddled together for comfort, children clutching parents' legs, elders supporting each other with linked arms.Their eyes followed Thalia and her companions with expressions that mixed wariness and fragile hope.They recognized outsiders in their midst but seemed too exhausted by terror to muster proper suspicion.
"Come," Cassia commanded as they reached her."There is something you must see."
She led them through winding corridors that followed the whale's natural contours rather than any human architectural principle.The passages narrowed then widened, ceilings arched in irregular patterns, and floors undulated with the creature's movement through water.Gas lamps set in wall sconces cast elongated shadows that stretched and contracted as they passed, their flames somehow maintaining steadiness despite the fortress-whale's steady descent.
The captain moved with absolute confidence despite the alien environment, her steps never faltering even when the structure shuddered around them.Behind her, Thalia navigated more cautiously, placing each foot with deliberate care, all too aware of the immeasurable pressure building outside these walls as they sank deeper.
Thalia had grown up in a coastal city, surrounded by sailors' superstitions about what lurked in ocean depths.Those childhood fears now seemed childish compared to the reality they faced—creatures that could devour islands whole, that commanded storms with intelligent malice.
They arrived at a reinforced door marked with symbols etched in silver.Cassia pressed her palm against a metal plate embedded in its center, and mechanisms within the door clicked and whirred, responding to some form of identification Thalia couldn't comprehend.The heavy portal swung inward, revealing a chamber unlike any they had yet encountered within the fortress.
The observation room was small but ingeniously designed.Its outer wall curved outward in a half-circle of reinforced glass that offered an unobstructed view of the waters surrounding them.Metal supports divided the massive porthole into sections, but each pane was large enough to frame a significant portion of the underwater world.Instruments of navigation and depth measurement lined the inner wall.
Thalia approached the transparent barrier, placing her fingertips against glass so thick she could feel the pressure resistance.The water beyond was murky, too darkened by the night to see much.
The sounds of wind and waves that had accompanied their journey since leaving Verdant Port were gone, replaced by the muffled groans of immense pressure against the fortress walls and the occasional tremor as the whale navigated deeper currents.The entire structure creaked and popped as it adjusted to the increasing weight of water above them, like a vessel testing the limits of its construction.
Then Thalia saw it.
At first, she mistook it for a deeper patch of darkness—a natural variation in the underwater gloom.But as her eyes adjusted, she realized the shadow moved with purpose, gliding beneath their position with a deliberate grace that belied its impossible size.A tentacle-like appendage flashed briefly in the limited light, disappearing back into the mass of darkness before she could fully comprehend its scale.
"By the Founders," she whispered, her breath fogging the glass as she leaned closer, straining to keep the shape in view."That single tentacle—it's larger than this entire fortress-whale."
Cassia nodded grimly."The Deep Ones do not know physical limitations as we understand them.They can be vast as islands.They change shape, adapt, flow between forms."
A sudden helplessness washed over Thalia, more suffocating than the pressurized air within the fortress.What could they possibly do against entities of such scale?Her current-sensing abilities, Roran's storm magic, Ashe's combat prowess—all seemed laughably inadequate against the ancient power that moved beneath them, that had been consuming islands whole and driving an entire people to desperate flight.
The fortress lurched violently, throwing Thalia against the curved glass.The impact drove air from her lungs, leaving her gasping as she pushed away from the porthole.Around her, instruments rattled in their housings, and loose items clattered to the floor.From beyond the observation room came screams—sharp with fresh terror rather than the ambient fear that had pervaded the fortress since they submerged.
"It's found us," Cassia said, her voice flat with resignation rather than surprise.
Through the porthole, Thalia watched in horror as inky darkness enveloped their view.The tentacle had wrapped around the portion of the fortress visible from the observation room, its surface unnaturally black—not the darkness of absence, but the darkness of negation, as if it consumed light itself.
Another jolt rocked the structure, stronger than the first.The whale beneath them shuddered, its massive body straining against the constricting grip.Thalia gripped the metal frame surrounding the porthole, her knuckles white with effort as she stared at the tendril wrapped around their sanctuary.Through her current-sensing ability, she could feel the wrongness of the entity—not merely alien, but fundamentally opposed to the natural energies she had spent her life learning to perceive.
"We can't just wait here to die," Ashe snapped, her hand on her crossbow though the weapon would be useless against what threatened them.
"You're right," Cassia agreed, her expression shifting to one of grim determination.She removed her leather cloak, folding it with precise movements before placing it on a nearby shelf."We cannot."
Before Thalia could ask what she meant, the captain strode from the observation room, her back straight, her steps purposeful.
"Wait—where are you going?"Thalia called, pushing away from the porthole to follow.
Cassia didn't respond, continuing down the corridor at a pace that forced Thalia to jog to keep up.Behind her, she heard Roran's footsteps, his breathing quick with exertion and tension.Ashe remained in the observation room, her duty to monitor the threat outside overriding her curiosity about the captain's actions.
The fortress-whale shuddered again, a more prolonged tremor that suggested the creature was struggling against its captor.The lamps along the corridor flickered, plunging them momentarily into darkness before sputtering back to life with diminished brightness.
Cassia led them to the end of a long passageway Thalia hadn't explored during their brief time aboard.A reinforced iron door stood there, flanked by two armed Warden guards whose expressions betrayed no emotion despite the crisis unfolding around them.They straightened as Cassia approached, responding to her rank rather than the chaos threatening their existence.
The captain spoke briefly in the Warden tongue, her words flowing like water over stones.The guards exchanged glances, their composure fracturing briefly to reveal dismay beneath.One began to protest, but Cassia cut him off with a sharp gesture that brooked no argument.Reluctantly, they stepped aside, their eyes lowered in what might have been respect or resignation.
To Thalia's horror, Cassia began to turn the heavy wheel that secured the iron door.
"What are you doing?"Roran exclaimed, lunging forward as if to stop her.
The captain didn't pause in her movements, the muscles in her forearms standing out as she continued to rotate the wheel.Metal groaned against metal, the sound almost lost beneath another violent shudder that ran through the fortress.
"Our whale cannot break free of Deep Ones’ restraint," Cassia said, her accent thickening with urgency."She needs aid."
