The twilight zone of the ocean quickly gave way to the absolute, suffocating blackness of the midnight abyss.
Roxy propelled herself downward, her powerful tail cutting through the freezing water providing the only source of light in a world entirely devoid of the sun.
Without Syris's steady, cold-blooded presence beside her, the sheer, crushing isolation of the deep sea pressed in on her from all sides.
This was never in her plan.
It was terrifying. The ocean was not a silent place; it was filled with the low, vibrating groans of shifting plates, the distant, haunting clicks of unseen predators, and the heavy, rushing rush of deep-water currents.
Every shadow looked like a monster. Every shift in the water pressure made her heart leap into her throat.
To keep the creeping, paralyzing panic at bay, Roxy started to hum.
It was a soft, vibrating melody. The sound resonated in her chest, filling her ears and drowning out the terrifying groans of the deep.
