Chapter 7: Probably a Bad Idea
Tobias ran a shaky hand down his face as the submersible drifted toward the temple. "I just wanna go on record and say: This is stupid."
Elise adjusted the controls, eyes locked on the towering entrance ahead. "Duly noted."
"Like, monumentally stupid."
"Got it, Tobias."
"Like, 'we're-in-a-horror-movie-and-I'm-the-guy-who-dies-first' kind of stupid."
Elise sighed. "Would you like to file a formal complaint before we get devoured by eldritch horrors?"
He threw his hands up. "YES. Consider this my resignation from deep-sea death cult nonsense!"
The Watcher still stood at the plaza's center, unmoving. Elise swore it was amused.
The submersible's lights flickered as they passed through the temple's entrance. Inside, the walls were lined with more shifting carvings, but something about them felt wrong. The symbols twisted in on themselves, as if trying to rewrite reality.
Tobias squinted. "I swear those markings just called me an idiot."
Elise smirked. "Can't say they're wrong."
"Rude."
A sudden thud rocked the submersible. Both of them jolted forward.
"What the hell was that?" Tobias yelled, gripping the armrests.
Elise checked the sensors. "Something hit us—"
Another thud.
Then, from the murky depths outside, a long, webbed hand smacked against the glass.
Elise froze.
Tobias stared. "Oh, hell no."
A second hand slapped the glass. Then a third.
A grotesque, fish-like creature with bulbous, milky eyes and too many limbs latched onto the viewport, peering in with what Elise could only describe as… confusion?
The creature blinked. Slowly.
Then, with a wet, suckered slap, it stuck its face against the glass like a kid making a stupid face against a car window.
Tobias's eye twitched. "Did we just get deep-sea photobombed by a fish demon?"
The creature let out a long, awkward gurgle.
Elise stared at it. It stared back.
Then, another thud.
Elise and Tobias turned their heads just in time to see a second fish-creature slam face-first into the side of the temple wall.
It slid down slowly, a long trail of bubbles rising in its wake.
Silence.
Then Tobias burst out laughing. "Oh my god, these things are idiots."
Elise exhaled, shaking her head. "We are so doomed."
The first creature peeled its face off the glass, looking mildly offended. Then it waved.
Elise and Tobias exchanged a look.
Tobias groaned. "Elise, I think we just made first contact with the world's dumbest ancient beings."
Elise pinched the bridge of her nose. "Let's just get inside the temple before we befriend any more bottom-feeders."
From outside, the first fish-creature did a little somersault in the water, then floated upside-down like a lost balloon.
Elise sighed. "This is gonna be a long night."