Mini Brain Dumps

Hello everyone! We’re diving back into Darkest Depths with Chapter 22 and… another surprise chapter! Thank you so much for your continued support and enthusiasm for this journey!

If you’re just joining us and haven’t read the beginning of Darkest Depths, you can catch up here: Beginning of the Story

Missed the previous chapter? No problem! You can find it here: Previous Chapter

Trigger Warning: This novel contains references to sexual assault and mental health disorders. Reader discretion is advised.

Chapter 31:

They swam back to the castle together, hand in hand.

It had been a bit unnerving as Cate had collapsed their little bubble sanctuary. His legs had melded together, his teal scales emerging from his skin. He breathed in the salty water of the sea, the gills emerging in his neck. He almost welcomed the sting in his throat compared to the stale air of the cave, but he’d never tell Cate that.

As the roamed through the castle gardens, the spotted Lyra. Cate quickly dropped his hand as Lyra zoomed towards them, knocking Quentin to the ground with a force that knocked the wind from him. The crashed into the ground, a tangle of limbs and fins.

Cate looked down at them with a smile as Lyra planted a wet kiss on his cheek. Quentin wiped the spit from his cheek with the back of his hand. “Thanks Lyra,” he mumbled.

They straightened up, Lyra nearly bouncing with excitement. She gestured for Cate to come closer, as she looked around to ensure that there was no one who could overhear her. “I found something,” she whispered.

Cate and Quentin exchanged curious glances. They followed her as she led them through the castle. She guided them through familiar narrow passages, emerging to find themselves in front of a familiar curtain of swaying seaweed.

“You’ve shown us this place before,” Cate stated.

Lyra simply looked back at them before slipping behind the seaweed and disappearing. They followed her through. She waited at the edge of the underwater spring, but instead of jumping in she veered sharply to the left, where a wall of sea vines sprawled across the wall. With a flick of her wrist, Lyra began to part the thick vines, revealing a narrow passageway concealed behind the verdant foliage. They followed her.

“I’ve been here hundreds of times and never knew this was here,” Lyra said excitedly as she swam ahead.

The passage dropped sharply, getting narrower as they continued. The walls pressed in so close to him that for a moment he had to use his hands to pull himself along. Just when he thought that he was going to suffocate the walls opened in front of him revealing a large room.

With a flourish, Lyra gestured for Quentin and Cate to approach, her eyes alight. “Behold,” she shouted, her voice bouncing off the walls.

Quentin and Cate were greeted by a room of stone. Smooth, polished stalactites hung from the ceiling like crystalline chandeliers, their delicate formations reflecting the soft, iridescent glow of the algae that cling to their surface. In the center of the chamber stood a stone pedestal. Upon it rested a coral tablet, its surface adorned with runes that seemed to pulse with energy.

Lyra approached the pedestal slowly, reaching out to trace the lines of the runes with trembling fingers. “I stumbled across this place by accident,” she explained, “but I believe it’s the prophecy that you both have been looking for.”

Quentin drifted slowly towards the center of the room, stopping behind Lyra and leaning over her shoulder as she read it aloud.

In the heart of the deep, where shadows dance.

Ancient whispers echo, a timeless trance.

Two souls entwined, fate’s intricate thread,

Their choices woven, where the fates are led.

With power vast, one shall rise,

A wielder of fate, ‘neath ocean’s guise.

To the triangle’s embrace, they must go.

Where salvation or ruin, only they’ll know.

As Lyra finished reading out the prophecy, a quietness settled in the chamber as they each looked back and forth between each other.

“Is this the prophecy?” Quentin asked.

“I was hoping you guys would help me figure that out,” Lyra said looking at him with a grin.

Quentin’s eyes wandered around the chamber, his mind racing. But as he scanned the walls, something caught his eye – a faint crack in the stone, barely visible in the dark room.

“Wait,” he interjected. “Look at that.”

Lyra and Cate followed his gaze, their eyes narrowing as they focused on the small fissure in the wall. At first glance, it seemed like nothing more than a minor imperfection, a natural flaw in the rock. But as he approached it, he realized it was a familiar shape.

Cate’s fingers fumbled in her bag urgently. She pulled out the necklace she had taken from the Sovereign and raised it in front of her. She looked back and forth between the mark on the wall and the pendent. A gasp escaped Cate’s lips as she turned to Lyra. “It’s the same,” she said.

Lyra recoiled, her eyes widening in shock as she swam backwards, slamming into the wall behind her. “Where did you get that?” she asked.

“We found it,” Quentin said confused. “Why? What is it?”

Lyra’s gaze darted nervously between Quentin and Cate, her hands trembling. “I-I don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t know what that is,” she stammered.

“Lyra…” Cate started.

“I have to go,” Lyra interrupted, swimming quickly towards the exit.

But Cate was faster. With a swift motion, she reached out and grab Lyra’s arm, her fingers closing around her wrist with a vice-like grip. Lyra was sent tumbling backwards, her necklace slipping from her neck and falling to the ground with a clatter. The chamber fell silent as everyone turned to stare at the broken remnants of Lyra’s necklace. Lyra’s eyes widened in horror as she gazed at the broken conch shell, her hands trembling with disbelief.

“No…” Lyra said, picking up the shattered pieces from the ground. “What have you done?”

Suddenly, a wave of energy surged through the water, Lyra’s body contorting and shifting in a whirlwind of shimmering light. With a haunting melody that echoed through the chamber, Lyra’s once-mermaid features gave way to an eerie visage. Her canines elongated, her ears became pointed, and her blonde hair was replaced by a mane of white that cascaded around her shoulders. Quentin staggered back in shock, his breath catching in his throat as he watched the transformation unfold before his eyes. Cate’s voice rose in alarm as she reached out to Lyra, but it was too late. In the blink of an eye, Lyra floated before them – not as a mermaid, but as a siren.

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