The world had turned to chaos, but Asher and Jeremy had only one thought—survive.
They plummeted through the darkness, the wind screaming past their ears. Asher's heart pounded as the abyss yawned beneath them, swallowing them whole. The monstrous shrieks above faded, drowned by the roar of the wind and the violent churning of the sea below.
Then—impact.
They hit the black waters with bone-crushing force. The cold was instant, brutal, a thousand knives piercing their flesh. Asher gasped, his lungs burning as the freezing darkness enveloped him. The ocean swallowed them, dragging them into its silent, endless depths.
For a moment, there was nothing.
Just the void.
Then—Jeremy's hand found his.
A desperate, trembling grip in the abyss.
Asher turned, his silver hair swirling in the dark currents, his wide violet eyes locking onto Jeremy's terrified green ones. The weight of the sea pressed against them, forcing them deeper, but Jeremy's grip didn't falter.
He was holding on.
Holding on to him.
But the horrors were not over.
A deep, guttural rumble echoed through the ocean, ancient and monstrous. It didn't come from above.
It came from below.
Asher and Jeremy stiffened, their bodies tensing as an unnatural current surged upward. The darkness beneath them moved. It wasn't the water—it was something else.
Then, the sea opened its eyes.
Two massive, glowing red orbs blinked within the abyss, their eerie light illuminating a vast, writhing monstrosity. The creature's body was an abomination—mountainous and endless, covered in slick, pulsating tendrils that twisted and coiled like living nightmares. Its grotesque mouth was a gaping void of jagged teeth, large enough to swallow a kingdom whole.
And beside it, another horror.
This one was worse.
It rose from the darkness, towering, writhing, shifting—its body made of countless fused corpses, their faces frozen in eternal screams. Its elongated arms stretched unnaturally, dozens of hands reaching, grasping, yearning for the living. Its maw was not a mouth, but an abyss lined with whispering shadows, voices of the damned murmuring in languages unknown.
Jeremy's grip on Asher's hand tightened.
But they were seen.
The two creatures lunged.
A massive tendril whipped through the water and struck them with bone-shattering force.
Asher was ripped away.
His body jerked violently, pain exploding in his chest as the tentacle pierced through him.
"Asher!" Jeremy's voice was muffled, distorted by the sea.
The world blurred.
Asher gasped—his mouth filling with water as agony tore through him. The tentacle was inside him, coiling like a venomous snake, its slick surface pulsating as it released a numbing toxin into his bloodstream. His limbs went slack. His body—paralyzed.
The pain was unbearable.
His vision darkened.
He was sinking.
No—he was being dragged.
The creature's tentacle reeled him in, pulling him toward its infinite, black maw.
This is it, Asher thought. This is the end.
Then—Jeremy.
Through the swirling darkness, Jeremy was chasing him.
Fighting against the currents.
Fighting against the pain.
Fighting against everything.
"Asher!"
Jeremy's voice was raw, desperate.
Asher's lashes fluttered. His consciousness was slipping, the world turning hazy, dreamlike. His blood drifted in the water, painting the sea in crimson streaks.
But Jeremy didn't stop.
He swam madly, frantically. His arms cut through the water, his body pushing through the crushing depths. The fear in his eyes was raw—but beneath it, something more.
Something aching, yearning, unspoken.
Jeremy reached him just as the creature's mouth began to close.
"Asher!" Jeremy lunged, sinking his teeth into the creature's slimy tentacle.
The thing let out a bone-rattling screech.
The tentacle jerked, loosening just enough.
Jeremy tore Asher free.
His arms wrapped around Asher's limp body, holding him so close, so desperately.
Then—he swam.
Faster.
Faster than he ever had before.
The sea shook.
More horrors stirred.
The scent of Asher's blood had awakened things that should never wake.
Jeremy could hear them—the monstrous whispers, the guttural growls, the clicking teeth.
They were coming.
Jeremy's breath hitched.
He looked down.
Asher's face was pale, his lips slightly parted, his chest barely moving.
Jeremy's throat tightened.
His grip on Asher tightened.
"You're not dying," he murmured, voice trembling. "Not now. Not like this."
Then—pain.
A pair of gigantic tentacles shot out from the abyss, wrapping around Jeremy's ankles.
Jeremy yelped.
He jerked violently—but he didn't let go of Asher.
"Asher—!"
The force dragged him down.
The darkness swallowed them both.
Yet—even as they fell, even as the horrors closed in, even as the abyss threatened to devour them—
Jeremy's arms never let go.
Even in the darkest depths, he held Asher tenderly.
NOTE I HAVE BEEN SO BUSY SO POSTING SHORT CHAPTERS BUT BY GOD'S GRACE THE NORMAL CHAPTERS WOULD RESUME. GOODNIGHT AMORE'S
Desperately.
Like he was the only thing that mattered.
Like he was his whole world.
And then—
The sea swallowed them all greedily.