Next to him Talyn shook her head and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We better move before she gets too far ahead,” her voice came through the radio inside his helmet.

He knew she was right and forced himself to move toward the ledge. He could hear his sanity fighting with itself. Be stranded and his leave his friend to face the depths alone, or jump over the ledge and come face to face with one of the imprisoned.

Both options sounded horrible.

Dash watched Talyn swim forward and dive over the ledge, disappearing behind Bria. Panic set in approximately 2 seconds after being on the ledge alone, and he found his heart thumping in his ears. Standing on the edge he looked down, trying to finish convincing himself that there was no choice. A loud warble in the hum came again and Dash felt a lump rise in his throat.

No choice, he thought one last time and leapt downward towards his friends.

The light coming off of Dash’s helmet allowed him to see Talyn’s feet in front of him, and not much else. He felt like the hum was vibrating his skull as they swam deeper, and it was the only sound that hit his ear. He knew from previous research that life existed at every level on Earth, yet he saw nothing swim around them now. Only water and suspended dust braved this section of the ocean.

“I wasn’t sure it was possible for darkness to get darker…” Bria’s voice came through the speaker in Dash’s helmet.

Her voice sounded foreign. As long as he had known her it had been peppy and high-pitched, a show of her permanent excitement. Yet it had sounded dull and quiet. The three swam forward in silence after that. It was strange how much more oppressive deep water felt than endless space.

Dash was unable to keep track of how long they had swum downward. He was too wound up to count, and there was no scenery to file away. When they finally came to another shelf of land, it seemed they had been swimming for hours. Once all three were gathered, and upright, once again, Talyn spoke.

“If the history books are true, up ahead will be a cave opening. Inside…” she swept her light from Dash and Bria to the open space in front of them. “Inside will be something big, angry, and probably hungry. No one is supposed to have come to see these things in a millennial. Earth keeps them but the humans don’t believe in them.

“They say the creatures sleep endlessly,” Bria whispered. Her voice barely came through Dash’s helmet.

Talyn laughed, despite the solemn mood around her. “That hum is a hell of a snore.”

The mood broke as she spoke the words, Bria and Dash laughed along with her. Moments later, when they finally caught their breath, they all turned- facing away from the ledge they had come from.

“We’ve come this far,” Bria said. Her voice moving between laughter and nerves.

Dash tried not to feel vindicated that the two girls were nervous along with him. In the end, if this whole thing went south, it didn’t matter if they had been brave or not. With that they moved forward, wading the water in a straight line, Bria in the middle.

Dash felt his head vibrating again, the hum had taken along in the back of his thoughts. It was reassuring that the other two had heard it, but it didn’t stop it from rattling around his skull. He felt his stomach turn in circles as they moved, and lost his breath completely when his eyes caught sight of their destination.

Not long after they had begun to swim forward the trio stopped again. They faced down a large arch of deeper darkness than what was around them. A sweep of Talyn’s light showed the earth that surrounded the arch.

“There really is a cave, down in a hole, down in the ocean,” Dash said absently.

“Yeah,” Bria said and snorted quietly, “Wonder if our lamps will even work inside.”

“Only one way to find out guys. We came this far,” Taryn whispered.

Dash wasn’t sure if she realized she had said it so low, but she was already moving again so he didn’t have time to ask. He found himself scrambling forward in the water again in an attempt to not be left behind. The thought of floating around, with no one else around and that hum warbling and vibrating his skull nearly drove a groan from his long throat. There was zero possibility of him staying behind.

Passing through the arch and into the blackness beyond it, Dash felt the air inside his suit get colder. He waited for the nozzles to kick on and warm him up, but they remained silent.

“How do they keep it here?” Dash asked as they inched themselves forward.

“An anchor,” Bria said without hesitation.

“A what?” Dash asked, making a face that he was thankful the other two couldn’t see.

“Anchor. Humans, and maybe other species who spend a lot of time on the water- I’m not sure, use them to keep their water ships in one place. The books say that they built a gigantic anchor, and buried in the earth, attaching the other side to…” Bria hesitated towards the end of her explanation.

She was the most well-read of anyone Dash knew, he was surprised she wouldn’t know what to call the Old Ones. He opened his mouth to make fun of her despite the oppressive mood when he heard a yelp come through his speakers.

“What was-” He began to ask and was cut off by Talyn.

“Holy fortitude!” she exclaimed and went silent.

Dash moved next to the other two and shone his own light in the direction they faced. A chain, thicker than any of their bodies, came from the ground and continued into the darkness ahead. Next to its entry lay a claw that Dash also felt was bigger than himself. It seemed to be attached to some sort of hairless arm, but he couldn’t bring himself to shift his focus up again.

All three stood in silence.