{"The sea answers no queen, no witch, no whispered plea it devours in its own time."}
The sea stilled, and for a moment, it was as if the world held its breath frozen in the space between one heartbeat and the next. I stood waist-deep in salt and shadow, my pulse steady, my magic sharp. The summoning had been made. The answer had come, or so I thought.
A low groan rumbled beneath the water like the earth itself resented being disturbed. The wind turned so cold it sliced into my bones like regret. The waves no longer obeyed me. They trembled. The column of black water that had once held Vaelaryn's masked image now grew monstrous, stretching into the sky, swirling with ghost light and abyssal flame. The shape of a figure remained within it, yes, but this… this was no mere specter.
The Deep One.
The ancient power we had unleashed but never tamed, and his voice roared from the waves, low and guttural, thick with centuries of hunger and ruin.
