Some of you will know what inspired this. I shan't elaborate, because I don't want to. Dark(ish). "Enjoy".

fatal mistake

Kendral stared down the dark tunnel in the cliff face, standing on the soft seabed among the corals, within a small bubble just large enough for himself. Bubbles trailed slowly upwards through the saltwater, spiraling up to the shining surface above them. Those bubbles, he knew, had come from a place so close to his home that he had never visited before.

What really was under the water, beyond the rim of this cave? It was dark, too full of shadows to betray much to the light from the surface. It held secrets, he knew. Secrets his mother had always told him to avoid. Something about a great creature called Pianus, who had once been a living being, but had been trapped and turned into a fish for his greed. The story was fascinating and sad, and he would, truly, have liked to see it.

Why had she been so fearful? There must be something hidden there, something grand, mysterious, something that he wanted to see. So many had gone in before—why should he still be afraid to enter?

He was already level thirty-one. A long way from his beginnings as a lowly beginner on Maple Island. He was sure that it wouldn't be that hard…

Kendral thought back and recalled something his friend Nicole had told him. "I went down there when I was lower-levelled, 'cos those squids are good experience," he still remembered the priestess saying, eyes literally sparkling with excitement at the thought of that cave. It had to be fine. Dangerous Sea Gorge? Maybe that name wasn't true to the location.

Kendral glanced at the Forked Spear in his firm hands, the weapon that had already killed him hundreds of Aqua Road monsters. He had been struggling for quite a while to attain his thirty-second level. Maybe a challenge was what he needed. And it had been a while since he had last visited a place that he had never seen before.

Slowly, carefully, he crept in, stepped through the veil of seaweed into the shadow of the cave walls. Again, his common sense bugged him. They wouldn't call it "Dangerous Sea Gorge" for nothing, it told him, shivering all of a sudden. Besides, Nicole is already level ninety-seven! How would I know what she considers easy to kill?

It was a little too late to turn already—the shadows had swallowed him up, and the cold in his small bubble was growing, many yards into the cave. There was not much point returning, when he didn't know which direction he had come from.

Kendral came to a drop in the depths, and he gave a gasp of shock as his foot touched nothing, falling suddenly below the level of the ground. Then he began to descend through the water, except that unlike other times, it was complete darkness here.

Suddenly, he became aware of something—the sound of squirming, and not something small. He felt his throat tighten. They sounded huge, the invisible, curling tentacles hidden in the murk, reaching out into the dangerous waters as they searched for prey.

They can't be hard, he thought to himself angrily, allowing himself to sink further, refusing all notions to start swimming upwards at the last moment. When I get home, I'll tell Mother and Father how great it was here, and how wrong they were about it being too dangerous for me.

For once, he allowed a slight trace of exhilaration, and it grew. This was exciting, and he couldn't wait to see what the monsters here were like. Maybe he might even make it far enough to see Pianus and Cadus.

Then he felt his foot touch something soft…and something curl around his ankle. It felt nice at first, but then it suddenly tightened, constricting it. Before he could think anything else, another tentacle had reached out to pull his leg closer.

Kendral felt a shot of panic explode in his heart as he tried to pull away now. Yet it was pulling him in, drawing him out of his bubble, cutting off all feeling in his feet…

Then suddenly, jerked him down, out of the bubble, into its crushing embrace, plunging him into cold, freezing darkness. Out of shock, he breathed in. The worst mistake he could make. Water tore into his lungs and he felt his eyes go blank, the spear fall out his his hand, his head hurting and spinning as tears streamed uselessly into his eyes.

A tentacle pulled itself around his numb body, squeezing all the air and water out of his body, cracking his ribs, which ripped into his lungs. And he spun away into darkness, without another word, with only the vague thought that he should not have tried to enter the Dangerous Sea Gorge.

Stupid ending. But that's exactly how it should be.