Trapped!

By now, Ecco's inner ears were ringing from the notes of his own song, its purpose turned from a simple search to the dolphin version of gibberish...meaningless, and therefore loud, harsh, and terrifying. His hopeless cries were the only sources of noise.

His eyes were closed, and he dared not open them again. He's faced many big foes, but nothing like this, nothing that he couldn't really see! As he viewed with his echolocation alone, the teeth seemed to surround and envelop him, and he felt as if he was being crushed. His body was calling for space...for air...for life...

Finally, he gave a small squeak of defeat. Ecco floated, letting his muscles relax, and his eyes squinted tightly shut as he awaited the blow of death. Perhaps it would come from being crushed as he was swallowed down this monstrous creature's esophagus.

Perhaps it would come from the putrid acid in its stomach. Digested alive...he could already feel his skin starting to burn from the very thought of it.

His song stopped as he drooped. The cavern once again went silent. The monstrous jaws, jagged teeth like a cage, were most certainly poised around him.

He waited...waited...waited. Tensed as he thought he heard something, yet he wasn't moving.

Waited some more...

But the warmth that he encountered in the cavern didn't waver. It didn't change into a blast of cold or a blast of searing heat from stomach acid. No...the temperature was exactly the same.

Ecco's skin was untouched. It still felt like empty water around him, nothing more. He moved his fluke, and it thrashed water...not teeth or jaw muscle.

Slowly he opened his eyes. The cavern was still pitch dark. If he had died, wouldn't there be a light of some sort?

He sent a cautious blast of sonar, and flinched again. He was still surrounded by moving jaws. But he swam in a circle, trying to ram whatever it was, only to find he was still in water.

Ecco charged empty space, confused. "What trickery is this?" he asked aloud. Only his echoes answered him.

With a slow sigh, he wondered how something like this was possible. He had heard myths from other singers that complete darkness would soon drive any creature to insanity. Only the deep-dwellers evolved there, were immune.

It would have taken years for that to happen though. Months, maybe.

"Illusions..." he whispered to the ebon space. Ecco swam about the space, searching for anything living with unaided hearing, no sonar.

He found nothing. It was then it dawned on him.

"Illusions! The jaws...the barrier of rocks suddenly appearing...it's all a trick! It must be!"

Righting himself, Ecco powered his fluke forward, no longer relying on his sonar but his own educated guess, hoping with all of his heart that he was right, that there wasn't a creature there simply toying with him before finishing him off. As he passed the area and into another tunnel, he felt a tingling sensation.

Ecco suddenly let out a screech. Something powerful had seemed to seize him. But what they had seized was his mind, not his body.

And once again he heard the strange, whale-like song. He could not understand the language, it was too ancient...the earliest of whalesong. But he understood through words that just seemed to appear in his mind. He fought the mental pain to try and read it...but understood only parts.

...Amazing...there is...presence...strongest will that has...enter...realm! Cannot...spirit...

That was all he caught before he closed his eyes, a sudden blinding light seizing his body and leading him through the strange warmth.

A part of Ecco wanted to fight against it. Another part wanted to stay within and find what he has come to find...even if it meant that he would never leave again.

The adventurous dolphin had to take his chances. The white color that shined in his eyelids were accompanied by melodies never before sung by his kind...