Darkness had been its home for so many years. The piercing light, as dull as it was at this depth, was still like a knife to the creature's single cornea.
As it rose, now free of its prison, it felt the lesser pressure of the waves wash over its putrid, purple skin. It would be stronger here, faster and deadlier.
The ancient warlocks of the Deep had imprisoned it, but surely they had died long ago. Its primitive mind was secured on one thing and one thing only: destruction. Mindless chaos. That was why it and its brethren had been born after all.
They were the Nightmares of the Deep, created for the sole purpose of spreading their master's dark wish. Was their master still alive? Doubtful. The Nightmares cared not for long dead affections or loyalties anyway.
All they wanted was to destroy.
The large purple beast at the forefront of the pack, urged on by the six other creatures, rose to the top of the chasm. The lumbering metal doors they had been locked behind for centuries were finally open, the mystic chains broken and useless.
It fluidly moved through the water, propelled by the thick tentacles of its lower body and guided by the lone, yellow eye at the center of its body. It was eager to be out of the chasm, out of the Deep.
As it crested the chasm's edge, it bellowed a cry of primal exaltation. It gazed at the sparse lands that it barely remembered, now dead and crusted over years of ignorance and neglect. The creatures were born of evil, and even the powerful magicks that had been their jailer were not enough to halt their essence of evil from seeping into the land.
The dead waste of the cold lands pleased it, and it yearned for more.
At the edge of its vision it saw a speck move, somehow separate from the sea floor. It was barely visible, but the Nightmare focused on it quickly, seeing the small tinge of yellow atop it.
The thing moved, and it moved quickly. Life! So, the lands weren't dead after all. This pleased the Nightmare, as it had not killed for many years. There was nothing that would please it more than to kill this speck that dared to come near it.
It slashed one of its thick tentacles down, attempting to squish the speck. But it moved out of the way, darting back and forth in the water.
Annoyed, the creature slammed down several more of its tentacles, managing to bash the speck into the ground. Surely, this living thing was dead, crushed by the Nightmare's power.
It roared again and its six other brethren added their voices to its own. They dispersed, eager to find other life in the sea that would quickly be extinguished under their power.
~~A~~
DC Infinity Proudly Presents:
AQUAMAN: The Deep
Issue #2 of 3
~~A~~
Pain.
That was the only thing present in his mind. Deep, resonating, sharp pain. It was more than just physical pain. This agony had assaulted his mind as well, as he felt despair and torment overwhelm his thoughts and shove away anything else. He couldn't focus on anything but the pain.
Aquaman, the savior of so many, strong and resilient and a born leader, wept.
He had been surprised to see the huge, monstrous purple creature arise from the chasm. He had been so focused on the explosives planted along certain fault lines by the Manta Raiders, and the alarm raised back at Sub Diego as hundreds of those same Raiders swarmed the city, that he hadn't been prepared for the more direct attack.
Whatever that thing was, it was pure evil. There was no doubt of it. He had barely managed to escape its first tentacle, for as large as it was, it was also quick. He hadn't stood a chance against its full power.
As soon as it touched him he felt his will to live simply slip away. The same will that had driven him to lead an entire nation was sapped away within a mere second, leaving him dumbfounded and ashamed.
The creature departed, along with many others, dispatching him as no longer a threat. He was left to bare consciousness as he struggled to get his eyes open again.
"Orin," a familiar voice said to him.
He stirred. Was he dreaming? He was so far away from the populated areas of the ocean that he doubted that one of his Waterhorse Guard had found him.
"Orin," the voice said again, this time more sternly.
He managed to open one eye and saw a hand being offered to him. When he couldn't raise his own hand to take it, the person reached down and picked him up, pulling him out of the ground.
He hadn't realized that the force of the creature's strike had been powerful enough to lodge him into the ocean floor. The man, whoever he was, pealed him out and helped him to his feet again.
Aquaman was dizzy, but his vision was starting to return to him. He looked at the man who had pulled him out and smiled.
"Garth," he said.
"You okay?" the former Aqualad said. "They sent me out to find you. You look terrible, sir."
Garth, now calling himself Tempest, had come a long way since being the former sidekick of Aquaman. He was now only an inch shorter than Aquaman, with thick, shaved black hair and a tattoo over half his face. His red and black costume wasn't too different from the blue and white one that Aquaman now wore, although Garth made it look more fashionable than useful.
"Who sent you?" he replied.
"Lorena and the others who made it to safety."
Lorena. Sub Diego was still in trouble. The memory of the cry of his current apprentice just before the ocean floor had been rocked by explosions flashed into his thoughts.
"The Manta Raiders!" he exclaimed. "We have to—"
"Easy," Tempest said as he helped steady his former mentor. "Most everyone is safe. That's why I was sent to find you, because the danger is no longer immediate."
"No longer immediate? How long was I out?"
Tempest frowned. "Two days."
Aquaman's mind was reeling. The impact from the creature's tentacle had been harder than he thought. He didn't even remember drifting in and out of consciousness, although he must have. All he remembered was the sense of hopelessness and flagrant pain that came along with it.
"Where's Aquagirl?" Orin asked.
"She managed to get away from the Raiders with a small group of your Waterhorse Guard," Tempest explained. "They're hiding out along the Rose Reef."
"And the people of Sub Diego?"
"They've mostly been piled into prison camps within the city."
"The Raiders are occupying Sub Diego?"
"It looked like a full military invasion to me."
None of this made sense. The Black Manta, as antagonizing as he was, rarely did anything on this scale. It almost smelled like a desperate move on his part.
Too much was happening at once, and he had been out of commission for too long to really do anything about it. "How did you find me?" Aquaman asked.
Tempest pointed to the large schism created by the obliteration of the fault line. "I knew the general direction you had headed and from there I just traced the fault line."
"That's it? Needle in a haystack, Garth."
Tempest seemed to frown again, only this time it was much more subtle. His expression was almost somber. "I sensed something out here. Something old."
Aquaman shot a look at the chasm from which the monsters had sprung. Garth had been through a lot since his teenage days with the Teen Titans. His adventures, away from Orin, had taken him through other dimensions. He had come back, but changed. He now had mystical senses and powers that Aquaman couldn't hope to fully understand.
Whatever had come out of the chasm was what Tempest had felt. Having touched that dark evil for himself, Aquaman knew the kind of pull it might have had on Garth.
"What was it?" Garth asked. "What came out of there?"
"I don't know. But I think we need to find out before we do anything else."
~~A~~
"On my command, we move."
The captain of the Waterhorse Guard raised an eyebrow, looking cautiously at the young woman that had given the order to him. His armor, formed from the dense materials at the bottom of the sea, would protect him from most physical harm, but surely not the harm that was to come if he followed this girl into battle.
"On your command?" he questioned. "My men are not expendable, princess."
Lorena looked back over her shoulder at the captain. She was hunched down behind a boulder on the outskirts of the city with a platoon of Waterhorse Guard behind her. They had managed to get away from the Manta Raiders and flee to the Rose Reef, but with Orin gone and Tempest out to find him, she had gotten tired of waiting.
Hundreds of Manta Raiders had swarmed over the city two days ago, decimating their defenses. Troops of the Raiders swam through the streets, marching the inhabitants off to cordoned areas. She didn't want to wait anymore.
"Our people are being corralled like animals, captain," she said. "And do not ever call me princess. If we're going to strike, we need to strike now."
"I'm just not sure the Guard is prepared to be led by someone so inexperienced."
"Orin trusts me. That should suffice you."
The captain was noticeably irritated, but he had to admit that Lorena had a point. Aquaman had proven himself countless times over the years, and had even personally formed the Waterhorse Guard. He had fought with the former king in battle and had seen firsthand his skill and decisive leadership. For some reason he had chosen this young girl as his ward, and that should have spoken volumes of trust to him.
Bowing his head slightly, the captain relinquished all objectivity, as did the rest of the Guard that were huddled around them.
Aquagirl nodded. She turned back to look at the city, wondering if perhaps it wasn't a better idea to hide amongst the safety of the coral in the Rose Reef.
That's not what Orin would do, she decided silently.
"We'll take the small platoon there first and then head straight for the throne room," she whispered. "The ship we saw arrive this morning docked there. It's the best place to find the ringleaders and kick their butts."
"Aye," the captain agreed.
Lorena waited cautiously, watching the small platoon of Manta Raiders occupying her city float casually along with the current. They were in a perfect position to flank them, provided the other platoon across the way would continue its patrol pattern.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the second platoon moved away, leaving the first one vulnerable. Lorena rose her hand, and when she was satisfied that the second platoon was sufficiently gone, she dropped her hand in a swift motion, signaling the Guard to move.
As fluid as the sea itself, the Waterhorse Guard swam along the ocean floor, making sure to use the surrounding structures for cover. They came from underneath, striking quickly and precisely. Their spears, made from the densest material under the sea, sliced through the Raiders' air supply canisters. Thick streams of bubbles erupted out from the tanks, causing all five of them to panic.
Two of the Guard struck them down into an alleyway before they could signal or call for help. The operation had taken less than a minute and once the water calmed around them there was nothing left in their wake to alert any passing Raiders.
Lorena approached the large, black ship that had thrust its way into the wall of the throne room. It was sleek, a specially designed watercraft that had to have cost millions to create. It could easily carry hundreds of passengers, but that didn't mater to Aquagirl at the moment. All she cared about was severing the airlock.
A slender tube, no taller than her, was extended out from the ship and into the wall of the building. It had punctured the masonry, creating an airtight seal with the inflated tubing around its end.
"We're going in, captain," she called over her shoulder as she ripped the tubing away and forced her way into the throne room.
The large hall, even though it was called the throne room, had a series of chairs around an oblique table. This was where the council met, and where they decided the fate of Sub Diego according to their policies. It had been dubbed the throne room mainly as a joke, since the proud designer had decided to incorporate impressive ornamentation all around the table. The name stuck.
In place of the stacks of paper on the table, which consisted of many contracts, orders, and declarations of the council, now sat a single prone body.
"Oh, my God," Lorena said as she burst into the room.
The Manta Raiders around the room swarmed her and the Waterhorse Guard, but not before she made out who was lying on the table.
The Black Manta himself, seemingly unconscious, with a life support system steadily chirping away beside him.
~~A~~
Their decent was slow. Aquaman's senses told him that dropping into the chasm was a horrible idea, but he needed to know what had been unleashed in front of him. Just touching one of those creatures was enough to make him shiver, and thinking about them brought the memory to the forefront of his mind, as fresh as if it had happened only a moment ago.
Tempest was with him, cast an eerie blue glow against the rugged walls. His magick, or whatever he called it, was condensed into a solid blue ball around his hand allowing them to see in the otherwise pitch dark. The light blended in with his suit well and he wondered why he rarely wore the blue and white dubs anymore.
"Doesn't that feel strange around your fingers like that?" Aquaman asked, never taking his eyes off the nothingness beneath them as they dropped.
"Asks the guy with a magical construct for a hand," Garth replied.
They dropped the rest of the way in silence, which took several minutes. This place reeked of evil and it noticeably disturbed both men as they descended. There were etchings on the walls, shone by Garth's light. Strange figures that neither had ever seen before.
By the time they reached the bottom Aquaman had lost track of time. He felt a great pressure push against him, not the pressure of the sea, but more of a force to keep away.
When their feet finally touched the bottom they separated. Aquaman to the left and Tempest to the right; their old way of operating, honed by years of working closely together, had come back without exception. Even in the dire situation that they faced, it was comforting to Orin to know that his former ally still respected him.
They were in a tunnel that sloped downward gradually. Tempest cast his blue light down the tunnel, until it hit another wall at the far end. Cautiously, they walked toward the wall.
"It's a chamber," Garth said.
Aquaman stopped. "More like a prison." He motioned to one side of the cavern. "Someone locked those beasts away down here."
Throwing his light to where Orin had pointed, Tempest saw what was left of a thick door that looked to be the exact height of the chamber. Huge chains, bound together with flawless welding, were slunk around the broken door.
"Those must weigh a ton," Garth said, astonished.
"Easily. Probably more. Whatever broke them was strong. Look here."
Aquaman bent down to touch the chains, and in doing so, he saw a glyph similar to the ones on the wall embedded in its metal. He reached out with his water hand and touched it.
As soon as he did it erupted in blinding light and images began pouring into his head.
An ancient mage, bent on ruling the ocean.
Unimaginable power being summoned by the mage to create the beasts, seven in all.
Plagues, destruction, death.
And then a band of other sorcerers, using the last of their power to bind both the mage and his creations.
"Orin!" Tempest called out. When he reached Aquaman and pulled him away from the chain and the glowing glyph, he saw that his former mentor's eyes had gone pearly white.
"We have to get back to the city!" Aquaman said as he pushed Tempest away. "If we don't, everyone will die!"
~~A~~
NEXT ISSUE: The Black Manta is on his death bed, but will Aquaman simply let him die? And how will he survive the oncoming attack from one of the Nightmares of the Deep? More secrets revealed in the conclusion to this epic miniseries!
