Citizen 929 Apati

“I dare YOU to swim into the darkest part of the Posian Trench!”

Apati’s friends looked at her with a mixture of surprise and horror, but her grin never faltered. If they were so confident as to tease others, then they should undergo the biggest diving challenge a Rex could face.

“You can’t be serious, Apati. It’s too dangerous! That’s just cruel!”

“Why? He just said he could do anything.” Apati’s smile widened. “If he’s so scared of a little darkness, he shouldn’t tease other Rexes about their swimming!”

Despite her confidence, her words only spurred a bigger fight, somehow turning her into the villain. She huffed and rolled her eyes, all she’d done was issue a test to make the other Rex prove their skill. Surely, if they were so amazing, then swimming into the Trench was no big deal! She didn’t get it, and their loud protests grated on her nerves, until she couldn’t take it.

“Fine!” She stood and stomped her foot, tail lashing. “I will show you just how easy it is! You’ll see!” With her declaration, she turned and ran along the beach. She would prove them all wrong. 

Apati didn’t feel worried as she dived into the water.

Apati didn’t feel worried as the ocean grew cold when she went deeper.

Apati didn’t even feel worried when the sunlight disappeared and she only had her magic to lead the way. 

But as she approached the trench, the vast and barren landscape that stretched before her, a flicker of nerves grew in Apati’s gut. The ravine’s edges were jagged, almost like teeth, ready to reach up and pull her into the dark stomach of the depths forever. Or until her air ran out, whichever came first. She could see a flicker of light in the trench before darkness swallowed it whole. 

Could the ocean devour her? 

She had conquered the waves above and scared off the sharks that had grown curious and lingered too close. She’d pushed through the currents and the darkness, unafraid of either, but here… Why was she so afraid? What was this terror that gripped her limbs and tugged at her heart to beg and plead with her mind to retreat back to surface? Admitting she was wrong, apologising for her outburst, seemed survivable compared to the danger that her body was certain she would find in the trench. 

Perhaps she was being cruel. Perhaps a challenge to travel to the trench shouldn’t made or accepted lightly. Perhaps they were right to be afraid.

Apati scowled and kicked to push herself down. She had gotten this far. If her friend was so confident he could get further than she had, even teasing their friends for their fears, then she should prove just how far she would go to prove that she was right, to prove that she wasn’t cruel.

As the teeth of the trench neared, she shut her eyes and pushed on. She didn’t want to see if her terror was right. She wanted to be blissfully ignorant if she was about to be consumed. 

But nothing pulled her further, and no walls crushed around her body to drag her down. She was still okay, even if her heart hammered in her chest. Apati took a moment to shake the stress away before diving down further. 

Every little sound set her heart racing again. She couldn’t see where any of the noises came from, nor could she tell if they were from fish, rocks or other Rexes. There had been rumour of parts of the trench being haunted by the ghosts of those who had drowned, and their spirits forever suffocating in the trench as they were chained to their watery grave. Their glowing ghostly forms reached out to the Rexes who were foolish enough to visit, and then-

Apati shook her head. Nope. Thinking about ghost stories would just send her bolting back to the surface with her tail between her legs so she wouldn’t be grabbed. She needed to stay focused. 

As she swam deeper, a soft glow caught her eye. Light? Was it another Rex? She’d seen some light disappear, but she’d thought the Rex had been consumed by the trench. Were there other things under the water that could take a Rex’s magic, leaving them defenceless? Apati hesitated but, if it was really another Rex, she couldn’t just leave them alone. Gathering as much bravery as she could, Apati pushed herself to chase after the light.

Turning the corner, she stopped and stared at the structure before her. If she wasn’t underwater, desperately holding her breath, her jaw would have dropped open.

A huge skeletal structure towered over her, dwarfing her effortlessly. The curved ribs that reached to the sky were most of what she could see, lit up by crystals that grew from the base and jutted out like armour that grew on the creature too late to save it. She wondered what it was, she’d never seen anything like it. Trying to fathom a creature so large that even she was small was… impossible. Trying to picture what had killed something so huge sent a spike of primal fear deep into her soul.

Her friends would never believe she’d seen this, but she couldn’t carry one of the bones up to the surface. The mesmerising crystals would be proof of her visit, yet her body refused to go closer and her hands shook when she reached out to them. With a nervous glance, Apati retreated and scoured the ground nearby for something more reasonable but just as impressive. 

As she searched, her claw brushed a shard among the rocks. Scooping it up to her magic’s light, her eyes widened to see the intricate patterning on the piece of broken pottery. It looked… beautiful, even without the rest of the piece. Could it be an ancient relic? Searching for old artefacts was usually why Rexes dived to the trench, despite the terrors they had to pass. Apati smiled and pushed up, beginning her return to the surface, with the fragment in hand.

She would prove just how wrong her friends were.

By paradoxspir1t