Chapter 8
451words
Wham!
Sparks flew. The exploding sound of the electronic components in the machine sounded like fireworks.
I did not stop.
Slam! Bam! Clang!
I released all of my fear and anger on the control console like a maniac until the machine had turned into nothing but scraps for recycling.
The constant buzzing in my brain finally vanished. The world turned quiet.
All that remained was the waves lapping against the reefs.
I threw the chair aside and slumped to the ground.
It had all ended. Everything was done.
"Heh…"
Dr. Chenowith snickered gutturally. He had not died. Lying in the pool of his blood, his remaining fish eye glaring at me.
He coughed up blood while chuckling. "The machine was never the source."
What?
I sharply turned to look at him.
"It's just a receiver. An amplifier."
Dr. Chenowith's voice grew fainter by the second. "The real source is down below…"
He pointed at the floor, the reefs, and the sea.
"We are all its stomach…"
Rumble!
As if to prove his words, the lighthouse suddenly trembled violently. It was not an earthquake, but something was moving underneath.
The ground started to crack. Through the cracks, I did not see rocks or dirt. I saw flesh.
Red, writhing walls of flesh.
At that moment, I finally understood.
The lighthouse was not built on some rocks. It was built on the back of a large creature.
The island was not an island at all. We had been standing on the God of the Seas.
Dr. Chenowith said with his remaining breath, "Run… It's awake…"
Then, he cocked his head and passed out, dead. His fish eye was still open, reflecting at the world about to crumble.
I wanted to run, but where to? The entire 'island' was drowning. Black water rose up hungrily.
Countless tentacles burst from the water, coiling around the light house.
The lighthouse was crushed like a toy, and I fell with the debris.
Weightlessness swallowed me whole.
Was that it? Was I going to die?
No.
The instant I hit the water, something impossible happened.
I did not drown. As cold water enveloped me, my gills started working overtime.
I opened my eyes, and in the darkness, I saw it. The creature that was called the God of the Seas.
He was so vast it was indescribable. Its countless eyes lit the darkness like a sky full of stars, looking down at me.
The voice from the radio application rang once more. That time, it was not only in my brain, but it vibrated every single cell in my body.
"Welcome home."
