Chapter 2
The Cataclysm
“Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,”

The history surrounding the outer rim is one not talked about often among Aquarius’s citizens. In the dark world they inhabited it was not wise for one to dwell on the past but rather look toward the future. The outer rim was once much like the rest of the city. Until one day many call the ‘Cataclysm.’ During a normal hunting expedition a group said that they had stumbled upon what seemed to be some debris. After several hours of clearing it they discovered a large door resembling that of the ones of old earth. It seemed to have been crafted hundreds of years ago. Rust fingered its way across the handle and sea creatures clung to the metal surface starfish, barnacles, sea spiders, all grasped the door as if it were their only asylum amongst the thriving monsters of the seafloor.
They had expected to stumble upon some sort of chasm or lair where a leviathan would be sleeping the rest of no waking but no, no this was much worse. Their hands gripped the handles of their spear guns and rifles with a tense patience. The countless warnings written upon the door bled with undeniable warning, this door was not meant to be opened. But like all creatures we of the human race have a large sense of curiosity that cannot be cured. One man who was in the expedition had said “If we had opened Pandora’s Box you wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. There are some places in the world where man was not meant to go and we had ventured into one of them.”
One of them grasped the handle turning it ever so slightly. Rust fell as several gears turned unlocking the door. Darkness came from within the cornered walls of what seemed to be a large area at first. But upon opening it they found what seemed to be what they thought was an outpost. For outside there was a large, metal netted fence that when activated could conduct electricity fatally wounding anything touching the fence or in the perimeter around it. A warning sign read DANGER: 5,000 volts, and below it was the illustration of a fish skeleton being struck by lightning. As they entered the darkness they discovered they had entered a depressurizing chamber this is where one would enter their exo-thermal suit and prepare for entering the abyss. Several exo-thermal suits or ET’s lined the walls and had appeared to not have been used in several years.
The outpost itself seemed vacant almost as if it had been left on purpose. The hunters did not bother to leave their ET’s for venturing in they were not aware of what could be lurking in the outpost. Several life support systems scanned the room for any signs of living organisms. Upon sensing the hunting party it closed the back hatch not completely sealing it but keeping it shut as to vacuum seal the chamber then slowly the salt water drained from the chamber via small vents that vacuumed the water back outside the pressurized chamber.
As the water emptied they noticed then how the sea had already claimed the chamber for bioluminescent plants swayed back and forth in an endless dance and barnacles crusted the walls. Small lights began to flicker on throwing their shadows on the walls. Before continuing they stationed a few men in the chamber to keep watch if something were to happen they were said to open the main hatch to let them through. The rest continued into the main entrance of the outpost. The main hatch had been tightened and shut as if to keep them out or… something in. A small view port was installed in the door allowing one to look in and cast their eyes upon the crew. Now all that came from the port was darkness and the moaning of aging machinery. Upon opening the door more water poured into the room sinking them up to their knees. They stepped through the entrance bathing the main room illuminating it as they switched their helmet’s integrated lights.
The water pulsed as they stepped in producing small movements of light from the bio plankton that dwelled in the knee high water. Inside they glimpsed the dark waters where more of the bioluminescent plants swayed and small glowing fish seamlessly glided between their legs. The whole outpost had become a tidal pool habitat supporting all forms of ocean life from miniscule polypi to mild sized crustacean such as lobsters and crabs. All creatures that lived this deep in the ocean glowed with their own ghoulish bioluminescence in colors from electric blues to blood reds and bright greens. The spectacle was quite dazzling a movement of light everywhere one looked. As if heaven had descended into the depths of the swelling sea and the fish seemed to fly like angels through the clouded water. God had laid his Eden of the sea where every creature lived in harmony and no man could stain it, until now. And in the middle what had seemed to be at first an underwater tree was a massive flora glowing a sinless blue in the midst of the Eden.
As they proceeded into the chamber they saw the anemone was circled by small organisms that seemed to be like miniscule rays accompanied with thin whipped tails. Along their sides were ‘wings’ or fins. They seemed to fly in the midair descending every once and a while to bathe in the salt water beneath them. It seemed these creatures were from some new sub-species of skate or ray. Their whole bodies seemed to glow with a white bioluminescence.
What seemed to keep them afloat in the air were buoyant lungs. Like an aeronautical animal of the surface they possessed a lung sack that could fill up with air thus allowing them to keep afloat with ease for long periods of time. When this lung seemed to be out of air they would simply glide down to the water engulfing a small amount. Then their gills would produce oxygen from the water and disperse it evenly between the main lung and the buoyant lung. After this lung would fill they would use their four wing-like fins to take flight from the water. They seemed to do this process in one subtle dive.
The whole spectacle looked similar to something out of the ponderous yet awe inspiring works of H.P. Lovecraft. They seemed to be undisturbed by man’s presence for they went seemingly about their business. “What are they?” one asked, ”Well they seem to be some sort of ray or skate” another commented, “as you can see they possess the fins and barbed tails of a ray, yet their ability to take flight would make them a sub-species of sorts.” “If they are rays as you say then they must contain potent venom coursing through their barb,” this came from another “this discovery could have consequences, for if they were released who knows what kind of environmental desolation they could cause.”
As these words uttered forth from his mouth, one of the creatures dove down to the water. Not submerging but hovering in place. As it did this it lowered its tail into the water, they then noticed their tails possessed a sort of hook-like appendage this hook seemed to be rimmed with miniscule barbs. A small fish glided past and the creature created a simulation of what looked like a worm. The fish’s bioluminescent glow took on a subtle change it seemed, changing from a solid blue to a bright green showing signs of caution. The single fish opened its jaws revealing rows of hooked teeth only three centimeters long. This was a young viper fish or chauliodus sloani, its lengthy bioluminescent lure traveling behind it. As the viperfish began the process of seizing its serrated jaws around the creature’s tail roles were transferred as the creature brought its tail above its body similar to that of a scorpion. The tail moved in one darting motion piercing the viperfish in the gills. It struggled at the end of the barb until movement ceased and breathing was a mere fantasy.
“Fascinating,” one said “it seems to hunt buy using a lure as men did centuries ago and still rarely do. And once the barb breaks the skin the venom is released causing the victim to become fatally wounded. The venom slows down their bodily functions until they cease to operate.” They all watched with an eternal fascination at these wondrous creatures from beyond the abyssal plains that swept around them for miles. As they were in the midst of the reflection upon awe inspiring moment one could hear the crew members left in the decompression chamber fumbling their fingers over the outdated panels, and holo-screens displaying the layout of the ever changing seafloor. “These plants, they’re like biological lanterns,” one mumbled under his breath as he looked into the emotionless visor of an ET, peering into it as if to find someone trapped inside, dead or in stasis.
As the other fumbled with the controls of the outpost he cursed under his breath at the outdated software and equipment. How was one supposed to survive in the merciless abyss when they couldn’t even activate a decompression chamber? Soon after moments of frustration he gave up resorting to his last method, as crouched into the water causing more of the small luminous ripples caused by the bio plankton. The dark water constantly churned as his knees were enveloped by the sand that lied beneath. Through the view of his HUD he could see the layout of the outpost. As estimated this designated outpost was at a depth of 46, 586ft. and the temperature surrounding the seemingly vacant area was about three hundred degrees below zero. This was caused by the lack of deep ocean vents along the seafloor. The deeper one began to travel the more frigid the temperatures of the abyss became. Below the distant waves the temperature and pressure increased to break one physically and psychologically this did not inquire that millions of unknown creatures that dwelled in its depths. He peered inside the terminal, possessing at least the knowledge and ability to find a chink in the impenetrable armor that was technology. As his pupils dilated in the darkness of the terminal he could glimpse electric cables and wires, their tendrils clung to their circuit breakers. His HUD focused in on a miniscule opening, a place to plug into the outpost’s main interface where he should be able to control the entire facility.
He reached behind his neck feeling the several abrasions deep within his helmet, along his visor were several scars. Shrapnel, much more dangerous than bullets or the claws of the beasts that lurked in the depths. The last time he had attempted to hack into the main interface of a facility this large he had lost too much, an explosion that had cost so many lives. He felt his left arm twitch, underneath the shell of the exo-thermal suit lied one of his losses, underneath was not skin and bone, but synthetic muscle flesh. When his body had reached medical attention the damage had been dealt, his arm was more shrapnel than flesh. The emergency room was completely white. The emotionless voice of a medical automaton tried to comfort him but it was futile he was in immense pain. He cried out in agony until the pain consumed him, and darkness had enveloped his vision. He awoke to the sound of a feminine voice, a young girl, then the synthetic tone of another being. His vision blurred and his conscience swerved in and out of reality.
“Don’t move too much,” the voice said, “your still under the affects of an anesthetic. If you wake into full consciousness you’ll black out again.” “Stella, you don’t even know this man, we should let him rest,” another voice, mechanical, yet it was tainted with emotion. “N.E.M.O, we know what it’s like to lose a piece of ourselves… somewhat.” The memory collapsed as he looked into the cracked porthole that separated him from the mere awe-inspiring spectacle. A sinless white bioluminescent glow fabricated itself from the porthole thus bathing the room in a sheet of pure white.
“Maybe…,” one said hesitantly,”we could take one back to the city… for study.” The others looked upon him through the helmets of their questioning their very morals whether to pluck the fruit of Eden. They peered at the panorama of beauty before them. Surely they would not mourn the loss of one these creatures? One angel among the multitude wouldn’t bring the contours of heaven downward. With a silent agreement the hunter reached out an exo-skeletal hand, sheathed in metal, and touched one of the creatures. It paused in midflight as if stuck by a sudden unknown force. Its white bioluminescent glow turned an ember yellow, a sign of which appeared to be caution as it lowered itself into the hands of man. This action was graceful and fluent, its wing like fins slowly fluttering as if to keep afloat in the ocean of synthetic air. At the slightest touch the creatures color turned deep sea blue, hinting a show of serenity.
As the creature settled a teal holographic screen opened itself from the hunter’s hand, displaying the creature’s vitals and its cartilaginous skeleton, as expected. The hunter placed another set of exo-skeletal fingers over the creature. “So gracefu-“, his speaking ended as a barbed tail pierced through the top of a miniscule opening between two plates sheathing the hunter’s dive skin covered flesh. He opened his hands and saw something that sent the blood cascading from his face and brought the rush his heart to a subtle end. The creature’s body was black with a splash of sinless white depicting a skull. The creature slowly removed its tail from the hunter’s hand, just as his lifeless body fell to the floor, pale as the sea was blue.
Suddenly the creature’s body began to vibrate, fabricating a humming noise throughout the air. This sent an array of color through the rest of its kind, a sign of anger among the garden. This continued until a sea of jet black containing ghoulish skulls covered the visors of each human being in the room. A pulse of animalistic movement sent the living mass toward the hunting party. Syringe-like tails piercing every chink the E.T.’s metal casing. Venom seething through their very appendages, injecting numbness throughout their entire bodies and slowing their breathing till it ceased to exist.
Each creature was a living death mask, the sea’s own agent of destruction. From the compound they set forth, their numbers multiplying more quickly than any creature known to exist within the depths. Those discovered within the cities perimeters were euthanized with extreme prejudice. Soon civilians longed to possess one of these Sea-wasps, a longing in which created a form of investment. Their venom was valued in the Black Market, which became conveniently available for the most lethal of Aquarius’s public such as assassins, bounty hunters, outlaws, and mercenaries. Out of this small, yet murderous percentiles of Aquarius’s overall population synthesized the venom into cruel poisons and toxins, developing new ways to murder and catch the lethal game that bred in the ocean depths.
Poaching became favored in the Outer-Rim as well. Man would pit himself illegally against the merciless onslaught of the deep. Tournaments began as well, illegal death matches between the average human and the leviathans of the deep sea. The rules were simple for there was one rule, do not die. Many became bloodthirsty gladiators in this arena, killers of the deep.
In the soul less depths corruption and law became blotted in a Rorschach test that allowed them to bleed together. The law became nothing but arbitrary judgment in service of the highest bidder. With this an attempt to cleanse the city of its virus erected from the abyss, an attempt known as PROJECT: RENISANCE. This began with the inevitable, the cleansing of the Sea Wasp plague. A plague in which like any other, must be tainted in the fires of man. The Sea Wasp were exterminated in a way of which seemed inhumane, yet necessary for the rejuvenation of the once great city.
Holo-signs depicting a Sea Wasp entitled with the words: TEMPORARY QUARENTINE FACILITY, CIVILAIN ACCESS UNAUHORIZED. New streams reported thousands of arrest for illegal possession of the creatures, or their invaluable venom. This was what must be done in order to cleanse a city of it wrongs and rise from the depths of which man had already embraced. If a dog were to struggle the brace of its leash then it must be tightened. Propaganda became an instrument of PROJECT: RENISANCE, weapons and diving equipment no longer advertised on the holo-screens, and projections. New vehicles were developed with streamline designs meant for exploration and ingenuity, and attempt to build a new world within the depths of a cataclysm. An attempt to rebuild a world once lost, to expand the horizons of a new frontier… the deep.