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Chapter 3
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Echoes from Below Chapter 10
Some time later, perhaps a second, perhaps an eternity, when I opened my eyes once more, I was back at home in my bed.The sun shone through the window, hitting on my face. I felt the warmness coursing through me. Birds were chipping merrily outside the window.I suddenly set up. My body was unharmed. I had no scales, no gills, nor fins.My neck was clean as before.Was I dreaming? Was it really all just a dream?I picked my phone up. The Echoes from Below application was gone. I could not find the forum either.The only thing I saw was a message in my inbox from someone unknown.[Congratulations.]I was stunned. What was I being congratulated for?I walked over to the bathroom and turned the tap on to wash my face. Just when I cupped some water in my hands, I heard voices. Countless voices."I'm starving.""Help.""I really want to go home."Those voices were coming from the water, from every molecule in the water.I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes had turned a
Echoes from Below Chapter 9
At that moment, I should have gone insane.Any normal human, staring directly into that kind of incomprehensible cosmic horror, would have had their sanity shatter like thin glass.However, I did not.Perhaps it was due to the emotional hollowing-out I had already gone through.Maybe it was the mutations numbing something inside me, or some twisted instinct protecting me.My mind was oddly clear at that moment.Crystal clear.It wanted to eat me. Not my flesh, but my entire being.Its countless eyes twinkle with greed and hunger. It was absorbing my fear, my despair, and my memories.I felt slowly stripped of them.The joy of riding a bicycle for the first time. The excitement of getting into college. The pain of my first breakup…All those memories were slowly becoming a blur to me, at the same time turning into its nourishment.No.I was not going to become an empty shell. In despair, my mind turned quickly.I knew it feasted on emotions. Fear was an appetizer, while
Echoes from Below Chapter 8
I picked up a metal chair by the side and smashed it against the control console.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 r
Echoes from Below Chapter 7
I instinctively swerved.Dr. Chenowith slammed onto the railings, causing a loud crash. I had underestimated his strength. He swung back, and his webbed hand clamped around my arm like a steel vice.I was in excruciating pain. My bones were about to break."Let me go!"I pulled out my folding knife and stabbed it into his arm. The blade stabbed into the scales, but slipped away as if it was stabbing into a tire, leaving a white mark."It's useless!"He snarled and flung me away. I landed badly on the control console, bleeding from the corner of my mouth.Dr. Chenowith came closer, step by step, and asked, "Why are you resisting?"The scary thing was that he did not look murderous. He looked oddly sympathetic. His uncanny imitation of compassion made it seem even more creepy."Think about your ex-boyfriend. You two were so much in love, yet you ended up breaking up because of money."He stopped in front of me and bent down, staring at me with that huge fish eye of his.His
Echoes from Below Chapter 6
Two hours later, I saw the lighthouse.It stood on a stretch of black, jagged reef. Alone, broken, abandoned.There was no light at the top. There was only a ring of rusted iron railing silhouetted against the stormy sky.My car died about 100 meters away. The engine started smoking. The car was done for good.I opened the door, only to be faced with a stunningly strong gust of wind.The air was filled with that disgusting stench of rot, much stronger than what I encountered at home. I felt as if I had jumped into a huge tank of rotting fish.However, the gills on my neck reacted eagerly. They flared open and shut, gulping the foul air with hunger.I even felt lighter.Was that the effect of the Deep Sea-fication?I was adapting to the monster's world. I staggered toward the lighthouse, boots slipping on wet stone.The front door was wide open. Inside was pure darkness, like a mouth waiting to be fed."Dr. Chenowith?" I called out.My voice echoed inside. No response came.
Echoes from Below Chapter 5
I had turned into a monster.Looking at my neck in the mirror, the slit was still seeping translucent mucus. I was somehow extremely calm.It was not acceptance. It was numbness from despair.Dr. Chenowith's message came once more.[Are you still alive? Your will to live is stronger than I expected. Since you survived the first hunt, this means that the transformation has begun. The inhibitor won't work on you anymore.]I merely replied, [Then, am I just to wait for death?][No. There's another solution.] Dr. Chenowith sent me a screenshot of a map. A red marker glowed in the middle of nowhere, 300 kilometers away from the city.It was an abandoned lighthouse.[That’s the original signal reception site. There’s a jammer there. It can sever your link to it, but you have to reach it before full Deep Sea-fication.][Remember. No matter what you hear or see, don't stop the car. It uses your strongest emotions and memories to stop you.]Emotions?I smiled bitterly.I had been
