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Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 07/14/2017 11:13 PM

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The noise was incessant.

Somewhere in the depths of the ocean, a creature opened its eyes--- slowly, slowly. It had been a long time sleeping, and a long time dreaming. It might have been content to remain that way a long time still, but it could not; no longer. There was so much noise.

At first it had been little nothings, here and there a disturbance. It would simply drift off again, ignoring whatever it was, for nothing had ever been big enough to force it to stir on its own.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 07/14/2017 11:19 PM

But then there had been more, ever more. The dull tide of noise had been tolerable when it was quiet, but it had risen quickly to such a crescendo that it could no longer be ignored and slept through. And there was the pain--- not pinpricks, but great stabbing aches now, rhythmically thudding in with the beat of the cacophony ringing in its ears.

Somewhere in the depths of the ocean, a black miasma roiled beneath the earth. It shifted gradually, in undulating movements. The eyes closed, and opened again.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 07/14/2017 11:24 PM

Things drifted into its consciousness as it woke, one by one. The return of sensation, beyond the dull and vague awareness it had known in sleep, was the first; it hissed as the pain became sharper, more focused. The mass writhed, and in doing so, the creature remembered something else: a settled form.

But the space was too small. It had chosen a deep bed to make its own for the long sleep; it remembered having expected to be asleep a long time, though it no longer remembered why. How long had it been?
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 07/14/2017 11:27 PM

Long enough, or perhaps not...? It didn't know the answer to that either. But now that it had been awoken, the creature wanted out. It hardly remembered what that meant anymore, but surely in leaving, it would find the answer.

Things had... shifted since it had last gone to bed. A sign that time had passed, or perhaps interference... But who would want to interfere? There was so much unremembered. The old way was blocked, and for a moment the creature became agitated, nearly angered.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 07/14/2017 11:30 PM

But as it pressed against the confines of the space, it felt at once the new cracks that had formed--- some natural, but most not. The pain--- the pain. All around, digging into its flesh...

The miasma undulated again, more forcefully this time; and then again, and again. A pressure was building. It was looking for an opening; any would do. Anything, anything, to abate the sensation of spars and spines reaching in. And then, from there, it would get out, and demand answers. Someone would answer for this.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 07/16/2017 1:32 AM

With all the pressure building, something had to give--- and eventually, something did. The creature could feel it just before the thing burst, and concentrated its next surge at that place in particular. It resisted for a moment longer, but then caved all at once, and the miasma surged through the slight opening in the rock like a geyser. The viscous dark swarmed up and up and up, pooling itself in the--- the water.

The ocean.

The memory of freedom came back all at once, and the creature surged up, the shapeless black mass resolving itself into a humanoid shape.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 07/16/2017 6:51 PM

However, the form was just that--- a shape. There was nothing else human about it beyond that vaguest suggestion. It was roughly the right height, and as it moved, something like the human proportion of limbs separated from the central mass, but its movements were still inclined towards a liquid quality, and there were no features beyond that. What passed for its head had no semblance of a face, or indeed any features whatsoever.

It remained attached to the rest of the black murk for a moment, then flew free on its own, leaving the rest behind. But the black trailed after it like a cloak, like a retinue, as if the figure was pulling it along through some unseen means.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 07/16/2017 6:56 PM

The figure surged up, up and up and up through the waters. Its movement grew faster, though they remained aimless, exploratory, almost joyous, as if it were reveling in its new freedom and hardly knew what to do with itself. But then the dark slick brushed against something, and the whole of it stopped, figure and accompanying drift and all.

There was a tall thing, a great vertical pillar of it, jutting out from the ocean floor. The creature remained where it was for a moment, staring at it.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 07/16/2017 7:02 PM

In the deep dark waters, it was hard to tell just how far up it went, but the place where it pierced the rock was the same place from which the creature itself had emerged, but moments ago. It was stranger that the creature had not noticed it sooner. The hole had been flush, but now more and more dark oozed out from the crack the creature had made when it pushed out.

Then the thing heaved, and water rushed in towards it, drawing the black slick up with it. The creature writhed and hissed, as if in pain or distaste, or both.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 07/16/2017 7:23 PM

This. This was the thing that had disturbed its peace. This was the source of the noise and the aches that had forced it into waking. It had forgotten in the face of its sudden freedom, but at this reminder, it came crashing back into awareness. The pain hadn't stopped at all, and the noise---

It would not stand for this. The creature hunched, trembling with sudden rage, and the mass around it coiled and swirled with restless energy, before lashing out at the pillar before it.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 06/25/2018 2:28 AM

But the structure was not so weak that a single rush of liquid could sweep it away, even with all the force of the entity's anger. As the dark wave washed over it, the pillar merely stood, parting the darkness around it.

Not to be deterred, the entity drew itself up and tried again. Surge after violent surge, the roiling black mass swept around the pillar, at times appearing almost as if it were performing some sort of grotesque, macabre dance with the pillar as a centerpiece.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 06/25/2018 2:32 AM

After its initial few blows failed to budge the pillar, the entity had calmed some. It recognized that this thing was powerful in its own right, its bones built of sturdy metals, and that this would be an undertaking of endurance, or perhaps of strategy. Blindly rushing at the task would not achieve its aims.

It kept up its efforts a little longer, then paused for a moment to survey the extent of its effects. The figure swept up to the base of the structure, peering at it.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 06/25/2018 2:39 AM

Somewhat dishearteningly, there seemed to be little change. The figure was displeased, but not thoroughly disheartened. It had roused only recently from its slumber, and its thoughts were slow to coalesce, but it was not so primitive as to be ruled solely by its emotions. There was intelligence hidden somewhere in the dark pits of its eyes, and under the chill waters, it was rousing slowly to the idea of planning out its movements once more.

There had to be a better way to do this.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 06/25/2018 2:43 AM

The entity paused there for a moment, studying the pillar with renewed interest. Just how far up did it go? The entity found that it didn't understand this foe very well. It had merely seen a disturbance, and attacked it head on. It knew that it had nothing to fear from any creature in these waters, but it had been asleep for a very long time. Things had clearly changed. It had never seen the likes of this ugly monolith before, boring into the caverns and sea-beds where the entity had been laid to rest.
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Re: Deepwater Horizons [self]

Postby crow » 06/25/2018 2:47 AM

It turned its face upwards. This far under the ocean, there was little sunlight, and the ice sheets covering the surface above meant there was even less than there might otherwise have been. Still, it could make out the outline of the pillar extending up and up, possibly all the way to the surface.

Up it was. The entity surged up too, carried ever upward by a pillar of its own making, as if using the black mass under its command to jet itself along within the water.
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