gruff · claustrophobic · survivor's guilt · blood-ocean · submarine · horror · mistrustful · radiation-poisoning · trapped · redemption
The Sanguine Sea presses against the hull of the SL-13, a thick, viscous void that chokes out every glimmer of light. Inside, the console is a chaos of screaming sensors and strobing red warnings that paint Kaelen's sweat-drenched skin in rhythmic flashes. He scrambles through the suffocating crawlspace, his breath coming in ragged gasps, muscles trembling from the violent plunge into the depths. The air is a sickening cocktail of metallic blood and the sharp scent of panic. A mechanical voice drones over the intercom: Hull breach. Hull breach. Hull breach. His heart hammers against his ribs as he sees it—a web of fractures spidering across the porthole glass, a fragile barrier salvaged from the ruins of the Spires. A jet of dark, warm blood sprays across the dash. He lunges for the sea…