"Are you kidding me?" a frail-looking boy muttered.
He stared at a creature deep underwater a nightmarish fish with bulging, unblinking eyes and gills on its neck that pulsed relentlessly.
It swam frantically after he shot an arrow into its abdomen.
"Why won't it die?" the boy whispered.
As he hesitated, the creature locked its hungry gaze on him, eager to devour him.
With a guttural growl, it lunged.
The boy kicked the creature, using the momentum to propel himself backward. Drawing his bowstring, he prayed:
"Bless me, O god of the sea, herald of the abyss, grant me your power!"
His amulet emitted a faint light. The bowstring hummed as the arrow released.
Whoosh! The glowing arrow sliced through the dark water and struck the creature.
Thud! It hit bone. The creature roared in agony, its bulging eyes frantically searching for the one who had pierced its gray-green flesh.
When it spotted him, the creature surged forward.
The boy raised his bow to block its attack. The creature's fangs sank into the bow, but knowing they wouldn't penetrate, he seized his chance.
"Die, beast."
The amulet glowed with an eerie light. The arrow embedded in the monster's body burrowed deeper, until it crushed the sea monster's heart.
The creature thrashed once, then fell still.
"Hahahahah! I won!" he shouted, happiness erupting from his mouth as he celebrated his victory over the abyssal creature, a being from below.
"I need to hide this carcass.... before it attracts something worse," he muttered, shivering at the thought.
"It already did."
The boy whipped his head toward the voice, his movements slowed by the dense ocean, but as he turned-
Swish.
A silver flash cut through.
Why am I sinking? he wondered.
His vision tilted.
He looked up and froze-
His own body. Floating just above him. Headless.
A cloud of crimson blooming from the neck like some grotesque jellyfish blood still spurting from the severed neck.
"Ah," he realized, dully. "I died."