[text] there is water at the bottom of the ocean

[nonscriptum]

[Originally, it started out as a well-meaning adventurous foray for personal edification, yadda, yadda, yadda. Time moves so slowly in Hadriel that Nate has been clawing at ways to occupy it, and since he's exhausted the library of any texts that aren't in gibberish it stands to reason he might seek personal fulfillment elsewhere. After waking up with the usual restlessness he considered the wide expanse of lakeside real estate out his window and thought, yeah, a swim sounds nice.

The swim was less than nice.

Several minor explosions and some (honestly) impressive spell-work later sees him soaked to the skin but otherwise unscathed outside of minor lacerations on one arm - there's really only so much you can do when trying to evade a shark with two fucking heads - scribbling quickly in a notebook with the sort of fervor reserved for the truly mad. Lake-adjacent, blessedly on the shore with a towel slung around bare shoulders, he quickly snaps a photograph of his work with his phone and hits SEND TO ALL.

The message is as follows:]

does anyone know what the hell this is
i found it at the bottom of the lake

Attachment: [monster.jpg]

p.s. don't go swimming in the lake

Comments

text

[nonscriptum]

[Nate isn't sure they have the luxury of assuming what's alien and what isn't. This place is both Jules Verne's wet dream, and Jules Verne's nightmare.]

yeah maybe once we've gotten rid of the kraken

[...sarcasm doesn't translate well in text.]

text

[notimpervious]

[Really? She is very sure. If it is not earthlike, it is alien. Simple.]

There is a kraken in the lake?

[Wait. Hold on. What.]

This could mean one of two things:

1) The notion of multiple dimensions existing simultaneously is real, and all the creatures and futuristic civilizations and "magical" manipulation of energy that we see in fiction is merely the author somehow catching a glimpse of one of the infinite number of dimensions that exist; or,

2) You are making a joke.

If there was any truth to the lives we were made to believe we belonged in last week, then I believe it is the second. However, I would prefer that you confirm or deny my inference.

text

[nonscriptum]

a little from column a, a little from column b

believe it or not, there was a half-shark, half-octopus down there

text

[notimpervious]

As much as I would like to dismiss your claims as hallucinations or the result of being in a high stress state for too long, I have witnessed enough here by now to believe you.

text

[nonscriptum]

really wish i was joking, but the one with two heads got a taste of me

there's maybe a dozen of them down there? it was dark and i wasn't in regular scuba gear

[Fins would have been super helpful, but the twins didn't exactly have a spell for producing dive equipment out of thin air.]

text

[notimpervious]

Shark teeth are razor sharp. If you were bitten, you likely require stitches. You should go to the clinic immediately. You could have shared your findings after receiving treatment.

You went diving without proper gear and illumination?

text

[nonscriptum]

it's not THAT bad
i'm heading to the clinic anyway, i was afraid sweets would give me a lecture

dr. brennan i'm going to need you to look around hadriel and tell me where the nearest dive shop is so i can pick up a dry suit, bcd, regulator, tank, weight belt, mask and fins

text

[notimpervious]

The absence of such shops and equipments is why I question your decision to go diving in the lake in the first place. How did you manage it without drowning?

text

[nonscriptum]

i work in marine salvage back home. originally i was going to see how far i could free dive but then i saw the sharks.

hit up a buddy about some enchanted diving lights and then he told me he could just cast an underwater breathing spell on me

worked pretty well even though buoyancy is still kind of an issue

text

[notimpervious]

[Magic?]

I am not surprised that this magic was insufficient for your purposes.

text

[nonscriptum]

so i'll bring a weight belt next time. i didn't say it was insufficient, it was a hell of a lot more convenient than wearing full dive gear

[Her sudden lack of wordiness makes him think that the concept of magic must be a really, really bitter pill to swallow for scientist.]

magic saved my ass down there, don't knock it

text

[notimpervious]

[Times like this, she thinks it must be nice to believe in mythologies about gods. Then she could pray for strength and patience.]

Magic is a word for technology or natural processes we cannot yet explain.

[It is an extremely bitter pill, okay.]

text

[nonscriptum]

[Conversely, magic as a concept is delightful to Nate, who had a phase in his childhood years where he created his own stage magician persona.]

tell that to the wizards who introduced a two-headed shark to spontaneous combustion

text

[notimpervious]

I will. Who are they?

text

[nonscriptum]

[...oh. She's serious.]

the taaco twins, they live in spire 4

text

[notimpervious]

[She's pretty much always serious bruh.]

I will tell them. Thank you.

text -> private text

[nonscriptum]

[SO HE'S LEARNING]

listen

you're a scientist, right? forensic anthropologist?

private text

[notimpervious]

I cannot listen to a written conversation, but I will read closely.

Yes, I am. Why?

private text

[nonscriptum]

[oh my god]

i think these...creatures. the inhabitants. were tied up down there.

private text

[notimpervious]

[What???]

What? Are you certain? How were you able to arrive at that conclusion?

private text -> private voice

[nonscriptum]

[No offense, doc, but he's a really shitty texter. Nate switches the function with a sigh.]

The bones were old, I know that much. Haven't been moved in at least a hundred years. But there was this...impression in the sand leading from each creature into the dark, like a heavy rope had been tied around them.

If it was a chain it might've still been down there, but whatever kept them tethered was organic, so it's already gone.

private voice

[notimpervious]

[Okay fine this is better discussed aloud anyway.]

One hundred years is a rather specific estimate. What are you basing that number on?

[But back to what he found.] So it's possible they were left there to drown. Or if they were aquatic, then perhaps to starve. Or to be food for other creatures.

[She sounds like she is merely listing ideas, but make no mistake, she thinks this is a frightening finding.]

Judging from your conversation with Hope, this was the Null's work. They claim to be rational, but this method of killing-- this seems inefficient. In fact, it is almost... ceremonial.

[Like a serial killer who is proud of their work.]

pt. 2

[nonscriptum]

sidebar: if you could never refer to that event again i would be super grateful, because not that you aren't great and all but i'm spoken for and the whole 'reality warping' thing freaked me out a little

[notimpervious]

I ascribe no validity to that event and no fault to either of us because of it, given it was all false and we had no choice in any of it. I am also spoken for, and I am in fact a mother.

But okay. I won't bring it up again. I am happy to forget it altogether.

[Because that's what healthy adults do.]

[nonscriptum]

thanks