Awakening in the Deep

The water trembled around them.

Daniel swam with every ounce of strength he possessed, ascending from the rift's edge as the cold, unseen pressure of the abyss still pressed against his soul. Every stroke sent ripples through the water that shimmered with the faint, ghostly light of bioluminescent organisms. Even now, as he and Mira left the immediate vicinity of the rift, the dark void below seemed to whisper promises and threats in the language of the deep.

His gills expanded and contracted in slow, measured rhythms—a desperate attempt to steady his racing heart. The memory of that moment still burned in his mind: the system's alert had flashed once more before he left the rift's edge:

[New Evolutionary Path Unlocked: Abyssborne Form.]