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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Bitter_Decision_4960 on 2024-10-27 06:02:08+00:00.
The military fleet had spread out in force, searchlights piercing the ocean like lasers, illuminating the water in harsh, unforgiving beams. Massive subs and reinforced vessels hovered around us, the green and yellow glows from their radar systems flickering ominously in the murk.
We drifted silently above, powerless spectators in this strange, militarized parade. Emily clutched the arm of her seat, eyes darting nervously to the black water beyond our viewport.
“Why are they even here?” she whispered, her voice almost drowned by the hum of the engines.
No one could answer. And then, the creature appeared.
It emerged from the darkness like a mountain pushing up from the seabed, a presence that eclipsed even the largest of the military vessels. It was enormous—at least four times the size of a blue whale, its form stretching out beyond the reach of the searchlights, parts of its massive body still lost in shadow. The water around it seemed to darken, as if its very presence pulled light inward. We watched in terror, unable to comprehend its size.
Its mouth, vast and gaping, could easily have swallowed a whale whole or bitten one clean in half with a single, monstrous snap. Rows upon rows of translucent, dagger-like teeth glinted in the sparse light, each tooth long as a human body. The sight was horrifying; this creature was built to consume, and its gaze turned downward toward the military fleet, sizing up each vessel like prey.
Suddenly, it attacked.
The creature lunged forward, its enormous body unfurling with a terrifying speed that seemed impossible for something so vast. Its jaws opened, encompassing a submarine in one swift bite. There was no struggle; one moment the vessel was there, the next, it was gone, crushed in the endless rows of teeth and disappearing into the dark abyss of the creature’s maw.
The rest of the fleet scrambled to react. Lights flashed, sirens blared, but it was too late. The creature was in a frenzy now, diving down among the vessels, using its tail to whip through the water with a force that sent a smaller sub careening off course, spiraling into the shadows before disappearing entirely. Another sub attempted to back away, its lights dimming in the murk, but the creature coiled around it like a serpent, its mouth latching onto the vessel and ripping it in half with a sickening crunch that reverberated through the water.
Shards of metal and bubbling oil floated up as the creature struck again, crashing into two larger vessels with a force that twisted them into unnatural shapes, their hulls buckling as they were crushed against its impenetrable hide. Each thrash of its tail sent powerful waves rippling outward, knocking nearby vessels off balance, leaving them defenseless as it moved from one to the next, dismantling them with a primal, relentless fury.
I could barely breathe, each destruction more horrific than the last. Our sub shook with every impact, the sounds of metal shearing and groaning reaching us even through the thick walls. Emily was pale, her eyes glued to the viewport, her mouth moving silently as if in prayer.
Finally, in the middle of the carnage, the creature paused. Its body hovered motionless, fins barely moving as it surveyed the wreckage it had wrought. Then, slowly, its massive head turned in our direction.
The creature’s eye, nearly the size of our entire submersible, stared directly at us. My breath caught in my throat. This was not the casual curiosity of a predator inspecting prey—it was something more conscious, more aware. The eye was pitch-black, larger than any window we’d ever peered through, with a pupil that seemed to drink in the darkness around it, reflecting nothing back.
And yet, within that darkness, there was something. A swirling, otherworldly dance of light, like galaxies twisting in slow motion. Stars and nebulous shapes drifted in and out of focus, each one vanishing only to be replaced by another, creating a cosmic spectacle of impossible depths. It was as though the creature held an entire universe within its gaze, an endless void that stretched beyond comprehension.
Emily’s voice trembled. “Is it… watching us?”
It was more than watching. I felt as if it was reaching into my mind, drawing forth my deepest fears and laying them bare. I couldn’t look away from that eye, from the slow, mesmerizing spin of stars within it. For a moment, everything felt still, an eerie calm descending as if time itself had stopped.
Then, its pupil contracted, tightening as if in irritation.
Without warning, the creature surged forward, its eye filling the entire viewport, close enough that I could see the fine details of its scales, each one a shade of deep, iridescent green that shimmered with the light of the stars within its gaze. I was paralyzed, every instinct screaming to flee, yet there was nowhere to go. The creature’s immense head turned slightly, bringing its eye even closer, so close that I could see my own reflection within it, tiny and insignificant.
It lingered, that all-encompassing gaze, as if it was considering us, evaluating us in a way no earthly predator ever could. And then, with a slow, deliberate shift, it pulled back, the universe within its eye fading back into the endless black depths from which it had come.
A cold silence settled over us, the hum of our sub’s engines the only sound in the otherwise still water. For a brief, haunting moment, I thought the creature might strike, might obliterate us in the same way it had torn through the military vessels. But it didn’t. Instead, it hovered there, just on the edge of the light, watching us with that endless, cosmic gaze.
Then, as if dismissing us entirely, it turned and drifted back into the darkness, disappearing in a single, fluid movement. We remained frozen, our breaths shallow, each of us staring at the place where it had vanished, haunted by the sight of that infinite, star-filled eye.
Silence held us in a grip as tight as the ocean around us, and none of us dared to speak. The ascent was steady and painfully slow, the usual hum of the engine seeming louder in the empty stillness of the water. Each flicker of shadow, each creak of the hull as it adjusted to the changing pressure, felt like a ghost of the encounter we’d just survived. Somewhere, out in the darkness, that monstrous creature lurked—perhaps watching, perhaps indifferent. The submersible was a small, fragile shell, surrounded by a silent void where anything could be waiting.
I scanned the faces around me; everyone wore the same mask of strained composure, their eyes hollow, reflecting that vast, consuming gaze we had all just stared into. Emily was gripping the console so tightly her knuckles had turned white, her breathing shallow, almost inaudible. Dr. Miles’s gaze was fixed on the viewport, as if expecting something to lunge at us from the shadows. My own heart beat against my ribs like a war drum, every second of this ascent feeling like an eternity.
When we finally saw a faint, diluted gleam of daylight streaming through the water above, I allowed myself the first breath that didn’t feel shallow and fearful. The last few meters seemed even slower, but then, at last, the surface broke, and sunlight flooded the cabin.
Relief came only for a moment. As we emerged, we saw a small army of vessels waiting for us. Military ships flanked us on every side, engines rumbling low and threatening, surrounding our tiny craft like vultures closing in on something dead or dying. A team of armed personnel, dressed in dark, unmarked uniforms, waited on the nearest ship’s deck.
We were ushered up and out of the submersible, faces turned upward into the unfiltered glare of sunlight and the steely expressions of the military personnel waiting to greet us.
"Follow us,” said one officer with no preamble. His voice was clipped, all business, and his face gave away nothing. Emily shot me a look, but there was no option other than to comply. We were herded off the deck of the submersible, past several other rigid-faced officers, and onto a large military ship.
After what felt like a purposeful, almost punitive silence, we were led into a briefing room. The overhead lights flickered, casting long shadows across the table in the center. Seated at its head was an official who, even before introductions, commanded the room. He was tall, with a sharp, angular face, graying hair cropped close to his scalp, and eyes that seemed to assess each of us in an instant. Medals adorned his chest, a gleaming reminder of his rank and power. As we took our seats, his gaze settled on me, unwavering.
“Dr. Ellison,” he said, his voice smooth but with a hard edge. “Your findings, if you please."
The words felt like stones in my throat. I opened my mouth, but only fragments of the horror we’d seen bubbled up, words I knew would never do justice to what had happened beneath the waves.
“We… we encountered something,” I said finally. “A creature, massive and—well, hostile would be an understatement. It destroyed the military vessels in its path. I’m not sure how any of us made it out of there.”
The official’s eyes narrowed slightly. He drummed his fingers on the tabletop, calculating.
“What did it look like?” he asked, as if he didn’t already know. We’d all been debriefed by the ship’s crew on …
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