John Derossett
The first time the sound was heard, most of the townspeople dismissed it. The wind, they thought, or perhaps a large cargo ship docking further along the coast. But by the third night, even the skeptics couldn’t ignore the eerie, mournful wails that seemed to emanate from the depths of the ocean.
The small coastal town of Brinecliff had always been quiet, a sleepy place where time seemed to pass more slowly, nestled between jagged cliffs and the churning waters of the Atlantic. Most of its residents were fishermen, their lives and livelihoods tied to the sea. But now, that same sea had begun to speak, its voice unsettling and persistent.
Dr. Elena Marlowe stood on the cliffs, staring out over the dark waves. She had spent much of her life studying marine biology, and the ocean was as familiar to her as her own reflection. Yet now, as the haunting sound echoed through the night air, she felt something foreign — something she didn’t understand.
The sound had been reported by the townspeople for nearly a week. At first, Elena thought it might be whales, perhaps a pod passing through on their annual migration. But the more she listened, the less it seemed like any whale song she’d ever heard. It wasn’t melodic or rhythmic, and it certainly didn’t belong to any species she knew. It was something… older.
Standing on the cliff’s edge, her breath catching in the cold night air, Elena closed her eyes and listened. The wail rose from beneath the water, deep and resonant, like a call from the earth’s core itself. It was as though the ocean was crying out in pain — or warning.
She pulled her coat tighter around herself and made her way down to the small boat she had moored in the harbor. There was only one way to investigate this further.
The moon hung low in the sky, casting a silver glow over the sea as Elena steered her boat out beyond the shallow waters. Her small craft rocked gently on the waves as she navigated to a place she knew well — the drop-off, where the ocean floor plunged into the abyss. It was a place she had often come to for research, where marine life thrived in the cooler, deeper waters.
Tonight, however, it was not research that drove her here, but something else — something she couldn’t quite name. Curiosity, perhaps. Or fear.
Elena dropped her hydrophone, a special underwater microphone, into the water and sat in silence, waiting for the sound. For long minutes, all she heard was the rhythmic slosh of the waves against the side of her boat and the occasional cry of a seabird overhead.
And then, there it was. A low, deep moan rising up from the ocean’s depths. Elena’s heart skipped a beat as she adjusted the headphones and listened more intently. The sound was closer now, more distinct. It was as if the ocean itself were alive, crying out from some ancient, forgotten place.
But there was something else, too. A pattern. Beneath the wailing, she could hear faint echoes, almost like words, but not in any language she recognized. She scribbled notes furiously, her mind racing with possibilities.
She didn’t know how long she sat there, captivated by the haunting noise, when suddenly, her boat jolted violently. Elena gasped and grabbed the sides, steadying herself. Something had bumped the boat. Hard.
She peered over the edge, her breath coming in short gasps, her heart pounding. The water beneath her rippled unnaturally, and she could make out the shadow of something moving below the surface. Something large.
Without thinking, she started the engine and headed back toward shore, the strange noise still echoing in her ears. Whatever it was down there, she wasn’t ready to meet it. Not yet.
Over the next few days, Elena became obsessed with the sound. She pored over old marine records, searching for anything that might explain what she had heard, but she found nothing. No historical records of such sounds, no unusual seismic activity, no evidence of underwater volcanic eruptions — nothing that could account for the strange wails.
The townspeople, too, were growing more restless. Fishermen reported strange disturbances at sea — schools of fish behaving erratically, equipment malfunctioning, and, most alarmingly, an unusual number of dead marine animals washing ashore.
Elena knew she needed answers. She contacted an old colleague, Dr. Liam Ward, a marine geologist who specialized in underwater tectonic activity. If anyone could shed light on what was happening, it would be him.
Liam arrived two days later, bringing with him an array of advanced equipment to scan the ocean floor and monitor for any signs of geological anomalies.
Together, they set up a small base on the cliff overlooking the sea, positioning sensors and devices to record the mysterious sound and any other data they could gather. As the days passed, the sound grew louder, more frequent, and more insistent.
But it wasn’t until the third night that they discovered something that changed everything.
Liam had been analyzing the hydrophone recordings when he suddenly froze, his eyes wide. “Elena,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper, “you need to hear this.”
She put on the headphones and listened. It was the same sound she had heard before, the deep wailing of the ocean, but now, as Liam adjusted the frequency, she could hear it more clearly — the echoes beneath the surface noise.
“It’s a signal,” Liam said. “A transmission of some kind.”
“A transmission?” Elena repeated, her mind racing. “From what?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, “but it’s coming from deep beneath the ocean floor. Something down there is sending this signal, and it’s getting stronger.”
Elena’s mind reeled. Could it be possible? Could something have been buried beneath the ocean for centuries, waiting to be discovered? And if so, what was it trying to say?
The next day, they set out to explore the source of the signal. Equipped with an underwater drone, they ventured out to the drop-off once again. As the drone descended into the depths, its cameras relayed images back to their screen — dark, featureless ocean floor at first, then jagged rocks, deep trenches, and strange, luminescent creatures that darted in and out of view.
And then, they saw it.
A massive, ancient structure half-buried in the ocean floor. It was covered in coral and sea life, but its shape was unmistakable — a towering, circular building, intricately carved with symbols that neither Elena nor Liam recognized.
“This is… ancient,” Liam murmured. “It must have been here for thousands of years.”
Elena stared at the screen, her heart pounding. “Could this be what’s causing the sound?”
Liam shook his head. “I don’t know. But there’s something else. Look.”
The drone’s camera panned downward, revealing a large, dark opening at the base of the structure. It was a cavern, wide and deep, and from within it, the strange, wailing sound seemed to grow louder.
Elena felt a chill run down her spine. Whatever was in that cavern, it was alive. And it was calling.
Over the next few days, Elena and Liam gathered as much data as they could. But the more they learned, the more unsettling it became. The structure was unlike anything they had ever seen — neither natural nor man-made, at least not by any known civilization. And the signal it was emitting wasn’t random; it was a pattern, a code, a message.
And then, the dreams started.
At first, they were faint — images of the ocean, of dark waters swirling beneath her, of strange creatures moving just beyond her vision. But soon, the dreams became more vivid. Elena dreamed of the ancient structure, of walking through its dark halls, of hearing whispers in a language she couldn’t understand.
And always, in the distance, she could hear the sound — the wailing of the ocean, growing louder, closer.
Liam had the same dreams. They didn’t speak of them at first, each afraid that admitting it aloud would make it real. But as the nights passed and the dreams intensified, they could no longer ignore it.
The structure beneath the sea was calling to them. And they were running out of time.
The following evening, the town was thrown into chaos. The sound from the ocean grew deafening, resonating through the cliffs and buildings, shaking the very ground beneath their feet. The fishermen refused to go out to sea, terrified of what lay beneath the waves. And the dead marine life continued to wash ashore, their bodies bloated and lifeless, their eyes wide with fear.
Elena knew what she had to do. She and Liam prepared the drone for one final dive — deeper into the cavern, to uncover the source of the signal and, hopefully, to silence it once and for all.
But as the drone descended into the cavern, the screen went dark.
A moment later, the ocean itself seemed to explode.
The ground shook violently, throwing Elena and Liam to the floor. The waves crashed against the cliffs with a force unlike anything they had ever seen. The sound from the ocean had become a roar, a deafening cry that reverberated through the earth.
And then, from the depths, it rose.
A massive, shadowy figure emerged from the sea, its form towering above the cliffs. Its body was covered in dark, glistening scales, its eyes glowing with an otherworldly light. It moved with a slow, deliberate grace, as though it had been waiting for this moment for millennia.
Elena stared in horror as the creature turned its gaze toward the town, its mouth opening to release a sound so powerful it shook theEchoes of the Deep
Continued
A massive, shadowy figure emerged from the sea, its form towering above the cliffs. Its body was covered in dark, glistening scales, and its eyes glowed with an otherworldly light. It moved with slow, deliberate grace, as though it had been waiting for this moment for millennia.
Elena stood frozen in horror as the creature turned its gaze toward the town, its mouth opening wide to release a sound so powerful, it reverberated through the air like a primal scream. The same wail that had haunted the townspeople for weeks now took on a physical form, one that shook the earth and rippled through the ocean in waves of dread.
“We need to stop it!” Liam shouted, pulling Elena from her trance.
The two scrambled to their equipment, frantically trying to find any way to communicate with or neutralize the creature. But the data they had collected on the strange signals suddenly seemed insignificant compared to the ancient, primal force standing before them.
Elena’s mind raced. The creature, whatever it was, had been trapped beneath the ocean for centuries. Its cries had been a warning, perhaps even a plea for help. But now it was free, and the consequences were unfolding before their eyes.
With each step the creature took, the ground trembled beneath them, and the waves grew more violent. The townspeople had begun to flee, their boats crowded with families desperate to escape the wrath of the sea.
“We have to get out of here!” Liam urged, but Elena couldn’t move. Something about the creature, its immense size and terrifying presence, held her rooted to the spot. And then, it dawned on her.
“The signal,” she whispered, “it wasn’t just a cry. It was… a call. It’s been calling to something — someone.”
Liam looked at her, confusion etched on his face. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s not alone,” she said, her voice trembling. “It’s part of something bigger. We only found one signal, but there are others. More creatures.”
Before she could finish, another deafening roar echoed through the sky. To their horror, they saw another figure rise from the ocean, its body massive and shadowy like the first. And then another. And another.
Elena’s heart sank. This was no longer just a mystery of the sea. This was a full-scale invasion.
As the creatures advanced, tearing through the waves and approaching the coast, Elena and Liam realized that time was running out. They had to warn the world — and fast. If the signal they had detected had been calling these creatures for centuries, then their arrival could mean the destruction of coastal cities across the globe.
“We have to reach the mainland,” Elena said, her voice barely audible over the crashing waves and the wailing of the creatures. “We need to get this information out. Maybe — just maybe — someone will know how to stop them.”
Liam nodded, and they raced toward the nearest boat, adrenaline pumping through their veins. The small vessel rocked violently as they pushed away from the shore, the waves crashing around them like a tempest.
As they sailed away from Brinecliff, the sky darkened, and the creatures began to move inland, their colossal forms casting shadows over the town. Elena’s chest tightened as she watched her home — her life — fade into the distance, consumed by the very ocean she had dedicated her life to studying.
But even as they fled, Elena couldn’t shake the feeling that they were only delaying the inevitable. The creatures had risen from the depths, and their ancient power was far beyond anything humanity had ever faced.
What they had uncovered beneath the waves wasn’t just an anomaly or a mystery — it was the beginning of something far greater, something that had been waiting for millennia. And now that it was awake, there was no turning back.
The sea had always held its secrets, but Elena had never imagined that one of them would be the end of the world.
