Entry #16 [Abyss]

Entry #16. An interesting turn of events. None of my questions got answered at all. If anything, there seems to be more.

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I was a bit curious as to how the submarine boy would react once he reached the surface, so I went to search for him first thing in the morning. He looked dishevelled, tired, and quite frankly, insane. I had wondered if he was going to keep the encounter a secret, but judging by his ragged clothes and eyebags, it seemed as if he had chosen to persuade the other scientists of his discovery. Of course, they all thought he had gone insane during the expedition, perhaps due to the pressure leak from the day before. Because of the respect, and pity, for his condition, they decided to let him ramble around the lab instead of kicking him out. 

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I suppose that was their mistake. After hours of scribbled drawings and brainstorming keywords, he finally realised the only solution: he would have to find the mermaid again. When it hit him, a sudden calmness took over, and he gathered his senses slowly. If his colleagues noticed the change, they did not care, and they let him leave the lab unobstructed.

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He went home, took a shower, picked out some nice clothes, and drove back to the lab. Then he bypassed all the security checkpoints with his ID, and since he had built up a rapport of being a sane and intelligent young man, nobody stopped him when he jumped inside the truck that held the submarine, drove to the sea, hopped on a boat, and promptly began lowering himself in the water.

He knew it was a suicide mission. He was not an insane man. He was pragmatic, detail-oriented, and most of all, scientific. In a way, he was like me. But when an atheist stares God in the eye, even he will feel his knees wobble. And this scientist felt not only his knees, but his entire life, his entire belief system, get washed away by the revelation. He was going to throw away his life for one more glimpse of heaven.

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What an idiot. 

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He did not make enough preparations, and he had spent most of his time combing his hair, so it was not surprising that it had barely begun its descent when the submarine began to fall apart. First the outer plating crackled, dropping thousands of metres below, and then the pressure began to destabilise, denting the tiny vessel.

I peered below to see if there was any sign of life, but only the void stared back. As the metal creaked and groaned like it did before, I once again prepared to leave, as I had collected all of my data on Cyno [Hadal]. The last thing I saw before I began my return was the metal chunks floating into the bottom of the sea, destroyed by the sheer amount of pressure exerted. Before I could fully fade away, however, I saw the glimpse of a translucent rainbow, and I strained my eyes to try to get a better look.

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Through the unyielding darkness where I could barely make out my hands in front of my face, I thought I saw the telltale curve of a tail, white hair floating like clouds in the black sky. The shape embraced something, and suddenly, the sea lit up with a brief flash, burning a picture into my retinal scanners. 

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I could not make out what it was until I returned to my base and rewound the tape in my head. I watched the video like a silent movie. Cyno [Hadal] pulling the scientist out of the wreckage, holding his limp body close, pressing her lips against his, and life being pressed into his body. At the end of the embrace, when the video was fading to black, he had begun to grow a tail much like Cyno [Hadal]’s. 

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My first reaction was confusion. 

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She seemed to have turned him into a creature much like herself. Which is why I have infinite questions: can she change others to beings like her? Is that a part of her power? Or did she turn him to a merman through sheer force of love? Did she love him? Although I would love to continue to observe this universe, the truth is I do not believe it matters for my objective. After all, her body has become so accustomed to the deep that it becomes warped when she nears the surface. That will not help me in my fight. I will tell N0V4 to keep an eye on her, but for now, I will spend my time on a new universe. 

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