Page 11 of Secrets of the Void
Finally, she stopped, although it was only a small reprieve he was certain. She had likely never been witness to a monster like him. He was worse than the People of Water. Worse than she had likely ever dreamt of something that lived within the sea.
He glanced back over at the coffin that had kept her alive to find her huddled up in the corner. She had her arms wrapped around her legs, that wide, eerie gaze glued to him as she watched his movements.
Proteus recognized that look. It was the same wide-eyed stare all prey gave him before they were about to be devoured. Those eyes said she recognized a predator when she saw one, and she was not going to let him get close to her without releasing that sound of wrath once again.
"Calm," he said, although his tone spoke of his anger and the rage that still boiled within him. "Keep your mouth closed, human."
She swallowed hard, the little nodule in her neck bobbing up and down at the sound of his voice. "You speak?"
"So do you."
He stared her down, waiting until she looked away from him. He had won that little battle, but soon enough he knew she would test him. Humans couldn't help themselves. They saw a creature that didn't look like them, and they decided its presence was a challenge. Any moment now, she would pepper him with questions. She would push and prod until there was nothing but anger left in him.
His rage had always been his downfall. This delicate little thing needed a sensitive touch, and he needed this creature to do his bidding. Control like that would only come from fear or respect.
Fear was so much easier.
Baring his teeth in a snarl, he coiled his tail around himself, looping it over and over and watching as her eyes stuck on the shimmering bones she could see through his flesh. He hadn't even realized he'd been upset enough to illuminate them, but he was certain it would work to his advantage. She would be terrified of the skeletal creature from the deep that revealed himself to be more monster than man.
"Keep yourself silent while I work," he said. "I have brought you back to life only to serve. That is your only role here. The sea awaits if you do not serve me well. I will gladly feed youto the sharks that surround this place, as I am certain they are starving.”
She swallowed hard again, those strange eyes watching him with a focus that made it hard for him to breathe. He hated it when people like her stared at him. Proteus knew he was unlike anything she had seen before, and that likely he was uncomfortable for her to look at as well. But she didn't have to stare.
Turning away from her, he focused instead on the task at hand. He had his accomplice, whether she wanted to help him or not, but now he needed to find the first place where he would connect Above with... Below.
He supposed that rhetoric worked. The People of Water would likely not be interested in calling it Below, as that had some implications they wouldn't agree with. But in reality, that's exactly where they were. Below the land. Below all the storms and the madness that still plagued this planet caused by people who had no right to even attempt to do what they had done.
If he could make that connection, he could get somewhere. He'd need people to cooperate with him, of course. But stepping into the role of god again would certainly help with that. If the People of Water returned to worshipping him as they were supposed to do for all these years, then he could force them to do his bidding as well.
They would evict the humans from this sea with ease. He would make certain of it. Because that had always been Proteus's life goal. His reason for being.
The ancients had created a god they knew, at some point, would bring the world together again. They had planned to destroy all that was here, and then stitch it back together the way they wished to see it. Though the plan was perhaps terrifying to most, it was the only way that it would work.
For all the future that Proteus could see, the ancients saw much further. They saw centuries into the future, they knew what would happen at the very end of time. They were guiding him and everyone else in the sea through the complicated webs and continued to react and move all the pieces that needed to move when someone did something they shouldn't.
He reached for the buttons on the control system, pushing them so that he could peer through what few systems were still online. A map unfolded on the screens before him. There were quite a few of this wealthy man's connections that were spread across the entirety of the planet.
Unfortunately, only the ones underwater were still online. The rest were either destroyed completely, or they didn't have access to enough power to broadcast any feeds. He tried to connect with a few of them that were close by, but nothing he did would convince even the droids there to awaken.
Finally, he found one that he remembered.
Long, long ago, he used to work with these humans. He remembered there was a place where they would often meet. Not just with him, but with some of the People of Water who believed in his work and what he wanted to bring about. They trusted that Proteus knew what was best for them, and they would also come with him to convene with the humans.
This place had been safe for all of them. But it was also a work of art.
If he could get the other undines there, then he could convince them that he was godly in power again. That alone would be enough to bring about their trust, if he could get them to believe it. They would convince the humans to trust him, and then… Well, then he would give them all a place to go that wasn’t here. That was where the woman would come in.
"Pilot," he said, waiting until he heard the tap of the droid's claws approaching to continue. "This is where we will go. This facility needs to be turned online."
"That would be impossible." Pilot climbed onto the console and connected to it. Then it used the screens to project the status of the facility and all that needed to be turned back online.
It was a lot. There was no power, of course. The solar systems on the top of the facility had been entirely destroyed, most likely by wind. So there was no way for it to get power anymore. The droid systems were gone as well. That could have been due to a cave-in, or something else, like an animal had come in and wrecked their charging station. And then, of course, there were the actual cables and systems that connected it to the other facilities. All of it was gone.
He could go there and realize that there was nothing left in that facility but sand and dust. He could make the journey and find nothing but a tomb, and who knew what else happened up Above after all the power went out.
A plague. A war. Countless deaths—all of it had likely happened before the humans had snuffed themselves out.
Sighing, he rubbed a hand over his face. "That is the only one that will work, is it not? Look at the location. Look at the others. That facility was at the core of everything else. It should have been built in the safest place for it. No other station will bring the entire network online. We will be fixing facility after facility rather than utilizing the droids to do so. You're asking me to fix something that will take not just years, but perhaps even centuries. It is impossible without this central building being fixed."
