Chapter 5

The descent was immediate and terrifying.

Salty water violently flooded my nose and mouth, forcing its way down my windpipe and filling my lungs.

The absolute, searing agony of suffocation wrapped around my chest like an iron corset, crushing the life out of me.

My consciousness began to fracture, slipping away at a terrifying speed.

Just as the black water faded into total darkness, the mechanical voice of the system echoed clearly in my fading mind.

"Critical: your life signs failing. Terminal threshold reached. Exit sequence: final verification complete. Executing extraction."

My soul felt weightless. It detached from the heavy…