The beginning

  Our story begins with a 26-year-old man named Mike, living a life most young men his age could only dream of. He serves as a fighter pilot in the military, has a loving wife named Tracy, and a young son, Jake. Together, they reside in a spacious and serene home. Mike spends his free time with his family, occasionally visiting his parents, or hanging out with his closest friend and lifelong companion, Jonathan, who works aboard a naval warship. His life was idyllic and peaceful—until one fateful day.

  Mike was summoned for a reconnaissance mission, tasked with patrolling a remote area of the ocean. The region had been under investigation due to mysterious disappearances. Unlike his usual missions, this patrol was different. Mike wasn’t just searching for any lost ship; he was searching for the very warship on which his dearest friend Jonathan served.

  Flying over the ominous waters, Mike’s heart raced. He scanned the waves with an intensity fueled by dread. The thought of finding the shipwrecked remains—and with them, the lifeless body of his friend—gnawed at his resolve. As a soldier, Mike had long since accepted the harsh reality of losing comrades. But Jonathan? Jonathan’s death would be unbearable.

  The further Mike ventured into the region, the heavier his unease grew. The waters seemed unnatural, the air charged with an unseen energy. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a violent storm engulfed him. Thunder roared, lightning clawed at the heavens, and the winds howled like a chorus of despair. It was as if the storm had materialized from thin air—or worse, as if he had been lured into its grasp.

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  Mike wrestled with the controls, his fighter jet battered by the relentless tempest. And then, through the blinding flashes of lightning, he saw it. A massive, shadowy form loomed within the heart of the storm. Its dark body emitted faint, eerie green glows, and its eyes—two enormous, radiant orbs—pierced through the chaos like burning suns.

  Before Mike could comprehend what he was witnessing, a bolt of lightning struck his jet, sending it spiraling out of control. Alarms blared, but the sound was drowned out by the monstrous figure opening its colossal maw. The gaping void made Mike’s jet, a marvel of human engineering, look like nothing more than a sparrow before a whale.

  In an instant, the creature swallowed the aircraft whole, its jaws snapping shut with an echoing finality. Darkness enveloped Mike as the world he knew disappeared.

  As his consciousness faded, Mike’s thoughts spiraled into despair. Is this the end? Is this how I die? He clung to fragments of his life—his wife, his child, his parents. I didn’t even get to say goodbye. And Jonathan… Where is Jonathan?

  Questions burned through his mind as his strength ebbed away. Yet amidst his anguish, one thought loomed above all others: What was that thing?

  Then, just as his final moments of clarity slipped away, a strange calm overcame him. His mind emptied, his body felt weightless, and the swirling storm of thoughts vanished into silence.

  Mike succumbed to the abyss, his fate now intertwined with the unknown

  End of chapter one