Panic seized me. More? More experiences? More of me? I was just a sample, a taste, and it wanted the whole meal. I backpedaled furiously, bumping against the cave wall. My hand scrabbled for the forgotten spear gun.
"No!" I managed to choke out, the word barely audible through my regulator. "You can't have me."
The entity cocked its head, a gesture so inherently human, so inherently David, that it sent a fresh wave of nausea through me. "Cannot?" it echoed, the warped voice dripping with curiosity. "Why not?"
I fumbled with the safety on the speargun, my fingers clumsy and unresponsive. "Because… because I'm not going to let you?." The bravado felt flimsy, a paper shield against an avalanche.
"Let?" It repeated the word, tasting it. "A curious concept. You believe you have… control?" The entity took a step forward, its movements slow and deliberate, the water swirling around its form.
The spear gun was finally ready. I leveled it, the trembling barrel pointed directly at David's chest. Or rather, at the obelisk's puppet.
"Stay back!" I shouted, my voice cracking. "I'll use this." though i can't talk underwater but it seems to understand.
The entity paused, tilting its head again. It regarded the speargun with what felt like amusement. "A primitive weapon. Do you believe it can harm us?"
"I don't know," I admitted, my voice barely a whisper. "But I'm willing to find out."
A strange sound, like the grinding of tectonic plates, emanated from the obelisk itself, vibrating through the water. "Interesting," the entity said, its voice laced with a chilling fascination. "You are willing to damage the vessel to deny us… experience."
Experience. That was all it wanted. To taste, to feel, to record, to add to its endless library of endings. And it was willing to destroy my friend to get it.
"This isn't you, David!" I pleaded, the words ripped from my throat. "This isn't who you are!"
David! this dimwit, wake up!!! you're making me sound one of those characters in a romance movies that my sister watch!. i shouted from my mind, hoping it could reach David.
The entity remained silent for a moment, then a flicker of something – was it sorrow? – crossed its face. "David is… gone."
"No!" I insisted. "He's in there! I felt him! You haven't completely erased him! He's still fighting!"
A slow smile spread across the entity's face, a truly horrifying sight. "Fighting? Perhaps. But the fight is… futile. He is a small voice, lost in the chorus. Soon, even the echo of his struggle will fade."
My resolve wavered. Was I really going to kill David? Could I condemn his body to the depths, knowing that a part of him, however small, might still be trapped inside?
But what choice did I have? Letting the entity escape meant unleashing it upon the world, allowing it to find new hosts, new worlds to consume. It was an unthinkable prospect.
I tightened my grip on the speargun. "I'm sorry, David," I whispered, tears blurring my vision. "I have to do this."
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and pulled the trigger.
The spear shot forward with a hiss, a silver blur in the murky water. I opened my eyes, bracing myself for the impact.
But it never came.
The spear stopped, suspended in mid-air, inches from David's chest. An invisible force field shimmered around him, deflecting the projectile harmlessly to the side.
The entity chuckled, the sound echoing through the cave. "A valiant effort," it said, "but ultimately… pointless."
Then, it raised its hand, and a blinding green light erupted from the obelisk, engulfing me in its intensity. I felt my consciousness fray, my thoughts dissolving into a swirling vortex of light and sound.
I was losing. It was happening.
Then, a new sensation. A thread, a thin, fragile thread of defiance, pulling me back from the abyss. It was faint, almost imperceptible, but it was there.
David.
He was still fighting.
He was still alive.
And he was reaching out to me.