User blog:DeltaStriker/'Rock Bottom' Exclusive Preview

As promised, I am releasing a short excerpt from the first chapter of Rock Bottom. Don't be afraid to read it, there aren't any spoilers. :P

Anyways, I've only read it over once, so don't expect it to be perfect. All feedback/advice/criticism/theory making is appreciated and encouraged. The full first chapter should be released by the end of the week (but no promises).

Excerpt
The navy blue waters of the Voya Nui Bay swirled aimlessly around Kyrehx’s still form as the Ga-Matoran’s keen eyes scanned the muddy sea floor that surrounded the sunken village of Mahri Nui. Despite the fact that she had been trapped down here for years, the lack of marine life in the Fields of Air, and in turn, Mahri Nui, still unnerved the Noble Rau-wearer. It was not right for a sea to be empty; even the canals of Ga-Metru were home to a multitude of creatures despite the ‘purified’ state of the liquid protodermis that filled them. And yet here she was, standing at the bottom of a vast sea of water, real water, not that repulsive manufactured stuff that the Great Beings had had the nerve to call water, and there was not a marine rahi in sight.

Kyrehx sighed before she could stop herself, using up a sizeable chunk of the air remaining in her rapidly shrinking bubble. She cursed silently herself, irritated that she still forgot how precious the air bubbles were to her and her fellow Matoran.

It had been sheer luck that Mahri Nui had landed beside the Fields of Air in the first place. Without the precious air bubbles that now sustained them, the Matoran that inhabited the sunken village would have drowned mere minutes after the abrupt end to their descent, or worse, mutated into unspeakable water-breathing horror by the mutagen that leaked up from the massive deep sea trench known on as the Black Water. But instead the impact unleashed a massive burst of oxygen from the airweed, creating a series of giant air domes around Mahri Nui and effectively saving the lives of the Matoran within.

It had not taken long before they discovered another useful feature of the massive air bubbles that protected the village. Whenever a Matoran left one of the domes, they took with them a small amount of air, conveniently located in a bubble that inexplicably remained attached to their mouths. A few attempts to experiment with these 'personal air bubbles' had been made, though all had ended in disaster. Now tampering with anyone's personal air supply was outlawed, and the experimenters were forced to find something else to mess around with.

The Ga-Matoran glanced over her shoulder for what felt like the millionth time, wondering when her replacement would arrive. Her shift had ended hours ago, but Lemiddus had an obnoxious habit of sleeping in late. Whoever had decided to give the Fa-Matoran a morning shift had obviously never met him, which was rather ironic considering the fact that only a hundred or so Matoran actually survived the plunge to the bottom of the Voya Nui Bay.

As Kyrehx turned her gaze back to the vast expanse of water that lay outside the borders of the Fields of Air, something flashed in her peripheral vision. It moved so fast that for a second she thought she had imagined it. But the pain that followed was most certainly not a figment of her imagination.

The squid’s teeth tore through Kyrehx’s armor like knives through bread, digging deep into her flesh. The sentry screamed in agony, suddenly not caring about her dwindling supply of air. The squid was latched onto her neck, it’s mouth squeezing tighter and tighter with every passing second. Kyrehx felt herself getting weaker and weaker, as if her strength was being drained from her.

As if her strength was being drained from her…

The noble Rau-wearer’s eyes flashed open, her hands flying towards the squid on her neck. This was one of those Vampire Squids, the ones that lived in the Black Water and lived off the life force of others. The Matoran often came across the corpses of their victims, gray and lifeless, with ghastly black circles all over their body. It was a truly disturbing site, and Kyrehx usually went the other direction whenever the scouts brought back a corpse that had drifted up from below. As far as they knew, nothing had ever survived a Vampire Squid attack.

Kyrehx grabbed frantically at the cephalopod at her throat, pulling on whatever she could grasp. Her vision began to fog over, and the blackness of unconsciousness began to creep past her eyelids. She did not have much time.

Her flailing and futile attempts to remove the parasite from her neck grew rapidly weaker as the life continued to drain out of her. She could no longer see clearly, and her air bubble was good as gone. The Ga-Matoran made one final tug at the squid, then collapsed to the sea floor, eyes rolling back into her head as her world faded into nothing.

Thanks for reading, I hoped you enjoyed it. One again, any feedback and/or criticism is appreciated.