Darkest Depths

If you stare into the abyss long enough, the abyss will stare into you. Climbing, caving, and diving are Odessa’s bread and butter. She makes her living by strapping on a camera and taking the viewers, sitting comfortably at home on their couches, to the highest peaks and down into the world’s darkest depths. But fame and funding are fleeting. The audience wants more. Odessa must always be looking for the next big thing, and she thinks she’s found it. In the jungle, just outside the small town known as Riftgate, lies an unexplored watery abyss. But there is a reason this abyss has been left alone for so long, and in the hard-to-reach areas of the deepest underwater caves, all footage is pre-recorded. No one will ever know where she has been or what happened there if she doesn’t make it out alive. Odessa and her crew think they know what they’re getting themselves into. They have no idea what’s waiting for them in the dark. If only the trip’s main benefactor hadn’t insisted on them taking a tag-along along on the dive. If only that tag-along weren’t his elderly grandma. [Written for the Royal Road Magazine] NOW COMPLETE! Sequel under construction.