As soon as the expedition team arrives on the island, they could feel that there was something wrong with the deeps on an existential level, that this place was not meant for humans to walk or breath on, that the island rejected their presence and wanted them dead.
That the island was hungry.
And so started the nightmare.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Izuku View~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Izuku could see that something was wrong with the island, he was told by Arkan that his eye wouldn't give him his vision back, but would allow him to see aether in his surroundings, but the aether in the deeps would quickly overwhelm him, so he covered his eye.
But due to the fact that his eye was far more refined than the one that belonged to Lady Luck, the aether in the deeps still managed to be received by his eye, as if the deeps were aware of his presence and though his attempts at defending himself were amusing, Izuku was not aware of one fact.
The Deeps wanted him.
He had a special presence in the deeps, one that made him stand out even more than any others that accompanied him, and his presence riled the hunger of a primal beast on the island, drawing forth the nightmare of the deeps.
Feareater Thrax, The King of Nightmares.
A primal hunger with no equal among any other Umbral behemoth, even among other Thrax the Feareater was supreme.
But those on the expedition were unaware of its existence, and the massacre that would follow it's interest in Izuku.
But Izuku's ignorance was not bliss in this case, and so he continued with the rest of the expedition, but due to his lack of organic limbs he was assigned a guard, a slayer by the name Max, who was said to be highly experienced among those in Ramsgate, compared to Izuku the man was a giant who towered over the teen.
But Izuku knew this man already, unknown to anyone Izuku had been watching the man at the training grounds for several weeks now, and he had written numerous notebooks full of information on Max's swordplay so that he may one-day learn it for himself.
But Max became aware of this fact not long after Izuku started watching him, and had started practicing easier moves so that Izuku would be able to learn them more gradually as to him improve without needing further instruction from other teachers.
In a way Izuku had become Max's student, he had gleaned every bit of knowledge he was able to from watching him train and spar with other slayers, from his footwork, his breathing, his motions, down to what muscles he used when swinging and fighting.
But the two moved forward with the rest of the group, making small talk as they went along.
"How are the limbs working for you? Are you walking fine yet?" Said Max, in a rough, but pleasant voice.
"I've improved but my walking is far from where it originally was, at this point running is far beyond what I'm really capable of." Izuku said embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it, you'll get there eventually, not everybody has the strength to keep on going after that, has your frostbite on your chest and back improved any since you arrived?" Continued Max, concerned about Izuku's health and well-being as his one and only unofficial student.
"Not really, Strega said that it won't affect me negatively but she said that I probably will never recover entirely, the coloration is still the same and I have no real feeling in that area, but the frostbite on my leg wasn't as bad so I didn't have to lose it as well, it's recovered fine but still hurts." Said Izuku, seemingly neutral about his wounds
(I might have mad mention of this previously but Izuku has 5 scratches going from the tip of his shoulder on his remaining arm all the way down to his hip on the opposite side, from Shoto producing claws on his fingertips and slashing Izuku across the back.)
"I'm surprised you can talk about your wounds that way, that frostbite on your back was brutal, any worse and you would have died from just that, you probably have worse scars than I do, and I actually look for behemoths to hunt, you don't, you were just a victim.
It's really damn cruel what happened to you, and the the rest of Ramsgate agrees with me on raising hell on those who did this to you if the chance ever shows itself, your a great kid and we're lucky to have someone as good as you in Ramsgate, don't forget that, the other slayers and I enjoy having you at the training grounds with us." Said Max, trying to take the subject away from Izuku's past.
But before Izuku could respond to what Max had to say, they heard screaming from in front of them, and the cries of something that definitely wasn't human.
"Izuku you stay here, I have to see what's going on ahead, the doctor could be in danger!" Shouted Max as he started running down the tunnel that the 2 were in.
And so Izuku came to be alone, in a creepy ass tunnel, on an island that seemed hell bent on killing anything that was living.
So he started walking, aaaaand fell down a side tunnel into a cave.
But when Izuku managed to stand again, he was shocked, the cave that he found himself in had actual architecture in it, it was nothing as important as actual buildings, but it had brickwork in it.
The biggest surprise of all came when Izuku looked in the center of the room, floating above a pedestal and seemingly emanating light, was a sword.
Even with his eye patch on Izuku was felt like he would be blinded by the amount of aether coming off of the sword, and it was at that he noticed that the Umbral aether in this room was gone, and that the weird muddying of his thoughts that he had noticed when he had walked into the island had disappeared.
The sword seemed to have purified the air and environment that surrounded it, but izuku had noticed something odd about the sword, it was vibrating.
He was immediately drawn in by the sword.
So he grabbed it.
For the second time in his life Izuku's very existence became nothing but pain, he screamed, feeling his flesh get cooked as if he was being branded, the smell of his burnt flesh made him nauseous.
But when the pain finally died down Izuku noticed that he couldn't see the sword or it's aether anymore, but his mind was still clear, he realized what happened when he looked down at his organic arm.
There was an intricate design burnt into his very skin, it resembled chains wrapped around the entirety of his arm and some of his back, but his scars were still visible, as if the chains were trying to hold his scars that had already healed together.
But he took a closer look with his Tenpestuoai (テンペストアイin Japanese, means tempest eye, that title won't be used until a little later, just a way for me to easily call out his eye) and saw that the aether that was being emitted by the sword was now being emitted by him, and the strongest aether emission was coming from his hand.
Izuku was just confused as fuck as to the reason of why a glowing sword seemingly fused itself to his flesh, there was 0 damn description nearby, so he decided to try and get back to the rest of the group.
They were NOT doing so hot.
~~~~~~~~~~~Expedition Group~~~~~~~~~~
Max was not having a good time right now, he had enjoyed his chat with Izuku as they traveled but had split with the boy so he could check what had gone wrong up front, at first it was just a Riftstalker, easy enough for even relatively new slayers to fight as long as they were careful, so Max decided to leave the Riftstalker to the other slayers as his job was solely to protect and observe Izuku to ensure that nothing happened to the boy while the expedition was ongoing, then Priyani saw him, without Izuku.
"Max? Where is Izuku?" Asked Priyani
Max knew he was fucked
"Uh I may have uh left him to see what happened?" Said Max, almost fearful of the woman.
Priyani lost her shit
"You left my nephew alone in the goddamn depths!? He can't even run with his leg yet Max are you fucking crazy!? We're is he!? We need to find him now!" Shouted Priyani
Before Max and Priyani could head back to where Izuku had been they heard screams, not normal screams of fear, but screams of terror, of people who were dying.
Max quickly turned and drew his sword, looking back towards the front of the group, what he saw terrified him, an unknown behemoth was cutting through the ranks of the expedition team like chain blades through a ships sails.
He saw Liam, a promising young slayer get cut in half as he ran, begging Max to save him, he saw others have limbs taken off by portals.
Blood ran through the cave in rivers.
Max and Priyani were the last survivors of the group.
The Nightmare turned to them and screamed, the very island resounding with its cry of hunger, it hunted for Izuku, and would slaughter all who got in it's way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Izuku~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Izuku heard the screams as he walked, he recognized the voices who were screaming and picked up his pace, walking as fast as he could, eventually he entered a giant open cave.
Then he saw the Feareater Thrax, The King of Nightmares, he watched as it tore through his companions on the expedition team like they were nothing, then it turned its eyes on Izuku.
Izuku felt like he would go insane from what he saw in the Thrax, he could see and feel its insatiable hunger, it's desire for death and destruction.
Izuku could feel that hunger and killing intent focused on him.
So he ran as best he could, and the Thrax followed with it's hellish scream.
Izuku didn't get very far before he fell, he was cornered, he was going to die.
He thought of his found friends and family, how he had failed and how he truly was useless even after all of this.
"I'm still just a deku after all..." He said as the Thrax lifted a leg and sent it at Izuku's head.
The leg never hit him.
Izuku opened his eyes and looked up, Max had arrived and taken the hit for him, the leg poked through Max's torso, and yet the man still lived.
"Go Izuku, I knew that I probably wouldn't make it out of here when this thing first showed up, but you still can, go Izuku escape this hell with Priyani, I'll *cough* hold *cough* the line, come back one day and kill this bastard for me" said Max, coughing as he bled.
Izuku got to his feet and Priyani helped hold him up as they ran.
"COME ON YOU BASTARD, YOU WANTED MY STUDENT!? YOU GOT ME INSTEAD!" Shouted Max, then all that could be heard was the sounds of a battle.
Just before the Thrax let out a victory cry Izuku heard the final words of Max.
"GO IZUKU, FIGHT AND SURVIVE, YOU CAN DO IT BOY, SHOW THOSE WHO HATED AND DESPISED YOU THAT YOU CAN BE BETTER THAN A HERO, YOU CAN BECOME A SLAYER, PROTECT THE ISLES!" Screamed Max, before the Thrax sent one final attack and finished the man.
Max was gone.
Izuku screamed and cried as he ran with Priyani.
The Thrax retreated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Izuku and Priyani ran for what felt like an eternity before they reached another cave, with a hole in the ceiling, but what they saw on the wall shocked them.
It was a mural of the creature they had seen.
"Izuku do you still have your notes with you?" Asked Priyani (she's good at void runner language translation but Izuku is simply built different)
"Y-yeah" said Izuku, his voice cracked from exertion and his own crying.
Izuku got to work drawing the mural and writing what the text said.
"It says, Be warned all ye who enter here, for you have entered hell on earth, here nightmares walk in the shadows and among them there is a king. The Feareater Thrax, the ultimate nightmare, if you see him then weep, for your death has come. In this room there is a portal driver, use it at your own peril for it is what brought this creature to us, there are few things that can hurt the Thrax but among them there is one weapon that can do so like no other.
Daybreak, the sword of dawn, we discovered it on a trip through the void, it is older than our oldest records and predates even the deeps, but be warned for the sword can kill the user if used incorrectly.
May luck be with you so that you may escape this hell, and if you can then please avenge our people." Said Izuku as he translated the mural.
"So the behemoth is called the Feareater Thrax, we now know it's name, and that odd sphere that its wrapped around on the mural must be the portal driver, but i haven't seen anything of that Daybreak sword."
"I have it, I found it when I got separated and it fused to my arm." Izuku said as he showed his arm to Priyani, revealing the chain marks that had branded his arm.
"Oh my god, we need to get you out of here before this gets infected." Urges Priyani.
They heard the Thrax scream again in the distance.
"We need to get out of here now! Izuku call the airship using your lantern!" Shouted Priyani
So Izuku did, and scared the shit out of Markus
"Izuku what's happening down there!" Shouted Markus into his lantern.
"We need you to come to us now! Everyone except me and aunt Shae is dead! And the behemoth that killed them is on its way back!" Shouted Izuku hysterically
Markus steeled his nerves for the sake of saving his nephew "I'm on my way. EVERYONE GET READY TO TAKE OFF, WE ARE MAKING AN EMERGENCY PICK UP, MAKE IT DAMN QUICK!" shouted Markus at the ships crew.
Izuku and Priyani waited for Markus to arrive, eventually they heard him shout from above.
"Izuku! Shae! Come on!" Shouted Markus desperately, dropping the anchor down to them so that they could climb.
"Aunt Shae you go first! I'm going to get the portal driver attached to the anchor, we need to know more!" Shouted Izuku as he pushed Priyani towards the anchor.
Priyani knew there was no stopping him so she started climbing as fast as she could.
Izuku grabbed the end of the anchor with all his strength and pulled it towards the portal driver.
He could feel his muscles strain as he pulled, wrapping the chain around the driver as he heard the screams of the Thrax get closer.
As soon as he finished he climbed into the portal driver.
"Uncle Markus, pull me up!" He shouted, the anchor slowly rose, strained by the weight of the portal driver.
Izuku was only about a dozen feet off the ground when the Thrax arrived again.
It charged and hit the portal driver, nearly knocking Izuku off if he hadn't grabbed the chain with his prosthetic arm.
But the portal driver slipped out and plummeted towards the ground.
Izuku grabbed out with his free arm, and he felt like his arm would be torn from his body, so he screamed.
"IM NOT LETTING GO, YOU ARE NOT TAKING THIS YOU BASTARD!" Izuku screamed at the Thrax.
He kept screaming in pain and anger as he felt his muscles tearing in his arm, until eventually his branded chains began to glow with the light of Daybreak, he felt a renewed strength and pulled with all his might, the aether frightening the Feareater.
Eventually he made it to the deck of the ship with the portal driver, and he collapsed.
Izuku's had nightmares that night.
But they ended with the light of dawn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter End~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There you have it, expedition went to hell and everyone died, Daybreak will be explained later.
Only updated this right now because I saw I already had 1k words so I thought I'd work on this while I thought of more ideas for Repentance while I worked.
This chapter ended with 2.7k words.
One final chapter before this act ends, Ramsgate will burn.