The world returns to silence.
The flood has finally receded.
I don't remember falling asleep, only the trembling blue glow of the emergency shields before everything went dark. Now, the dome is still here, transparent, intact, but the ocean outside is gone. Only wet pavement and broken trees glisten under the dawn.
Twelve hours. That's how long the world was underwater. Now it's breathing again.
I sit up from the cold tile of the university gym. Rows of survivors stir around me, groaning, coughing, some still clutching soaked blankets. The smell of salt and fear lingers. Beyond the glass walls, the campus lies in ruin, cars lodged in trees, the distant city skyline shattered, every surface dripping with brine.
A familiar voice breaks the quiet. "You're alive. Guess miracles are trending again."
"Kai," I rasp. My voice feels like it's been scraped raw. "Looks like we both made it"
He grins, tired but sincere. His black hair sticks to his forehead, and his old varsity jacket is still wet. "Define made it. Half the campus is gone. But hey, we didn't turn into fish food."
Bea's voice cuts through, dry and sharp. "Speak for yourself. I was two seconds away from having a panic attack and trying to perform CPR on myself."
She's kneeling beside a shivering freshman, checking his pulse with steady hands. Even in crisis, she jokes, that's her way of keeping us sane.
Marcus paces near the cracked windows. "The shield's holding, but it's fading. Look," He points upward. "The shimmer's weaker now. If that thing goes down when the tide comes back…"
Elias, half-asleep against the bleachers, adjusts his AR glasses and mutters, "It's not just the tide. It's the world. Every message thread I scanned says the same thing, it's synchronized. Twelve hours submerged. Twelve hours dry."
Darius, standing beside him, crosses his arms. "Then we have twelve hours to act. Before the next flood hits."
Jasmine, already tinkering with a cracked drone, glances up. "Twelve hours to find power, supplies, and somewhere safer than a gym. Optimistic, huh?"
Mei's voice is barely above a whisper. She's by the door, staring out through the wet glass. "The lower floors are filled with debris. If we want clean water, we'll need to scavenge outside. I can go."
Kai frowns. "You just woke up, Mei. You're pale as hell."
"I'm fine," she says, clutching her waterproof flashlight. "I need to move before I start thinking."
Elias exhales softly. "Every civilization thinks they'll last forever. They're always right… until they're wrong."
Kai tosses a bottle cap at him. "Man, your optimism's infectious."
Bea smirks without looking up. "Second place for worst pep talk goes to Aaroon, for staring meaningfully at puddles again."
She's not wrong. Through the glass, I can see the world glinting with water and ruin. Sunlight pierces through cracks in the clouds, striking the distant bay where something impossibly large moves beneath the surface.
The flood may have gone, but the sea is still alive. Watching. Waiting.
Darius steps forward, voice steady. "Twelve hours until it rises again. We use every second. Aaroon, you're with me, we'll map the safe zones and check what's left of the north wing."
I nod, still staring at the bay. The water ripples again, not from wind, but from something vast shifting beneath it. A shadow the size of a large multi-story building.
The Titan hasn't left.
It's waiting for the next tide.