Hirshe began to shake and steam. The steam would suddenly burn, hot, and singe the flesh of anyone who touched it... Perhaps a thick skinned gargoyle or a felt skinned monster would not feel the effects so much... The woman holding the shield on the glass, however, was neither and she screamed as a stream of red steam struck her ankles.

Then the steam became cold, fogging the windows that showed the sea. Hirshe shook, vibrating violently, then... He became still. The glow faded. 

His head rolled to one side, his breath stopped... For a moment...

Then it turned, and a voice his friends would recognize he said... "huh?"

The glass cracked, the girl holding the shield passed out, water began to seep through the seams.

Meanwhile above, Tristian, stared, wide eyed. 

"My friend... My dear friend... I didn't know... If I had..."

"Lies do not suit you, Tristian. Even when you believe them." Dzel spoke, but in a voice that was not her own. It was deeper, masculine, like smoke. Her face changed, she grew taller. Her black hair shortened, and seemed to rust, turning orange, her skin paled and freckled... 

Her face changed into a face that all the other-worlders would recognize, or perhaps not recognize, but find familiar. Either in a distant memory, something from a half remembered nightmare... 

Herbert would recognize the face, and remember the name.

Smith.

Tristian fell to his knees, his blood, his life water, falling out of him. The ship he commanded with his power, began to tilt and sink. "I wish I could go back and... I would have..." 

"You were there, Tristian. You did nothing, Trisitan. Peace keeper... Coward. I am going to kill all the rest, and then I am going home. Damn the cost."

When Tristian died, the animals went wild with rage and sorrow. The whales and fish and creatures that followed the fleet of vessels struck the side of the submarines, cried into the sea, turned upon one another and the humans that traveled with Tristian.

"Time to go." Said Smith, and grabbed Herberts hand. 

But someone else grabbed Herberts other hand, The other Dzel perhaps. It would all become chaotic as the submarine  began to fill with water.

Rozalind shot at Smith. "This way!" she missed, her bullets made more holes in the walls, more holes for water to come into the hall.

Then Dzel touched the side of the giant Wolf Wolfe, there was no more time to be afraid. "Come with us." The beast who had found control, could also now find some more of himself, some peace...

How did they get away from Smith? Did he escape the sinking ship? As the team desperately escaped into pods and lifeboats Smith never seemed to hurry or worry, he just stood and watched them flee, the water rising around his knees. 

Injured, confused, the survivors of TRIDENT were few. The other-worlders gathered on the surface, on a strange beach... baffled... puzzled... Nightmares and puzzles would haunt them... Mysteries that begged to be answered. 

The mystery of the RIFT needed to be solved...

... To be continued.