♤ "oh boy", I say as I exit practice. I find myself on land, somewhere I won't see for quite some time once I go in. I take a deep breath, and I jump straight into the water. and here it starts: The Abyss. Layer 1, the ruins, is nothing out of the ordinary, simple gameplay with some decently tight jumps, but nothing I couldn't handle. doesn't take that long before I reach Layer 2, the great pit. funny thing is, this descent is even easier... but before I can even finish thinking about how easy it is I already find myself at the entrance to Layer 3, the sunken city. things around me start to move and become dangerous, and the difficulty of traversing the terrain has noticeably gone up. after dodging whirling saw blades and maneuvering through whirlpools, I see in the distance an unusually large tower. at the bottom sits one of the keys to unlock the ending, knowing I need this, I pick it up and head down into Layer 4, the thermal vents. it quickly becomes so so so hot, I think to myself that I need to get out of here as fast as I can. I look around the environment, and thankfully it's perfect for me to go as fast as I like without it being too difficult. before I know it, I'm descending straight into Layer 5, the lost forest. this place, is almost beautiful. the plant life that manages to live down here is truly remarkable, but it initially distracts me from the cave they live in. this cave is the most dangerous part of this trip yet, and I see at the end a locked gate. I must travel to one end of the cave and pick up the key to unlocking the gate, and then make my way to the other end. doing this is no easy feat, in fact it's really hard like why. but after nearly an hour, I manage to finally escape. I land at Layer 6, the unreturnable abyss. but before I make my way through the toughest part of the journey, I remember I'm missing 1 more key to open the final gate. I have to make a detour to the old castle, a submerged building resting on the floors of Layer 6. luckily for me, the castle was so old, everything within the castle was easy to deal with. there clearly was some effort put into the traps, but they're so basic and old they're very easy to deal with. once I pick up the final key, I make my way back to the core of Layer 6. everything has become so dark, it's impossible to see anything more than a few feet ahead of me. there's no sign of any life down here, no fish, no plants, nothing. this is the hardest part of the journey, the true test of everything. it took so long to even get to this point, I can't give up. I must keep going. after so long, I finally push through and find myself at the gate with the 2 keys needed. I'm shaking, almost crying, what I just overcame was what I most feared, and I actually did it. but I'm not done yet. once the gate opens I find myself at Layer 7, the final maelstrom. we've traveled so deep that I cannot see anything past my own hands. the terrain is much more open compared to the cave from Layer 6, but traversing my way down without being able to see has its difficulty. although compared to the previous layer, this doesn't even compare. I easily make my way to the bottom of Layer 7. before I make the final jump I get scared, where will this take me now? but before I start to panic, I close my eyes and take the leap of faith. as I open my eyes, I hoped to see what could be considered the end, but no. there's an 8th layer. I've never heard of this before I don't even have a name for it, is this supossed to be some sort of final challenge? it doesn't even feel real, the walls and obstacles are so colourful and wavy. am I dreaming? I try to snap myself out of it but nothing works, I have to finish strong. however after everything I've been through to finally get here, this was no hard challenge. and as I step foot on the very bottom, weird shapes and colours take over my vision and I black out. next thing I know i wake back up on the surface. did I do it? am I done? where am I? I see up ahead there's someone sitting in a chair with an empty one right beside them. the only thing i can think to do is try and talk with them. we have a nice conversation, I learn a lot. and during that conversation I think I can finally let myself know, that I beat the abyss.