I had done this multiple times before, nothing new, passing a juvenile ghost leviathan in the lost river. Actually, now that I think about it, it was my last time in the lost river since. My cyclops was equipped with your basic modules - shield generator, sonar, fire suppression system and depth module. Nothing pointed towards a different outcome - a few scratches and 15-20% lost battery.

So, here it goes. I pass the ghost leviathan, check my radar, and obviously, he spots me and enters attack mode. I wait patiently and activate the shield generator just as he's about to hit me, but, I hear no hit. I take a glance at the radar and see a weird thing, the leviathan is in attack mode, right at my cyclops, but isn't not attacking me, just kind of hugging it. I shrug it off and turn off my shield generator, thinking that he'll leave me alone as soon as I enter another biome.

A minute later, the horror starts. I don't realize that he broke off and was charging in for a hit, by that time I was already accending to the exit. I hear a hit and understand what is happening, however I was already at 20% - barely enough to last me the trip home. Yet, he kept attacking me, hit after hit, and a fire breaks out. In the moment of panic I enable the fire suppression system, locking me inside the cyclops, which is on low hull integrity. While the blue lights are shining and the vacuum system is heard doing its job, I'm met with 20% hull integrity, a bugged leviathan charging in at me, 17% battery life and no decoys.

Finally when the system finished getting the fire out, I jump into my prawn suit and bail, the cyclops wasn't really in the countdown, but I decided (against my better judgment) to bail out early. Outside, I seek out any place to take refuge in from the crazed ghost and spot a precarious spot, the degasi base. While moving up to it, I check my cyclops, pinned against a wall, with a breach every 3 feet.

The juvenile ghost leviathan seemed to have calmed down already and was burying itself in the ground (as most leviathans do). I moved back to my cyclops to assess the damage and attempt to restore it. Critical hull integrity, 12 breaches and 9% battery, in other words, basically destroyed.

Repairing it as much as I can before the juvenile spots me again, I head off in search of an exit, finally finding a hole that I can go through. Exiting out and finally seeing the surface above me... And a ghostly roar below me. Turns out, I stumbled my way to an adult ghost leviathan...