PURSUANT The Thing in the Lake by H Jason Schulz

When fishermen begin disappearing from Lake Champlain without leaving behind any evidence, Pursuant Inspectors Marion Kenway and Zia Kose are sent to investigate alongside Sheriff Raymond Cole and Inspector Blake Donovan. What initially appears to be another encounter with a legendary lake monster quickly becomes something far more dangerous. A surviving diver reports an ancient structure beneath the lake, complete with a massive doorway and something watching from the darkness beyond it.

The investigation reveals a Level Two Uden, an enormous aquatic Meta creature that appears to be attacking anyone who approaches the submerged structure. But Kenway soon realizes the creature is not simply hunting people. It is guarding the doorway. Beneath the lake is an ancient Agartha node, part of the subterranean portal network that connects distant locations through ancient technology.

The doorway begins to activate, and something from the other side attempts to force its way into the world. Kenway, Zia, and Blake discover that the structure contains an Agartha Portal Anchor, an ancient technological mechanism responsible for stabilizing and maintaining the portal connection. The distinction becomes critical. The node is the location. The portal is the passage. The anchor is the mechanism holding that passage stable.

Using specialized Pursuant equipment and vibrational technology, the Inspectors disrupt the anchor and collapse the portal without destroying the underlying node. The Uden disappears through the closing passage, leaving behind a disturbing question about its true purpose and how long it has been guarding the site.

But the investigation produces an even greater discovery. The Lake Champlain node is only one point in a vast subterranean network. Dozens of other nodes appear on the Pursuant map, several already showing signs of activation. Then a new signal appears deep beneath the Atlantic, suggesting that something is moving through the Agartha system.

Kenway realizes that the Pursuant may have misunderstood the network from the beginning. The nodes are not merely isolated doors. They may be a road system, and something has begun traveling along it.