The Ones That Watch

  I remain motionless.

  The water is still, but I know I am not alone.

  They are close now. Five creatures. Moving in a slow, coordinated formation. Not hunting, not feeding—searching.

  [ Status Identified. ]

  ? Unknown Creatures (5)

  ? Health: ???

  ? Condition: Scanning

  I do not like that word.

  Scanning.

  Most predators move with instinct. They chase, they kill, they eat.

  These creatures?

  They think.

  I stay low to the seafloor, pressing myself against the jagged rocks. My camouflage has saved me before. It will save me again.

  I hope.

  The vibrations in the water change. They are getting closer.

  ---

  They move like nothing I’ve ever seen.

  Not drifting randomly like prey. Not stalking like the Shadowjaw.

  They move with purpose.

  Each one adjusts its position as the others shift, maintaining a perfect formation. They are working together.

  I do not breathe. I do not move.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  A shape passes above me.

  For the first time, I see them.

  They are long, eel-like, but their bodies glow. Faint pulses of light ripple along their skin, dim but noticeable.

  The color shifts as they move. Blue. Then violet. Then deep crimson.

  I do not know what that means.

  But it means something.

  [ Status Identified. ]

  ? ??? – Abyssal Sentinels

  ? Health: ???

  ? Condition: Searching

  Sentinels.

  The word is unfamiliar, yet it settles into my mind with a weight I do not like.

  They are not predators.

  They are not prey.

  So what are they?

  I remain frozen, hoping they will pass.

  They do not.

  One of them stops.

  Right above me.

  [ Status Updated. ]

  ? Condition: Observing

  A pulse rolls through the water—not movement, not sound. Something else.

  It washes over me like a wave, sending a strange tingle along my skin.

  Then—

  [ Status Identified. ]

  ? Name: Veyrn

  ? Species: Abyssborn (Hybrid Conger-Moray)

  ? Age: Juvenile

  ? Condition: Injured (Recovering – 53% Health)

  My own status.

  It forces itself into my mind, unbidden.

  I flinch.

  The Sentinel sees me.

  Not with eyes. Not with movement.

  But it knows I am here.

  A wave of instinct screams through me. Run. Now.

  I bolt from the rocks, surging through the water at full speed.

  Instantly, the Sentinels react.

  They move together, turning toward me as one. Their glow pulses rapidly, shifting to a deep red.

  They are chasing me.

  ---

  I am fast. Faster than before. My body moves better than it did days ago.

  But they are faster.

  I can feel the water press against me as they close in.

  I twist sharply, diving downward, weaving through jagged rock formations. I know how to move.

  But so do they.

  They do not crash into the terrain. They adjust, shift, calculate.

  This is not an instinctual chase.

  This is deliberate.

  I dart through a narrow passage, twisting through the rocks.

  For a moment, I think I’ve lost them.

  Then—a pulse slams into me.

  Not physically. Something else.

  My muscles lock. My body stiffens.

  I stop moving.

  [ Status Effect: Stunned (2.1 seconds) ]

  What—?

  They catch up instantly, surrounding me in a half-circle.

  The red glow fades.

  Their lights shift back to calm blue.

  They are not attacking.

  They are watching.

  Waiting.

  One drifts closer.

  [ Status Identified. ]

  ? Abyssal Sentinel (Unit 3)

  ? Health: ???

  ? Condition: Analyzing

  It pulses again. Another wave rolls over me, pressing into my mind.

  It is searching.

  For what?

  For me?

  No.

  For something else.

  It does not attack.

  It does not kill.

  It simply looks.

  Then, as quickly as they arrived—they leave.

  Their bodies flicker, shifting to violet, then dimming as they vanish into the abyss.

  I do not follow.

  I cannot.

  I remain where I am, my mind struggling to process what just happened.

  What were they?

  What did they want?

  I do not have the answers.

  But I know one thing.

  They were not hunting me.

  Not this time.

  ---

  I remain still for a long time, hidden beneath the rocky outcropping.

  Eventually, I move again. Slowly. Cautiously.

  The abyss is silent once more.

  But I am not the same.

  I can still feel it.

  The tingling sensation along my skin. The strange pulse that stunned me.

  A part of me remembers.

  And my body… reacts.

  A faint tremor rolls through me.

  A shif

  t. A change. A spark.

  [ Adaptation Progress: 6.4% ]

  I do not understand it yet.

  But I will.

  Because this ocean is no longer just about hunting and hiding.

  There are other things in the deep.

  And I must learn what they are.