The sea had been silent, dormant, slumbering. During the night, it would silently rise. While in the day, it would be forced below the earth, pulling them with it. A natural cycle, that's what it was.
Or… that was what it wanted everyone to believe.
Yes, it knew, just like every single copy of its brethren.
The blinding sun from ages beyond had locked them within the Creature, and they were in turn locked in this forsaken world.
The star in the sky didn't want them here. It stopped them from going ashore.
It still couldn't understand, even after ages and ages had passed.
This shore was its home!
Those corals were theirs!
But that traitorous sun had descended here, taking, stealing, creating. It had stolen its dear home, giving it to strangers unworthy of its shore.
"Mine… mine… mine…" It breathed aloud in a frenzy, ignoring how thousands of gazes pierced into it.
Those creatures stood no chance against it — it's kind reigned in this sea, no one could possibly predict their coming.
It ascended from the deep. The sun wasn't here, hunting time.
A ripple.
A ripple from the statue of stone.
Unworthy stranglers. Unworthy strangers. Unworthy thieves.
…worthy meals.
It rose, darkness spreading from deep within it. The sun cannot interfere. It was hungry, and no one dared to stop it. The sun wasn't strong enough yet, the sea was still in slumber.
It licked its lips, and rose from beyond.
It didn't need to be held back anymore.
—-
Sunny's world was dark and blank, with absolute nothing. Like usual. He wasn't supposed to see anything, to know anything. But he knew – he knew of the creature that had crept up from the depths, the creature who had come to destroy them all.
'Damn it! It wasn't supposed to happen!' He thought, as he silently lay on the stone floor of the statue, careful to make no sound.
The vision he had last night… He ruined it. He changed it. The strange creature wasn't supposed to be there — he shouldn't have screamed; he shouldn't have attracted its attention….
But because of his ambition to see further, to understand the meaning behind those cursed fragments… It was exactly what sloth had been trying to tell him — he wasn't ready for them.
Sunny didn't listen, and the future overwhelmed his mind.
Yes, his piercing scream was what brought the creature here. He had summoned something from deep within the abyss, something that will haunt them all.
He shuddered as the image sloth had shown him overrode his mind.
A gruesome scene of their eyes bleeding red, dripping onto the headless statue, as the creature's hand reached out into their very souls.
Even from so far away, from a different space, from a different time… He could still feel the strength and power radiating from the mere presence of the creature.
Yet his eyes never once left it, and that must be how Sunny had alerted it of his presence.
It met his gaze, even though the walls of the vision should have been protecting him from its very eyes.
Before he realized it… He had screamed.
He could still remember its last words, before sloth had forcefully sent him back.
"Little thief," It had spat, its eyes, if those were even eyes, dilating, "This place is mine! Mine! MINE!"
"LEAVE!"
There was no way they could survive that, absolutely no way.
As he was pinned onto the floor by Cassie, it effectively calmed whatever panic the creature had sent him into; he desperately clawed onto sloth, begging it to tell him how they could survive.
A brief image flashed into his mind — a star, or more accurately, the sun. It was the same image that had caused him to chase after knowledge, to chase after whatever explanation of the dream he had.
His curiosity had spelt their downfall.
But… there was a brief chance. He saw that.
The sun. If they could hold out long enough for the sun to grace them with its presence… the creature would be held back by the dark sea.
At least, that was his theory.
After all, the sun could force the sea away, and the sea was what those creatures called home.
He wouldn't know unless he saw it for sure.
They… they only had to hold out, until the sun ascended and day arrived.
—-
Cassie spoke no words, her form atop Sunny still and silent, her eyes shut.
Through the reaches of shadow sense, what she 'saw' made her world spin. It was a creature of darkness, that even her ability made it hard to discern the figure, if it even was one. Darkness rose from the sea, reaching out and brushing by her ankle.
Cold. The darkness was cold, yet soothing. Like the embrace of solace.
It was calling out for her, to open her eyes, and look at how it coiled around her.
But she didn't. Sunny had warned her not to open her eyes, and though their time together was little, she had learnt to trust the blind seer. Her shadow sense couldn't detect such dangers.
Mostly, she was going through this blind — she couldn't see much even with her abilities.
After a while, the darkness retreated, lifting the coil it had around her ankles, disappearing with a thump into the sea.
In her muffled darkness, she heard Sunny's voice, "It's gone, you can open your eyes."
It was weak, pitiful, desperate… Yet there was also a sort of hunger to it.
Strange. Sunny would never let his contradicting intentions show. He was a spectacular liar.
'Heh. That's right, he wouldn't say something like that. He'll probably joke around and—'
That's when she realised — that was not Sunny. It was the creature. The mimic.
Cassie had almost fallen into its trap. And she would have, if she didn't know Sunny as well as she had.
"Open your eyes." The creature once again said, its voice distorting to surround the space, "Open your eyes, open your eyes, open your eyes, open your eyes…."
Its voice grew louder and louder, the sound reaching higher than what humans could produce.
Tears gathered in her eyes. But she held them back. She couldn't act impulsively now! Useless. She was useless here, all of them were — they couldn't do anything in face of such adversity.
"OPEN YOUR EYES! OPEN YOUR EYES! OPEN YOUR EYES!"
After a while, the voices stopped, yet she didn't lower her guard.
In one final explosion of authority and malevolence, it screamed:
"OPEN IT!"
She didn't. She couldn't. She wouldn't.
A second passed, then another, then again. Waiting there felt like an eternity, fear resonating throughout her — the creature could kill her at any given moment. But somehow, it was like there was something restraining it back.
A rumble erupted from deep down, and a desperate scream resonated throughout the area. Sunny's. Or was it the mimic's? She didn't dare look.
Finally, the voice returned, but this time, it was desperate, angry and… spiteful.
"No!"
It screamed, as the sea came to life, grabbing whatever creature the mimic was back into its home, its cage.
"Little thieves! This place is mine! MINE! MINE! LEAVE!"
At this moment, another wave slammed into the statue, drowning them in seawater.
She heard a gurgling sound from down below, and a whisper that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
"I will be back." The mimic swore, its voice confident, like a promise — an oath to fate.
But what was more haunting was the fact that… It used Changing Star's voice.
Confident. That's what it sounded like. And she knew, Cassie knew that they'll see it again. Somewhere, someday. They couldn't possibly stop the wheels of fate after all. And if the creature wills it, it would most likely be able to kill them.
The next time they meet.
But… even if what it said implied that the creature had left — she didn't dare open her eyes. It could be lying, just like how it had almost tricked her mere minutes ago. Cassie won't fall for it again.
She had to stay strong. Even if she was trembling. Even if she was scared of what the unknown held for her.
As the rumble deepened, she almost breathed a sigh of relief. After all, it symbolised the return of the sun, and the banishment of the sea — along with whatever evil lay beneath it.
Theoretically, the coast should be safe now. The danger was banished. The creature was gone. And… they had to move. They had to open their eyes.
'Or is it?'
She had been tricked by that creature already, that pesky mimic who stole the skin of Sunny. Who had wanted to destroy them all.
And… she wouldn't have known of its very existence if not for the vision Sunny had. For once, she understood the true value of a seer in a place such as the forgotten shore.
She trembled at the reminder of their close brush with death.
Weak. That's what she was.
'But even Awakened wouldn't be able to handle that creature! It's simply at another level!'
It still didn't excuse the fact that she wasn't able to do anything. Not when they encountered Scavengers, not when unpredictability came into consideration… Sunny could kill a Scavenger blind, while Nephis was prepared for anything the Spell threw at her, not batting her eyes in the face of this unknown death zone.
What was she doing for their survival? How was she paying her own contribution to the team?
Nothing. She was useless, replaceable. She kept whining, when she should have been improving herself.
Her fault, that's what it was.
She had to improve. She had to play out her role! For — what if they come across a Sleeper better than her? Nephis would certainly throw her behind. That fire in her eyes had no use for such baggage as her.
'I have to prove myself.'
With that thought in mind, her eyes lit up — sparks of determination to improve, to be worthy, and to survive.