Chapter 7

After that day, you could feel him.

It wasn't through hearing or seeing; it was a direct perception—his emotions, his heartbeat, whether his gaze was fixed upon you.

Anytime, anywhere, it felt as though another heart was beating inside your own body.

Even with your eyes closed, you knew he was beside you. Even with your back turned, you knew those tentacles were reaching out.

The moment a thought stirred in your mind, he was already there before you.

One day after the symbiosis, you leaned against his chest.

You suddenly wondered what he was like in the past.

As the tentacles entwined you gently, images began to flood in.

The symbiosis had blurred the boundaries between you, and those memories buried in his deepest reaches began to surface on their own.

You saw him swimming alone through the dark trenches.

There was nothing around, only boundless darkness and the occasional flicker of bioluminescent creatures.

His tentacles gently curled around the wreckage of a shipwreck—a wooden figurehead, a woman’s face already blurred by the erosion of seawater. He studied it for a while before placing it within his ruins.

Then came a glowing stone. Then a massive whale bone. Then a rusted metal chest.

He brought them back to the ruins, arranging them one by one, stepping back to look, and adjusting their positions again.

The collection grew until it filled the entire ruins. Yet as he looked at them, there was nothing in his eyes.

Because they were all dead. They couldn't move, they couldn't look at him, and they couldn't respond to him.

You saw him sitting alone amidst his collection, those objects staying silent like a crowd of mute spectators. He sat motionless for a very long time. Then he closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

A sleep that lasted for centuries.

When he woke, nothing around him had changed—the fish were the same fish, the stones were the same stones, and the collection remained exactly as it was. Only he was alone.

He swam out and continued to gather.

Continued to arrange.

Continued to watch, alone.

And then, you saw that day.

You fell from the surface, eyes closed, drifting like a fallen leaf. He was originally just passing by, heading to another trench to pick up a new stone.

But he stopped.

The tentacles gently supported you, bringing you before his eyes. He looked down at you, at your soaked hair, your pale face, and your slightly parted lips.

He reached out and touched your cheek.

Soft. Warm. Breathing.

In that instant, you felt his emotion—a beam of light suddenly piercing through a thousand years of solitude.

He brought you home. Those tentacles wrapped around you gently, as if afraid you might shatter. He placed you in the shell, and the tentacles refused to leave, clinging to your wrists.

He sat beside you, watching.

Watching for a very long time.

The images slowly receded.

You opened your eyes.

He was right there in front of you, looking down at you. Your face was reflected in those golden slit pupils.

The tentacles were coiled around your waist, soft and light.

You raised your hand and touched his face. He didn't speak, and neither did you.

But as you looked at him, you said in your heart: *You don't have to go gathering anymore. You have me.*

The tentacles suddenly tightened for a split second.

He looked at you, something flickering within those eyes. It was heavy and deep, like a kind of light found only in the deepest trenches of the ocean.

He knew what you had said.

Not with his ears.

But with his heart.

That day, he took you away from the ruins.

When you asked where you were going, he remained silent, but those tentacles coiled gently around your waist, leading you forward.

Through the ink-black seawater, around an underwater mountain range, and then—

You saw it.

A forest of coral unlike anything you had ever seen.

The coral was alive, glowing with a pinkish-purple radiance, swaying softly with the undercurrent. It wasn't just a few clusters; it was an entire forest, stretching to the very edge of your vision. Countless schools of bioluminescent fish darted through it like a flowing galaxy. Some were golden, some blue, and others so transparent they were nearly invisible, reflecting only a spark of light as they swam past the coral.

You were stunned.

He stood beside you, watching. In those eyes, there was a flicker of expectation, so subtle it was hard to detect.

You knew he was waiting for your reaction.

You turned to look at him, your eyes bright and shining.

I love it.

The tentacles brushed against your cheek gently, as if to say:

As long as you like it.

You stayed in the coral forest for a long time.

He led you through the schools of fish; they were not afraid of him, and a few even swam over to nuzzle against his tentacles. He pointed out the different corals to you—each had its own name, given by him. One was called "Moonlight" because it glowed more softly at night. Another was named "Watcher" because it grew on the furthest edge, as if waiting for something.

You suddenly realized that he had seen these sights countless times.

But it had always been alone.

You were the first person to see them with him.

Just then, you sensed something else.

It wasn't his emotion. It was a strange vibration—rhythmic, pulse by pulse, transmitting through the seawater.

Sonar.

Your heart skipped a beat.

He instantly looked toward the distance, those golden slit pupils narrowing slightly.

You looked down at the small metal ring on your wrist. A locator. You had been wearing it since the day you fell into the sea, and you had long since forgotten it was even there.

But humanity had not forgotten.

They had been searching for you. They wanted to find you, whether living or dead.

A thought suddenly flickered in your mind.

It would be nice to go back and see.

It was just a flash. Like a shooting star, gone as soon as it crossed.

But the tentacles coiling around you tightened for a split second.

Then they let go.

He did not look at you. He said nothing. He simply turned and swam toward the direction of the sonar.

The tentacles trailed spectral blue light behind him. He moved fast, but his posture was eerily calm.

Terrifyingly calm.

You knew what he was about to do.

You chased after him.

He was above the entrance to the ruins, and in the distance were the searchlights of a submarine and several submersibles. The beams of light pierced the darkness, scanning back and forth across the ocean floor.

The tentacles were already reaching out.

It wasn't a violent tearing. It was precise suppression.

One tentacle pinned down the front of a submersible; the machine spun its propellers desperately, but it couldn't move an inch. Another tentacle held down a second, and a third held a third. They hung there, like insects pinned in mid-air.

Another tentacle reached toward the submarine. It coiled around the hull, not using force, just resting against it.

But the metal hull began to dent. It wasn't being crushed by grip, but oppressed by some kind of energy field, as if an invisible hand were slowly tightening. Alarms sounded muffled through the water, and silhouettes inside ran back and forth in panic.

He was going to make those things disappear forever.

Along with that thought of yours.

You swam in front of him, spreading your arms to stop Kaelen.

He looked down at you. In those golden slit pupils, there was nothing.

But you felt his emotion—beneath the calm was something heavier than anger.

It was possessiveness. It was his absolute determination never to let you leave.

You stood on your tiptoes and kissed him.

His lips were cool. The tentacles stiffened for an instant.

After pulling away, you said in your heart:

Let them go. Don't kill anyone. Just erase their memories.

He watched you. Something was churning within those eyes.

A few seconds later, the tentacles emitted a ghostly blue light. The halo expanded, enveloping the entire submarine.

Inside, the silhouettes collapsed one by one. The alarms stopped. The propellers of the submersibles ceased their spinning.

The light lasted for a few seconds and then vanished.

The tentacles let go. The submarine began to float upward, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

The sonar stopped.

Surroundings fell silent.

He looked down at you. The tentacles coiled around your waist, pulling you close.

You felt his emotion—the thought that "you wanted to leave just now" had not yet dissipated.

Then the tentacles wrapped you up and swam toward the deeper reaches of the ruins.

Not to the shell where you were kept.

But to another place.