The abyss trembled, but the battle had ended.

  Morgros and Xelthar regarded Eo in silence, their unreadable gazes masking dissatisfaction. His rejection of their offer was not unexpected, but it left a lingering tension between them.

  “This will be reported,” Xelthar said at last, his obsidian scales glinting faintly in the abyssal gloom.

  Morgros’s heavy claws clicked together, a slow and deliberate sound. “You had a choice, Eo. You chose isolation. Do not expect the abyss to be kind to anomalies.”

  Eo met their gazes without hesitation. “I do not expect kindness. Only truth.”

  Neither lord responded. Without another word, they turned and drifted into the abyssal dark, their forms vanishing into the vast nothingness below.

  Only Ka’thulos remained.

  The eel-like lord coiled his long body, his golden eyes reflecting something deeper than mere instinct. The currents shifted subtly around him, his presence causing an unseen force to ripple through the abyss.

  “You are unlike the others,” he murmured. “You reject power yet seek knowledge. That is rare, even among those above.”

  Eo’s tendrils flexed slightly. “You did not leave with them.”

  “I had no reason to,” Ka’thulos replied. “I did not make you an offer of allegiance.”

  A silence settled between them.

  Then Ka’thulos spoke again, his tone quieter, heavier. “You should leave.”

  Eo tilted his head. “Why?”

  The abyssal lord exhaled, his long body shifting like a serpent in water. “You do not yet understand the weight of your existence. The lords of the deep will see you as either a tool or a threat. There is no middle ground. If you remain here, their gaze will fall upon you, and when it does…” His golden eyes narrowed. “Even you may not escape unscathed.”

  Eo absorbed his words, but his mind remained unmoved.

  He was not afraid of being watched.

  He was not afraid of being hunted.

  Instead, his curiosity only deepened.

  “Tell me,” he said, “who are the lords below?”

  Ka’thulos studied him for a long moment before answering.

  “There are beings in this abyss far older than any of us. They do not rule by strength alone but by the weight of their existence. To them, creatures like Morgros and Xelthar are mere watchers, guards standing at the edge of a greater void. The true abyss… lies below.”

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  A pulse traveled through the currents as he spoke, as if something stirred in the depths, restless and unseen.

  Eo felt it.

  A whisper, faint and distant.

  Something was listening.

  Ka’thulos’s eyes darkened. “If you seek knowledge, seek it away from here. Before they turn their gaze upon you.”

  Eo did not respond immediately. He had many questions, but one thing was certain—Ka’thulos was not warning him out of fear.

  This was a certainty. A truth spoken from experience.

  Finally, Eo spoke. “And what will you do?”

  Ka’thulos’s lips curled slightly, an eerie, knowing smile. “I will watch.”

  Then, without another word, he vanished into the abyss.

  Eo was alone once more.

  But not unnoticed.

  Far below, something stirred.

  ---

  Eo remained motionless in the abyss, absorbing Ka’thulos’s words. Though the territorial lord had left, his warning lingered in the currents.

  The abyss was not just vast—it was alive. Something had been listening.

  Yet, if Eo had learned anything, it was that fear was irrelevant to him. Curiosity burned brighter. He would leave, yes, but not out of caution. He would leave because the surface world held something new—something unknown.

  His tendrils flexed, and with a final glance into the abyss below, he turned and swam toward Ozure.

  The massive, armored form of the abyssal beast loomed in the distance, still recovering from the battle. Her scaled hide bore deep wounds, and the shifting glow in her eyes flickered as she noticed his approach.

  “You are leaving.” It was not a question.

  Eo did not slow as he neared. “Yes.”

  Ozure regarded him for a moment before letting out a slow exhale, releasing tiny bubbles into the dark water. “The surface world is not what you imagine it to be.”

  Eo stopped just before her massive form. “What do you mean?”

  “The deeper abyss is dangerous, yes, but it is honest. The laws of survival here are absolute—kill or be killed, consume or be consumed. The surface is different.”

  Ozure’s tail shifted, disturbing the currents. “Creatures above do not merely fight for survival. They fight for things unseen—power, influence, control. They lie, deceive, and manipulate. They hide their fangs behind words and their claws behind alliances. Beasts of the abyss do not do such things. When we hunger, we hunt. When we battle, we battle. That is our nature.”

  Eo processed this.

  “I have no reason to lie,” he said.

  “No,” Ozure agreed. “And that will be your weakness.”

  The weight of her words settled over him like the abyss itself.

  Ozure watched him in silence before speaking again. “You have no enemies yet, but once you enter the world above, you will. Not because you seek them, but because you exist. An anomaly is a threat to order, and creatures that do not understand you will try to erase you.”

  Eo’s tendrils curled slightly. “Then I will learn.”

  Ozure let out a deep, rumbling sound—something between a sigh and a growl. “Then learn this, Eo. Power alone will not protect you. Not up there. You will need more.”

  Eo blinked. “More?”

  “Instinct,” Ozure said, her voice lower now. “Not the hunger of beasts. Not the raw drive for knowledge. The instinct to survive where battle is not always fought with fangs and claws.”

  Eo remained silent.

  After a moment, Ozure continued. “I do not think you will die easily. That alone makes you dangerous. But remember this—understanding something is not the same as controlling it.”

  Eo absorbed her words carefully.

  After a long pause, he finally said, “Thank you, Ozure.”

  Ozure huffed. “Do not thank me. If I see you again, it will not be as an ally.”

  Eo did not respond.

  With that, he turned, his form disappearing into the abyssal currents.

  Ozure watched him go, her massive tail stirring the deep. Then, after a moment, she turned her gaze downward.

  The abyss was restless.

  She could feel it.

  Something had awakened.