The last two days had been miserable. There was constant fear and worry in the air. Everyone was on edge, and most of it was suffered through in silence. Even in these awful times, Synexus could find something to find excitement in. These two days were no different.

  He had a favorite post when he took his turn on watch. It was on the rear starboard side of the Windswept. The day they had arrived in the middle of the armada; his new friendship started. A girl a bit older than him was always on watch on the ship right across from the rear starboard lookout post. She had seafoam colored skin with cerulean hair, and sparkling sapphire eyes. It was like the ocean itself took human form. He was instantly curious about her, and he found that she was curious about him. She waved with this bright smile on her face, and he waved back.

  Name: Shell

  Race: Wave

  Class: Ocean’s Call LV 25

  Synexus had focused on her once she waved to learn who she was. Her class intrigued him, but what made him more interested was her race. Wave. It was like the Branch. She was part of the Wave. He didn’t know there were others like that. All he wanted after seeing that was to talk to her, which he didn’t believe would happen. Vorin would never let him leave to ship to have a conversation. This saddened him a bit until he heard a voice in his head.

  “Um, hi!”

  It was soft voice that sounded like a gentle wave breaking on a rock. He instantly knew it belonged to her.

  “Hi, how are you talking to me?”

  “It’s part of my class. I’m a communication specialist. Telepathy is one of the gifts the ocean has given me.”

  “That’s amazing! Well, it’s nice to meet you Shell, I’m Synexus.”

  “Uh, I didn’t tell you, my name.”

  “Right, sorry. It’s one of my skills. I also can see that you’re part of the Wave. I was raised by the Branch.”

  “Wow! I’ve heard tales of them, but one hasn’t visited us in quite some time. You definitely don’t look like the stories describe them.”

  “Oh no. I’m a Zaxillian. Of course, I don’t even know what that means. The Branch just raised me since I was a baby when I arrived.”

  “I have definitely not heard of a Zaxillian, but that explains why you have such beautiful silver eyes. I’ve never seen a human with eyes like moonlight.”

  “Thanks! I think you have beautiful eyes too. They immediately caught my attention.”

  Shell looked away for a second trying to hide a big smile on her face. “They are quite normal where I’m from. I suppose you wouldn’t know that though.”

  “I see that your class is Ocean’s Call. So, you aren’t a pirate?”

  She laughed. “Nope, I’m helping the humans because us Wave are worried about this threat as well. I’m only here for communication. I’m not really supposed to be talking to anyone, but your eyes caught my attention. Also, your arms seem to change colors every time I see you.”

  Synexus laughed this time. “That’s one of my skills as well. I’m working on levelling it up while waiting for this fight to begin. I never thought I’d make a new friend while acting as bait.”

  “I never thought I’d make a new friend here either. The pirates don’t seem very kind. I can’t wait for this to be over. My family is waiting for me.” There was a sad look on her face. She clearly missed her family.

  “Hey, don’t worry. It sounds like they are going to give up if the monster doesn’t show up after the second day. You’ll be home in no time!”

  “Well, I wish I had your positivity. You’re surrounded by people who care about you judging from the interactions I’ve seen. These pirates only care about themselves.”

  “It’s not my ship, but you’re always welcome to sail away with us when the time comes. I’d enjoy getting to know you more.”

  “Then we will have to make the best of these two days!”

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  It was now early afternoon two days after they arrived. This was the last day for sure. The pirate king extended the duration of the operation a bit but said there was no sense in waiting around after today. Synexus and Shell did make the best of their time. He took that post every time he had to stand watch, and she was always there to chat with. They mainly talked about the Wave and the Branch. Both societies were surprisingly similar. From there they talked about their adventures so far. Shell has never left the ocean. She doesn’t want to be away from her family that long but has always been curious about life on land. Today she was telling him more about her family members, specifically her mom.

  “She is amazing! I’ve looked up to her my whole life. So brilliant and strong. I even took the same class as her when I became class chosen.”

  “You must love her very much. I only have one memory of my mom, and it was of her saying goodbye. I still think about it all the time. I wish I could talk to her. Just once at least.”

  “That’s awful, Synexus. I’m sorry that I’ve been talking about how incredible mine is when you’ve never even gotten to know yours.”

  “It’s okay! I like hearing about that bond with yours. It helps me to imagine what could have been.”

  Tears started running down Shell’s face. “Well, you’re always welcome to visit me. You can meet her if it’ll help.”

  “I would greatly enjoy that. Thank…”

  At that moment it was as if the world was shattered. In a single breath the peaceful early afternoon with the calming sounds of water beneath the ships and the muffled conversation across the armada ended. What seemed like an endless number of tentacles shot up out of water straight through the ships of the armada.

  To Synexus it felt like slow motion. He didn’t even finish his thought as he watched a strange tentacle shred through the ship Shell was standing on. Wood splintered and blood spattered everywhere. She got hit off the ship by the tentacle straight into the side of the Windswept.

  His brain raced to process what had just happened. Chaos erupted all around him as cannons started firing. People were screaming. It seemed like half the armada had just been destroyed in the blink of an eye. He knew he had to act, but he couldn’t get her face out of his mind. Was she even still alive?

  His body finally started to move into action. He looked down into the water to see Shell’s body. She wasn’t moving at all. Her face was underwater. If he didn’t do something, then she would die if she wasn’t dead already. Without another thought, he jumped into the water.

  She still had a pulse, but something was seriously wrong. He dragged her up the ladder and on the deck. His companions had already jumped into action. He could hear Kumo’s thunder and all of Zul’s animal companions roaring. The battle for their life had begun, but right now he was more concerned about hers. She had a family to get back to.

  She had injuries from the impact, nothing life threatening, however. It was like she couldn’t move anything but her eyes. Tears were streaming down her face, and he could see the fear in her gaze. He reassured her that he wasn’t going to leave her. They would fix this together.

  The thing that concerned him the most was the strange liquid on her. He avoided touching it himself. It was probably causing this paralysis, but it wasn’t stopping there. Her entire body started to melt away like the liquid was acid. Then three things hit him. The tentacles were strange because they weren’t tentacles at all. They were tongues, this was saliva, and this thing feeds on fear.

  This beast had evolved to season its own meals. The touch of the tongues spread its saliva which paralyzes you and then while trapped inside your own body, you watch while you slowly melt away. It didn’t need your flesh. Just your fear. The water had grown black. Dark and murky like it was made of nightmares. That was the fear of its victims leaking out of their bodies and draining into the abyss. Gene had warned them all, but no one listened.

  He got to work trying to save his friend. His arm shifted into his paralysis thorn but instead he used his Genome Refinement skill to fill the thorns with anti-paralysis liquid instead from another of his plants. There was a quick apology before stabbing one of the sharp thorns into her. It would take a minute to start working, but the real problem was the acidic effect. The saliva wasn’t being washed off by water. It seemed to soak through clothes as well. Synexus’ only thought was that it was simply a battle of attrition. The acid versus her health pool. He pulled out one of his legendary pears and waited.

  After a few minutes she started to move her fingers, then her hand, her arm, her legs, and finally she was able to speak.

  “Thank you.”

  This was her actual voice, and it was weak. “How is your health pool looking? I’m not sure what to do about this acid except try to outlast it.”

  “It took a lot of my health away initially, but it started to slow down when I got low. I think you’re right that we can overwhelm it with an influx of health points.”

  “Awesome, that is good news. Eat this. It will completely restore your health points.”

  She took bite after bite until it was gone. The destruction of her body slowed down. It was obviously still at work, but her vitality was now fighting back.

  “That’s a good sign. You lay here and rest. It’s not safer than anywhere else in this chaos, but I’m not sure it’d be good to move you right now. Also, is your telepathy working?”

  “It is. I just couldn’t focus with how weak I was feeling. That fruit helped a ton. Why?”

  “I need you to telepathically reach out to everyone still alive and tell them about the effects of the beast’s saliva. That is a horrific way to die. I’m going to try and help others. I’m sorry I can’t stay.”

  “It’s okay. You saved my life. Save others. I will do as you’ve asked.”

  Synexus stood and finally looked around to see the status of the fight. There was so much smoke. Cannon fire had left the air thick and hard to see through. The water looked like a graveyard full of corpses slowly being dissolved and destroyed ships. There was so much death and destruction. He didn’t want to believe it. The attack had only been going on for roughly four minutes and it looked like it had been going on for days. With that thought he looked around for someone to help. That’s when he realized he would have to check every floating body which meant he was going to have to get in the water with Abyss, the Deepest fear.