I look down at my body, at the iridescent sheen that covers my skin. My muscles have become denser, more efficient. My lungs process oxygen in ways that shouldn't be possible. The bioluminescent marks Aylth left during the frenzy form patterns that connect to my nervous system, creating pathways for sensations that didn't exist before.
I've adapted. Transformed. Become something between human and whatever Aylth's species is.
The question is whether it's enough.
The first shape appears at the edge of visibility.
Green scales catching the filtered light. Tentacles that look pale compared to Aylth's deep blue. Young, I realize. Maybe the same age as Reef, the one who tried to claim me when I ran.
A second shape joins the first. Darker green, slightly larger.
They circle the palace at distance, communicating through bioluminescent flashes I can almost read now. Testing. Probing. Looking for weakness.
I grab a spear and dive through the main entrance.
The water outside is colder than the palace's regulated temperature. The shock of it clears my head, focuses my thoughts. I swim up to where I'll be visible against the palace walls, backlit by its glow.
“This territory is claimed,” I call out, my voice carrying through water in ways it never could on Earth. The translator implant gives my words subsonic harmonics that travel for miles.
The two hunters stop circling. They're maybe sixty feet away, close enough that I can see details now. The smaller one is definitely Reef. I recognize his pretty scales, the way his tentacles move in practiced patterns designed to look threatening. The other is someone new, someone who moves more cautiously.
“The Ancient One sleeps,” Reef calls back. His bioluminescence flashes mockery. “Sleeps and does not wake. Female stands alone.”
“Female stands,” I agree. “And female tells you to leave.”
“Or what?” The second hunter moves closer. “Female will fight? Small human female against two hunters?”
I plant the spear butt against a coral outcropping, angling the point toward them. “Female already killed Leviathan. Two pretty boys should be easier.”
Reef's patterns flash anger. “Ancient One killed Leviathan. Female merely watched.”
“Then test it. Come closer and find out.”
They exchange flashes I can't fully interpret. Discussing. Debating. The second hunter seems uncertain, but Reef is pushing for aggression. Young and humiliated, needing to prove himself.
They surge forward together.
I drop below their approach, using the damaged palace structure as cover. They expect me to flee or fight directly, but I learned something during the Leviathan battle. In water, the small and quick have advantages the large and strong don't.
A broken pillar juts from the palace at an angle. I swim behind it, then plant my feet against the coral and push off hard. The move sends me shooting upward, passing between the two hunters before they can adjust.
My spear trails behind me, and I feel it connect. Not a killing strike, just a scrape along Reef's flank that leaves a line of blue blood in the water.
The toxin works immediately. Reef convulses, tentacles losing coordination. Not fatal, but painful and disorienting. He'll recover in an hour, but for now he's out of the fight.
The second hunter roars and comes at me. He's faster than Reef, more experienced. His tentacles spread to create a net I can't swim through.
So I don't try.
I dive straight down, toward the most damaged section of palace. The coral here is unstable, barely held together. When I grab a particular pillar and pull, the whole section shifts.
The hunter follows me down, focused entirely on capture. He doesn't see the danger until coral starts collapsing around him. Not enough to kill, but enough to trap. His tentacles get caught in falling debris, and he has to stop chasing me to free himself.
I surface in the palace, lungs burning despite my enhanced capacity. The encounter lasted maybe three minutes. It felt like hours.
Reef and the other hunter retreat, both injured and wary now. But they don't leave the territory. They float at the boundary line, waiting. Watching.
They'll be back.
