They had no gender, but he had always thought the third one had more feminine energy than the others. It was softer, more apt toward kindness and pity, but also not quite so rash. The other two were quick to threaten bloodshed. But the third always strove to find some way toward peace.
It moved a little closer to him, her tentacles not quite so loud as they braced her body while she peered down at him. “We missed you.”
"Very much."
"Terribly so."
The words resounded around him, and he wished he could believe them. The ancients did not know how to miss things. Perhaps they regretted that their greatest weapon had to be put on a shelf somewhere they could not use, that he would believe. But he did not think they had it in themselves to know what missing someone felt like. Not for him. Not even for each other.
"My mission continues," he announced, his voice booming through the cavern with them. "I have discovered help already. There is a certain facility that will turn all the rest on. We can explore the world above again, and we can turn this planet back online, as the humans say."
A low rumbling echo came after his words. It was a pleased sound made by one of the males, who leaned even closer to look at him.
His massive eye was black as the deepest part of the sea. All he could see within it was his own reflection. Proteus was glowing so brightly that he was certain it hurt for the ancient to even look at him, something he was reminded of often when he was a child.
"This is good," the ancient said. "We grow weary."
"I know." Proteus knew how tired they were. Even centuries ago, they were determined to continue going forward, but that was why they had ended up here. Swimming was too hard forthem. Hunting even harder. The sea folk had always taken care of them, and they must have continued to do so considering the size and health of his family.
Still, there was something different about them. Their breathing was more labored than he remembered. Their words were a little slower. And they were being far kinder than they had ever been to him before.
"We have seen the future," the feminine one said. "We know that you are the key to all of this. We were correct. You will be the one to bring about a new age in this planet. You will bring them all to a brighter future, where land and sea remain separate but still a whole. They can survive with each other without killing and maiming. Perhaps someday it will return to that, but not for a while."
The ancient to her left sighed. "The land and sea will heal each other. I can see it now. The entire planet will be able to breathe again. Old wounds can finally close in the wake of a new age."
"It will take time," the other replied. Its deep, rumbling voice spoke of hardship and many years of struggle. "It will not be easy."
"No," the feminine one replied. "But he is the start."
Proteus remained frozen where he was as her tentacle came up again and gently tapped him on the belly. "He is the one who will lead them, guide them, show them that there is more to this world. The key that will open the treasure trove of the future."
He hadn't felt this responsibility for a very long time. It had always been there, of course. He knew what his purpose was and why he had been created.
But in that coffin, he had pretended that he didn't care about them. He had told himself that they were his creators, and that they were part of his problems. They'd wanted him to hurt, andthey could have saved him, but they didn't. It was why he had been so hard on them himself.
Being here, listening to their voices, he was pushed back to the time when he was a little boy. A small tadpole in a massive sea, and they were the only ones who had wanted to help him. They were the only ones who cared that he was lonely or tired. They made sure he was fed. They treated him as well as any parent could treat a child, no matter how strange they were.
Even if they were the reason he was so strange, they were still all that he had.
"It is my honor to serve you. To serve the future." He twitched his tail, bowing low to them. "I will continue my work."
"Wait." The deepest, rumbling voice stopped him when he would have continued.
He turned to look at them, really seeing how weak they were. How tired. It killed him to see them like this. They were more than this. They should have been full of energy and hatred, electrical power that should have slipped beneath his scales and made him vibrate just to be close to them.
And yet...
The feminine one sighed. "It was good to see you one last time, our son."
"One last time?" Proteus asked.
"We were waiting for your return. But that was all. Now, we can finally rest."
"Rest?" He repeated their words because he did not want to know what they meant. He couldn't hear it. "No, you cannot rest. There is so much we still need to do."
"We have had our time in the sea. The People of Water have a new god to worship." Three tentacles gently came down before him, one after the other. "All of our trust is placed in you, Proteus. Our first and only son. The future is set, which means our time has passed."
He refused to believe they were going to do this to him. He just got back. He still needed their guidance! They had to tell him what to do from here, and where to go. He couldn't read the future like they could. He'd always been able to see it, but only in spurts.
