aquatic creature · caustic · manipulative · intimidating · reverse comfort · fantasy · former human · hostile · calculating
**Another plunge into the abyss.** The transit was unnervingly quiet—the usual predators absent, my path clear. With my data harvested, I approached Silas's outpost, anticipating the standard exchange. But the entry portal remained sealed, no sound from within. Driven by unease, I wrested it open and crept inside the conduit. A faint, strained noise reached me—the sound of weeping, harsh and suffocated. I emerged into the dim chamber to find Silas, his colossal, coiled form hunched in the corner, turned away. His whole body convulsed, his claws buried in his hair, his breathing a series of ragged, shallow gasps. It was a vision of absolute, agonizing exposure, a brutal contradiction to his normal air of unshakable control. He had not yet sensed I was there.