I do not know for how long the currents have dragged me across the floor. And to be completely honest, I did not really know anything for the longest time. Somewhere between when I... became me? Started? Anyway, sometime between my beginnings and now, I must have come to a greater sense of things. I merely remember a fuzzy feeling of existence, just barely aware, I could not even remotely have gauged any measure of time.

clink

Ow. The currents must have bumped me against a rock. A rock that was gray, and felt smooth. I could hear the sound my body made against it.

Where did these words come from, those things to describe other things? Were they just there one moment or did I get them from somewhere?

I am alone.

How do I know that I am alone?

Being alone implies that there is an alternative, something other than being alone. Being with others. But I never met any others like me, so how would I know that there even was anything that made being alone special?

I know this rock just now wasn't someone. It just was. It didn't talk. It didn't react. It was just an... object.

But those things up there, those fishes, apparently, what are they? They are not like me, they have fins and gills and mouths. But do they think? They certainly react, they react to just about anything, always darting away from any disturbance, but are they like me? Could their "reactions" just be me wishing some random movements were a sign of life?

What are you, fishes?! What makes you so different from corals, from rocks and me?! What are fishes?!

Would you like to purchase (Identify: Level 1)? Cost: 1 DP

... who are you? Are you a someone? Please, please tell me you understand me.

Would you like to purchase (Identify: Level 1)? Cost: 1 DP

What are you still talking about, I just asked you something! What are you, you can clearly talk, so out with it, who are you?!

Would you like to purchase (Identify: Level 1)? Cost: 1 DP

... is there really anyone there? Hello?

Would you like to purchase (Identify: Level 1)? Cost: 1 DP

Seems like I am still alone. Still, thanks for the diversion, Not-someone. Do I even have whatever... DP are? Yes, I would like to purchase.

Cost: 1 DP Your DP: 3 Continue?

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Convenient. Yes.

Identify: Level 1 acquired!

Thanks, Not-someone. Now, fishes, what are you?

Please select a target.

Oh. Right. Things have unspoken rules, apparently. Let me just add this to my pile of things I apparently do not know about.

Why am I so upset? It's not news to me that I do not know a lot, but I was never so... frustrated? about it. Was I too busy thinking or am I just now able to feel this way?

Anyways, let's leave that pile be. Identify... a target... what about the rock over there?

Basalt Rock Inanimate Object

An outcrop of Basalt.

And that coral?

Sunrise Coral Inanimate Object

A reef coral with a reddish-orange hue. Hosts Sunrise Coral polyps.

Well, not very illuminating, but a start. But the question is, what does it have to say about those fishes? That one. Dead ahead.

Clownfish Minor Sea Creature, Common Rank: F+ Level: 3

A Clownfish. Commonly found in reefs.

So it is a Creature, but it doesn't say a lot more. Still, this means that I am not the only non-object around here.

That said... Identify? Can I Identify myself?

As it turns out, casting whatever Identify is on yourself places solidly among the less good ideas, if feeling like having your outsides turned into your insides is any indication.

--- Miniscule ???, ??? Rank: F Level: 2

What am I?

With whatever F-Rank and Miniscule mean, that Clownfish now looks a lot more imposing.

But if the fish readout is anything to go by, then wherever I am right now is absolutely teeming with life! So many things moving about, snaking, stalking, whizzing and floating!

Even if only a few of them are alive, then I am still surrounded by life. Maybe not by others, but at least by not-objects.

But maybe it is not meant to be. I can feel the current picking up again. Soon, I will just be some speck clinking against rocks again. And I may never see anything like this again. For all I know, all that is out there could just as well be a lifeless desert.

I want to stay here. I have to stay here.

Would you like to set your Anchor Point here?

If this is any reaction to what I just said, then yes. Yes yes yes.

Anchor Point set. Water Affinity acquired.

Feeling yourself suddenly standing strong against the water really reminds you that you are not really like the others. Others, those are the things with mouths and fins and eyes, with flesh and bones.

I, I will always be different. I will always be some odd crystal, the colour teal just springs to mind, bound to a rock in the sea. But I swear, however weird my existence becomes, I will find someone or even something to bridge that gap. To understand me.