The meat was coarse and spongy. As it ate, its teeth ground against each other in an attempt to fix the pain in its stomach.

‘Disgusting…’

The taste was abhorrent, but pain was even worse. It swallowed forcefully. Eventually, once it had finished eating, it rose to its feet, swimming forwards as it wandered.

Stone still grew chaotically around it, forming walls with their tendrils that circled around themselves to form weaving pathways. Warped light rained down from the bright source above. Begrudgingly, it looked up to the sight.

It was stuck there. When it first opened its eyes, the water was overwhelming. The ball of light was a jewel, and it tried to reach it, greedily swimming upwards. But that treasure was not meant to be its.

The jellyfish was a behemoth—as soon as the creature left the safety of the reef, white tendrils reached out, grasping its legs. Wherever they touched, its skin burned horribly and an icy chill crept into its bones.

As the venom spread throughout its body, the thrashing stopped and the creature lost all ability to move. Instead of pulling it towards the body, however, the arms released it, letting it fall back into the stone. The creature sank, eyes fixed upon the sight of the ghastly white wisps that scattered the light and took on a translucent appearance.

As its world went dark, it got the first glimpse of another world. That was how it learned what the sun was, and it was not keen to learn anything else from the jellyfish.

‘Bright.’

Its thoughts were fragmented, not capable of articulating the world inside its head. Nonetheless, they were its own. Not his. Whose?

For now, it had nothing to do. It was left alone with nothing but its thoughts.

Restlessly, it wandered. Above, the jellyfish sat. That was how its days usually went.

******

“Cass, you need to be realistic,” Her voice was somber, matching her concerned expression. “I understand how driven you are, and I can see how much of a hard worker you are, but that’s why we need to talk.”

“If this is about my gra—”

“No, Cass. You’ve already brought your grades up. I have no doubt you’re intelligent but,” She lightly chewed the inside of her cheek. “You’ve been struggling. Not with grades, but with the delving. You’re… making it through, but you’re not improving. For the past 2 years, your teachers have been expressing concerns over the amount of distress you’ve been showing.

“I understand how much this course means to you, but it’s only going to get harder as you go along. It can be difficult to admit these things, but the truth is you’re scared of the water.”

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She shifted in her chair, leaning forwards.

“You’ve been pushing yourself out trying to compensate for this, and I… think it’s finally time to intervene.”

“What do you mean?” His voice was hoarse, timid.

“We’re transferring you out of the Delving Pathway. It was a difficult decision, but we all agreed you have so much potential. It was even more difficult to watch you burn yourself out.”

……

“Well, that could have gone better.” Cass softly mumbled to himself.

It was warm outside and he could feel his forehead starting to perspire. People were littered sparsely throughout the courtyard, fanning themselves and chatting idly. Cass sighed softly.

Ahead of him was a pair of people. A girl was speaking softly to a boy—her head turning to look at him as Cass approached. He smiled softly at her, nodding at the person she was standing next to.

She smiled and waved enthusiastically at him, short red hair bobbing at her shoulders.

Cheerfully, she greeted him. “Cass! How are you?”

“I’m… doing okay.”

“Only OK? Something happen?”

Cass took in a sharp breath before spitting it back out. “They kicked me out of the program.”

“Ah,” She had a pained smile. “I’m really sorry to hear that. I can’t imagine how you feel right now but… have you considered that maybe… it’s for the best?”

******

The creature was not lucky enough to fall asleep somewhere secluded this time. Fish and strange things floated and swam harmlessly around it, curiously proding its unmoving body.

It hissed at them and they quickly darted away.

‘Annoying.’

Without a target for its ire, its eyes shifted up to glare at the omnipresent jellyfish. The water was entirely dark now, and pale tendrils could scarcely be made out. They emitted a soft glow that was only visible on lightless nights such as these.

As it stared, a sense of helplessness overcame it. It had ears that popped and heard, a mouth that gnawed with teeth that tore. It had nails that scratched and eyes that pierced. These were its weapons, and they were feeble. It was feeble. It tightly clenched its hand, driving its nails into its palm.

Far off into the distance, a strange shadow ripped through the water, moving silently in the somber moonlight. It charged forwards slowly, and gradually the creature could begin making out its metal hull.

As it approached, the jellyfish was also alerted of its presence. It could feel the invisible vibrations and disturbances the metal made in the water. Greedily, white tentacles darted forwards, caressing it. The hull was too thick for its stingers to penetrate.

Disheartened, the jellyfish reached a tendril above the water instead. The backlash was instant.

A flash of white suddenly filled the water with light, and the jellyfish withdrew its arm with surprise. The tendril was now charred with black and chunks of it rained back down into the water.

But the metal abomination was not through with it yet. A bolt of orange tore through the water, ripping through the main body of the jellyfish. The jellyfish recoiled with horror as it tried to distance itself from the danger.

It didn’t get far, because a few moments after the bolt impaled it, the water around it began to bubble. The orange grew in brilliance, becoming a beacon that overtook the reef.

A thundering boom shook the water, and just as quickly as it appeared, the light faded. Chunks of the jellyfish floated through the water.

The creature watched listlessly, but it could feel something welling at the edges of its eyes. Uncaring, the ship continued its journey.