“What do you think that creature is?” Liz finally spoke, her lips twitched upward in amusement.

  Emma glanced sideways at her, the corners of her mouth quirking into a crooked, mocking smile. “I wish I knew also.”

  Her words were half a jest, half sincere, and for a moment, Liz’s laughter broke free, light and unrestrained. Emma found herself laughing too, quiet at first, then fuller, the sound slipping from her chest without her even realizing it. For a rare instant, the sea seemed gentler beneath their feet.

  But it was only an instant.

  The laughter cut short when Emma felt it, the ground trembling beneath the water. A deep, heavy vibration that ran up her legs, into her chest.

  Ripples swirled outward across the endless surface. The others halted, their heads snapping toward the disturbance as a shadow stirred below.

  Something was rising.

  The surface ruptured with a violent surge. Water sprayed high, carried by the movement of something enormous forcing its way out from below.

  “KeeiicKeKeKe!!”

  The noise cracked through the air, so loud that the sea itself seemed to rumble with it. Emma’s eye darted at the direction of the alien sound.

  From the depths emerged a massive head, hammer-shaped, wide and flat, water spilling down its ridges. A single eye, reptilian and vast, rolled into view, its slit pupil narrowing as it locked onto them. Compared to its size, Emma, Liz, and the others were no more than tiny dots, ants reflected in the glassy black of its stare.

  The longer it rose, the larger it became. Its monstrous shadow fell over all of them, blotting out the pale glimmer of light above. The sheer scale and pressure of its presence made Emma’s throat tighten.

  The rest of its body followed, rising inch by inch from the sea’s deep cradle. Its form stretched out, sleek and massive, resembling a whale’s in shape, its flesh shimmering with a fishlike sheen. Its body flexed as though too heavy for the fruit to contain, and still, it climbed higher, as if the deep itself could no longer hold it.

  It's colossal body hovered there, suspended above the ocean’s surface. Its bulk cast a shadow across the deep blue sea, a shadow that seemed too large, almost too impossible for the mind to accept.

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  Seeing this, Liz called out to Jett calmly,

  “Jett,” she called gently, her emerald eyes fixed on the colossal being, “it seems to be a Hamtile.”

  Jett’s gaze traced the rise and fall of its vast body. Her black hair, tucked beneath the hood of her long light-brown beast-pelt coat, swayed faintly in the sea wind. She did not answer immediately; instead, her pale gray eyes drank in every detail of the towering creature. Finally, her lips parted.

  “Yes,” she breathed, her voice firm. “And it is a very old one at that.”

  Her words carried weight. Jett had seen a Hamtile before, scattered encounters during missions entrusted to her by the elders of the Xin Region. But never… never had she laid eyes on one so impossibly large. Her brows furrowed in thought, her hand curling slightly at her side. Just how long has it lived… and how many stories has it recycled through its life? The thought pressed itself into her mind with the same heaviness that clung to the air.

  Beside her, Ron shifted slightly, his gray coat, stitched from beast pelts, rustling against the cold breeze. His pale gray eyes shone with an unhidden curiosity as he tilted his head back to take in the sight of the Hamtile. His dark hair fell over his forehead as his lips curved into a faint, awestruck smile. He had read of such creatures, heard whispers and tales, but never stood so close to one. Never had he felt the sea itself tremble with its slow, deliberate breaths.

  Not far from them, Liz’s hand tightened subconsciously in a protective way around Emma’s fingers, while Dan stood a little apart from them. Both Liz and Dan knew about it and have at the least, seen one or two on the fruit they came from, but they have never seen one this huge,

  Though Dan still acted with his usual unmannered calmness, arms folded, back straight as if unimpressed. But the flicker in his gaze betrayed him. Even he could not hide the ripple of surprise that stirred in him. The size of it… it was something beyond his experience, vast enough that it seemed to bend the very absolute existence it occupied.

  Emma’s lips parted slightly as she stared. The creature’s body towered so high, its enormity filling her vision until it seemed to push out the sky itself. Yet, instead the heavy pressure she felt earlier, she now felt a calm feeling pressed against her heart, an odd serenity flowing from it, even while its sheer size still pressed down upon her like the weight of mountains.

  I think I’ve seen this before… The thought crept into her mind, faint but sharp. Her brows drew together slightly as memory tugged at her. In her home’s library, tucked between rows of old tomes, there had been a book, Hamtile Tales.She could almost see its cover now, dust gathering at its edges, untouched by her hands.

  Her shoulders slumped faintly at the memory. My only regret… is that I never read it. She gave the faintest shake of her head, her hair brushing against her coat. She had thought it was merely a child’s talebook, unworthy of her time. Her lips pressed into a thin line, a faint warmth creeping into her cheeks at the thought.

  Still, her unique white eyes lingered on the creature. I’ll read it when I return home, She promised herself inwardly. This time, her fingers curled tighter within Liz’s hand, her small body straightening with quiet resolve.

  But that didn’t stop her from wanting to ask. Her gaze shifted briefly to Liz, the thought tugging at her lips though she held it back. I’ve been asking too many questions on this journey already, She laughed at herself inwardly, the sound silent but real enough in her chest. Still, the urge was there, burning, alive.

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