The Third Power: TTS AU

Chapter Twenty-Four

The squid pushed itself through the dark water that surrounded it. The life of a giant squid was a quiet one; Wake up, eat, swim around, maybe sink a ship that's too close to its territory, eat again, sleep, repeat. So simple. So quiet. It was nice.

Today, however, something peculiar disrupted this all but perfect routine. There was... something. The squid didn't know what it was in particular but the thing seemed so... so out of place. It didn't look like any fish it had ever seen. It was a sort of oval shape with weird holes in its sides. Its only fin was on its rear. It spun round and round, propelling the creature forward through the surrounding shades of blue and black and stopped when the thing decided to rest. There was an eye protruding from the top of its head. It stood on a stork and had no iris or pupil. It seemed so blank and lifeless. Perhaps the creature was blind? What had caused this? What a horrible design flaw nature had given the thing - an eye so weak yet the rest of its body was covered in skin like armour, glimmering dimly in the minimal light from the bright thing above the cool dark that the squid called its home.

Regardless of these observations, the squid found very little reason to care about what exactly the creature was. The squid had just woken up and it was hungry.

It had followed the intriguing creature for some time now. Every now and then it would make a strange sound - murmurings and squeaks that seemed to be part of a language only it understood. A sociable being by the sounds of it. Those were always the most delicious meals.

The creature had stopped again. It had stood still for a moment, making more of those weird noises then moving again to wedge itself between two thick, flat rocks that acted as a perfect crevice for it to nestle in.

If the squid could grin it would have in that moment. The time had come. Breakfast was waiting just a few tentacle-lengths away, hidden in those puny rocks.

There's no escape for you, little creature.

The squid lunged forward with a massive push of its tentacles. The water whirred passed, the bubbles a blur and the cold of the blue almost unfelt with how laser focused the cephalopod was on its potential meal.

It pulled itself to a stop just before the rocks and, using all of its strength with assistance of the momentum from uninterrupted movement, it swung itself around and brought its tentacles down the rocks, crushing them into halves, loose chunks and specks before flinging them aside to look at the creature.

It was making noises again, but this time they sounded different. They were faster, higher pitched, and dripped with panic and confusion. For a moment it stood still. Then its eye spun around on that silver stork and looked directly at the squid. More noises. More noises that turned into shrill cries of horror before the thing's fin began to turn, signalling it was about to attempt escape.

How cute.

The hunger driven cephalopod quickly made a grab for its meal but, to its dismay but not surprise, the thing was fast enough to avoid the oncoming tentacle. It immediately started moving straight forward, moving at top speed as it tried to swim from the inevitable.

The squid, not put off by the successful getaway, made another attempt to grab it. Again and again it tried. With each failed attempt its motivation became less about hunger and more about the frustration of the creature's swift and nimble movement. How was this being so fast? The armoured skin that covered it should be a detriment to its movement. How had nature designed such a creature to exist? How was one supposed to catch it? How was the squid going to catch it? Because by God was it going to catch this damn thing! Hunger be damned! All that mattered now was the satisfaction of the hunt. The squid would be getting that satisfaction today. No one else was getting this creature, even if it swam to the other side of the ocean!

The hunt went on for who knows how long before the creature began to slow down. Finally, its energy must be starting to deplete. Finally, the hunt would be satisfied. Finally...

What was that shining white thing in the distance?