The Record of Unusual Creatures

Katreina as well as Ayesha leaped into the water and swam around the reincarnated Eva, studying her with great joy, surprise, and curiosity. Eva looked at them curiously as well. She chased after Katreina’s tail with the breaking waves and even tried to shake hands with Ayesha, behaving almost like a child. Nangong Wuyue noticed all this. “She looks… odd.”

“She’s been reborn, with only scant memories of her precious life.” Hao Ren was trying to digest the fact that Eva had come back to life. He did not understand how it worked, but from the mental connection that he established with her earlier, he was able to grasp some fragments of the truth. “It’s hard to say if she’s still the planet’s consciousness, but basically, she’s been reborn. In any case, she is Eva, though she’s still very young.”

Eva swam happily alongside Katreina and Ayesha, before finally circling back to Hao Ren. She patted him on the shoulders with her cold hands and made a series of incomprehensible sounds. *Gurgle… Gurgle…*

“She remembers me, but only a little.” Hao Ren did not understand what Eva was saying, but he could tell what she meant through physical contact. He did not know how it worked as well, but the mental connection was very handy. “She said that she’s grateful for my present from the last time—probably referring to the moss. In an effort to grow the moss, she altered its form.”

“She’s rebuilding life on the planet?” Nangong Wuyue was stunned. “I thought only the First Born could do that…”

“She’s not as strong as Zorm, but here in the ocean, she can still do a lot of things.” Hao Ren smiled. “She’s still weak now compared to the time she was the planet’s consciousness. For now, she works her powers in the ocean, but other aspects of the planet are still too distant for her to grasp.”

Katreina had re-joined the group by then. Eva quickly used her pure water form to gently nudge the queen’s tail. While she made some more gurgling sounds, Katreina looked helplessly at Hao Ren. “What is she saying?”

Hao Ren put his hand into the water and read Eva’s thoughts. “She said she visits the seabed frequently, that there are still traces of the cities where the sirens once lived. Most of the buildings have been destroyed, but some survived. She’s asking when you’ll be moving back here.”

Katreina grew despondent upon hearing that. Hao Ren maintained contact with Eva to explain why the sirens could not return any time soon. The young Eva did not seem capable of understanding his complicated story, but she could sense hope from Hao Ren—or perhaps, optimism. This made her happy again, and she swam in rapid circles around him.

“What is she saying now?” Katreina asked curiously.

“She mentioned the strange ‘rocks’ that came down from the skies.” Hao Ren looked in the direction of the fleet of arks. “She’s curious about them.”

The three sirens exchanged looks of astonishment.

Eva’s appearance came as a surprise. Since the “planet’s consciousness” and the “spirit of the sirens” vanished before this, Hao Ren never imagined that she would return, much less recover so much of herself. Now that the ark people had suddenly landed on Io, Eva would not fail to notice them. What would she think about the unannounced arrival of these unfamiliar people?

Eva was young now. Could she understand the predicament faced by the ark people and their agreement between the sirens?

Hao Ren considered these issues as he began to explain to Eva about the origin of those “rocks”. Before he started however, Nolan messaged him. “Captain—the dome is about to open.”

Eva gurgled nonsensically next to Hao Ren, splashing water around her. Even without proper limbs and such, her body language expressed her curiosity completely. Hao Ren looked at her, hesitating for a few seconds before deciding to bring her along to watch the dome open.

The group made their way towards the fleet of arks. Eva’s method of travel took them all by surprise—she did not follow them from behind, instead she vanished into the water when Hao Ren and his group began their journey. Hao Ren thought she had left, but soon found her appearing not too far away from them. In the ocean, Eva was everywhere. She did not have to follow the usual rules of travel. In the open seas, she could be wherever she wanted to be, at any time she wished.

The Petrachelys had made its way closer to the water’s surface, some distance away from the Royal Throne. It was far from monitoring the ark. When Hao Ren reached the fleet of arks, he saw father and son, Nangong Wudi and Nangong Sanba on a platform high above the ship, waiting for him. Rollie was crouching by the edge of the platform, focusing on the water like she was intent to catch a fish.

When they realized Hao Ren had brought Eva with him, Nangong Sanba was flabbergasted, “She came back to life?!”

“More like she was reincarnated,” Hao Ren briefly explained Eva’s situation to them and looked up at the massive archipelago, which was the fleet some distance away from them. “Let’s talk about Eva later. Nolan, how are Lorenz and his people doing?”

“Everthing’s going as planned. He said that they’re ready for the dome to open now.”

Hao Ren hummed in acknowledgment and turned to look at the curious body of water that was Eva. He nodded slowly. “Open the dome.”

A deep hum reverberated around them as gears began to turn, and after 10,000 years, the Royal Throne’s dome began to open.

On the ark’s black metal hull, layers of heavy alloy plates began to open up and disappear one by one into the transformation grooves. Air whistled out from the edges of the ship’s hull. This was from de-pressurising the outer parts of the ship. The gigantic metal beast began to slowly transform like a fern leaf uncurling itself. The ellipsoidal body of the ark split open in the middle and slowly opened outwards to both sides. The two spherical ends of the ark popped out and gradually bent down towards the sea. Slowly, the structures hidden within the ark came to light. Layers of steel platforms; ancient support structures; facility levels, which sparked occasionally; and piping systems, which leaked a little gas here and there—having survived but stayed hidden for thousands of years, these things were finally exposed to the outside world for the first time since they were built. It was scary to see exactly how much they had aged. The inner structures were not exposed for long as the ark’s transformation continued—all the sealing systems were activated to isolate these facilities. Large alloy doors sealed off the outer chambers, creating an empty cavity, which was protected from exposure to seawater.

As the ark’s hull continued to open, the city within was finally brought into contact with the outside world.

“The ark’s gravitational field generator is working smoothly. Proceeding with continuous correction of the field direction…” Nolan focused on maneuvering the ark’s transformation process as she reported her status. “The structure is stable… The ship is 3.35° from a normal angle. Proceeding with leveling… Proceeding with gravitational field correction…”

It was an awe-inspiring experience to see the mountain of a spaceship slowly open up, especially at such a close distance. Even Hao Ren marveled at the miraculous work of engineering that was the ark—for the average human at least, it was truly miraculous. The magnificent transformation process had Eva’s complete and undivided attention.

She forgot all about splashing around and focused solely on the metal “egg”, which was opening up on the ocean’s surface. When a city emerged from the metal egg, she suddenly grew excited and made a few loud, sharp noises with water—she knew what a city was since she had seen the siren’s cities, but she had never seen a city outside water. Eva was greatly shocked by this discovery!

Hao Ren held on to Eva’s hands. As the ark slowly opened up, he began to relate the story of the ark people to the reborn Spirit of the Ocean—the planet’s consciousness and the spirit of the sirens.

“They’re from another planet,” Hao Ren said to Eva telepathically. “They lost their home, just like the sirens. They escaped their own planet and have nowhere else to call home. They hope to take rest here. They need water, food, and air since their spaceship can no longer continue to provide for them…”