The city waited.
People stood on hills, rooftops, broken roads… staring at the ocean that had pulled itself backward like it was gathering power. The sky had gone a color no one could name gray, blue, green… wrong.
Rafi held Lila's hand tightly. Marco stood beside them, breathing hard. Anna hugged Leo close, whispering prayers that sounded like shaking breaths.
No one talked loudly.
Everyone was scared to break the silence.
Because silence meant the sea was thinking.
Then the wind changed.
It wasn't a normal wind. It was cold, wet, and heavy, as if something alive was breathing against their faces. The ocean began to move forward again… slowly… carefully… like it was stepping instead of flowing.
Marco swallowed. "This… this isn't a tsunami."
"No," Lila said. "It's worse."
Shapes rose from the dark waterline again. Not just sharks. Not just whales.
Something bigger.
Something older.
Something that shouldn't exist.
The creatures gathered at the edge of the shore instead of charging forward. They formed a line, as if waiting for instructions. Giant bodies curved, twisted, leaned forward like soldiers in position.
And then the water split.
Like doors opening.
A massive shadow rose from the center of the sea.
People screamed. Some ran. Some fell to their knees.
Rafi couldn't move.
It was not a creature he recognized. It wasn't like any fish, whale, or monster from movies. Its body was shaped like a living mountain, covered in scars and strange glowing marks. Long tendrils flowed behind it, like hair made of water and darkness.
Its eyes opened.
They weren't animal eyes.
They were aware.
They were angry.
Lila whispered, "My God… it's a leader."
The giant creature made a sound, not like a roar, not like a whale song, but something in between deep, echoing, painful to hear. The other sea creatures reacted instantly. Sharks slammed forward in groups. Whales crashed onto roads. Octopus arms crawled over buildings.
This time they didn't just attack.
They searched.
They pushed open cars. They smashed open doors. They dragged people out. It was like they were hunting for someone specific.
Rafi held tighter to Lila. "Why are they doing this? We didn't hurt them…"
Marco answered in a hollow voice. "Humans hurt the sea every day."
"But not like this," Lila said.
Suddenly, a helicopter flew overhead. Military.
People cheered.
"Help is coming!" someone yelled.
Soldiers shouted through loudspeakers. "Stay where you are! Do not panic! We will"
Something long and fast shot out of the water.
One hit.
The helicopter exploded in the sky.
Fire rained down.
Hope burned with it.
Leo began to cry. Anna hugged him tightly, trying not to cry with him. "Don't look, baby. Don't look…"
The giant sea leader turned its head slowly toward the hills, toward the people watching. Its gaze stopped.
On them.
Rafi felt cold spreading through his chest. "He sees us."
Lila stepped in front of the group without thinking, like a shield. "Stay behind me."
As if she could stop a monster that could sink cities.
Still… she stood.
Something strange happened then.
The ground beneath their feet trembled not from the creatures, but from under the earth. Cracks opened in the hillside. Water began bubbling out of the soil.
Marco stared. "The sea… it's not just rising… it's coming through the land."
Streams burst upward like fountains, salty and violent.
Roads broke.
Houses split.
The land was drowning from inside.
"It's pushing ocean inside the earth," Lila said in disbelief. "It wants the world to become water."
Rafi suddenly remembered something his mother used to say when she was sad.
"If the world keeps hurting the sea, one day the sea will hurt back."
He didn't think it would hurt this much.
Behind them, screams grew louder. People slipped. Some were dragged away by water like invisible fingers pulling them down.
The giant leader lifted its head again.
And then
Everything stopped.
The creatures froze.
The water paused mid-rush.
Even the wind stilled.
A sound echoed again… but softer this time. Sadder. Almost… broken.
Rafi frowned. "It sounds like… crying."
Lila looked at the huge being carefully.
"Maybe," she whispered, "this isn't just anger. Maybe this is… pain."
Marco shook his head. "Pain doesn't destroy the world."
"Yes," Lila replied quietly. "It does."
The giant sea king lowered its head.
The city lights flickered.
Every phone… every radio… every screen around them suddenly turned on by itself glowing blue.
A voice spoke.
Not human.
Not fully understandable.
But clear enough to chill every heart:
"Land belongs to water.
Time to return what was stolen."
The screens went black.
The water surged again.
The creatures roared.
Lila grabbed Rafi as the ground beneath them cracked wide open
And they fell.
Into darkness.