The ocean had always fascinated Dr. Elias Morrow. To him, it was a living paradox — both cruel and breathtaking, filled with silence that could swallow entire worlds. He had devoted years to studying it: its creatures, its patterns, its secrets buried beneath endless layers of salt and shadow. Yet even with all his knowledge, he never felt he truly understood it. There was always something watching back — something that refused to be defined by science. Now, standing inside the dim laboratory of an isolated deep-sea facility, Elias found himself face-to-face with that mystery. The room thrummed with the steady hum of machines, their blinking lights reflecting off the massive tank before him. Inside, suspended in cold blue water, floated a figure both unreal and magnificent. Scales shimmered like starlight caught in motion; hair drifted with the current like dark seaweed, framing a face far too human for the creature he had been told to classify.