John did not return to his room immediately.
He remained in the shadowed corner of the hallway for several seconds, listening.
The lobby had gone quiet again.
No voices.
No movement.
As if nothing had happened at all.
Slowly, he stepped back, careful not to make a sound, and moved toward the exit of the hotel.
He needed air.
He needed distance.
Outside, the night had fully settled over the island.
The streets were almost empty now. A faint yellow glow spilled from a few street lamps, stretching long shadows across the stone pavement.
The air felt cooler than before.
He walked without a clear direction at first, his thoughts tangled.
He's asking questions.
I think he has it.
The receptionist's words echoed in his mind.
There was no doubt anymore.
This wasn't a coincidence.
Someone knew about the disk.
And more unsettling than that…
They had been waiting.
John found himself walking toward the harbor.
The sound of the sea grew louder with each step.
Soft at first.
Then more present.
A slow, steady rhythm.
When he reached the edge of the water, he stopped.
The harbor looked different at night.
Darker.
Still.
The boats that had drifted lazily during the day now stood motionless, their outlines barely visible under the dim lights.
The surface of the water reflected nothing.
No stars.
No movement.
John leaned forward slightly, resting his hands on the cold metal railing.
He remembered the old man's words again.
Watch the sea tonight.
He let out a slow breath.
"I'm here," he whispered.
Nothing happened.
Minutes passed.
The sea remained silent.
At first, he thought he had imagined it.
A subtle shift.
So slight it could have been nothing more than a trick of the eye.
John narrowed his gauze.
The water…
It wasn't moving the same way.
The small waves that had been brushing gently against the harbor wall began to fade.
One by one.
Until the surface became unnaturally smooth.
John straightened.
A strange unease crept into his chest.
The air itself felt different.
He looked around.
The entire harbor had fallen into an unnatural stillness.
Even the distant sounds of the town seemed to have faded.
Then he noticed something else.
The boats.
They were drifting.
Not with the tide.
But slowly… outward.
As if something beneath the surface was pulling them away from the shore.
John's grip tightened on the railing.
"This doesn't make sense…"
Somewhere behind him, a door slammed.
He turned quickly.
A man from one of the nearby buildings stepped outside, looking confused.
"Hey!" the man called out. "Is the tide changing this fast?"
John didn't answer.
His attention had already returned to the water.
Because now—
it was happening.
The sea was retreating.
Not violently.
Not dramatically.
But steadily.
The waterline was pulling back from the harbor walls.
Exposing wet stone that hadn't been visible
before.
The boats tilted slightly as the water beneath them shifted.
John felt his pulse quicken.
A memory flashed in his mind.
A documentary.
A warning.
When the sea pulls back suddenly…
He whispered it before he even realized it.
"…a wave follows."
The man behind him swore under his breath.
"This isn't normal."
"No," John said quietly.
"It isn't."
The water continued to recede.
More of the seabed became visible now—dark shapes beneath the surface, rocks, debris… things that had been hidden for years.
And then—
John saw something move.
Farther out.
Beyond where the boats had drifted.
At first, it was just a shadow.
A darker patch within the darkness.
But it was too large.
Too defined.
And it was rising.
The surface of the water bulged slightly.
Then stilled again.
John's breathing slowed.
His mind tried to rationalize what he was seeing.
But nothing fit.
The shape beneath the water shifted again.
Slow.
Deliberate.
As if something massive was turning beneath the surface.
A low sound followed.
Not loud.
Not sharp.
But deep.
So deep John felt it more than heard it.
A vibration.
Passing through the air… through the ground… through him.
The man behind him stepped back.
"What the hell is that?"
John didn't respond.
He couldn't.
His eyes were fixed on the water.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun—
everything stopped.
The movement beneath the surface faded.
The shadow disappeared.
The vibration ceased.
And slowly…
almost gently…
the water began to return.
The tide rose back toward the harbor walls.
The boats drifted inward again, settling into their original positions.
The waves resumed their soft rhythm.
Within minutes…
it was as if nothing had happened.
Silence returned.
Heavy.
Uncertain.
The man behind John laughed nervously.
"Probably just… some kind of underwater current," he said.
"Yeah… that has to be it."
John finally turned to look at him.
But the words didn't come.
Because he knew—
that was no current.
John stepped back from the railing.
His heart was still racing.
The old man's words echoed again.
Watch the sea tonight.
He swallowed slowly.
"You knew," he whispered into the empty air.
"Of course he did."
The voice came from behind him.
Calm.
Familiar.
John froze.
For a moment, he didn't turn.
He already knew who it was.
Slowly…
he faced him.
The old man stood a few meters away, exactly as before.
Same calm expression.
Same quiet presence.
As if he had always been there.
"You saw it," the man said.
John's voice was tight.
"What… was that?"
The old man glanced briefly toward the sea.
Then back at John.
"Something waking up."
John shook his head.
"That's not possible."
The man's expression didn't change.
"Isn't it?"
A brief silence passed.
The sound of the sea continued behind them—calm, almost innocent.
John took a step closer.
"You knew this would happen."
"Yes."
"Then tell me what's going on."
The old man studied him carefully.
For the first time, there was something different in his gaze.
Not just calm.
But weight.
"You're asking the wrong question," he said quietly.
John frowned.
"Then what's the right one?"
The man took a slow breath.
"Not what is happening…"
He looked toward the dark horizon.
"…but when it last happened."
John felt a chill run through him.
"The flood," he said.
The old man didn't answer.
But he didn't need to.
A distant sound interrupted the moment.
Sirens.
Faint at first.
Then growing louder.
Somewhere in the town, lights began to turn on.
People were waking.
Something had been noticed.
John turned briefly toward the noise.
When he looked back—
the old man was gone.
Again.
John stood there alone by the harbor.
The sea moved quietly in front of him.
But now he knew.
The calm surface meant nothing.
Far out in the darkness…
beyond what any human eye could see…
something shifted once more beneath the ocean.
Larger than before.
Slower.
But no longer sleeping.
And for the first time…
the world had begun to notice.
The sirens grew louder.
Lights flickered across the city as windows opened one after another. Sounds echoed in the distance, confused, hesitant.
Something had been noticed.
John stood motionless by the harbor, his eyes fixed on the dark horizon.
The sea had returned to its usual calm.
An eerie calm.
As if nothing had happened.
But now he understood the truth.
He had seen it with his own eyes, and no one had told him.
A sudden vibration came from his pocket.
John reached for his phone with slightly trembling fingers.
A notification.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
For a brief moment, he hesitated.
Then he opened the message.
There was no text.
Only an image.
A satellite photograph.
Grainy. Dark. Taken from high above the ocean.
John frowned and zoomed in
At first, he saw nothing unusual.
Just water.
Endless black water.
Then his breath caught.
There… beneath the surface.
A shape.
Massive.
Circular.
Too large to be a natural formation.
It stretched across miles of ocean—faint, almost invisible… but undeniably there.
And at its center…
A pattern.
His hand tightened around the phone.
The same symbol.
The eye surrounded by water.
Exactly like the one engraved on the disk.
Another message appeared instantly.
This time, text.
"IT HAS STARTED."
John's heart pounded.
Before he could react, a third message followed.
"DO NOT TRUST ANYONE
him.
And one terrifying realization forming in his mind—
This was not a warning anymore.
This was just the beginning.
...
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