Garath was starting to feel his body's need for a fresh lungful of air right about the time they reached the ocean floor. It was there that they found what they were looking for—a square opening in the column the size of a microwave, covered by a crosshatched fencing of metal bars. Garath scanned the area around the column near the ocean floor as well, and was a little nervous about what he saw.
If Garath considered the lush green area they found themselves in upon entering The Tower something like a magical forest, he would probably call the scenery surrounding him now something akin to its haunted graveyard. It was still a forest, kind of. There were trees rising from the ocean floor, but they lacked any color or foliage—just tall black trunks sticking out of the white sand that lined the ocean floor, each with limbs sprouting in every direction, twisted and bare. The trees grew denser farther away from the column. This underwater forest was beautiful, Garath thought, but beautiful like Madonna or Kesha. Nice to look at on TV, but there was no way he was going in there. He thought he saw movement deeper in the underwater forest, but he couldn’t be sure. Sharon’s voice in his mind pulled his attention away, but he kept an eye on the spooky tree line.
*What do we do?* Sharon asked. *Whatever it is, let’s figure it out fast. I need more air.*
Everyone apart from Alice and Auto expressed their agreement.
*It’s too small for any of us to get in there as an Orca,* Garath said. *Alidex, would it be safe to shift into a human form this far down?*
*You would likely survive but I would not recommend remaining a human for long,* Alice told him. She then communicated to Garath directly after creating a sub-channel for the two of them. *Alidex?*
*Yeah,* Garath replied. He just then realized that he hadn't yet told her that was what he was referring to her as in his mind. *It's like a nickname or whatever. I could call you Alipedia if you'd prefer?*
*I prefer the Pokémon reference,* she said without a hint of amusement or humor.
*Alidex it is then,* he said.
*Garath, don’t be an idiot,* Athios said. *Shift into an Octopus if you’re going to try to get in there. Either way, do it, or let’s regroup at the surface.*
Garath felt like an idiot. *Yeah, okay. If you need air just go for it. I’ll see if I can get in there to activate this island or whatever.*
Athios, Atlas, Daisy, Sharon, Maimon, and the twins all swam upward without further discussion.
Alice detached herself from Garath and landed on the ocean floor. The Orca Necrologist used his tail one last time to push himself through the water and into position. Only inches from the metallic crossbars, Garath triggered the transformation. His sixth BeastScape transformation of the day was used to adopt the form of an Octopus. If Garath thought being an Orca felt alien, being an Octopus was something else entirely.
He smiled internally, thinking about his old favorite shirt, the one Warrion had slashed during their damage test during The Culling. It had read 'eight arms, three hearts, who wants a hug?'. Because of that shirt, he was somewhat prepared for the extra limbs and hearts. What he wasn’t prepared for was having an additional eight brains, one in each of his limbs. Or the fact that one of his limbs felt decidedly different from the others. For reasons he couldn’t explain, the rogue appendage was very interested in Alice, nearby in her own octopus form, in a sexual way. Garath scolded that arm’s brain with his main one under the pretense that this really wasn’t a good time, and that he was pretty sure Alice was asexual anyway.
Moving around as an Octopus was also an interesting experience. The same organ that allowed him to push water over his gills to breathe also allowed him to spray a jet of water to aid in locomotion. He couldn’t help but think of it as his fart-propeller. He was also able to ‘walk’ along the ocean floor. Each of his sucker-adorned tentacles had so many nerve endings that he he could feel individual grains of sand as he walked.
He scanned the metallic grill over the chamber’s entrance for a way in, or a mechanism to release the gate, but found none. Garath peered through the fencing and into the chamber itself. A glint of silver caught his eye, peeking up out of the soft sand within. He remembered seeing videos on the internet of octopuses forcing their way through tiny spaces, as long as the space was large enough for the one hard part of an octopus’ body—the beak—to fit through, the octopus could get the rest of its body through the space no problem. With that in mind, Garath cringed and got started.
It was a disturbing process, squeezing his entire body through a gap between bars no larger than his old cell phone. His organs compressed and twisted as they moved through, making Garath want to throw up. Once inside, Garath located the reflective silver he’d seen from outside and picked it up with a tentacle. It was a simple key.
It didn’t take long for Garath to find where the key would fit inside of the tiny chamber. He put it into the hole and turned. The gate popped open, swinging outward from hinges anchored to the inside of the chamber. As it did, a prompt appeared.
You have activated 1/6 of the White Isles of Thisrak.
Garath crawled out of the chamber and was promptly greeted by the terrifying visage of Auto’s Orctapus form. The Necrologist was then able to experience the panic response of yet another species. Black ink clouded the water around him.
*You dickmouth,* Garath scolded his friend. *You made me ink!*
Auto
