THE AQUATIC DIARY OF THE LAST HUMAN #3: Disturbed Tranquility
by Amr (@siegarettes)
- Developer: YCYJ
- Publisher: Digerati
- Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox One
I’ve made it out of the seaweed forests. The new chainsaw has allowed me to cut through the thick weeds, and uncover more of the history left behind. There are more of those holograms, and even this far in there are massive screens still running news broadcasts. Did they really discover a truly sustainable energy source while I was gone?
Maybe not. At the least there seems to have been a lot of infighting here. Numerous journals describe eco-terrorists taking radical action to stop the development of these cities. What could have been so awful that it was worth fighting the last remains of humanity?
Well, maybe I’m starting to get a sense of it myself. While investigating it I stumbled into the den of the largest octopus I’ve seen. The creatures so far have been massive, but this one was beyond comprehension. The suckers on its tentacles alone dwarfed me. The sea has seemed so vast, terrifying in the way it seemed to continue on. This beast is the first being I’ve met that seems large enough to live comfortably in that vastness.
Our meeting didn’t go well.
I killed it.
I punctured each section of its tentacles, then sawed them off. Slowly removed each appendage until I could fire my harpoons straight into its beak and crack it open.
I had to. It blocked my path. I needed to know what happened to everyone. I needed to know. It can’t be the only one, right? But I’m the last one! The last of my kind! My history is waiting beyond this passage.
Still, there was something eerie about the way it just floated there, its tentacles lazily waving in the current. It nearly crushed me several times, but I could never feel antagonism from it. It struggled and coughed up ink, but never did it try to strike me. Maybe it couldn’t see me. After all, I’m so insignificant in size by comparison.
That, and I punctured its eyes.
It’s finally gone now. After it lost every tentacle and had its beak cracked open it swam away. I wish it had done it sooner. But I’m here now. The passage is open. I hope some answers lie beyond it.