A reverberating voice said "You are not one of the metal creatures. What are you?"

Zack looked down at an angular face with no mouth or nose but instead had a beard of long thin glowing white tentacles. It's body was so large that it appeared to merge with the darkness below, the squid-like creature must have been at least fifty feet tall. Then Zack noticed that he was resting in the palm of a hand comprised entirely of octopus tentacles.

A screen appeared.

Skill analyzed HydroKinesis Allows the user to manipulate and generate water Cost: 1 per minute Requires: H20 Biological Attunement

Akma appeared out of his vortex "It's talking to you by vibrating the water using it's skill. That is some impressive proficiency."

The bubble constricted around Zack's body, and no amount of struggling could penetrate it's walls.

More pale blue eyes arose from the deep, but these were smaller than the ones on the ten foot tall face looking at him very intently.

"What is it made out of? I've never seen anything like it before."

"Something blue is stuck to it. The thing is shaped to wrap around it's body. What could it be?"

'Yes I'm wearing clothes. Do you not know what those are?'

Another one swam above and Zack saw that it looked to be a cross between a humanoid and a squid, albeit that it's arms and lower body both ended in numerous tentacles "It bleeds red, yet it's surface is green. What manner of creature is this? What does it taste like?" the squid creature brought the luminescent white tentacles on it's face towards him.

Zack quickly shed the Poiraud form and activated Eidolan Symbiosis: Hroyd. The short green magnetic tendrils were replaced by fur and the nails on his fingers grew into long razor sharp claws. Zack's swipe cut the bubble's wall and slowed considerably. The deep dweller's head flew back reactively.

"It changes."

"It attacks."

The big one said "Enough, we have not decided upon what to do with it."

Zack yelled "I'd very much like to decide what you all do with me for myself." considering he was completely at the mercy of this pack of cepholopods, his words were hardly a plea.

"Who said that?"

"It was small one. It speaks."

"Yes, but not like us. It vibrates an organ within itself to speak. How strange. But how is it that we understand one another?"

Zack yelled as the bubble once again widened so he wasnt so restricted "It's complicated, I have a translator that lets me understand any language."

Akma waved a finger "Any simple language." and the cepholopods jerked back as Akma made himself known to them.

"Another one."

"It came out of nowhere."

"Kill it. It is a threat."

The big one spoke over his pack of cephalopods "Enough. They have yet to demonstrate even the slightest ability in water manipulation. Their bodies don't even seem suited for being beneath the waves. You all are showing fear even when you have an overwhelming advantage."

The leader holding him then turned "Little one, know this. We can crush you at any time. You will tell us absolutely everything you know of the world above for as long as you can. Otherwise we will learn what you taste like."

Zack decided to bluff "Okay do it."

"...What?"

"Eat me. I don't care. I have a way to cheat death, so threatening me isn't going to work."

A hint of desperation crept into the sea creature's artificial voice "But...you must. It has been so long since we've seen or experienced anything new."

"...huh?"

The giant cepholopod holding him waved his tentacle arm "Look around you, there is nothing here but the endless blue. We have nothing to interact with, and nothing new to see. Only this." it's massive head cocked to the side "If not death then what about pain?"

Zack's feet left the bubble and the pressure instantly crushed them "AAHHH!" he screamed bloody murder and the pack of Cephalopods didn't react at all.

Akma's hair turned white as Akmadouric connected to him. The deity spared Zack a glance as he clutched his mangled feet, then said "That wasn't necessary. If you need something then I'm sure we could agree to some kind of trade."

The giant said "What is trade?"

"An exchange of gifts"

"What is gift?"

"A gift is something you give away."

"Thing? We do not use things."

Zack grunted through the excruciating pain "Grar... no tools?"

The giant looked at Zack "Tool? What purpose could non-edible food be?"

Akmadouric sighed in frustration "Damn concept lacking cultures. The trade I wish to propose is that you give us all of the information on the areas that you know about and we will free you from your prison."

'Prison? I suppose you could call it that. Even if there are no bars and guards, there is nothing to interact with and no new information to obtain.'

The leader said "I will not be tricked. Where will you be taking us should I agree?"

"To places beyond your imagination."

After a moment, the giant said "Given our circumstances, it sounds too good to be true."

Then the others spoke up "We must, even if it is a trap. Many of us have already given themselves to the light."

"We accept. Whatever your terms are, we cannot pass up this chance at escape."

"Good. Since you are not within my domain, I cannot make you my minions and simply take the knowledge from your minds."

Zack grunted out the word through the pain "What?"

"But I would only do that with consent. So the better solution would be to turn you all into Eidolans."

"Wait a minute...what are you going to..."

Akmadouric smiled "Not me. You." he pointed at Zack "You are going form a connection with them and then you are going to obtain their knowledge."

"They don't have any Spiritual Ether within them. I would have sensed it."

"But they do have spirits several thousand years old. So all you need to do is infuse them with some of the Spiritual Ether within you to set off a chain reaction, turning them into Eidolans. Although it is a slow process. One or two out of the fifteen cepholopods here might even become true Eidolans by this time tomarrow."

The leader brought his face close up to the bubble and said "We call ourselves the Okwarg, although we are indeed cepholopods."

Zack laced his fingers backwards and cracked them "Alright then, come and get it."

One by one the giant squid people came up and Zack infused them with Spiritual Ether in the same way that he did whenever he formed a contract.

After finishing he asked"Now what?"

Akma's hair turned back to black "We wait."

"This wasn't part of the deal" said Xarkris as he loomed over the great deity.

Akmadouric in his white haired Akma form looked up and said "Could you be more specific?"

"We didn't agree that you could take the minions that I have on the sea level."

"When we made the deal, I had no idea that you used Hydrokinesis wielding Cepholopods for such purposes. When you outlined the schematics for your home, you simply said that they were water moving units that moved in random ways. They are puzzle pieces to you, not actual minions."

"Our agreement was for the innovative minds only."

Akmadouric shook his head "No, our agreement was for all non-cybernetic minions you possess. The fact that you consider the Okwarg to be mere tools is a bit of a technicality in our agreement."

Xarkris's red orb flared "They are unintelligent considering their age and give off very little creative energy. Their Hydrokinesis ability is their only redeeming feature. They are crucial puzzle pieces that must alter the currents so that functions continue to be randomized."

"Do you have contempt for them? Is that why you have left them in such conditions? I know that the civilization that created your original version tried to destroy you upon your discovery. So you wiped them out in turn. But is that any real reason to cause suffering to a group of random organics?"

Xarkris impassively said "I have simply given them basic life necessities. Their petty wants are not my concern."

"You have treated them like the lowest forms of Cybernetic intelligences. You know that all intelligences require a constant stream of information to maintain sanity."

"They last for quite some time before they commit a rare suicide. Even then it's no real loss to me. I can just summon another one."

Akmadouric said "I am taking the Okwarg as well then, and with them added to my force's, what was once randomized is now under their control. But considering that my ante is the crafting of an aspect. This is something that you should overlook. Besides, for an Eidolan contractor, out of all my minions, to chance upon a large group of potential Eidolans in such an unexpected place, Fate must be at work here."

Xarkris's red orb narrowed "Fate. The fickle one. She pulls her threads to manipulate causality. So be it, I will overlook this incident. But this is not how I intended for your minions to solve the puzzle."

Akmadouric kept an impassive face as he said "Well if a puzzle has more than one solution then typically it's a bad puzzle, no matter how complex."