The feeling was genuine. She was being observed by the creature ... kind of. See, in this reality it seemed more concerned with retreating whereas not 10' away from her in a classroom it was observing her, toying with her in a way to make things far more interesting for it when it could do a simple snatch and grab if it so choose. But doing so often bored him to no end since he did it so often ... sometimes though things were interesting or developed into interesting events, such was the case with Ryu after all.

But Aegir monitored her brainwaves in this pseudo reenactment. It was close enough to the real thing to be a reenactment as to what happened with a few changes here and there.

The vendor looked to her as if confused by her question though he scratched the tip of his nose after a second. "Atlantis," he answered as he picked up a bolt of fabric that had fallen to the ground.

Somehow, the merchant's confirmation of the worst of her fears was a blessing, and a curse. It was obvious now- the island was going to sink. The tremors were a sign of it- the tremors were probably the aftershock of the earthquake which raise the waters and drown the land. Melanie promptly thanked the merchant, glad she would not need to answer any questions, and ran straight back to the alleyway. This time, she didn't bother stopping.

It was time to ask her father a few questions. About chaos, and, more importantly...
about that Monster.

Melanie reached her home, safe and sound, though her Toga was dirtier than before. She raced in to check on her "family."

Things were as she left it at home. though the damaged statue was showing more wear and tare now and had fallen prone with the last quake that hit. Her brother, she could see had been still on his bed fixing up his model.

Her father was in the study. The ink on the floor from earlier had been cleaned up though there was a blotchy black mark on the floor from where it had spilled. The room was straightened out and with the last of his inks Eramus was busy scaling notes down on a sheet of vellum, though he set his quill down as he heard her at the doorway.

He looked at her after twisting about in his seat to better see her. "Honey, are you alright?" he asked as he regarded her.

Straight to business, Melanie mentally steeled herself. This was going to terrible, especially for her "father."
"Father, can we have a private discussion? About your research?" she considered her words, and shook her head. No, she did not know how much longer she had. She could use this time to warn them, to save them. But how? The coming storm would destroy an entire continent. The worst mistake would be to assume that there was something she could do about it. How pathetic was that?

"Father, who were you speaking with during your personal study sessions?" she asked.

He gazed at her. "No one," he answered after a brief moment of consideration. "You and your brother now about my habit of talking with myself when I get absorbed into things."

He added the last as if that would make more sense to her as by way of explaining away things perhaps.

"Then explain why that monster was here earlier. Lately, your words have had little to do with your papers," she pressed forward, menacingly stepping toward her father. "Please, father, stop lying to me. Tell me what you know, please."

"Monster! That's absurd! I thought you stopped believing in those things when you were a little girl," there was a little hitch to his voice now as if he knew that she knew but had been unwilling to explain matters further with her, trhing to be logical here.

"Father... I'm not lying. I fought him, and you were discussing me with him. Your conversations are not as private as you wish them to be. He know I know of him, and have actually hurt him. Please tell me everything you know. I doubt he would take my assault lightly. I need to know about him before he attacks me again," Melanie pushed. She sincerely hoped the man's Paternal instinct would eek at the thought of the monster getting its tentacles on the girl.

"Why did the monster want me?"

"It ... he .... attacked you?" Eramus looked at her as if appraising her for signs of damage seeing her scrapped arms from the fall. "No ..." he whispered as if in denial but his word was weak as if he did not even believe in it. He slowly shook his head then stood up.

"Are you alright?" He implored of her as he approached. Then after confirming that she was well he added "I know not who, nay, what it exactly is. Aegir it calls itself. It has been coming here the last month or so revealing it's nature, what it can do and it's long history.

"Apparently it likes attention ... to be immortalized as it puts it. I'm sorry ..." Eramus sighed. "It saw you earlier when you came in here and showed an interest in you but I thought it was only fleeting, that it would leave you be considering our work thus far."

"It's fine. He tried to attack me, but I countered him. But then something... spooked him before he could make another move, and then tremor happened and..." her mind was whirring with all the details of what had happened. Sure, she had instigated the fight, but she had only wished to talk with the creature. For some reason, she was feeling tired. A bit woozy. It must've been from all the running and fighting she had done. She wanted to sit, but she needed to persist.

"Father," she asked, rocking a bit on her feet to maintain her balance. The light-headedness she felt was starting to make her mind throb with pain. But she needed the facts. "What exactly was it that you were working on with... Aegir?"

"He wanted me to record his story," Eramus announced. "Of course I could only release it under fiction as to who would believe it was based in fact. He sought me out, heard of my other writings at least it told me. But he is quit old, thousands of our years.

"Apparently he enjoys human companionship ... he also consumed minds of humans to feed though as he devoured them he would draw their memories into himself. The others of his kind exiled him, but he enjoys this world and still lingers here, keeping a low profile he doesn't consume brains any more, at least human brains, which his kind said had tainted him with the thoughts and emotions of our kind.

"But what I have gathered he's a powerful psionic entity that predates our arrival or rather his kind has existed before ours. Thankfully there are few of his kind left these days and most of them reside elsewhere amongst the stars I presume."

Melanie needed to rest. She needed to think about all this. Again, this was all a dream, but it seemed too... complex to be something her subconscious could have conceived on the fly. She was beginning to take this dream in as reality now, taking it too seriously. She needed rest.

"Thank you father. I need to rest now. The day's weariness has set upon me, and I do not know for how much longer I can stand..." Melanie's shoulders suddenly sagged. Her throbbing head was set to burst. Without any further warning, she passed out.

'Enjoys human companionship?' 'Devours minds?' 'Aegir?' Melanie would never have conceived any of this on her own. What was going on?

When next she woke she had been in her bed gazing up at the ceiling. Cords bond her arms keeping them spread apart from her body and she found similar lashings on her legs as they were pressed together and waist as well.

She could here movement in the room.

She stirs ...

It's about time! I could get nothing from her subconscious mind. Aegir has blocked her it seems.

Voices in her mind and while the ropes were secure she could see two beings, smaller though slightly so than the other she had meet recently. There mauve skin darker than the others, one seemed to have a skin condition given that it was splotchy here and there.

Tell us where Aegir is hiding and we'll let you be!

The other was staring at her, mouth tendrils moving just slightly as it borrowed through her brain and memory about recent events. It could multitask, though not with the practiced ease of Aegir, he had not been that good yet being a few milenia younger ...

Melanie groaned. She was praying that she was awake, but that clearly was not the case. In fact, her skin burned even more than before. Suddenly her eyes snapped into focus. Voices. Voices in her mind. No- Aegir, he couldn't have come back? But these were different voices. They held a youthful tone to them. Melanie tried to use her arms, but lo and behold, they had been tied to her bed posts. W-What's going on? she thought, trying to furtively understand what was happening around her. Two creatures towered above her prostate form. Her... prostate form.... Melanie had never felt so naked before, with nothing but a toga covering her sweating form. She squirmed slightly as they began to ask her questions.
"Aegir? I-I dunno. He's somewhere on the island!" Melanie replied, frantically trying to free herself. 'He enjoys human companionship,' right? What if they did too?

You lie! Where is he? The splothy one snapped, impatient for all his long years on her, though in essence he was merely a teenager like herself.

No ... The other said at once. Her mind has been blanked, if she knew she doesn't know now. We must stick to the plan.

They glanced at one another, the splotchyone nodding. Yes. Didn't I say that it was a waste of time dealing with these insignificant creature? Let's go ... she's no good to us.

Agreed. This island is not big enough for him to hide in though Eramus may know.

Yes ...he may.