Oren’s tail flicked back and forth, brushing against curling strands of seaweed as he propelled himself through the ocean depths. The water was freezing, but nothing he wasn't used to. The currents never brought warmer water and it didn’t matter the time of day, because the sun couldn’t reach The Deep anyway.

With no concept of time, he resolved to always work diligently. Oren patrolled until he was tired, and then patrolled some more, only resting when absolutely necessary. He was the best defense his little colony of merfolk had against the creatures that lurked in the dark. Oren’s reflexes were the most honed, his night vision the sharpest, and his reaction time the fastest. His precision with a spear, unmatched as it was, spurred on the little guppies of his colony who often told stories of his hunts– the massive beasts he would slay and bring home, the ones that would feed their colony for many moons.

As Oren scanned the murky waters, dog sharks nudged his sides playfully. He huffed, trying to shrug them off but the things loved him, despite his best efforts to deter their affection. They nuzzled against the dorsal fin that jutted out from his back, and glided across the silvery scales of his arms and tail. His aquatic features were adapted for survival on the seafloor. The brilliant rainbow hues that merfolk were known for had long since been eliminated from his colony through natural selection. Some of his kin were even losing their flesh, evolving to have more scales or dark striped patterns to scare off natural predators. Oren was one such merfolk, with markings on his back that resembled those of a tiger shark, sharp teeth, and fangs which only added to his fearsome appearance.

The small pod of sharks that had flocked to him suddenly froze before dispersing in a split second. Oren whirled around, gripping his spear tighter as he searched the gloom for the source of their alarm. The faint light of his glowing eyes glinted off of something, something colorful deep in the dreary depths.

Swiftly, Oren pushed forward, slinking up behind the creature in silence before fixing the point of his spear at their throat. His eyes widened when they focused on what was before him. A merfolk, but not from his colony. Their tail was a spattering of multicolored scales that glittered and changed in the faint glow of his eyes. They were adorned with shells, and their skin was sunkissed. There was no doubt they were from shallow waters. The kind of merfolk who sat around all day under the sun, being ogled at and pampered by humans, putting shells in each other's hair and giggling their blissful lives away. His expression hardened at the thought.

“You should not be here.” Oren warned, bubbles fanning away from his mouth as it opened. “You are trespassing within my colony, you must leave.”