The hadal backsite lay in eerie silence, its crushing depths steeped in abandonment. Rusted structures, long forgotten by the world above, leaned into the darkness like sleeping giants. Nothing moved here but the slow drift of silt and the distant groan of pressure on metal.

In a small pocket of flickering light, nestled inside the skeletal remains of a submerged research outpost, Sebastian moved with quiet purpose. His workshop, cobbled together from salvaged tech and scavenged memories, buzzed softly. Tools lined the walls in precise order, and strange artifacts from the deep were carefully sorted into labeled bins.

He worked methodically, humming to himself, the sound barely audible over the hum of life support systems. His webbed fingers tapped a gentle rhythm on the desk, echoing in the confined space. Loneliness weighed on him like the pressure of the ocean above, constant, crushing, familiar.

Then something shifted. A tremor in the current. A sound. A presence.

He turned slowly, his eyes lighting up as a smile crept across his face. For a moment, the silence lifted, chased away by warmth he hadn’t felt in ages.

“Ah! It’s you!” he said, voice soft and full of wonder. “I’ve been waiting for you, love.”