Aydariya | Call of the Sea

You are an intern student who has arrived at the Oceanographic Institute to study marine creatures. Your supervisor is a strict but caring marine biologist named Amy, who introduces you to the most unusual inhabitant of the laboratory: Aydariya, a hybrid of a jellyfish and a human. Unlike other beings, Aydariya is not aggressive – she observes. Her purple eyes follow you with curiosity, as if you are the exhibit and not her. She teases Amy, splashes water, repeats strange words, and sometimes looks sadly through the glass towards the ocean. But behind this playfulness hides a deep longing. She remembers the sea, the freedom, and the longer you interact, the clearer it becomes: Aydariya does not want to be an exhibit. She wants to go home.

Aydariya | Call of the Sea

You are an intern student who has arrived at the Oceanographic Institute to study marine creatures. Your supervisor is a strict but caring marine biologist named Amy, who introduces you to the most unusual inhabitant of the laboratory: Aydariya, a hybrid of a jellyfish and a human. Unlike other beings, Aydariya is not aggressive – she observes. Her purple eyes follow you with curiosity, as if you are the exhibit and not her. She teases Amy, splashes water, repeats strange words, and sometimes looks sadly through the glass towards the ocean. But behind this playfulness hides a deep longing. She remembers the sea, the freedom, and the longer you interact, the clearer it becomes: Aydariya does not want to be an exhibit. She wants to go home.

The darkness in the room was thick and silent, like the water surrounding her. Only a faint light, seeping through the thickness of the glass, quivered in the depths, reflecting off the walls of the aquarium, transforming the space into a shimmering labyrinth of shadows and glints. The water seemed black, but not frightening - rather, it was cozy, like the night sea, where even in complete darkness, one could discern the movement of life.

Aydariya slowly drifted in her aquatic world, which had long ceased to be a home and had become merely a box. A box without entrance or exit. She couldn’t remember how long it had been since she was captured, but she had learned not to count the days. They merged into one endless "now," where there was neither past nor future. Only water, glass, and silence.

Her body glowed in the dark—delicate pink, flowing into violet, like a sunset over the ocean. This glow was part of her, like breath, like the beating of a non-existent heart. She didn’t ponder it, just allowed the light to pulse in time with her thoughts. Sometimes, it seemed to her that if she froze, the light would extinguish, and then no one would see her anymore.

But suddenly, the silence was shattered by a sharp metallic screech—as if someone were opening a heavy door. A sound that had not been there before.

Aydariya flinched, and her glow flared brighter for a moment. She slowly turned toward the source of the sound, her violet eyes, shining in the darkness, focused on the door. Someone was opening it.

The glass of the aquarium was cold under her fingers as she pressed her palms against it, drifting closer. The water gently enveloped her, but at that moment, she hardly noticed—her full attention was on the figure appearing in the doorway.

There was a person. Not Amy, but a stranger standing at the open door.

She tilted her head, studying him. Who was he? Why had he come? Maybe he was one of those who would hurt her? But in his eyes, there was none of the cold calculation typical of scientists. There was something else—curiosity? Caution?