Convergent Evolution

Macht left the village and continued north.

His steps were not hurried, as if he were simply taking a leisurely stroll.

Several days later, he arrived at an unfamiliar coastline.

This place used to be a human-inhabited port, but it isn't anymore.

Because they're all dead.

The grey-blue seawater lapped against the black reefs, making a monotonous and never-ending splashing sound.

The sea breeze, carrying a strong salty and chilly smell, tousled his long, purplish-red hair.

Near the tide line lay a huge, black and white corpse.

It was a stranded killer whale, its massive body almost half the size of a fishing boat. Its skin had lost its luster after death, turning a grayish-brown color. Several seabirds circled in the distance, but dared not approach.

What truly made Macht stop was not the whale carcass, but the small figure beside it.

She was a little girl who looked only eleven or twelve years old.

She wore a clean, crisp white dress with delicate lace trim, and spotless low-cut leather shoes, which seemed out of place on the desolate beach.

Most strikingly, a pair of small, delicate, pointed horns peeked out clearly from between her soft hair.

Demons.

She was crouching beside the orca's massive pectoral fin, her slender, white fingers carefully poking at the stiffening skin along the edge of the flipper, her expression focused, as if examining a novel toy.

Macht approached, and the faint sound of her footsteps on the gravel made her look up.

It was a face as delicate as a doll's, with clear, pale green eyes that held pure curiosity, but lacked the innocence or fear a child should have.

She looked at Macht, her gaze sweeping over the massive horns on his forehead and his magnificent attire.

"I've heard," Macht spoke first, his voice calm and undisturbed by the sea breeze, "That there's a Demons nearby who likes to study humans. Is that you?"

The little girl nodded, her movement very small. "Mmm," she responded, her voice clear and crisp, but revealing no emotion whatsoever.

She stood up, brushed off non-existent grains of sand from her skirt, and then formally extended her right hand toward Macht, assuming the gesture of a handshake in human social etiquette.

"My name is Solitär," she said with a smile, her pale green eyes looking directly at Macht, awaiting his response.

Macht glanced down at the outstretched child's hand, but did not reach out to grasp it.

"I am Macht." He simply gave his name, then looked away, his gaze returning to the massive whale carcass, as if it were more attractive than his own kind before him.

He crouched down and looked at the corpse.

Solitär hand received no response.

But she didn't show any embarrassment or displeasure at being refused a handshake.

She withdrew her hand very naturally, as if her action was just a simple procedure.

She followed Macht's gaze to the orca and asked, "Is this the first time you've seen such a creature?"

"Hmm," Macht admitted, "There are such big fish in the sea."

He used the general term "fish" without making any distinction.

"I see," Solitär smiled sweetly, "Indeed, this guy looks like a 'fish'."

There was no mockery in her tone; it was more like she was confirming an interesting phenomenon.

She didn't explain further to Macht, but turned and walked towards a raised area behind the coast. "Follow me."

Macht followed silently.

Behind the high ground, in a sheltered mountain valley, stands a somewhat incongruous two-story building.

It has the wide frame and roof common in human shipyards, but its materials and structure have clearly been magically reinforced and modified, making it exceptionally sturdy.

"Pretty good, isn't it?" Solitär walked to the building's entrance, her tone carrying a barely perceptible hint of casual pride, like someone showing off a achievement. "I've made some minor modifications to the human shipyard."

She pushed the door open.

What should have been a shipyard is now empty, replaced by several huge, white, and intact skeletal specimens suspended in mid-air.

They were fixed in the air, arranged in an orderly fashion, like some kind of silent exhibition. The sea breeze blew in through the deliberately left ventilation openings, making a slight whistling sound, adding to the tranquility and eeriness.

Macht's gaze was drawn to the skeletons. He walked slowly in, stopping beneath two particularly large, streamlined white skeletons, and tilted his head slightly upward.

"What is this...?" he asked.

"A skeletal specimen." Solitär walked to his side and looked up as well. "A well-preserved corpse is rare. Clearing out the bones makes things much easier and allows us to see the true nature of the remains."

"Was it that kind of fish?"

"Indeed, but it's only one of them."

Macht's gaze shifted between several enormous skeletons of varying shapes. Two of them, at first glance, appeared very similar in outline, both exhibiting a sleek spindle shape adapted for high-speed swimming. However, upon closer inspection of the skeletal structure, especially the connection between the skull, spine, and limb bones, significant differences could be found.

Solitär followed his gaze and pointed precisely to the two similar skeletons. "Their skeletal structures are completely different, aren't they?"

Macht.

"Have you heard of 'Convergent Evolution'?" Solitär asked.

"No," Macht answered crisply.

"I see." Solitär wasn't surprised, her tone remaining calm. "This word was something the Demon King Lord told me about before."

She approached the two specimens, a smile on her face, "This one over here is a real fish. Their skeletal structure, from their ancestors, was designed for life in the water."

She pointed to another one. "And this one over here is a mammal. I've heard that their ancestors lived on land a very, very long time ago. They had four limbs and breathed with lungs."

Macht's gaze fell on the second skeleton, which clearly had flipper-like skeletal structures evolved from forelimbs.

"Then, to survive, they returned to the sea," Solitär continued, her voice echoing softly in the empty shipyard. "For thousands of years... living in the ocean, chasing prey, escaping danger. The ocean environment slowly changed their appearance. Needing to swim faster, their bodies became streamlined; their forelimbs, better suited for paddling, gradually evolved into fins... Eventually, in appearance, they became almost identical to some of the largest fish."

She turned to face Macht, her pale green eyes appearing exceptionally clear in the sunlight streaming through the window.

"Those two," she pointed to the two skeletons in the air, "Possess such similar appearances, yet are fundamentally different creatures. One has always been a fish, the other... has merely become like a fish."

That sweet smile reappeared on her face.

"Isn't it interesting?"

The images shift.

On the second floor of the shipyard, which had been converted into a specimen museum, in a relatively small room, Macht and Solitär sat facing each other.

The room was sparsely furnished, containing only a simple round table and two chairs. However, the walls and even parts of the ceiling were covered with numerous skeletal specimens of marine life, varying in size and shape, mostly retaining the streamlined form of fish. They silently surrounded the two people in the center of the room, like countless frozen ghosts.

On the wooden table was a rather exquisite human tea set. Solitär skillfully picked up the teapot and poured a cup for both herself and Macht. Steam rose gently, carrying a delicate aroma of some kind of plant.

There was no small talk between them. The silence lasted for a while, broken only by the very faint sound of sips of tea.

"Why?" Macht put down his teacup, the porcelain making a soft "click" as it touched the wooden table, breaking the silence. "We Demons have neither 'malice' nor 'guilt'?"

His question was direct and abrupt, yet his tone was as calm as if he were asking about the weather.

Solitär held her teacup, her pale green eyes looking at him through the rising steam. There was no surprise in her eyes, only understanding.

"Why? What a pointless question." She gently blew on the surface of her tea, her tone flat. "Didn't we already know the answer when we were born?"

She took a small sip of tea, paused slightly, as if savoring the temperature and flavor of the tea, or perhaps organizing the most precise words.

"If 'deceiving humans' causes us heartache..." She put down her teacup, her gaze sweeping over the fish-shaped skeletons around her, "I'm afraid our Demons was already extinct a long time ago."

"This is... our 'survival instinct'. The number of Demons is less than that of humans, and their growth rate is also slower. Even if they have long lifespans, what use are they if they can't survive?"

Macht remained expressionless, his golden pupils reflecting Solitär's small image. "What is 'heartache'?"

Solitär tilted her head, a gesture that made her look even more like a real little girl; her eyes truly seemed childlike.

"Perhaps," she said slowly, each word clear and calm, "It's a kind of 'emotion' that we can never truly understand, no matter how hard we try."

Her gaze shifted to the skeleton of a dolphin on the wall, its graceful curves seemingly still telling of its agility in life.

"A resemblance to humans in appearance, similar behavior, even learning their language..." Her voice wasn't loud, but it sounded exceptionally clear in the room surrounded by specimens. "All of this is the [evolution] we Demons have acquired over countless years in order to more effectively deceive and capture humans and survive."

She turned back and looked at Macht again, her gaze frank yet cold.

"No matter how similar our forms may be, we and humans are fundamentally different. Don't humans always call us 'man-eating monsters'? That's an accurate description. Demons and humans are completely different beings. It's not surprising that we can't fully understand each other's emotions."

She picked up her teacup and took another sip, as if what she had just said was merely a piece of scientific knowledge.

"Macht," she put down her cup, then suddenly changed her perspective, asking, "Can you imagine what kind of 'feelings' a flying insect might have?"

She didn't need Macht's reply and continued talking to herself.

"For you and me, human emotions are probably... just like this."

Macht remained expressionless.

"Perhaps," he finally spoke, his voice still steady, showing no sign of being persuaded or wavering. "But if we can understand, even just part of it... perhaps we can find a way to coexist with humanity, and we won't have to fight like this anymore."

"Anyway," he said calmly, as if stating a basic fact, "The one thing we Demons have in abundance is time to waste."

Solitär stared at him silently for several seconds.

"You really are," she said softly, her tone carrying for the first time a subtle hint of what could be called "interest," "an interesting fellow."

Silence fell in the room once again.