Ireree focussed on a single point on the timeline before her. That one moment expanded into a universe. Asteroids, stars and planets flew past her as her presence was projected toward an ocean-covered planet.

She descended through the atmosphere and submerged into the water beneath her. Looking around, she found megalodon sharks, sea serpents and kraken.

Boring. . . Basic. . . Cliche. . . 

Dissatisfied, Ireree pulled herself out of the universe. Re-synced with her cosmic form, she moved on to another timeline and projected herself to its version of the planet she’d just visited. Within its waters she found a civilization of fish people and giant hermit crabs. Nothing she hadn’t used already.

Ireree didn’t usually go through realities so quickly, but she’d been jumping around this planet’s multiverse for several hours now and was running out of time. She could’ve saved herself some trouble and create an amalgamation from all the creatures she’d found thus far. But she didn’t want to resort to that compromise for such a special occasion.

While unorthodox, she continued her search for an ocean predator. But, with what little time she had left, she could only assess the creatures she found based on their immediate impressions. This made it challenging to find the kind of creature she needed.

What would she think if Ireree couldn’t pull this off? Her integrity and reputation as a Cosmic would be in question. If she was going to find the perfect sea monster, she needed to do it now.

The next reality she entered had overgrown plants, jellyfish and small fish. While colorful, it didn’t seem to possess any predators. But just as she was about to pull out of the reality, an anemone caught her attention.

The creature’s long tendrils were wrapped around a small fish which appeared to be struggling to escape. Her curiosity piqued, Ireree rewound the timeline and allowed the scene to play out before her.

The fish swam ten feet away from the anemone when its tendrils shot toward it. The fish quickly swam out of range of the tendrils. But they stretched past their initial length and grabbed ahold of the fish with small mouths at their ends.

The fish began to thrash about, but it was futile. The anemone pulled the fish toward the base of its tendrils which, upon further inspection, was actually the body of a large slug.

Suddenly, a new limb shot out of the slug’s body toward the fish.

If she’d had a mouth, a mischievous grin would have spread across Ireree’s face in that moment. This creature had potential and it was perfect. . .