Ren, Thorn and Lilith roamed through the halls of the sea palace in tense silence, knowing that an attack could come from anywhere.
They knew they could not trust anything. Not even the floor beneath their feet. After all, how was a floor made out of water making their every step echo?
The sound of their steps traveled ahead of them, making sure everything ahead knew they were coming.
Around them, they could see the current of the sea churning, even as the walls and floor stayed the same.
It felt like walking through the ribcage of a sleeping god. From their point of view, it looked as if the walls were alive.
Ren moved slightly ahead of the others, his mind spinning through possibilities like broken orbits.
The sea palace had no identifiers to tell them if they were even going the right way, and so they'd their route chosen at random whenever they got to any crossroad.
He kept his senses open, waiting for an omen or sign, anything to point them toward Shing. But the pressure in his chest only grew heavier.
Why had Shing been targeting Lilith? When they'd retreated further inland to escape his golden beams, the man had came unerringly towards them.
Was it wise to go directly to meet him?
"No matter how much I think about it, Lilith might be the only one who can get close to Shing." Ren muttered finally.
Thorn looked up. "What?"
Ren didn't stop walking. "Her energy repels his golden beams. Back in Patino, when she exploded with soul energy and fought him, it forced him to retreat."
"He didn't even challenge her fully. Her Soul Dominion was able to hurt him. And from what we saw from the fight, she can use it to shield herself from his golden beams. She can get close. Closer than we can."
Lilith walked a few steps behind, her boots clicking softly against the floor. Though her lips remained silent, her gaze flicked sharply to Ren.
"So we hand her over?" Thorn asked, anger bubbling beneath his words. "Put her right in front of him like bait?"
Ren stopped, turning to meet Thorn's glare. His face was calm, but his voice was hard.
"No. That's not what I'm saying, Thorn. I'm saying that if things fall apart, if it comes down to it, she might be the only one strong enough to kill him and exact that vengeance you're willing to kill yourself for."
Thorn breath hard, glaring at Ren. Ren held his gaze and a few seconds later, Thorn looked away.
"What this means for us is that we need to protect Lilith until that moment arrives." Ren continued.
Lilith finally spoke. Her voice was soft, but they all could hear it clearly. "If he wants me, then I'll be the one to end him."
Before any of them could respond, they heard the sound. Wet footsteps echoing ahead.
Four figures rounded the corner into view. Tidecallers.
But not as they once were. Their eyes glowed gold. They moved like men, but there was no life behind their gazes.
They'd been enslaved by Shing.
Ren stepped forward slowly. "Stay behind me."
He dipped his hand into his pouch, emerging with a sword.
Immediately the four golden-eyed warriors saw them, they attacked.
One surged forward with a cry. Ren ducked low, slid under the swing, and drove his sword into their ribs. A twist, and the body crumpled.
He kicked it into the second attacker, knocking them off balance. Then, he snapped their head clean off their shoulder with a blast of force from his bracer.
The third lunged. Ren sidestepped, caught their neck with a reversed grip, and severed their artery in a clean arc.
The fourth tried to grapple him, but Ren buried a blade under their jaw, pushing until it pierced their skull.
Bodies dropped in silence. Blood floated in lazy spirals, seeping through the ground and into the water below it.
Ren stood over them, hands wet with red.
Thorn stepped forward, fists clenched. "Why didn't you try to save them?"
Ren wiped his blade on his coat before storing it back in his pouch. "I only have one use of Hypnosis every 48 hours. I'm saving it for Tam. I can't waste it on people I don't even know."
Before Thorn could respond, a tremor rippled through the corridor.
Cracks split across the ceiling. Groaning like whales in pain echoed above.
They'd tasted blood in the water and they were hungry.
The first shattered through the ceiling like a meteor, its long, scaled body writhing like a ribbon of muscle and teeth. Its roar thundered through the corridor.
"Incoming!" Ren barked.
Lilith reacted first. Swords of soul energy formed in her hands as she surged forward, flipping once before slicing the dragon's skull in two. Blood sprayed like ink into the air.
Another dragon came from the side, smashing through the wall.
Ren's hand snapped upwards and he unleashed a narrow burst of kinetic energy.
The blast struck the dragon's head, driving it sideways into the wall with a sickening crunch. Bones shattered. Scales split. The creature fell twitching.
While this was happening, a third dragon barreled straight for Thorn. He rolled away, barely dodging the massive jaws. With a grunt, he punched his bone arm into its underside, piercing its flesh and anchoring himself.
Like a spider, he climbed the beast as it thrashed. He drew his sword and it extended unnaturally, twisting and lengthening.
He speared it through the eye. The dragon bucked once, then died.
Blood streamed out of the dead dragon, into his bone arm and his body, strengthening his Bloodbinding.
His muscles flared. His skin glowed faintly red. He felt his senses sharpen. He was growing slightly stronger with each kill, moving closer to Rank 4.
Then, a shadow fell over him and he looked up.
A dragon had sneaked close too him, that it was already too close for him to dodge.
But then a thunderclap of kinetic energy blasted the dragon back, sending it careening through the corridor.
Ren stepped forward, his bracers shimmering.
Lilith stepped up beside him, her hand glowing. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a spear of soul energy and launched it.
The dragon barely screamed before the spear struck its brain and blew through the back of its skull.
Four dragons. Four deaths. The corridor dripped with blood and pieces of shattered scales.
Even though the dragons had broken through the water around them, not a single drop of water had spilled into the corridor. It was still as dry as it had previously been.
And that was scary, because it just showed how much control Shing had over his powers.
It also brought up a new question.
Were they heading towards their death?