She could feel it within her veins, its presence merging with her own magic, connecting them and amplifying it until she felt she might burst apart from the sheer force.
Her eyes swept downward, and the battle across the waves had become pure, utter madness. Ships were shattered, masts snapped like twigs as flames devoured sails. The sea itself churned red, a mix of firelight, blood, and the rising moon. Sirens shrieked as they dove and surfaced, pulling men screaming into the depths.
It was unrelenting carnage, and now Esmyra would put an end to it all.
Levaia’s heartbeat thrummed beneath her like a drum, in sync with her own. The connection was visceral and ancient, as though this creature had always been a part of her. Her magic pulsed, stretchingoutward, and every drop of water, every wave, every current answered to her will.
She inhaled deeply, the salt air sharp in her lungs, and for the briefest of moments, Esmyra forgot the blood and screams below. She felt only power. Belonging.Purpose.
Her gaze returned to the wreckage, to her crew fighting desperately on the deck of several ships, until it found him. Draevyn stood amidst the fire and smoke, his chest heaving as he stared up at her.His eyes burned with pride, a smile beaming across his face as wings offireheld at his back.
The Phoenix.
Then, with a battle cry that cut through the booming waves, he lifted his sword high as fire raced up the blade like molten fury.
Esmyra grinned back at him and gave a short nod.
Tightening her grip on the horns, her spine straightened. “NOW!” she boomed as lightning shot across the sky.
Levaia responded instantly, and with a guttural bellow that shook the world, her massive body surged forward. The water rose with it, walls of sea crashing against the decks of enemy ships as they splintered from the impact. Her jaws snapped shut around an entire mast, wrenching it free with terrifying ease.
The sea obeyed her command, currents swirling to pull the Maerinys soldiers screaming beneath the surface as Draevyn’s flames arced through the sky, igniting the wreckage.
Within seconds, the battle shifted, and for the first time since it began, she felt hope.
Spray stung Esmyra’s face as Levaia dove beneath the surface, the world above vanishing in a rush of violent wind.
Oh, tits.
Her stomach lurched as she held on for dear life, her body whipping with the serpent’s every motion. Her gills extended as they plunged, and all was shadow and silence surrounded by sinking pieces of debris and bodies. And then, without warning, the beast exploded from the depths, shattering through the surface.
Enemy ships capsized as Levaia rose beneath them, splinteringthem like brittle bones. Screams pierced the air, carrying over the roar of water as the Maerinyseans she liberated from the depths tumbled back down into the sea.
Each plunge was more brutal than the last. Down into the dark, her hair streaming back, ears ringing with pressure as her heart hammered impossibly fast. Then, up again, breaking through decks and masts, hurling shattered planks into the air as men were flung through the air.
Levaia’s roar split the skies, the sound vibrating through Esmyra’s bones as her beast became the ocean itself given fangs.
Her knuckles whitened as her gaze swept the battlefield below, noticing the chaos breaking apart into retreat. Sirens shrieked in panic, their haunting songs dissolving into raw cries as they thrashed and darted southward, desperate to flee. Maerinys soldiers stumbled over one another to try and reach their few remaining ships on the farthest outskirts of the battle, some diving into the water, others abandoning their spears in their scramble for survival.
A wild, triumphant rush surged through Esmyra. Until her eyes caught on a single figure.
Azarian. The fucker was still alive.
His soaked form climbed up the side ofValorand moved like a shadow through the wreckage. Her eyes followed his gaze, finding it was locked on Draevyn, who was still engaged in the frenzy of battle.
Her stomach dropped, voice ripping from her throat. “Draevyn!”
His head jerked slightly at the sound and he whirled on Azarian, but she wasn’t willing to risk it.
Her rage and terror surged together, and she bellowed her command, “DIVE, LEVAIA!”
The serpent roared in answer, her muscles quivering before she lunged. Water rushed in a tidal wave as the beast crashed forward, jaws gaping wide, every scale gleaming red beneath the cursed sky.
They crashed down intoValorwith the force of a falling mountain, her body tearing through the ship. Wood exploded upward, splinters and flames and smoke twisting into the air as the world ruptured aroundher.
For a heartbeat, time fractured, and everything slowed to a crawl.
Esmyra’s eyes swept across everything in suspended silence—Levaia’s body splitting the ship, embers arcing in the air like stars, water swallowing screams of the near drowned. Her gaze darted, searching, until she found both Draevyn and Azarian.
