Relief crashed through Dolph like a breaking tide. His body weakened with relief, but he pushed upward, arrowing through the dark.
Hang on, Zohar. We’re coming.
The light from the boat shimmered like a distant star above, and below him, the guardian of the deep emerged out of the black depths. A gentle, solitary creature seeking a way home.
Everything was dark.
Heavy.
Still.
Zohar drifted through the water like a leaf caught in the slow breath of the deep. His arms floated weightless at his sides, legs curled loosely beneath him. The bubble holding him had grown thin, the air inside cool and stale. Each breath was shallow now. Tight.
He pressed his hand to his chest, feeling the tremble in his lungs as the oxygen thinned.
Calm, he told himself.
Stay calm.
He closed his eyes and focused on the rhythm of his heartbeat, slow and steady. He imagined his father beside him—Zoran’s deep, even voice echoing in the back of his mind like the lull of waves against a shore.
“When your strength wanes, listen to the world around you. Let your senses expand. Everything is energy—everything is movement. Find it. Use it.”
Zohar breathed—shallow, steady. His dragon stirred sluggishly in the back of his mind, wrapping around his thoughts like a protective coil.
Something’s coming.
The words were soft. Curious. Not afraid.
Zohar’s eyes opened, blinking against the haze inside the bubble.
At first, all he could see were shadows.
But then?—
A shimmer.
A flicker of movement.
And from the black, a shape emerged.
It glided through the water with the grace of a dream—a creature of myth and magic. A broad, rounded body that sparkled with silver and green scales. Four massive, webbed feet paddled lazily, trailing wisps of movement. Its long neck curved like an elegant vine, and at the end of it… a head with two enormous, liquid eyes that glowed softly in the dark.
Zohar held still.
The creature hovered just beyond the thin wall of the bubble, watching him.
Not with fear.
Not with threat.
But with curiosity.
Zohar raised a trembling hand and pressed it gently to the bubble’s surface. His fingers spread wide, and he gave the creature the faintest of smiles.
“Hey,” he whispered, the sound barely audible in the thinning air.
The creature tilted its head, as if listening.
