Soft knees.
Three points of contact.
Never meet force head-on.
Exhale on contact.
She times her breath perfectly.
Angles her body just right.
For a heartbeat, she thinks she has it.
But the ocean doesn’t make the same mistake twice.
It does not slant its approach. This time, it directs its force straight down.
The waves crash upon her back, and Seren cannot escape them. No amount of angling and exhaling can save her from the direct power of the ocean.
She crumbles under the force, knees buckling, body sprawling into the jagged rock.
Pain bursts through her ribs, punctuated by the wet crack of snapping bones. The breath leaves her in a broken gasp, like her body forgets how to keep her alive.
Her chest grips with a feeling she recognizes instantly.Failure.
Because she did everything right, and it still wasn’t enough.
Her vision falters.
A strangled cry tears from her throat.
The fucking agony.
Her face twists into a grimace, sucking in breaths through her teeth.
Because she has no time.
The ocean draws back like a fist ready to land a blow.
So she runs.
Gripping her ribs, pain shooting through her knees, Seren Calvatere runs for the mouth of The Dreaded’s cave.
The swell of the ocean rises to its peak, then crashes toward her with deliberate malice.
She can’t withstand the force again. There’s no way.
So Seren drops to the ground, curling into a ball. She protects her head with her hands and arms, but it’s futile. She knows it. The ocean knows it. So she prepares for pain.
And it comes.
Black seawater with inky foam crashes over her body, the water slaps her skin with a sound eerily close to a barking laugh.
“Fuck!” she grimaces, bracing herself.
But her ribs are exposed. No, not just exposed—a target.
And the ocean knows. It dumps heavy swells against her like a dart repeatedly hitting the bullseye.
