The sea welcomed them with open jaws.
It had been two days since the Temple of Echoes had crumbled behind them, collapsing into the jungle like a beast retreating into its lair. The Chain of Echoes now wound around Darion's right forearm, its silver links occasionally pulsing with pale light, especially when he dreamt. The voices inside it were no longer screaming—at least, not all the time—but they spoke in riddles, cryptic phrases that woke him in the middle of the night coated in sweat and flame.
The Sea Wraith cut through the water under the dying sun. Her sails flapped lazily in the breeze, and the crew worked in near silence, as if none of them dared speak of what they had witnessed on Ashvale. Even the usually mouthy Kellen kept quiet, his fingers twitching whenever he stared too long at the horizon.
Darion stood at the bow, the wind brushing through his black hair. The air was unnaturally still for a moment. Calm. But that was the problem—this part of the Corsair Belt was never calm. He narrowed his eyes.
"Something's wrong."
Behind him, Seraphina approached, arms crossed.
"You feel it too?"
"No gulls. No currents. No sound. It's like the sea's holding its breath."
She nodded. "The Chain's been glowing, hasn't it?"
Darion raised his arm. Sure enough, the links shimmered faintly, as if reacting to something drawing nearer.
"It's warning us."
"Or calling something."
They both turned as the first mate, Harrow, appeared at the helm.
"Captain! We've got a fog front to the east. Rolling fast!"
Darion walked up to the helm. His heart sank as he saw it—a wall of mist, dense and rising unnaturally fast. It wasn't moving with the wind; it was dragging the wind with it.
"That's no natural fog," Seraphina said. "That's a veil."
Darion's mind snapped to something he'd read long ago, in one of the Inquisition's forbidden tomes. He spoke slowly.
"The Mourning Veil."
Seraphina turned sharply. "That's just a myth."
"No myth," Darion whispered. "It's the wake of something that doesn't belong in this world."
Kellen stumbled up from below deck, holding a spyglass.
"Whatever it is… it's moving fast."
Darion took the glass. He looked into the fog, and at first saw nothing. But then the mist parted.
Something moved within.
Something colossal.
A shape slithered beneath the water, larger than any sea creature had a right to be. Its back broke the surface only for a second, but it was enough—a glistening, barnacle-covered spine, taller than the masts of three ships stacked high. Tentacles like ancient ropes slithered just beneath the surface.
"By the Abyss…" Kellen breathed. "That's a leviathan."
"No," Darion said quietly. "That's her leviathan."
"Who's her?"
Darion didn't answer. The Chain on his arm flared.
The fog overtook them.
The Veil
The world became white and gray.
The crew screamed as visibility dropped to mere feet. The sails groaned. The compass spun wildly. The ocean beneath seemed to churn without wind. Darion grabbed the wheel, straining to keep the Sea Wraith from capsizing.
"Drop anchor!" he shouted.
"We'll get stuck!" Harrow protested.
"If we don't, we'll drift straight into its maw!"
The anchor dropped with a thunderous splash, and the ship shuddered to a halt.
Silence returned.
Then a sound—like a thousand bells ringing underwater.
"Daaaaaaaarion…"
A voice—female, soft, yet carrying infinite weight. It wasn't spoken aloud. It bypassed the ears and settled deep into his mind.
Seraphina looked at him. "Did you hear that?"
"She knows I'm here."
Suddenly, the sea split open.
A massive column of water erupted off the starboard side as the leviathan breached, its body dark and slick with ancient coral, eyes like glowing moons. Its open maw revealed rows of teeth—not jagged, but smooth and polished like stone knives. In its center was a pulsing red light, like a heart.
"Open fire!" Harrow screamed.
Kellen and the crew unleashed a storm of harpoons and flame bolts, but they barely scratched its hide. The creature hissed—not in pain, but in amusement.
Then a figure appeared on its back.
Shrouded in dark robes, long silver hair whipping in the air. Her face hidden behind a veil of bone and shell.
Darion felt a chill worse than death.
"Selkira."
Seraphina froze. "You know her?"
"I thought she was dead. The Chain remembered her… the original Binder of Tides. She drowned the old world in revenge."
"What does she want with you?"
Darion didn't answer. Instead, he stepped forward, summoning Wakefire to his blade.
"Let's find out."
Boarding the Leviathan
Darion did what no sane man would do—he jumped.
He leapt from the deck of the Sea Wraith toward the leviathan as it reared up. Flame wreathed his body, the Chain crackling with light. He landed hard on the creature's slick flesh and slid, digging his blade in to slow himself. The leviathan bucked.
Selkira turned.
"So the last Core-Wearer comes crawling to my gate," she said, her voice both cruel and mournful.
"I'm not crawling. I'm climbing over the bones of every secret you left behind."
She smiled. "Then let me show you what those secrets cost."
She lifted a hand—and from the folds of the fog, a dozen drowned souls emerged.
Men and women with skin like wet parchment, eyes hollow, mouths sewn shut. They carried blades of sea-glass and coral, moving with supernatural speed.
Darion roared and engaged.
He swung wide, cutting down the first two, their bodies bursting into steam. A third lunged at his back—he ducked and plunged his dagger into its throat. His inner monologue roared.
They're echoes. Bound to her. Just like the Chain said. But they're wrong. Unnatural. Twisted.
More came. He spun, the Chain on his arm snapping out like a whip, binding one attacker and crushing another against the leviathan's spine.
Selkira raised her hand—and cast a spear of solid water.
It struck Darion square in the chest, sending him flying.
He hit the leviathan's flank hard, coughing blood.
"You are not ready," she said. "But you will be. When the flood comes, you will either kneel… or drown."
Then she vanished in the mist.
The leviathan groaned—and began to dive.
Darion stumbled to his feet.
"Not yet."
He ran—yes, ran—across the length of the beast's back as it began to submerge, leaping just as it vanished below the surface.
He crashed back onto the Sea Wraith with a sickening thud.
Seraphina and Kellen rushed to him.
"What the hell was that?" Kellen cried.
"A message," Darion said, coughing. "And a warning."
The fog began to thin. The Veil was retreating.
Behind them, the horizon was clear again.
But no one celebrated.
Darion lay back, staring at the sky, the Chain on his arm whispering of storms and betrayals. His chest ached from the spear wound.
She remembers me… but from where?And if she was the first to drown the world… what does that make me?The last to save it? Or the next to damn it again?
The sea had given them back—for now.
But something had awoken in the deep.
And it was watching.