A thin ribbon of sunrise slipped through the lagoon's mist and scattered over my faceplate. I blinked against the light, letting the water slide through my gills in a long, steady pull, and pushed myself upright on the coral shelf where I had collapsed after the last dive. My shoulders ached, every muscle sore, and the veins across my chest glowed faintly teal under my scales. The pearl sat warm in my core, not painful, just alive, pulsing in time with an unfamiliar rhythm.
The guardian was gone, yet his presence lingered in the currents, heavy and certain, like distant thunder. A vibration in the pearl tugged at me, soft but insistent, pointing back toward the vent maze beneath the island. I knew what it meant. The lesson wasn't finished.
I stretched my fins, wincing at the pull in my arms, then slipped down into deeper water, the lagoon closing behind me in a silver curtain. The chute narrowed quickly, pressing tight around my shoulders as the walls seemed to breathe with the geothermal pulses below. At the first fork I slowed, letting my heartbeat match the rhythm echoing inside the pearl. Pulse stones grew only where current and heart aligned; one wrong path and I would surface empty-handed.
The sulphur sting rose stronger the deeper I swam, burning faintly along my lateral line. Steam vents hissed from the cracks, painting the rock walls in bands of orange and blue. Tiny motes of shadow drifted through the light, harmless, almost beautiful, but unsettling reminders that Destruction never truly slept.
Near the throat of a narrow chimney, a cluster of vent pearls clung to the stone, each no bigger than my thumb and glowing in slow pulses. I eased closer, moving carefully so I didn't disturb the current. Two fingers brushed the first pearl. I steadied my breathing, syncing its glow to my own pulse. When the beats matched, the glow brightened and released. I caught it and slipped it into a pouch. One by one I collected four, enough to satisfy whatever trial waited next.
The return chute constricted around me halfway up. Suddenly the water tightened, compressing my chest. A sharp burn ripped through my veins, spreading from the pearl outward. I gasped, the cramps biting deep, and nearly lost my grip on the pouch. The demi-god wasn't here, but the test carried his presence. I forced my breathing to slow, coaxing the current through my veins instead of letting it tear them. Pain sharpened, then leveled, as if new channels opened in response. When I cleared the chute, the pressure eased. My body trembled, but nothing ruptured. It felt like a small victory.
Mist curled low over the lagoon as I surfaced. Beyond the barrier wall, distant reef lanterns glimmered faintly against the dark water. The vent pearls clicked softly in my pouch, pulsing with steady rhythm. I let myself breathe once, deeply, then turned toward the travel lane leading back to the reef city.
The outer domes bristled with scaffolds. Glow-seed grafts clung to fresh cracks, faintly lighting the work area. Lis balanced on the highest frame, tightening an anchor bolt while two young planters fed nutrient slurry into the graft lines. She spotted me and waved.
"Good timing," she called as she slid down the frame. "We need small spirals to keep sediment off the seedlings."
I shaped a gentle curl around the scaffolds. The current lifted grit away without disturbing the delicate coral. The apprentices watched, fins fluttering, as the water followed my hand. One hatchling in the training pool gasped out loud, tiny body trembling with excitement.
Lis leaned close as I passed. "They'll be telling stories about that for days."
I shrugged, though the pride stirred warm in my chest. The pearls clicked again in their pouch, and I wondered if they were helping the flow settle so easily.
Veshra worked nearby with artisans under a dampening canopy. They pried open one of the invader claws, chiseling slowly so the water didn't surge through weak points. Instead of guessing at strange alloys, Fin studied the way heat bled through the plates.
"Whatever this is, it channels warmth too well," she said. "Line coolant conduits with a layer of it, and we might double the flow."
I opened the pouch and offered one vent pearl. "These held steady even in the hottest vent streams," I explained. "They cooled there without shattering. Maybe they'll calm your lining."
Fin slipped the stone under a thin plate. Its glow softened, and the metal's harsh shimmer dulled. "Promising," she said, and for once Talos didn't argue. He only wrung water from his soaked armour, still sour after yesterday's coolant mishap.
Across the plaza, Echo-Hand arranged a trade: Exile kelp-weave filters for reef chill-line clamps. Talos signed off with a grunt. For the first time, no one raised their voice.
Council crystals chimed above, and a clear voice rolled through every current.
"Captain Raalessar of the Deep-Reef Armada will dock at dawn. Candidate Watchers may petition for expedition placement."
Lis elbowed me gently. "That means you."
"It means anyone bold enough," I said, though nerves coiled tight in my chest. A Class Two Green awakened captain, someone whose veins pulsed with twice the strength of mine, would show me exactly how far I still had to climb.
I left the pearls with Fin's team and swam out through the travel lanes again. The lagoon's mist was thicker than before, curling like breath. The guardian waited at the center, crouched on his pillar, eyes burning faint gold.
You carry the stones, he said, the words vibrating through the water.
"They calmed the metal," I answered.
Good. Now you will calm the current itself. Soon two streams will collide around you. Hold them both. Do not let them break.
The water around us split into twin columns, circling like wary predators. I stepped forward. Pressure closed on my chest, not brutal but relentless. The two streams crashed, hammering my scales with shockwaves.
I matched my breathing to the pearls' rhythm, steady and patient. Pain sparked along my veins, but I guided each ripple past my pearl instead of letting it crush me. The streams slammed again, harder, and my arms shook. I shaped the flow with slow hands until they twisted into a single, steady eddy that spiraled around my waist like calm tide.
Better, the guardian said. Again at the next tide uplift.
He sank back into the mist, leaving only the quiet water and my pearl glowing a brighter shade, closer to blue than before.
Far off, reef lanterns flickered against the sky-dark water. I thought of the hatchlings learning to swim currents, the artisans shaping scraps into something new, and the captain who would arrive with the dawn. My body felt raw, my nerves sharp, but hope burned steady inside my chest.
I would rest, but not for long. The tide carried me toward the future, and I intended to follow.