Jahness gasped and bent over, clutching his knees as his lungs burned. Salt and iron filled his mouth with every breath. Beside him, Varkass had dropped to one knee, one hand braced against the coral as his shoulders hitched violently, while Lina pressed her back to the pillar, eyes unfocused as she fought down the urge to retch. Only Oscar remained upright. His Aspect lent his body a far sturdier psyche and constitution than the others, yet even so, the color had drained from his face, leaving it pale and tight, his jaw clenched as he stared downward.
Below them, the abominations prowled.
They moved like starved hounds, bodies low and sinewy, claws clicking against the coral as they circled the base of the pillar. Their heads were wrong—elongated hammerhead shapes formed entirely of yellowed bone, ridged and pitted as though grown rather than sculpted. Empty eye sockets faced upward, yet Jahness could feel their attention as keenly as if they were staring straight into him. When they howled, the sound scraped along the nerves, a warped echo that spoke of mad hunger—hunger not just for flesh, but for killing itself.
The four of them had barely made it. The coral pillar rose like a jagged spear from the reef, its surface bristling with knife-edged growths. They had scrambled up in blind panic, boots slipping, hands tearing at any protrusion they could grip. Jahness remembered the moment vividly: the coral biting back. A sharp, tearing pain had flared across his left palm, followed by another along his right leg as he pressed too hard, desperate to gain height. He had not dared slow down then. Only now, safe for the moment, did the pain fully bloom.
He hissed and glanced down. Blood seeped freely from the wounds, dark rivulets tracing the grooves of his skin before dripping onto the coral below. The sight made his stomach churn. Instinctively, his Aspect stirred.
Warmth spread from his chest outward, a subtle but unmistakable sensation. The bleeding slowed, then reversed, as if time itself had taken a step back. The escaped blood drew inward, threads of crimson pulled neatly into the torn flesh. Before his eyes, the wounds sealed over, a translucent, gelatinous scab forming where skin should have been—flexible, faintly glossy, and already knitting itself into something stronger. The pain dulled to a manageable throb.
Jahness exhaled shakily and flexed his fingers, testing them. They responded.
Below, one of the abominations leapt, slamming into the pillar with enough force to send a vibration through the coral. The howls rose again, closer now, more insistent. Whatever brief reprieve the height afforded them, it was clear the creatures had not given up.
And neither, Jahness realized grimly, could they afford to rest for long.
Already, the white sun was sinking toward the horizon, its pallid light stretching long and thin across the reef. The sky had begun to dim in subtle shades, and with it came a familiar, creeping dread. They were not high enough. Not nearly high enough to escape the Dark Sea.
All four of them knew what would happen when the waters rose. They had learned it early, and they had learned it brutally. When the Dark Sea surged in with nightfall, it did not discriminate. Humans, beasts, monsters—anything caught too low was dragged under, dissolved, warped, or erased entirely. Even creatures far stronger than them had vanished screaming beneath its tides.
Yet the Bone Dogs below showed no sign of retreat.
Whether they were too lost in their blood-fueled frenzy to notice the coming flood, or whether they simply did not care, was impossible to tell. Their howls only grew louder, more unhinged, as they hurled themselves again and again against the coral pillar. Right now, tearing apart the four detestable beings above them mattered more than survival. More than instinct. More than fear.
Lina dragged herself toward the edge of the pillar, her arms trembling violently as she crawled across the jagged surface. Every movement looked like it cost her something. Gritting her teeth, she peered down at the pack—seven, maybe eight of the monsters still snapping and circling below. Their bone heads were already scarred from repeated impacts, yet they did not slow.
Her fingers closed around a loose chunk of coral. At once, it began to glow faintly, suffused with a soft silver light that pulsed in time with her breathing. Lina sucked in a breath, drew her arm back as far as she could manage, and hurled it.
The coral left her hand with a thunderous crack, the air shrieking as if torn apart. It crossed the distance in an instant and struck one of the Bone Dogs squarely in its malformed skull. The impact shattered the coral into glittering fragments, but the force carried through. The monster was flung backward with a distorted yelp of pain, its bone formation splitting open with an ugly crack. Thick, fetid black blood seeped from the fracture, staining the coral beneath it.
The creature convulsed, legs twitching, before collapsing limply onto the reef. Whether it was dead or merely concussed, none of them could say.
For half a heartbeat, there was silence.
Then the remaining Bone Dogs erupted.