The sea hissed like a living wound, spray lashing the shore where broken barricades clung stubbornly to their posts. The palisades were cracked, splintered, half-swallowed by the tide, yet still they stood a mirror of the guardians themselves.

Salt stung the air. Smoke from ruined homes curled above the village, braided with the tang of brine and blood. The horizon seethed, waves rising and falling in rhythms too precise to be nature's alone, as though the sea itself had become a war drum.

Khael stood at the forward line, blade drawn, his shoulders squared though fatigue weighed on him. His breathing was steady, forced steady, because weakness had no place here. His dragon instinct stirred deep inside, whispering truths he didn't want to hear, the threat is not over, the tide is not done, Thal'ryx's shadow has not lifted.

Captain Roan limped closer, blood streaking his cheek, his armor cracked but his back unbowed. The man's voice was rough, frayed, but still firm.

"I'm sorry, young ones… you're still stuck here protecting the sea. This fight should never have been yours."

Khael shook his head, tightening his grip. His eyes, bright and unyielding, held the same rhythm as the crashing waves.

"No, don't be sorry. This is our mission. We protect Pearlbay until the waves calm. Only then do we leave. No matter how long the tide stays against us, as long as we're here, this village will stand."

The words were steady, but the strain beneath them was clear. His arm trembled faintly at his side, a betrayal only someone watching closely would catch.

Ceyla, arms folded tight across her chest, hair plastered to her cheeks by salt wind, let out a sharp scoff.

"Heh. And you're going to relax too, Mr. Hotshot."

Khael blinked, startled by the sudden jab. He turned, caught off-guard.

"Ceyla—"

She stepped forward, eyes narrowing, her voice cutting like steel sharpened against stone.

"Are you trying to kill yourself or what?"

Her words froze him more than any blade could. His chest tightened.

"Uh… so… sorry?" The answer slipped from him unguarded, raw, almost boyish.

But Ceyla didn't let him off. Her glare was fierce, her voice louder than the crashing waves.

"Don't show off. You're not invincible. You think just because you're the Dragon Knight you need to shoulder everything alone? Newsflash— you don't. That's why we're here. That's why I'm here. So stop acting like some martyr and take a damn breath."

For a moment the storm outside seemed to echo her fury. Khael faltered, his certainty cracking beneath her words. His lips parted, voice stumbling, uncertain.

"No, I… I didn't…"

The silence that followed was broken by Captain Roan's rough chuckle.

"Sounds like a couple fight to me."

Ceyla's face ignited crimson, her hands flailing as if she could swat the words from the air.

"WHO SAID COUPLE?! We are not a couple!!!"

A ripple of laughter spread among the battered guardians stationed nearby. Even as they wiped blood and seawater from their brows, even as their bodies sagged with exhaustion, a moment of warmth cracked through the storm. For a heartbeat, they weren't soldiers, weren't protectors of a half-drowned village, they were simply people.

But the waves outside didn't rest.

The ocean bellowed again, deeper, angrier. A massive shadow drifted beneath the surface, the remnants of Thal'ryx's spawn still prowling restless, leaderless, yet driven by the echo of their master's rage.

Khael felt it before he saw it, the thrum in his bones. He tightened his grip on his blade and exhaled slowly.

"Rest or not… we're not done yet."

The guardians shifted, bracing themselves. Weapons scraped against shields, boots sank deeper into the sodden ground. The tide roared, and the broken docks quivered as if bracing for another collapse.

Footsteps hurried across the ruined hall behind them. Kaen jogged up first, twin shortblades dripping saltwater, his hair plastered to his brow. Juno was at his side, uniform torn but his presence steady, his fists clenched with a quiet readiness. Lira followed close, her hands still glowing faintly as she mended the wound of a fallen guardian, her expression lined with exhaustion but eyes steady.

Kaen's gaze darted around, scanning the group, then hardened.

"Where's Rael?"

Before anyone could answer, a voice cut from the shadows of the ruined hall.

"I'm here, you idiot."

Rael stepped forward, into the salt-streaked light. His Lumen Blade gleamed with its pale pearl radiance but it wasn't the weapon that seized their attention. It was his eyes.

Dark. Burning. A storm caged behind them.

The calm Rael they knew had always been composed, his temper buried beneath a layer of stillness. But now? His gaze was sharp as broken glass, every flicker of his stare carrying the weight of something unseen.

Kaen raised a brow, ready to mock, but Juno caught the shift first. He gave a subtle shake of his head.

"Not now," his eyes seemed to say.

Lira's healer's heart tugged at her, sensing the turbulence beneath Rael's skin, but even she stayed silent. There would be time later. Maybe.

For now, the waves demanded their attention.

Captain Roan spat into the sand, raising his battered sword.

"Save the talking for after. Here they come again."

Khael moved to the front line, blade lifted, the others fanning around him, Kaen sharp and ready at his right, Juno steady as iron at his left, Lira hanging back with glowing hands, Ceyla near enough to strike or scold if needed, Rael a dark star at the edge of their circle.

The sea split open with a roar. From the foam, shapes crawled ashore slick scales, spined limbs, eyes glowing like lanterns drowned beneath black water. Sea-fiends, malformed echoes of Thal'ryx's brood, dragged themselves across shattered docks, shrieking with hunger.

The ground trembled with their weight.

The villagers, huddled behind barricades, whispered prayers too soft to carry above the surf. The guardians had become their only wall, their only hope, their only proof that Pearlbay would not sink.

Khael lifted his blade, his voice carrying over the sea's roar.

"Hold the line! No step back!"

Rael's jaw tightened. His grip on the Lumen Blade was white-knuckled, his gaze fixed on the creatures, but beneath that focus something else seethed, a private war, invisible to the others. His brother's laughter still echoed in his mind. The shard in his pocket hummed faintly, as though reminding him it existed.

He did not blink. He did not breathe. He only whispered to himself:

"I won't let them touch this village again."

The tide surged. The monsters lunged.

And together, the guardians charged

steel, light, fury, and willpower crashing against the endless sea.

To be continue

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