The water around Lapis shimmered with an eerie calm as he lay half-buried among the coral, the colors shifting like whispers of forgotten dreams. Eli watched from a distance, sensing the storm beneath the surface—the moments when the madness gave way, if only for a breath, to something raw and broken.

  Suddenly, Lapis shuddered, claws digging into the rocky floor as his eyes rolled back. A deep, ragged breath escaped him, and in the silence, Eli heard it: a soft, broken whisper carried on the tide.

  “Fire... flames... drowning...”

  Lapis’s voice cracked, and the shimmering colors around him flickered like a dying flame. Eli took a cautious step forward, heart pounding, but the sea creature’s gaze was lost in some distant pain.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Images flickered in Lapis’s mind—faces obscured by smoke, frantic hands reaching out through raging water, a boat breaking apart beneath a burning sky. And then, a sudden, sharp pain—a clash of rock against head—followed by darkness.

  Eli knelt by the coral, voice gentle and steady. “What happened, Lapis? Why do you carry this pain?”

  For a moment, the creature’s fierce exterior faltered, and he whispered, “I tried to save them... but I was too late. I failed.”

  The ocean seemed to hold its breath, as if mourning with him.

  Eli reached out, fingertips brushing the rough scales near Lapis’s jaw. “You didn’t fail me.”

  Lapis’s wild eyes met Eli’s, flickering with a fragile hope, before the madness pulled him back under once more.

  But Eli stayed. He would stay. Until Lapis could face the depths of his memories—and perhaps, find peace beneath the bubbles.