The sea was unusually still as Eli swam beside Lapis, the eerie quiet broken only by the faint hum of water currents. Ahead, the Memory Coral rose like a silent cathedral beneath the waves—ancient, glowing faintly with an otherworldly light that pulsed softly in the darkness.

  Lapis moved closer to the coral, his claws gently brushing against its delicate, branching fingers. Eli followed, mesmerized by the way the coral shimmered in colors that shifted from soft blues to fiery oranges—like memories trapped in stone.

  “This coral,” Lapis rasped, “it holds the stories of the ocean. Every branch a memory, every color a feeling...”

  Eli reached out hesitantly, letting his fingers graze the cool, textured surface. “Can it hold our stories too?” he asked softly.

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  Lapis’s eyes flickered, no longer wild but touched with something almost like hope. “Maybe... if you let it.”

  They settled beside the coral, the glow wrapping around them like a protective shroud. Eli watched as Lapis traced his claws along the coral’s curves, almost reverently, as if seeking some connection between the coral’s eternal patience and his own fractured mind.

  “For so long,” Lapis murmured, “I’ve been drowning in silence and shadow. But this—” He gestured at the coral’s luminous glow. “This remembers. This never forgets. Maybe... maybe if I let the coral hold my pain, I can find a way to breathe again.”

  Eli smiled gently, squeezing Lapis’s scaled hand. “You don’t have to hold it alone anymore.”

  The Memory Coral pulsed brighter, bathing them both in a gentle light, a silent promise between two unlikely companions—a promise that even in the darkest depths, healing could begin.