The Sovereign's Wake sliced through the ink-black waves of the Midnight Ocean with a heavy, rhythmic thud. On the deck, the crew moved with an unnatural, predatory agility. None of them were human, for the old world knew no such fragile flesh. Captain Gideon stood at the helm, his strong Drazhin features glowing faintly under the pale starlight. His skin had subtle, hardened scale-like patterns along his jawline, and his eyes carried the sharp, slitted pupils of a creature born to survive both the land and the treacherous tides.
Azeal stood near the bow, his hands gripping the ironwood railing. Beside him, Vaelora watched the dark waters, her Midnight Daggers secured tightly to her thighs and the Book of Origins resting safely within her leather pack.
"The wind is turning foul," Vaelora murmured, her elven-sharp senses catching a sudden change in the air. "The water beneath us... it's losing its currents."
Suddenly, the ocean went dead silent. The roaring waves flattened into a terrifying, glassy black sheet. From the steering deck, Captain Gideon's slit-pupil eyes widened as he felt the heavy vibration through the ship's starmetal-plated hull.
"Brace yourselves!" Gideon's deep, booming Drazhin roar echoed across the deck. "We've got a sleeper waking up from the trenches!"
The ocean floor seemed to rise. A colossal wave erupted from the deep, lifting the massive warship into the air before slamming it back down into a vortex of glowing green foam. Out of the churning vortex, a monstrous head emerged, so massive it blocked out the stars.
It was Jormungandr—the legendary Sea Dragon.
The creature's body was a mountain of jagged, coral-crusted armor, dripping with a burning, acidic brine. Its eyes were two hollow pools of ancient crimson fire, and as it opened its cavernous jaws, rows of translucent, glowing blue fangs unveiled themselves, releasing a concussive shockwave that shattered the glass lanterns across the deck.
The Sea Dragon let out a deafening, metallic shriek and lunged, its massive snout smashing into the side of the warship.
"Angels of the deep, fire!" Gideon bellowed, his Drazhin claws extending from his fingers as he gripped the wheel with immense, non-human strength to keep the ship from capsizing.
The Drazhin crew moved instantly. They unleashed heavy starmetal harpoons and cosmic cannons, the bright energy blasts slamming into the Dragon's armored hide. Sparks of blue fire and black blood exploded into the sea, but the beast's rage only intensified. Jormungandr coiled its massive body around the ship, its tail rising high into the sky, ready to crush the main mast into splinters.
"Azeal, the tail!" Vaelora shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos.
She didn't wait for him. Darting across the shifting, slippery deck, Vaelora unsheathed her dual Midnight Daggers. With the elite speed of her royal bloodline, she leaped onto the rising coil of the dragon's body as it scraped past the ship's railing. Balancing perfectly on the slippery scales, she sprinted upward toward its weak point—the soft flesh beneath its heavy dorsal fins.
Azeal roared in defiance, drawing the Star Fire Sword. The blade detonated into a brilliant celestial blue light, answering the dark magic of the deep. He leaped onto the lower coils of the beast, driving the burning sword deep into its side. The cosmic heat hissed violently against the cold sea-blood, causing the dragon to thrash in agonizing pain.
High above, the Sea Dragon's tail swung furiously to swat Vaelora off. But she was too quick. She threw herself flat against the scales, driving one starmetal dagger deep into the hide to anchor herself, while using the other to sever the thick, glowing nerve endings near the beast's spine.
The dragon shrieked, its tail losing its strength and crashing harmlessly into the water, missing the main mast by mere inches.
Gideon seized the moment. "Bring the main cannons to bear! Now!" he commanded his crew, his Drazhin eyes locking onto the wound Azeal had torn open.
With a synchronized strike, the crew fired a concentrated volley of starmetal cannonballs directly into the dragon's ruptured chest. The combined force of the cosmic steel, Azeal's burning starlight, and Vaelora's precise strikes proved too much for the ancient titan.
With one final, earth-shaking groan, Jormungandr's massive form collapsed backward into the dark ocean, creating a massive tidal wave that pushed The Sovereign's Wake miles forward into the deep. Vaelora leaped from the falling beast, landing gracefully back on the deck beside Azeal. Captain Gideon walked down from the helm, a rare, booming laugh breaking from his chest as his slitted eyes scanned the glowing green foam. "A fine hunt, true warriors! We have broken the Dragon's gate. Tonight, the sea belongs to us!"