Chapter 26

The opalescent domes of Thalassora shimmer beneath the pressure-stabilized sea, protected by Eaura’s current. The city teems with soft, drifting lights, aquatic flora blooming along glass canals. Shizuku, back in his humanoid form and still dripping with the abyss, walks through the main thoroughfare, the sigil fragment secured in a coral-cased satchel on his back.

BERWICK:
You look like death got bored halfway through eating you.

SHIZUKU:
Death would’ve had to get in line.
The Shinkai Dragon Whale didn’t hold back.

ASCHE:
But you got it?

SHIZUKU:
Yeah.
It wanted me to drown in forgetfulness. Ego-death illusion.
It didn’t work.

ERIS:
You survived a psychic trench trial from a mythical being older than most legends.
So casual.

ALTO (walking over with arms crossed):
I told you not to go alone.
Next time, you’re taking someone.

SHIZUKU:
Next time, you’ll be too busy yelling at Lily to go to bed.

ALTO (flustered):
That is—
Okay fair.

BERWICK (grinning):
So, what now? We go back up? Deliver the sigil fragment to HQ? Or—

EAURA (manifesting behind a veil of current):
Not yet.

The group turns. Eaura of the Waves, tall and fluid, her hair a cascade of ever-moving water, steps forward, unbothered by gravity or light. Her expression is unreadable, but her voice echoes gently.

EAURA:
The Sigil Fragment of the Waves is attuned now… to him.
But the sea remembers all debts.
You’ve passed the trial, Shizuku Mizuyari.
But to carry its power, you must bear its burden.

SHIZUKU:
What kind of burden?

EAURA:
Memories.
The ocean never forgets.
Not yours. Not others’.

ASCHE (to the side):
That sounds vaguely terrifying.

ERIS:
And familiar.

EAURA (gazing into Shizuku):
You will feel others' regrets.
Dream their lives.
Bear their grief.

SHIZUKU (quietly):
Alright.
If that's the price—
I accept it.

Eaura nods once. Her body turns into mist and returns to the waters, vanishing into a pulse that ripples through the city’s glass foundations. The city lights dim momentarily, then brighten again as though exhaling.

Alto (nudging Shizuku):
You're such a magnet for martyrdom, you know that?

SHIZUKU:
Yeah.
I blame you. You make surviving worth it.

BERWICK (smirking):
Alright lovebirds. Let’s get back to HQ.

Before Eris starts lecturing us about the symbolic meaning of pressure again.

ERIS:
You joke, but water pressure as a metaphor for existential—

ASCHE:
Nope. Shut it. We’re done here.

The five captains walk toward the exit portal, the fragment glowing faintly between Shizuku’s shoulder blades. Thalassora watches silently, the ocean whispering in languages no one remembers anymore.