Glowing energy gathered above. Val was ready to smash it over Tavras’s head, not for rejecting her feelings or anything. If he simply did not return her affections, that would be fine. Instead, he had felt so compelled to insult her and laugh at her as well, and this just made Val too angry to take quietly.

His face turned up, illuminated by the swell of white light above him. His eyes did not widen with any surprise, nor did he seem very amused. Tavras simply said, “Really, Val?”

A swirling disc of water swung from the ocean and intercepted the jagged light that came down for him. Her attack had not been strong enough to cut through his shield of water like it had that one time. Still, she knew that she was strong enough to break through his defenses. It was just water, so she called forth the energy for another attack.

“What?” Tavras opened up his arms to either side. “Do I really deserve to be smited because it is impossible for me to feel romantically towards you? I declined you as respectfully as I could. How thin is your skin?” For some reason, Tavras had the audacity to sound upset.

If he had actually rejected her as politely as he claimed, this would not be an issue. White, hot energy swirled around her fist and she moved forward to slug Tavras in the dead center of his chest. Almost to her surprise, her fist connected against his breastbone. Some small part of her doubted that she had landed that hit entirely by her own virtue. By any chance, did Tavras let her land that blow?

With her enhanced punch, he went flying backwards and splashed far into the surf. His body disappeared by the swell of an oncoming wave.

Of course Tavras had let her hit him because it did not matter to him anyway. In her mindless rage, she had lashed out at him and flung him right into the sea. Even if she had managed to do any damage, he would just heal himself in the water. Worst yet, he was now in his own domain, and Val had no idea how she would get herself out of this one.

Maybe Tavras would forgive her if she stopped now and ran away. Admittedly, she might have gone a little far, trying to attack him like that. Val turned and tried to put as much distance between herself and the ocean as possible. Hardly three steps later and an oncoming wave crashed over her shoulders.

Val somersaulted in the water with the impact. As she fought to keep moving forward, the wave sucked her back. The ocean receded with an unnatural force and dragged her into the body of water. More so than just into the surf, this riptide swept her out into the depth of the sea.

Her cheeks were filled with air like a chipmunk. Val needed this air, because if Tavras intended to keep her under the water, he would do so for however long he saw fit. There was not much that she could do about it, but she tried anyway.

When she tried to swim up, an immense pressure weighed down overhead. Likewise, an equal weight pushed back up against her feet, effectively holding her in place. Her body felt squished as if all of the air was being pressed out of her. Nonetheless, she kept holding her breath for as long as she could.

Against the salt water, she dared to open her eyes. The surroundings seemed to close in around her, too dark even for under the sea at night. The moonlight shimmered along the ragged surface far enough away to decimate any glimmer of hope. How far from shore, how deep into the ocean had Tavras pulled her? The water on her skin felt colder than it ought to.

Soon, the waters were illuminated in a blue haze. Immediately upon being able to see, Val wished that she could be cast back into darkness.

The surroundings had taken on an eerie apparition of a dark blue glow. Much darker than the energized waters in which Tavras used to heal, the deeper coloration told Val that she was in trouble. At the forefront, the light took on an angular form and cut through the water in an unnatural current. Tavras’s eyes and hair glowed at the center of all of this. Not even his pupils could be seen because the entirety of his eyes were nothing but streaks of light.

Something told Val that most people who saw him like this did not live to set foot on land again. Her eyes squeezed shut, and her head tilted up to the surface. Still, she could not move anywhere.

Her shaky exhalations came with bubbles through her nose. After some time of struggling to pack the air from her mouth down into her lungs with some desperate constrictions of her throat, Val reopened her eyes. She needed to see her target if she would make any attempt to set herself free.

Tavras remained drifting a comfortable distance from her, but still too close for her comfort.

In the event that she somehow managed to touch him, it would not be good enough. By some miracle, she might get lucky like the blow that had impaled his shoulder in the past, but even her best attack would never be enough. Tavras was far too powerful with his home field advantage. First things first, Val needed to get out of the water.

Like the time that she had been drowning after the sea serpent's attack, Val imagined rocketing herself to the surface with an expulsion of energy at her feet. This time, she had the ability necessary to generate such power: Divine Judgement. She only needed to convince herself that she did not deserve to be drowned by Tavras in this moment.

Lashing out at him had been an honest mistake. While it was fair for Tavras to up the ante in the same way that she had done with excessive violence, that did not make her receipt of this punishment any more appropriate. Tavras was not wrong per se, but it would be outrageous for her to die for her trespass.

Val had found her angle, so she used all of her desperation and will to live to make herself soar to the surface. The energy expended, and her body jolted nary an inch upwards. Swiftly, she lost this tiny amount of ground gained, as Val was jerked some feet deeper into the ocean.

The entire time, her eyes stayed locked on Tavras. Slowly, leisurely, his body descended in the water to return to an even level with Val.

When his lips opened to speak, his voice cut through the water more crisply than if he had spoken on land. Each syllable of his words hit her ears too precisely and inspired shivers to run down her spine. “Is this your definition of morality: might makes right? I do believe that I have a right to my own feelings and body, but you seem to think otherwise. Do you feel so entitled to me that you expect your affections to be returned unconditionally?” His voice was somewhere between a boom and hiss, most definitely pissed off.

Val could not say anything in response to his question, lest she would part her lips just to have water flood into her mouth. Her words were unlikely to carry over in the same way that Tavras spoke through the water. So, she kept her mouth clamped shut, listened to his words, and waited for this to be over.

"Well, lucky for you that my affections can be earned, with conditions." The edge of anger in his voice died away to be replaced by a more enticing purr. Tavras drew nearer so that two of his fingertips could caress the underside of her jaw. “Val,” he whispered. His face dipped so near to her own. The warmth of his breath even through the water could be felt on her cheek. “This is more along the lines of how you want me, isn't it?” His fingers traced lower down the side of her neck.

Her mind was already fuzzy from the lack of oxygen. Now, too, he made her head spin from the way that he touched her. Despite hating him quite thoroughly at the moment, her body reacted favorably to his touch. If her unconscious physical reaction was ignored, Val truly did not even want to know what she could do to make Tavras like her. Under normal circumstances--namely back on land--such an offer would have piqued her interest. In her present situation, Val just wanted this to be over as quickly as possible. She clenched her jaw tight and continued to fixate her stare on him with her burning eyes.

The glow of Tavras’s eyes lessened enough for Val to gaze into his pupils as they danced about with that lurid light. “If you can become stronger than me, strong enough to do what I cannot, then I will consider a relationship with you.” His hand pulled away from where he had arrived at her collarbone. “You could have all of my love and affection.” Those last few words were enunciated with ample derision. A smug smirk crossed his lips. Tavras seemed quite satisfied with himself, whispering these words of manipulation.

The last of Val’s breath had been used up. Her body spasmed as her lungs screamed for air.

The remnants of Tavras’s anger fell away. The ocean stopped glowing around him, and his voice returned to his usual, good-natured cadence. “I hope that you have learned your lesson. You can have civil discussions and disagreements with people all you like. Never, should you resort to violence merely because you do not see eye to eye with someone. Remember that if you abuse your power and become problematic, I will end you.”

The crushing sensation all around her intensified. Either Tavras hauled her deeper yet into the ocean where the pressure mounted or he generated that sensation artificially by his own powers. He made his point crystal clear: a watery grave would await her if she did not stay in line.

More accurately, she could anticipate a watery grave right now if Tavras did not bring her to the surface at once. The thought of an underwater kiss had flitted through her mind at some point in the past, just like it did now. What if he put his lips to hers and blew some much-needed air into her mouth? She was woozy and delirious in these moments of drowning so her mind conjured up a rather unwanted fantasy in her head. A confusing mixture of good rapport and spiteful disdain filled Val in regards to Tavras. As always, he was her mentor and her friend, so she could only trust that he would not kill her.

The splashing of water sounded around her. Open air touched her skin, and Val tried to take in a deep gulp and coughed out all at once. Water sputtered from her mouth as she also inhaled fresh air. Her throat and chest burned and ached as she recovered.

For some good moments there, she had actually thought that she would die. Val breathed now because Tavras had allowed her to live. While a temporary aversion to him had developed, her mind already began to tumble over what he had said. He had made her a deal, given her an opportunity in which she could make him hers. Val’s heart began to pound a little harder as she considered a future where that monster under the ocean would belong alongside her as a romantic partner. Some wretched fantasy that was, indeed.

For now, she laid here, collapsed on the beach.