Mason stared at the amber stones in his taloned hands as he trudged through the sand. They gleamed and glistened like dangerous but pretty marbles. Most were the size of his thumb, and he had four in each hand. According to Baudron, there were hundreds, perhaps thousands more inside the hill. It didn't matter. They couldn't bring more than they could hold.

I really should get some way to store things. Mason thought, imagining hoarding food and mana-stones with him so he didn't have to hunt all the time.

"Mason! Come quickly!" Baudron's voice echoed back down from the top of the hill. As always, he had already clambered up.

Mason looked up at the odd sight of the large brown dragon waving at him from the top of a white sandy dune. If somebody had told him that would happen a year earlier, he... he blinked at the thought and laughed hollowly. He might have believed it!

Stomping up, he wondered what it was this time. His taloned hands clenched as he sped up.

When he reached the top of the hill, he found Baudron gazing in the distance beyond it. Instead of more dunes, the white sand below them spilled out on a bed of cracked mud that stretched towards the horizon. Small green specks showed the first plant life he had seen since heading into the desert. The wind that howled across the dunes blasted against Mason's face, and he smelled the damp and oppressive smell of water in the air.

"This must be the area bordering the Hounds eye!" Baudron said with a grin, looking to the dried out world ahead of them as if he saw an oasis. Without waiting for a queue, he spread his wings and glided down. Although not fully regrown, his wingspread already dwarfed that of Mason.

Looking at the immense wings and then the wasteland beyond the desert, Mason sighed. For some reason, he felt like he was getting further and further away from finding Jake and the others with every step he took. Pushing the depressed thoughts away, he shook himself and jumped after Baudron.

I hope we are done with the walking soon, he thought, numbly gazing across the seemingly infinite stretch of cracked mud.

--

Tir crooned deep in her chest as she gorged herself on a piece of flesh that weighed more than she did. Sitting beside her, Jake looked at the enormous influx of blue-energy particles that funneled into her tiny body.

Anticipation was building inside him, but he didn't allow himself to explore the thoughts that started bubbling up in his mind. If the idea proved wrong, he would just be getting his hopes up for nothing. With a weary smile, he sliced the fish carcass in front of him and stuffed another arm-sized piece in his maw, swallowing it whole.

Feeling the meat slide down his throat, Jake looked around. A landscape of many-colored shells and hot vents spread out around him, illuminated by so many blue-energy particles that if he didn't have the ability to ignore them, they would have blocked his vision like a snowstorm.

The sounds in this part of the sea were soft and muted; the pops of air bubbles from the hot vents, mixed with the ticking and scuttling of the crustaceans. Together it created a gentle and soothing background noise.

The pressure from his instincts to rush on was less than it had been in weeks, perhaps months, and with a full stomach, his mind was clear. It reminded him of the feeling he had when changing the water particles to ice, and as his mind wandered, he realized he had been feeling like this more and more as of late. The constant pressure from the goblins and the urge from his instincts had covered it up, but now that he had the time to sit, he realized it fully.

A soft burp distracted him. Tir floated on her back, her bulging stomach shivering on occasion, and a sliver of meat stuck half-forgotten from her mouth. With a grin, Jake picked it away, and she looked at him with her heavylidded, half-closed eyes.

"Come, little one, it's time for you to rest. Climb on and hold tight."

Tir struggled upright in the water, looking at him as if he had asked something far too complicated. With a broad smile, Jake grabbed her and placed her on his neck. He waited until he felt her grab hold of his frills. Taking another look at the fish carcasses, Jake shoveled down the remaining meat in five or six large bites.

He shot up and forward through the water with a powerful wave of his tail, leaving the fish's remains on the enormous blue shell.

He dodged around large monstrous fish and giant squids as he traveled in the direction his instinct compass told him he had to go. The crustaceans below looked up at his passing sometimes, and one scuttled after him for a short while, snapping at the water.

The shell-covered floor continued for a long time, and as he continued onward listening to Tir's soft sleeping sounds, Jake wondered how long he would be able to continue without rest. He wasn't tired yet, but he was starting to feel weary. As his mind wandered off, he realized the crustaceans below were acting odd.

Some huddled together, their backs interlocked and their claws outward. Others hid below shells or dug down in the mud, leaving only a patch of muddled earth. Feeling his frills stiffen, Jake swirled around in the water. The giant squids, the whales, and the monstrous many eyes fish were gone, having left without him noticing. He just saw how the last whale disappeared up through the shimmering barrier and into the darker, colder water above.

There wasn't anything around yet, but Jake did notice a soft purring sound like an engine running in free. He didn't know when the sound had started, but it was getting louder. It was almost impossible to pinpoint where it came from, and after a second, Jake knew he had to leave. He shot up through the water after the whale. If those whales thought they could get away up there, he should be able to. Even if he had no idea what was coming, it probably wasn't anything good. So far, nothing had been.

As he shot through the barrier, the cold water above it welcomed him like an old friend. His mind cleared up, the weariness disappearing within moments. Tir grumbled from his back as she woke up, shivering softly. Everything below the barrier was foggy and fuzzy, and the buzzing sound so muffled he could barely hear it.

Perhaps nothing is-

The water current around him changed slightly, and Jake instinctively propelled himself forward with his powerful tail, shooting through the water. Behind him, something snapped shut, a rumbling explosion of water pressure pushing in his back. Swimming forward as fast as he could, Jake took a glance behind and almost wished he hadn't. Ten giant snake-like heads with burning red eyes stared at him above gaping maws filled with white teeth the size of his tail.

As he watched in a daze, the heads shot forward.

"Shit!" Flapping like crazy, Jake dodged down, barely dropping below the freight train sized head that shot through the water where he just was, jaws snapping closed and creating pockets of watery explosions. Shooting forward, he looked again and could now make out a shadowy form behind the heads. A sudden image of a frogfish being hunted by a shark popped in his head, and he quickly swam straight up. The water flow changed again as something massive changed course, following him.

Tir screamed from his back, a primal sound that seemed a part challenge, part plea.

The only thing in Jake's mind was the hope that the whale knew what it was doing. Looking behind, he saw the enormous Hydra close in, the red lidless eyes hungrily staring at him. Freaking out, he drew in the mana from all around him, the small particles surging towards him as he changed them to ice. The clearheadedness instantly dispelled the surging fear, and his mind began proposing ideas.

Jake concentrated best he could, and a massive block of ice formed straight ahead of him, the edges expanding outwards like an inkblot on a paper. There was a hole in the middle, big enough for him but too small for the Hydra. As he rushed through, he prayed the ice would be strong enough.

As he shot out of the other end, loud cracking and tearing came from behind him. Without stopping, he looked behind at the enormous ice block. It shattered like an ice cube on concrete as the massive Hydra shot through without slowing.

Although the ice didn't stop it, Jake quickly realized something, and he created another much thinner film of ice in the water ahead of him. This time he tried his best to make it foggy, and a second later, he shot through a small hole in a white-blue sheet in the water. As soon as he was out, he changed course, surging up at another angle.

The sheet of ice snapped, and the Hydra shot through, heading in the same direction Jake had been going in before. Lacking its target, it slowed, the many heads swirling around searching for their target. They quickly spotted Jake.

Good- this will work. The calm thought came as Jake quickly summoned more ice, and a maze of reflective ice sheets grew all around him. He shot through the nearest one, changing course but this time creating more ice sheets behind him.

The sound of shattering ice accompanied an angry growl that caused the water to vibrate. Jake ignored it as ideas played through his mind. He felt the direction his instincts told him to, down and further forward. Quickly he created more and more ice as he changed course. Angling down towards his goal, he made ice sheets all around him, turned in different ways.

Moments later, he heard ice sheets crack, but not those right behind him. The sound was somewhere behind, and the next scream was even further away. As he swam as fast as he could, he heard a last, angry roar. It came from far above him, and tired, he stopped creating ice, focussing on fleeing.

Hours later, he reached the shimmering barrier above the seabed. Passing through, he saw that the crustaceans were behaving normally again. He released the icy state of mind, the silvery-white energy particles flowing out of him and changing back to deep blue. With it came a wave of fatigue and hunger. He groaned, the sound echoing far in the water, and a scared query came from Tir. With a soft nudge of his nose, he calmed her before looking around. There weren't any blue fish, but a black six-eyed one was hunting a squid not too far away. Without waiting, Jake surged forward and towards it. Halfway there, the fish turned, its shining eyes blinking before it turned and fled.

Instinctively, Jake summoned the ice, his stomach growling in protest. An icy prison formed in front of the fish. It tried to swim around it, but more thin bars of ice blocked its path, and a second later, Jake slammed into it, his sharp teeth slicing open its belly. The fight was over within seconds, and Jake released the ice as he swallowed bite after bite of dark flesh.

The fish appeared to be dark grey all through, he thought absentmindedly. Then a stabbing pain came from his stomach, and he gagged. A second later, it happened again, and he drifted away from the carcass. Poison? The thought barely made it through the fog that grew in his mind, and a second later, all he knew was a blurry, hazy pain. Through it all, a lingering fear made him swim forward, slow, and unsteadily.

He had no idea how long he swam, but at one point, he realized something was hovering in the water in front of him. Squinting through the white haze, he could only make out a blueish shape much bigger than him. Danger? He tried to turn, but something was holding him in place. Then, he heard a deep, murmuring voice.

"Don't worry, youngborn. You are safe now. I will escort you to Dragoria, where the healers can fix you. Now, sleep..." A wave of energy and a desire to sleep accompanied the last words. It was so strong, the last thing Jake heard was a soft keening howl from Tir and the return of the voice. Slow and drawling.

"Oh my! A nestling!"