But when his vision returned to him on a blink, Nyx could not make sense of the carnage wrought before him.
Thalos.
Limp.
Sinking as he spiralled away from Kore. Cymareth clenched in rigid fingers, as if he couldn't let go, for the Shallow King's eyes were wrenched wide open. Unseeing.
And his scales…
They danced with the violet arcs of… of electricity.
Heart in his throat, Nyx flexed his tail, shifting. Trying to see, if she?—
She was there.
Suspended in a murky, violet haze.
Kore.
Floating in her watery prison, skin alight and crackling with the residual fingerprints of what she'd done. Those veins of lavender light pulsed beneath her scales.
Nyx moved.
No thought.
Absent any whisper of strategy.
Nothing but a seething mass of pure, unfiltered instinct.
Desperate, ignoring the way the black waters tore at his body. Heedless of the invisible walls peeling his scales off in ribbons or the membranes that were shredded as he moved without finesse, Nyx closed the gap.
Gasping.
Gills flaring as he strained to draw enough oxygen into blood already toxic with nitrogen bubbles. Rising too fast. His ascent violent and sloppy in a way he hadn't been, even when he'd thought she'd escaped.
He couldn't feel the blistering agony.
There was only her.
A chance to claim her.
Shoving great swathes of water aside, he heaved his fluke. Once… twice…
Almost. Nearly close enough to touch her. To claim victory when it had seemed all but certain he'd already lost.
His precious living flame.
Movement flickered in his peripherals.
Thalos—dazed, but recovering. Moving with that terrible grace.
Their eyes met. Just for a moment. And then, with a frigid rage and brewing clarity, Cymareth ignited in Thalos’ fist as the Shallow King cut the water with a speed that sent a chill through Nyxarion's blood.
The promise of death.
But it was too late.
Crashing through the wall of her prison, Nyxarion swept his bride into his arms. His claws locking around her delicate limbs. Cradling what he could so easily crush, Nyxarion shielded her from the current as the Gauntlet collapsed all around them.
