The ocean obeyed.
The tide climbed higher, lifting him until the rocks beneath his feet dissolved into froth. Water cradled him, then dragged him under in a violent whirl. Yet Dominic did not drown. He did not even gasp. The sea pressed against his skin, slipped into his lungs, filled him until he was more water than flesh. He opened his eyes beneath the waves and saw—
—not darkness, but light. Blue fire seared through the abyss, illuminating shapes vast and terrible. Serpents with scales of coral coiled in the deep, leviathans that had slumbered since the birth of the world stirred at his passing. Their eyes glowed as they beheld him, but they did not strike. Instead, they bowed, sinking their massive heads into the sand.
Dominic's chest tightened. The water sang, not in words but in understanding: they acknowledged him. They saw in him their master returned.
Above, thunder cracked.
