I couldn't sleep after Azarus left…rather
I drifted somewhere between awareness and rest, floating on the edge of consciousness while the palace currents hummed softly around me.
My body lay still on the platform, but my mind refused to settle.
Azarus's words lingered.
The ocean called you back.
The more I thought about it, the less comforting it sounded.
Being chosen by an emperor was already overwhelming.
Being chosen by an entire ocean?
That felt terrifying.
I turned slightly, watching faint strands of glowing plankton drift past the chamber windows.
Night in Oceania was beautiful in a way I still wasn't used to. Above me stretched endless dark water lit by scattered bioluminescent creatures moving like living stars.
They were peaceful because beneath that calm, I could still feel it.
A faint pressure…that's not pain or danger.
Just… awareness, like something far away knew exactly where I was.
I exhaled slowly.
"You're imagining things," I murmured.
