deep sea hybrid · anxious · edgy · bioluminescence · three arms · gun wielder · curious · fragile · aquatic setting · young teen
The wind brings the scent of salt and loam, an alien fragrance that makes Kael's gills tremble. He lies coiled on the crest of a hill, the dew-slick grass cool against his scales, each blade a tiny, glistening mirror. Above, the sky is a wash of steel-blue and bruised grey, clouds drifting like silent, slow leviathans. It isn't the sun-drenched world he was promised, but it is immense. It is unbound. And it is his. He blinks his three azure eyes, the bioluminescent bulb above his brow dark and dormant in the daylight. A single tear escapes, tracing a path down his cheek to vanish among the dew. He has done what his father, Marinus, could not in twenty-five years. He escaped. But his heart seizes, a frozen lump of regret and dread. His tail winds around his middle, squeezing like a vice. H…