[cinder]

He was drowning again. The last thing he remembered was sitting in the beginnings of a new teahouse, tasting his own brews when the world suddenly went dark around him. Then it went cold and his senses dulled the way they do when one goes underwater. He gasped out of fear and his nostrils and lungs filled with ocean water by the way it gagged his tongue when it hit. He was drowning again. He couldn't breathe. But he couldn't die either.

The panic seemed to last for ages before he gave up. Every struggle of his body moved too slowly until he stopped moving at all, sinking deep into whatever depths had taken him. He opened his eyes at last and was met with a black blue. Light refracted through slow waves in a way that reminded him of the time he had gone swimming at night as a child. He was… hovering. Suspended in the depths of open ocean. Alone.

Then bubbles rapidly surrounded him like a large whale blowing its net to startle fish. With shocking force they rushed over him, knocking him aside in the water. They never broke the surface though, twisting like a vortex around him until they vaguely took a shape.

The shape of a giant dragon's head, like an ocean spirit. It did not move but when a deep voice thundered beneath the water Kai knew it was from him. The words shook through Kai's chest, demanding but patient. If only… just.

"이무기… 수영해. 일어나서 수영해."
Imugi… swim. Wake up and swim.

Then the dragon's head lunged forward with great mouth open as if it were going to devour him. Kai flinched and curled up in the waves, bracing against death but death was not what came. Instead he felt like electricity jolted through him, setting his nerves on fire throughout his entire body. He writhed and arched his back, then the command pushed him. He swam upward, suddenly desperate.

When he broke the surface, he gasped sharply…

…. And sat up board straight in a bed he did not recognize, surrounded by people he did not know at first. His hair was a wild mess, sticking to clammy skin, and he had been dressed down to only his bottom layer. Clutching at his bare chest as he gasped for air he thought he had been denied, he looked around wildly.

"He's awake," a young woman to his left said patiently.

"Good. Go fetch one of the healers, let them know," said another with a stern nod.

"Wh-where am I?" Kai managed to choke out breathlessly, his eyes wide as the first nurse came forward to check him over.

She was smiling warmly at least. "No worries, luv. You're here in Evervale. Miss Qheela brought you in, we were worried you were quite sick. Remember me, do ya?"

He didn't, though her vivid red hair was familiar.

His look must have betrayed him and she giggled but let him be, a hand pressed to his brow. A nod of approval was given and she withdrew with a kick of her tongue. "Is there anything I can do for you luv?"

Still disoriented, Kai looked around warily. Then his brain kicked in sluggishly. "Ah. You know Brea?" He asked quietly.

The woman nodded with certainty.

"May I… Can I go speak with her?"

She hesitated, pursing her lips. "She is busy and you should not leave for some time. I will send word, perhaps she can visit. If not, you will have to wait until you're steady on your feet."

The sternness of her tone was not to be argued with, so Kai nodded weakly and bent forward in some semblance of a bow. Then he sank back down into the bed, exhaustion threatening to drag him under again.

Imugi…?

[cinder]

The scale felt like a living thing in his hand as he held it. This was the first thing Kai noticed as he drew the golden trinket - no, artifact - from the pouch he had so delicately placed it in when he had first found it. It had been tucked away in some forgotten, dusty archive behind the likes of grotesque half-dead things. Forgotten. Lost. It had been what had lured him deep into the catacombs, following a low pitched thrum that pulsed through him like a second heartbeat. Even as he had approached it and drawn it into a silken pouch for later investigation it had called to him.

It felt like a living thing as he held it there cradled in his hand, having just stepped from the depths of Underhill. He was weary and agitated - his skin felt like it was crawling with a million ants the way skin did when one's leg fell asleep - but at least he had been minutely successful in this hunt. Leaning against the tree he brushed a thumb over the scale, studying it.

Draconic, it shone with a gleam that no bit of gold metal could ever hope to achieve. It was almost glowing the way the sun hit it just right and lit up the strange engravings carved deep into one side. He didn't understand the engravings. They looked distantly familiar, a style that should have been readable to him... But they were not and he could only speculate on their meaning.  What fascinated him most though was the way the scale felt to him. It pulsed. A slow, breathing, living heartbeat. It was tied to something important and it begged him to understand.

He felt the sudden surge just a moment too late. Lost in his fascination of the strange artifact Kai did not notice the sudden way the hair upon his arms stood on end. The earth crackled and all he remembered a split second before the explosion were two things. The scale suddenly growing hot on his palm and the sharp scent of ozone that burned his nose.

The next thing he knew his ears were ringing and he was briefly blinded by a white light.

Then blackness.

When he came to again, it was Qheela at his side. It was always her at his side when he got in the way of things it seemed. Short moments later and other hands were on him. Ethan, he registered after too long. Ethan and those strange lenses that hid any sort of readable feature. He didn't like those lenses. The smile beneath them often made up for it though.

All that followed was a blur as they tried to bring him back to awareness. His right arm was on fire if the sensation was anything to go by and looking to it told a bitter tale as spiderwebbing burns ran up it to his chest. His hand was bleeding, Qheela tended to it. Why was it bleeding? He wondered faintly.

Then he saw the scale. It had snapped right in half almost perfectly and the strange sheen had faded away. One edge of the thick scale had dug into his palm when his body had seized up with the sudden bolt of lightning that had struck him. And the tree he'd been leaning on was on fire. Odd.

* * *

It was late in the night when he came to again after Qheela had gotten him to the healer's. They had seen to his wounds and hers too - a stray branch had done its damage from what he had seen - and he had fallen into a deep sleep shortly after. The building was silent except for the light steps of healers and assistants as they tended to the few others around. Kai stirred and then stilled so as not to attract attention. He opened his eyes to the darkness and stared upward wordlessly.

     That was stupid.

Ethan's voice filtered unwillingly through his mind and Kai scowled at nothing. He flexed his right arm. It still hurt but the burning had subsided. The burns were healing at remarkable speed considering it had literally rejected Qheela's attempts initially. He slid his gaze down and stared at his palm where the scorch marks were the worst.

     That was stupid.

Maybe Ethan was right. Kai hadn't been in his right mind entirely since the encounter with the young dragons deep in Underhill. He had felt tipped off balance and unable to right himself, one continuous metaphorical stumble and it had led to nearly killing him. Hurting Qheela. He kept putting Qheela and Ethan in danger because they kept... appearing at his side.

     Stupid.

Yet he knew with a sickening realization and awareness that he couldn't put whatever this was he was blindly chasing aside. Already he knew what his next move was as he looked to where the broken scale with its strange engravings. He had a letter to write. With a sigh he pushed up to a sit and immediately there was a young woman at his side. Ah. The red-head. She was tisking her tongue at him.

A quiet request had him with a small writing table and a bit of parchment. Dipping a quill delicately into the ink, he paused in consideration and then began writing with a flawless penmanship.

---

To the Lord Aradel,

I hope all is well old friend. I fear this is not a letter of casual affair as I have need of your astute expertise in all things magical. Please find me in Evervale at your earliest convenience or send word where we may meet.

Your Friend,

Admiral Yi