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For a long while, all she saw were waves rolling before they crashed. She thumbed the large shell in her hands, gripping onto it for dear life. She’d obtained a new item for herself.

Other than the clothes she wore and the spare set she had in her bag, she had nothing else. Nothing that belonged toher.At least, not anymore.

Her bedroom was filled with everything a young woman could want, but it’d been so long since she’d seen it. She felt so separated from it and from who she’d been since she last slept in her bedroom.

Her reflection would feel wrong if she saw it again.

Linh groaned and palmed her face.I wish these thoughts would stop.She was trying so, so hard to push positivity to the forefront of her mind, but she couldn’t seem to stop from spiralling.

Just smile, Linh.Just grin and bear it.

Thankfully, Nathair popped out of the water with his skull already facing her. A fish wiggled in his grasp, and he pointed at it with his chest puffed, obviously prideful that he’d caught it.

She threw her arm into the air with a thumbs up, trying to give him the best version of a celebration despite the distance.Whatever keeps him happy.A happy Duskwalker was surely a good thing.

Nathair slithered out of the water, and droplets sparkled as they dripped off his entire body. He crossed the sand, sluggish as if his weight on land made him slow.

Linh just waited.

A frown marred her features when he looked up at the sun as if to note its location, only to come to an utter standstill most of theway to her. Her brows drew together tighter when he just stared at the sky for quite a few minutes.

He’d frozen, as if he’d gone into some kind of trance.

His orbs turned white, and the fish fell from his grasp to land on the sand. Nathair opened his maw.

“The sun rises again...”he said, instantly making heat rush out of her veins and a crawl of dread trickle down her spine.

The voice was masculine, lacking any depth or bass she had expected from a creature such as him. It soundedhuman.

“A new day has come,”the voice continued, just as Nathair’s mouth parted further and his head tilted back more.“The shadows fade, and God’s protective light shines upon us again. Herald the light.”

“N-Nathair?” Linh stuttered, stepping forward hesitantly.

“He cleanses the world of human sin.”He tipped his skull down slowly, and twisted his head to the side in an eerie fashion.“He sends the Demons to cleanse us of evil. Forgive us, oh Lord, we see your deliverance.”

Her heart pounded against her ribs as she found what he was saying and his movements unsettling. Even more so when his head snapped into its normal positioning.

“You’re scaring me,” she admitted.

To make matters worse, it sounded as if he was speaking like a preacher of the past. Humanity had long felt like the old God had turned his back on them. Over three hundred years of watching their kind dwindling into the mere thousands had that effect on people.

“Repent, my children.”

Her stomach twisted, and her shaking hands cupped it in an attempt to settle it.

“Repent and stay in his light!”

A harrowing, bone-chilling roar vibrated her entire being, just as Nathair dived. Lying on the ground, he frantically bashed his head against the sand.

With a gasp, she watched in horror as he writhed and hissed. Sand flicked in harsh waves as he dug and clawed at it.

Then a language she’d never heard before came from his maw. The voice was feminine, leading her to believe it may be a woman. She shouted, her voice filled with anger rather than terror.

All the while, Nathair bashed his head against the sand. He twisted it, squirmed, as if trying to bury his skull. His tail swiped in every direction, wrapping around itself in loops and figure eights.

Oh my gosh! What do I do?Did she go over there, or was that stupid and dangerous?

Her eyes crinkled when she thought she could hear whimpers and whines beneath the many hisses he gave. A new man’s voice trickled in, the language foreign but different from the first.