[i]Suni.[/i] Hessen walked through piles of scales, and past a half completed breastplate  to reach the mound of blankets in the middle of the room. He put one foot on the top of the pile and shook it. [i]You haven't finished making your armor. We agreed to make for Azoras the day after tomorrow.[/i]

Suni’s head poked out from her haven. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "It's fine. We're just going to say hello to the small fry. I don't need armor if I don't get hit."

[i]Suni...[/i]

"You worry too much, old man." The head disappeared back into the mound.


Two days later Faro led a yawning Suni down to the exit chamber on the fifth floor. The metal doors screamed as they opened, rusted from disuse. Faro touched two fingers to his forehead, then chin and placed his open palm on the front of his left shoulder and bowed. “Safe travels, Arha.”

Suni returned the gesture without the bow, “See you soon, Faro.” The doors screamed shut once more, and the room began to fill with water. She took a large breath as it closed over her head. The pressure in the room increased gradually, collapsing her lungs, until it was equal to that of the ocean outside, and the doors out the city slid open. Hessen was waiting for her, his body snaking around the mountain. She grabbed onto one of his horns and they began the journey north. 

Azoras had a total of five deep mines under their control, located approximately three hundred kilometers to the north of Pale. The mines were too deep to send submarines and were instead operated using unmanned machines controlled at the surface. This meant that all of the Azoras defensive measures were focused on protecting the operating stations there.The five stations were patrolled by three fleets at all times, each one consisting of a warship over five hundred feet long and twenty smaller ships about hundred feet in length each. 

They arrived at twilight, so there was no need to worry about the harsh afternoon sun making it difficult for Suni to see. As they neared the mine site, Hessen dove to a depth of two hundred meters to avoid detection and positioned himself underneath the lead warship. On Suni’s signal, he launched himself from the water, knocking into the side of it. The ship rocked from the blow, sending some of the crew flying overboard. Suni jumped from Hessen’s head, landing on one of ships tall towers. “I am Suni Straov,” she announced, her voice booming across the deck. “Surrender or die.”

As one the ship’s crew raised their guns. Before they could open fire though, Hessen rammed into the ship from below once more, knocking them off balance. A thick wall of water enclosed around the warship, cutting them off from the rest of their fleet. Suni dove off the tower, did one perfect flip, and landed on the top deck. With a swing of her arm, the fish hook spearhead extended out on fibers made from Hessen’s mane and then snapped back into place, cleaving through the seven crew members before they found their feet.

Suni jumped on a railing and slid down to the lower deck. Several bullets tore through her body, but she didn’t seem to notice and soon she was dancing among them. A cackle bubbled from her chest as blood spray stained her white robes and bodies fell around her like petals of a blooming flower. Three blades came at her from different directions. She caught one with her spear, grabbed the wrist of the second with her long limbs and pulled him into the crossfire of the third, and kicked both away into another wave behind them. Someone swung at her from behind, only for Suni to twist at an impossible angle, slicing both him and the person next to him in half. At some point, they stopped attacking, and ran for their lives, caught behind the feral beast hunting them and then abyss of the ocean below them. 

[i]Suni! That’s enough![/i]

She froze. The wall of water came down and she stared at the carnage and trembling forms of the survivors in front of her. Hessen rose from the water, the carnage of the remaining fleet behind him. 

[i]You are injured, and they have lost the will to continue.[/i]

Suni dug her fingers into a wound on her shoulder, fishing out the bullet and flicking it off the side of the ship. Hessen eyed her from his position next to the ship. “Shut up.”

[i]I didn’t say anything.[/i]

“You don’t need to. I know what you’re thinking.”

He retreated back into the water, [i]As long as you finish it before next time.[/i]

Faro arrived twenty minutes later with a small crew of around twenty people. Suni had already made most of the preparations with the crew’s unwilling help, so it did not take them long to turn the vessel around back towards Pale. As they were pulling out, a second fleet appeared to stop them. A jet of high pressure water erupted in front of the lead warship, slicing straight through its metal armor. It made a futile attempt to turn, shearing off the left half of the front hull, before sinking into the depths below. The remaining retinue immediately turned around and fled.