"Sure I can't get you anything?" David asked hesitantly, standing over Sevan's table at the café with no small amount of suspicion on his face. "I mean, you have been here reading that book all day."
"I'm fine." Sevan answered, slightly annoyed, ignoring the dry burning in his throat. It had been almost three days since he had last taken a drink of water, the thought of how greatly the act pained him preventing him from allowing himself to quench the fire. Whatever the dragon had done to him was slowly getting worse. Getting even the smallest amount of water on him felt as though someone was taking a hot brand to his flesh, and showering was by far the worst pain he had ever experienced in his life. In fact the pain was so bad he had nearly broken his resolve and gone to the mermaids for help. But he managed to stop himself, the memories of his past surfacing and bolstering his sense of self once more. "If you wanted me to leave, you could simply ask. I simply did not want to waste a day like today by staying home."
"So you came to the café?" David asked, skeptical now. "Why not go down to the beach?"
Sevan lightly tapped the ancient book before him with one finger and raised an eyebrow. "Not exactly the best idea to expose a book this old to the elements." He answered easily. "Besides, your lovely little establishment is air conditioned."
"If-." David paused and looked around before leaning forward and conspiratorially whispering, "If the others find you here it will cause a scene. Ondina hates you. That isn't good for business, and I would rather them not bring any attention to themselves. Or my café."
Gently closing the book, Sevan heaved a small sigh. "Very well." He said, tucking the book under one arm and rising from his seat. "I will respect your wished and not bring any unfortunate attention to your café. Have a good day, David."
"You too." He said, clearly grateful that Sevan was leaving.
True to his word Sevan left the café. "You know, he might not have had such a bad idea." Sevan murmured, glancing down at his book. Rita had informed him that she had placed some sort of magical protection over them in order to keep them well-preserved. So long as he stayed out of the water a walk along the beach would undoubtedly do him good. Perhaps it would even take some of the edge from the dry burning in his throat.
He leapt lightly over the side of the pier and landed in a crouch on the white sand of the beach. He straightened slowly and took in a deep breath. Thankfully the dragon's effect on him seemed limited to being in contact with water. The smell of the sea was just as lovely as it always had been to him. He began a casual pace across the sand, moving easily across the shifting terrain. Whenever he crossed in front of someone he would apologize politely, though it was more of an auto-response than actual manners. He was just passing in front of an elderly gentleman when a blood-curdling scream had him reaching for his knife hidden at the small of his back. He quickly identified the source of the scream and was slightly relieved when he saw that she was not looking at him. Instead her gaze was cast out over the water. A second worry, a dragon-related one, surfaced as he followed her gaze but there was no relief when he saw that he was mistaken yet again. A large gray fin was slowly circling a young boy of no more than six on a longboard. The boy's eyes were wide enough that they were visible enough for Sevan to see them even from shore. The boy was quite a ways out, at least twenty feet beyond the swells, and the sharks seemed intent on pushing him even farther out. That may have been incorrect as they seemed more intent on bumping him off the board more than moving him. Sevan counted only two, and he had no trouble identifying their breed. Bull sharks. Known man-killers.
"Someone, please help him!" The woman shrieked desperately, wildly attempting to fight off two men as she had tried to run into the sea. "Please help my boy!"
Sevan was many things, many of them not good, but he was not the type of individual who would let another life be extinguished when he could do at least something to help. He cast his eyes around the beach and lit upon the person closest to him, the same elderly gentleman he had been about to pass in front of. He shoved the ancient book into the man's hands and said, "Hold this and do not lose it. If I don't make it back take it to the café on the pier, got it?" He demanded.
"What-? Y-yes." The old man stammered, clearly taken aback by Sevan's abrupt tone.
Sevan was already turning away before the man had answered. He drew the knife from the small of his back and placed it between his teeth. He had done this for two reasons, the first being to obviously make it easier for him to swim. The other was to have something to bite down onto as the water began to burn him. A small groan of pain escaped him as the water rushed eagerly over his ankles, very nearly bringing him to his knees before he had even done something. The sound of a terrified young boy crying out for his mother pushed the pain from his mind and he continued deeper until he was stroking in earnest towards the apex predators and their prey. Sevan was an exceptionally strong swimmer, years and years of ocean research explorations had honed his body into a lean swimmer's form. Relying on his extensive knowledge of sharks and their attack habits Sevan swam right up to the board and pulled himself onto it quickly, placing the knife onto the area in front of him. The shock and relief on the child's face could not have been plainer. "Thank you!" He sobbed, shaking like a leaf in a windstorm.
"Don't thank me yet," Sevan warned, surveying the sharks as they continued their circling. "We aren't clear. We have to get to deeper water."
"Deeper water?" The boy croaked in shock, his eyes widening even further. "Why?! They'll eat us?!"
"And if we try to get to shallow water they might become aggressive and attack." Sevan snapped, thinking even harder. The deeper water idea was the best for a multitude of reasons. There was every chance that they could wait out the sharks, or they would find some other form of prey to occupy themselves. But that hinged on the idea that the young boy would not freak out and somehow aggravate them into a feeding frenzy, and it looked like he wasn't very far from doing just that.
A thought came into Sevan's head at that point, a crazy, reckless, and very likely suicidal thought. But if it worked the boy would, with at least a modicum of luck, be able to make it to shore with ease. "Alright, listen up. You win." Sevan told him soothingly. "Let's paddle to shore, okay?"
"Really?" The boy asked, relief washing over his features though they remained frozen in terror. "They won't attack?"
"No, of course not." Sevan said encouragingly. "I have a plan. You know how to surf, right?"
"I do!" The boy said, an odd note of fierce pride entering his voice.
"Good!" Sevan said, breathing a silent sigh of relief. "Because once we get to the swells you are going to catch the first wave you can and you are going to ride it all the way in. Think you can do that?"
"Yes!" The boy said, nodding hugely.
Sevan watched warily as the sharks began to circle ever closer and swallowed down the nervousness he was beginning to feel in the pit of his stomach. "Alright, here we go." Sevan said, slowly moving his arms through the water, his knees on the board above. The sharks thankfully did not react until they were mere feet from the swells. But just like that they grew aggravated. They cut through the water around the board far faster than they had been, drawing another nervous whimper from the boy. "Remember what I told you?" Sevan whispered urgently, clasping his knife firmly in his hand.
"Yes." The boy whispered back just as urgently.
"Good luck, kid." Sevan told him, falling backwards off the board and using his momentum to kick the boy forward. He prayed silently as he went beneath the water that he had not dislodged the young boy from the board.
Once underwater, he opened his eyes and had exactly half a second to watch as the first of the sharks lunged at him. Thankfully it seemed as though his abrupt entry into the water was surprising to the sharks. The first lunge missed, but the second was not so quick to strike. Sevan turned in the water and promptly lost all of his air as he screamed out, teeth ripping into his calf. His knife went to work immediately, stabbing for the shark's eyes and Ampullae of Lorenzini. If it was vital and he was able to reach it, Sevan tried to hit it even as the teeth sawed through muscle, tendons, and scraped against his bone. It was a valiant effort, but in the end futile. His vision grew dark from blood loss and lack of oxygen, the knife slipping from his fingers even as he tried to keep up his assault. The shark gave one last shake of its head before releasing Sevan. He felt something slam into his back moments later, but he had almost no energy left. Staying conscious and fighting his desire to draw in water took every last drop he had remaining.
But in the end it was for naught. His body floated downwards rather than up, and he simply could not move his limbs. The sharks seemed to have disappeared, but he knew that wouldn't last long. His body slowly hit the sea floor, and the last thing Sevan saw before he gave into his lungs' demands to take a breath was a curious looking golden-orange tail in the water above them. Then… nothing.