Chapter 383: Coast to coast

Sophie was still smiling wide, her confusion evident as she held the swimwear in her hands. “Okay, I’m happy about this, but what exactly brought this on?”

Noah’s grin was infectious as he adjusted the bag on his shoulder. “Apparently there’s a beach here. And I’ve… well, I’ve never actually been to one.”

Sophie’s smile softened with understanding. Growing up in various EDF facilities and training academies didn’t exactly leave room for beach vacations. “I figured as much, but Noah, how are we even going to manage this? We don’t have any money or whatever currency they use for transactions here.”

That’s when Sophie’s assigned guard, a tall man with kind eyes named Vorten, stepped forward with a respectful bow. “If I may, Miss Reign, as royal escorts, we’ve been provided with sufficient resources to cater to any needs you might have during your stay.”

Sera, Noah’s petite guard who had been quietly observing the conversation, nodded enthusiastically. “The palace ensures all guests can enjoy themselves without concern for expenses. It would be our honor to accompany you to the coastal district.”

Noah looked between the two guards, then at Sophie. “Well, that settles it then. Beach day it is.”

The journey to the coast was unlike anything they’d experienced. Their transport glided smoothly through the city’s upper levels, giving them a bird’s eye view of the energy streams that flowed like luminous rivers through the urban landscape. As they descended toward the coastal district, the air grew warmer and carried the familiar scent of salt water.

“It smells just like Earth’s oceans,” Sophie remarked, leaning toward the transport’s window.

“The mineral composition is remarkably similar,” Vorten explained as they disembarked. “Though our seas carry trace amounts of void energy, which gives the water certain… unique properties.”

The beach stretched before them like something from a vacation brochure, if vacation brochures existed for alien worlds. The sand was a soft golden color that seemed to shimmer slightly in the planet’s ambient light, and the water was the most perfect shade of turquoise Noah had ever seen. What immediately caught their attention, however, were the other beachgoers.

People noticed Vorten and Sera immediately—their palace uniforms marking them as royal escorts—and the recognition rippled through the crowd like a gentle wave. But instead of the formal deference they might have expected, the response was warm and welcoming.

“Palace guests!” called out a woman lounging under a parasol that seemed to adjust its angle automatically to follow the sun. “Welcome to Raiju’s finest beach!”

“First time here?” asked a man who was grilling what looked remarkably like hamburgers at a beachside barbecue setup. “You picked a perfect day for it!”

Noah was fascinated by everything. The water felt exactly like Earth’s oceans, perhaps even cleaner and more refreshing. But it was the wildlife that truly amazed him. Creatures that looked like a cross between dolphins and small whales swam close to the shore, allowing children and adults alike to ride on their backs. Their skin shimmered with the same soft bioluminescence as the city’s energy systems.

“Those are kelari,” Sera explained, watching Noah’s amazement. “They’re completely docile and love interacting with people. Would you like to try riding one?”

Before Noah could answer, Sophie was already pulling him toward the water. “Come on, when are we going to get another chance like this?”

The next few hours passed in a blur of activity that felt almost surreal after months of military training and combat. They rode the kelari, which moved through the water with gentle grace and seemed to understand exactly what their riders wanted. There were surfers catching waves on boards that appeared to be powered by small beast cores, allowing them to perform maneuvers that defied physics. Food vendors sold barbecued fish that tasted remarkably like Earth cuisine, and sweet treats that were completely alien but absolutely delicious.

Noah found himself constantly running back to the water, his laughter carrying across the beach as he discovered the simple joy of diving into waves without having to worry about combat or strategy or survival. Sophie watched him with a mixture of affection and amusement, realizing she was seeing a side of Noah that the military had never allowed to surface.

“He’s like a completely different person,” she remarked to Sera during one of Noah’s extended water sessions.

“The ocean has that effect on people,” Sera replied with a gentle smile. “It reminds us that there’s beauty in the universe worth protecting.”

The afternoon sun was beginning to cast longer shadows across the beach when the tranquil atmosphere shattered without warning. Noah was floating on his back, letting the gentle waves carry him, when the water around him suddenly began to churn.

Something massive breached the surface about fifty meters from shore. At first, Noah thought it might be a larger version of the kelari, but as more of the creature emerged, his blood ran cold. The beast was serpentine, with scales that gleamed like black steel and eyes that burned with predatory intelligence. What they could see was easily thirty feet long, and Noah had the sinking feeling that most of the creature was still beneath the water.

Panic erupted across the beach as people scrambled away from the water’s edge. The coastal guards—who had been nearly invisible during the peaceful afternoon—suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere, their hands crackling with electrical energy.

“Leviathan class!” one of them shouted, hurling a bolt of lightning that struck the creature’s hide and seemed to do absolutely nothing. “Category 4 threat!”

Noah was swimming hard toward shore when one of the guards grabbed his arm. “Get out of the water now! Get to the evacuation zones!”

“What is that thing?” Noah asked, even as he allowed himself to be pulled toward safety.

“Komodo Drakonis Serpent,” the guard replied tersely, throwing another lightning bolt that was equally ineffective. “EDF classification Category 4. They usually stay in the deep trenches, but something’s driven this one to shore.”

As if to emphasize the threat, the serpent’s massive head swiveled toward a group of swimmers who hadn’t made it to safety yet. Its jaw opened, revealing rows of teeth like obsidian daggers, and it struck with terrifying speed. The screams that followed would haunt the beach for years to come.

“Five people,” another guard reported grimly. “It’s killed five people.”

Noah felt the familiar cold rage that preceded combat settle over him. The creature was moving toward shore now, its massive coils churning the water as it prepared to attack the fleeing beachgoers. The guards’ lightning attacks weren’t even slowing it down.

Sophie was shouting his name from somewhere behind him, but Noah was already moving toward the water.

“Nyx,” he called out, “Awaken.”

The response was immediate and dramatic. A brilliant purple portal tore open in the air above the beach, red mist pouring through like smoke from a forge. The temperature spiked as something massive emerged from the dimensional breach.