POV: Greg

  In the morning, I decided that the sand was too hard. I simply walked into the sea and lay back on the water. I floated, rocking on the waves, looking up into the endless blue of the sky. Pure bliss.

  Aurora broke the silence. She walked over, silently grabbed my head with both hands, and started drowning me. She just pressed the back of my head into the bottom, hoping I would choke. She probably stood like that for about ten minutes, until her own arms went numb. I didn't even resist; I was too lazy.

  She let go of me, angrily slapped the water with her palm, and tried to lie down next to me.

  First attempt: sank to the bottom. Second attempt: glug-glug again. She surfaced, spitting water, and glared at me with such fury, as if I had personally dragged her down by the legs.

  "HOW DO YOU DO THAT?!"

  "You have to become like a log," I answered lazily, getting to my feet. "Zero tension."

  She tried again.

  "Straighter! Straighter! Lift your ass!" I commanded, watching closely. "Now the legs."

  Finally, she got it. The waves started slowly carrying her away from the shore, but she bossily steered herself back into place with water magic. I picked up the cat, lay back on the water again, and settled the little guy on my stomach. The cat curled up into a ball and fell asleep, purring loudly.

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  He was surprisingly warm. But the moment I closed my eyes, I felt them. Deep beneath us, shadows swarmed. Creatures. Right now they weren't attacking only because the smell of the dead snake still hung in the water; its territory, its rules. But I could feel it: there were hundreds of them down there. Hungry and angry.

  The sun began to bake my eyes mercilessly, I squinted and almost drifted off to sleep.

  "OW!"

  The cat woke up, got spooked by some splinter floating by, and dug his claws into my chest with all his might, stretching.

  "Careful, little guy..." I hissed, trying to unhook him from my jacket.

  Aurora stood up, wet and annoyed.

  "Time to go. Enough drifting."

  I got up, smiling involuntarily. She looked at me, clearly about to dish out another nasty remark, but I beat her to the punch. I sharply shook the water from my hands right into her face.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, staggering back.

  "YOU LITTLE..."

  She immediately crashed a whole wave down on me. I didn't stay in debt; I started shooting individual drops at her, aiming right for the eyes. We had a full-blown splash duel.

  At one point, her projectile hit me right in an open eye.

  "Aaaargh! That hurts! The water is salty!" I started rubbing my eyelid, while Aurora just smirked triumphantly. One-zero in favor of Oblivion.

  Meanwhile, the cat had climbed onto my head, clinging to my hair. We stepped out onto the shore. I snapped my fingers.

  SWISH.

  A warm current of air enveloped us. Our clothes dried instantly, the sand crumbled off.

  "Zenkhald, my hair is still wet," Aurora grumbled.

  I stepped up behind her. Directed a light breeze at the back of her neck. Her hair... it was so long, so heavy. And in the sunlight, unexpectedly beautiful.

  I froze for a second, watching how it shined.

  "Well, what are you stuck on back there? Done?" she asked.

  "Yeah... yeah. Done," I stepped back quickly. "Let's go. The fish won't wait for us."