On a rocky outcropping jutting from a deep sea cliffside, Aguar the Shallowseer was still. Next to him, his son Kamak stared despondently ahead as bubbles drifted upwards from hundreds of fissures below. The fledgling oracle had not spoken since his sister’s disappearance and he continued to clutch Splash’s pearl tightly wherever he went. Above the dragons, fading sunlight filtered down through the water's surface. Below, Aguar watched as a growing crowd of dragons gathered on the cliff edge overlooking the Leviathan Trench. A myriad of blue eyes glinted in what little light still penetrated the deeps and more were arriving every minute.

News of the Tidelord’s disappearance had traveled swiftly across the Sea of a Thousand Currents, leaving grief-stricken and terrified dragons in its wake. When the water clans learned that the seers were convening to search for their god, the clans followed.

The Shallowseer gave his grieving offspring a final glance before turning his great head towards the female Guardian swimming up to his perch.

“Deepseer,” he rumbled, “it’s the same for the seers of the Tsunami Flats. The Tidelord, his words...the prophecies...all gone. We must accept that the Tidelord has f—”

Tetra, Deepseer of the Leviathan Trench hissed as she settled to his right. “Don’t speak of such!” She thrust a foreleg towards the crowd of dragons below who were waiting for news of their deity. The sudden movement sent a flurry bubbles upwards. “What do you think will happen to us—to Sornieth—if a deity has...“ Tetra paused, glaring at Aguar with glowing blue eyes. “Don’t even think it.”

Aguar suppressed a shudder. Tetra’s glowing eyes were a recent development and he found them more than a little unsettling. He felt Kamak shift next to him but Aguar's focus was on the Deepseer. “His words are lost to us, no one can find him. Tetra, what else could this mean?”

She snapped her jaws, her regalia twisting in the water around her as she turned to watch the crowd below.

“We can't live in denial, Tetra! We must” Aguar choked as Splash’s face flashed in his mind, leaving the sting of sorrow. “He’s GONE, Tetra. Our flight is paralyzed and weak. We must accept the truth.”

Tetra wheeled on Aguar, her eyes narrowed with barely contained anger. A growl started deep in her chest, her lips peeling back to display rows of sharp teeth. Aguar dug his talons into the surface beneath him, poised to defend himself and Kamak. At that very moment, the young dragon cried out, startling them all.

“FATHER, LOOK!” he shouted, lifting Splash’s pearl towards the shallower waters above.

A large group of dragons surrounded by vortices of water magic approached the cliffside. As they swam closer, Aguar could make out a rainbow of eye colors. More water clans were arriving, many of which had kin adopted from other elemental lands— clan members who could not survive the seas without the Tidelord’s water magic.

Realization washed over the Shallowseer as he watched the mixed element clans swim deeper into the Sea of A Thousand Currents. Water magic.

The fear that gripped the water flight had blinded them to the truth before their own eyes. If the Tidelord was no more, water magic would cease to exist on Sornieth. Water dragons would be without an element, powerless...!

Aguar looked back over to the Deepseer and spoke with renewed hope and awe in his voice, “I owe you an apology, Tetra, you were right. The Tidelord is still with us.”

They shared a long stare as Tetra considered his apology. After a few moments she gave a curt nod and then cast a glance towards the Trench. The two seers launched off the cliff to rejoin the others as Kamak trailed behind them, Splash's pearl held firmly in his claws. Now they could begin their search in earnest and find the answer to question weighing on them all.

Where did the Tidelord go?