Sophia's chain shot sideways into the cavern ceiling, so Raf fell in an arc. Then the chain released, and as he fell, it moved down to reattach itself and swung Raf out of the plume of smoke and away from the roaring flames.

  The acoustics in the cave reverberated every crackle of wood and scream of wildlife to a deafening echo. The fire must have started recently because it was spreading rapidly and almost engulfed the entire massive cave.

  Raf hit the ground and rolled near a stone-carved edifice, twice his height, the length of a hall, and wide enough to entomb several bodies. The flames hadn't yet reached this corner of the cave, but they were encroaching, and the heat was overwhelming.

  Sophia's chain whipped forward and slammed against the edifice, cracking it open and revealing a single tomb. Inside was a creature Raf had only seen illustrated in myths: a cthulian. It was gargantuan and crab-like. Raf could see two eyes the size of tree trunks.

  Sophia's chain delicately floated behind and under the chulian's head. Raf heard a crunching sound of chitin breaking amid the roar of the burning forest. When Sophia's chain retracted, it was carrying something green resembling a long, dried sponge.

  "This is a cthulian's symbiote," sang Sophia's voice out of the chain. "Bonding with it is the only way for a human to reach the Time Dragon. Once done, it cannot be undone. It will stay with you 'til death."

  The cthulian's symbiote was dropped in Raf's hand. It felt like some dried-up dead thing found on a beach. It wasn't heavy, but Raf sensed the weight of it all the same. That felt immense. What would it be like, he wondered, to bond with an oceanic creature? Would he still be human? Raf put those fears aside. Morgan needed him to do this. No matter the cost, Raf would pay it.

  "What do I do with it?" he asked.

  Sophia answered, "Dive underwater. Hold the symbiote to your ear."

  "Will it hurt?" he asked.

  No response.

  Raf looked around. Everything was on fire. The smoke burned his lungs. He tried breathing in through his sleeve. There! A shimmer of water. Raf ran to it, ducking under flaming branches, jumping over fallen logs, and diving into the strange lake without any hesitation.

  Raf held the symbiote to his ear as instructed. Between moments, he felt it swell with water and come alive.

  No warning could have prepared him for what came next. The symbiote found Raf's ear and squeezed into it almost instantly, but not painlessly. Raf felt his ear canal burst. Worse yet, the symbiote spread through Raf's sinuses and around to his other ear. Cartilage broke and was expelled out to make space for the symbiote.

  All the while, Raf was busy drowning. The agony of having his skull invaded caused Raf to scream in pain and then choke on water. As his lungs flooded, Raf writhed helplessly for a few seconds, too disoriented to swim to the surface, until he stopped moving entirely. His motionless body sank with the weight of metal chains.

  Sometime later, he seized and coughed and opened his eyes. He wasn't breathing, not really. He touched his ears. Something was protruding out of both ears. Soft and velvety, it inflated and deflated like external lungs on the side of his head.

  But the mind-blowing parts were psychic. The cthulian's symbiote functioned as a new sensory organ, combining scent and sound detection. Raf could now 'hear' better and 'smell' underwater. He smelled his blood all around him, alongside the scent of fish and insects; the sounds of fish and insects! Pushing and swimming and scraping and grinding and chewing and pooping.

  As for the pain, his entire head and face ached. Every beat of his heart brought fresh throbbing agony behind his face.

  Raf was too numb and amazed to do anything but smell his surroundings until a dozen voices boomed harmoniously in his mind.

  'What have you done to us, human?'

  Raf would have fallen in shock if he were standing. He looked around in vain. Firelight from the cavern above illuminated the lake floor and all around him. It was dark, but he could see well enough to know the voices weren't coming from outside him but inside his head.

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  'I… I beg your forgiveness,' Raf thought in response. 'I was guided here by an angel. Sophia. To free my sister, I need to learn soul magic; to do that, I need to reach the Time Dragon.'

  'Your human relations are of no concern to us. We are the Eighth Legion. Our minds have melded among the greatest of our species. You had no right to desecrate our host's body.'

  "Former host," Sophia's voice corrected. "Do not let your indignation blind you to your duties, both to your present host and to your people."

  Raf sensed the entity recoil in surprise and resentment. He felt its wrath and uncertainty. It was considering, though what, Raf could not imagine. Then the Eighth Legion reached out and invaded his mind, secret thoughts, and memories.

  That was... uncomfortable, to say the least. Not exactly pain. More like a tickle behind his eyes, or a cold chill, or the sensation of a limb falling asleep. He wiggled in vain to escape the intrusion, but he was trapped in his head with an alien multitude.

  In his mind's eye, Raf saw flashes of memory, memories the Eighth Legion now shared: Playing hide and seek with his sisters in the garden. His mother in a green silken dress, reading a book. Rowan training him in combat. His father sitting at his desk beneath that gruesome painting of Adam, confessing to Raf a most terrifying secret.

  Suddenly the Eighth Legion scattered in surprise. 'This changes things,' they whispered among themselves, radiating increased confidence and certainty.

  'We will help you,' Legion declared. 'But we cannot guarantee your safety. And when you die, we must be returned to our people for safekeeping. We will not tolerate being a human tool.'

  'Understood,' thought Raf. 'So… which way to Oceania?'

  'You're in it. You entered the Kingdom of Oceania the moment you submerged. You probably mean the Queen's Lair. First, you'll need to exit the caverns. Follow the smell of fresh moving water.'

  Raf wondered what fresh moving water smelled like, then Legion reminded him. Memories between them went both ways! He could remember things Legion wanted to share; for example, fresh moving water smelled like determination; and it was coming from over there!

  The weight of the chains had already pulled Raf the lake floor. He walked forward, but his progress was excruciatingly slow. He tried a broad stroke, but his arms were still worn out. At this rate, Raf wouldn't leave the cave system for days.

  Fortunately, Sophia was impatient, at least by angel standards, and took over movement. Suddenly, the chain tattoo launched him forward. The firelight from the cavern above quickly dimmed as Sophia pulled Raf downstream, darker and darker as they went deeper and deeper until he could see nothing in the darkness.

  But he wasn't exactly blind. He 'heard' the water rush by all around him, eroding smooth the caverns. He could 'sense' the pressure build as he descended and 'taste' the salt levels rise.

  As his eyes adjusted, Raf saw the chain was still glowing a fiery orange color, so he rolled up his sleeves and extended his arms, illuminating his surroundings. All around him, countless fish and crustaceans lived their lives. Strange, alien creatures Raf had never imagined.

  Raf tried to relax as Sophia carried him swiftly through the tunneling caves, though relaxation would prove impossible, as Legion was abuzz with mixed excitement, flipping through his memories the way a prodigious student flips through a study book.

  'Have you ever bonded with a human before?' Raf wondered.

  'Never,' Legion answered. 'Though it has happened, long ago with other symbiotes, we have never.'

  'What is the relationship between symbiote and host?'

  'We are the ghosts of every host who came before you. The symbiote collected our thoughts before we died and preserved them for future generations. It cares nothing for any of us, only its continued survival. Our kinds share a pact: we give them our minds and nutrients, and in return, they give us posterity.'

  'Does every cthulian have a symbiote?'

  'No. Only a rare few ever earn their symbiote.'

  'And how does one earn a symbiote?'

  'A series of trials, culminating in a visit to the sovereign of water and sky.'

  As Raf pondered what that meant, Sophia pulled him out from underground and into the open ocean. His trajectory curved and then launched forward. Evidently, Sophia knew their destination.

  'So were you in that burning forest waiting for someone to be worthy of you?'

  'Burning forest?' Curious, Legion accessed Raf's most recent memories and saw images of the mausoleum aflame. They wailed in horror. Raf caught glimpses of a tree nymph. Sprigga. Friend to the cthulians and ancient guardian of their honored dead. Dead. The great oak burnt to ash. He felt their grief.

  The other symbiotes! Would any of them survive the fire? The thought devastated Legion. Countless generations lost forever. He felt their despair.

  For a long time, Legion was silent. Even their perusal of Raf's memories was lethargic and disaffected.

  Combined with the blanketing darkness of night, Raf was fading.

  'Sleep,' advised Legion. 'We will keep watch while you rest.'

  And somehow, almost immediately, Raf shut his eyes and slept.

  Even in his dreams, he sensed the Eighth Legion and their contempt for his humanity. They loathed all mankind; that much was palpable. But bound as they were to Raf's mind, they found him endlessly fascinating, even as their grief suffocated them. It suffocated Raf, too. His dreams were of such overwhelming sadness; it was like drowning all over again.