The sun had yet to rise, but the sky was already beginning to pale. At this hour, the earth seemed still steeped in dreams, while a faint wash of orange-red gradually emerged along the eastern horizon.
The sea breeze brushed the shore, waking who knew how many dreams. Dawn arrived without fanfare, yet as time passed, it unfolded like a magnificent painted scroll.
Now, along the shores of Vast Sea City, densely packed sea soul beasts swarmed out of the dark recesses of the deep like shadowy phantoms, raising the curtain on destruction.
Brimming with fury and destruction, they whipped up towering waves of crushing weight and hurled themselves at Vast Sea City.
The waves churned like countless colossal mountain peaks, blotting out the sky and sun and casting all of Vast Sea City into shadow.
Clang, clang, clang! An alarm bell rang out from the highest peak within the city, its sound echoing through the streets.
At the crest of that enormous wave, dozens of soul beasts stood out in particular.
They were covered in crimson scales, each shimmering with a cold, eerie light, as though they wore armor of flame.
Their fish bodies were long and powerful, their streamlined forms moving freely through the water, every sweep unleashing tremendous strength.
Yet from their backs grew pairs of enormous bird wings, their wingspans seemingly broad enough to blot out the sky.
These soul beasts traveled upon the water and commanded clouds and mist, like creatures of myth descending into the mortal world.
When these soul beasts unleashed their sky-shaking roars, their voices were as lilting yet deep as the calls of mandarin ducks, piercing the clouds and reverberating over all of Vast Sea City.
Those cries carried a mysterious enchantment that unsettled the mind, as though they foretold the