We faced each other amid the ruins of the collapsed lodging house; she on a slab of broken stone, and I atop a mound of debris a short distance away. For a moment, neither of us moved. I could feel the cold drizzle where stray droplets still pattered against my fur. The rest of the rain had been caught in her grasp, frozen mid-fall.

Aephelia's eyes bore into mine. "Don't mistake patience for weakness, Pophet," she said softly, voice filled with threat.

I watched the water droplets orbiting around her slender form in lazy circles. There must have been thousands by now, merging into gleaming globules as they joined together. Aephelia extended one hand, fingers stretched. At her gesture, the ring of water slowly accelerated, each bead stretching into a tiny dagger of liquid aimed at me.

I dug my paws into the unsteady ground, feeling shattered tiles and wet underfoot.

Without further warning, the first wave of water attacks hissed through the air towards me.

Dozens of needle-thin jets converged from all sides, glinting as they caught the light. There was nowhere to dodge; the attack blanketed the rubble in a deadly spray.

So I braced myself.

Sharp stings peppered my body as the water projectiles struck. One sliced across my shoulder, another nicked an ear. A dozen more splashed and broke against my fur with force enough to bruise.

I grunted at the impact, lowering my head to shield my eyes. Pain flared along my flank where a particularly fast jet broke through my fur. Warm blood trickled, mingling with rainwater.

Yet I remained firm. My claws scraped over wet stone but I did not yield an inch.

I exhaled, steadying my breath. The cuts burned, and I could feel water seeping into my fur, but the wounds were shallow.

If that was her warning shot, it had been delivered.

Aephelia tilted her head, observing me through the falling mist of her spent attack.

I now understood that water was her domain. She had literally stopped the rain around us. I'd never seen or read anything quite like it, someone who could command an entire element with just a thought.

She took a step forward over the rubble. Her blue dress clung to her legs, soaked through. Strands of her damp hair were plastered to her neck.

I rolled my shoulders, ignoring a throb of pain where a water blade had struck.

"Stand down, Pophet," Aephelia called out over the whisper of rain. There was an edge of frustration under her composed tone. "I don't want to hurt you any further."

I believed that, at least in part.

She could have aimed to kill, but instead, she hoped to intimidate me into surrender.

In answer, I let out a low rumbling growl, deep in my chest. It was all the response I could give while keeping my focus.

Water gathered at her back in a rippling mass.

This confrontation was far from over.

Aephelia's lips pressed into a thin line. The orbiting water began to twist faster, threads coiling together into a thicker tendril that snaked around her waist and arms like a living rope.

I tensed as that rope of water suddenly lashed out at me, cracking through the air.

This one I moved for.

A split-second before it could catch me full in the face, I lunged aside. The water whip struck where I'd stood, shattering a chunk of brick into dust. Even so, the tail end of it caught my hindquarters with a wet slap, it felt like steel hitting me.

The blow sent a shock of pain along my haunch.

I skidded to a halt a few yards away, claws digging furrows in the mud.

Aephelia swept her arm, and the water whip curled back, then came snapping at me again with a vicious swiftness.

The tendril whipped overhead, swishing by my ears with the force of its passage. It cracked into a half-collapsed wooden post behind me, cleaving straight through with a loud whack. Splinters flew.

Before she could recoil for a third strike, I seized my opening. My paws flexed against the wet earth, Qi surging from my core to my limbs. In a burst of speed, I closed the distance between us.

She was still physically human; a solid hit might end this fight.

I swiped out with my right paw, aiming a heavy blow at her midsection.

Aephelia was fast. Faster than a human should be. She slid on the ground as if she were part water herself. My paw whooshed past her, grazing nothing but air.

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I felt, rather than saw, her counterattack. It was a rippling movement in my peripheral vision.

Instinct screamed and I threw myself into a roll. A loop of water snapped closed where my neck had been an instant before, catching only a whirl of rain and a few strands of shed fur.

I came out of the roll panting, crouched low on all fours. Mud smeared my belly and back. Aephelia stood a short distance away now, water swirling protectively in front of her.

Our eyes met again. Raindrops dripped from my snout; I gave my neck a quick shake, sending a spray of water aside. My mind raced.

I bared my teeth, showing a glimpse of fangs. I growled at her again.

Aephelia's brow creased, a mix of irritation and something like regret passing over her face. "You stubborn Godbeasts," I heard her mutter. Louder, she continued, "Have it your way."

The ground at my feet began to tremble. All around, puddles and pools of rainwater vibrated and slid across broken stone, drawn toward her.

Pebbles clinked as they shifted, sucked along by the sudden current of gathering water.

From every direction, water came rushing towards her position. She was pulling in all the water she could command.

I swallowed, repositioning my stance on the muddy ground.

The whirling mass of water around Aephelia suddenly surged outward. It split into multiple tendrils that lunged for me, seeking to ensnare.

I leapt back, smashing aside one twisting coil with my forepaw. My paw passed through it, dispersing the water into a spray, but the liquid simply reformed and aimed at my leg, tightening.

With a startled grunt, I was pulled off balance.

I scrambled as I tried to keep myself from being dragged. The water writhed up my limbs.

Within seconds, the tendrils coiled around my torso and legs, binding me in place. I strained against them; the more I struggled, the tighter they felt.

Suddenly, a wave of water smashed my face. I reeled, ears ringing from the liquid impact, but the water didn't fall away. It clung and wrapped over my head.

Cold water poured over my muzzle, flooding my nose. I snorted instinctively, trying to clear my airway, but the torrent just pushed in further. My mouth snapped open to gasp and had instead received a lungful of water.

Panic flared as I choked. I thrashed, but more watery coils latched around my midsection and throat, holding my head in place.

I couldn't breathe.

Water pressed on every side, a rippling sphere encasing my entire head. The world became muffled and distorted.

Calm. I needed to stay calm.

I planted my paws and tried to heave myself forward, but Aephelia's water prison held firm.

Through the wavering sea of blue, I caught a glimpse of Aephelia's face.

Darkness gnawed at the corners of my sight.

No. I snarled soundlessly, baring my fangs underwater.

Not like this.

Summoning a last burst of strength, I forced Qi through my limbs. If I could just move and just get a single swipe free…

I drove all my intent into my right claw. Through the haze of suffocation, I pictured the motion clear and sharp in my mind.

My paw jerked within its bonds, not much, barely a twitch.

But unseen by the eye, an arc of force leapt from my claws, slicing through the intervening space.

The sphere of water around my head exploded outward as if struck by an invisible blade. I staggered as suddenly I could see and hear again, sweet air rushed into my burning lungs in a ragged gasp.

The water binding my limbs loosened and sloshed to the ground in a cascading splash.

I wasted no time, shaking myself free of the last clinging tendrils.

My chest heaved as I coughed out water and sucked in oxygen. Every breath felt like it burned my lungs, but still, precious air filled my lungs once more.

Across from me, Aephelia looked stunned, unsure at what just happened. But experienced as she was, she wasted no time.

She raised one hand high above her, palm open to the roiling sky.

Around us, every raindrop hanging in the air shattered into mist, then the mist itself whipped into a ball of water gathering above her palm.

The ball of water there grew larger and darker, spinning faster. Pebbles and loose debris around us vibrated, some lifting off the ground, drawn toward the vortex by the sheer force of its rotation.

I swallowed against a dry throat, muscles tense and quivering from effort and oxygen loss. This next attack, I couldn't simply take it. If I did, I would die.

My gut knew it with certainty.

The massive sphere of churning water overhead suddenly elongated, thinning into a pointed lance aimed directly at me.

I planted my feet, gathering myself. My claws dug into stone as Qi flooded my limbs.

Aephelia's arm swept downward, and with it came the lance of water. It tore through the air with a piercing hiss.

At the very last moment, I threw my body sideways with every ounce of speed I could muster.

The world felt like it slowed. I felt the edges of the water spear singe my fur, the spray stinging my face. There was a deafening crack as it struck the ground right beside me.

Stone erupted where the pressurized stream hit. I twisted my head, still half-crouched in the mud, and saw a deep gouge carved into the earth and shattered masonry.

Water still gushed and frothed from the long fissure, spraying the darkness. Slowly, the torrent lost its cohesion and splashed down, turning into ordinary liquid once more.

I panted, not daring to rise yet, eyes on Aephelia. My body was still hurting, but adrenaline blotted out the ache.

Aephelia stood with an arm still extended, strands of wet hair hung in her face, and her blue dress was plastered to her frame.

Anger, and then… was it relief? It flashed across her face in quick succession.

My hind paws slid in a puddle beneath me as I shifted to move. Before I could rise, the water under me coiled up. Again, it snaked around my midsection and limbs.

Aephelia lifted her head and shouted into the darkness behind me, "Ex! Now!"

Her voice echoed off the ruins.

From the corner of my eye, a figure materialized out of the rain. Ex, the scholarly man with glasses from earlier, stepped forward with surprising swiftness, as if he had been waiting all along. In his hand was a thin metal syringe, its barrel filled with some murky fluid.

I barked out a hoarse, desperate snarl and tried to jerk free, but Aephelia's binding held me firmly in place, throat constricted. My growl ended in a choking gasp.

Ex wasted no time. He knelt quickly beside me and then a sharp sting pierced into the side of my neck, where I had a shallow wound.

I roared in pain and fury, twisting my head toward him, but I could only snap my jaws uselessly at the air.

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