The Crab Titan’s Cyan Heart and the Forgotten Oath

The Crab Titan’s cyan core refused to go dark.

Orange dragonfire rolled across its fortress-like shell.

Steam exploded into the storm.

 

But the enormous creature remained standing between the harbor cranes.

Its burning orange eyes followed the dragon rider.

Then its cyan core pulsed.

And Aren’s eyes began glowing the same brilliant blue.

For one impossible moment, the stormy harbor disappeared.

He could see through the black water.

Past the sinking docks.

Beneath the oldest stone pier.

There, an enormous iron chain surrounded a smaller living creature.

Its shell glowed faintly cyan.

Its little claws moved desperately against the metal.

Aren gasped.

Then his vision returned to the sky.

Varkh, his enormous charcoal-black dragon, roared beneath him.

And the Crab Titan raised both claws toward the harbor.

It wasn’t trying to conquer the city.

It was trying to reach its child.

“Varkh! Don’t attack!”

The dragon folded his wings and dropped beneath an enormous claw.

The creature’s armored limb struck the seawall.

Stone exploded into the water.

Aren held tightly to the saddle.

He understood the Titan’s desperation.

But understanding didn’t make it harmless.

Its gigantic body was destroying the harbor.

Ships were trapped between the cranes.

Families were sheltering in the buildings above the waterfront.

And every movement of the monster threatened another section of the port.

If Aren couldn’t free the smaller creature, the Titan might tear the entire harbor apart.

Varkh climbed through the rain.

Aren looked toward the submerged pier.

The strange cyan light in his eyes had faded.

But he remembered what he’d seen.

An iron chain.

A trapped creature.

And a small glowing shell.

He touched the golden guard of his sword.

The metal was warm.

Then he noticed something he’d never seen before.

A tiny cyan symbol had appeared beneath the dragon-shaped guard.

Three curved lines.

A circle.

And a pair of wings.

Aren recognized the design.

He had seen it years earlier in an ancient dragon-rider manuscript.

The symbol belonged to the Tide Oath.

Long before the northern kingdoms were founded, dragon riders had formed an alliance with creatures of the deep.

Sky guardians and sea guardians had protected the same coast.

The dragons watched the mountains and storms.

The enormous sea creatures guarded the underwater passages.

Neither ruled the other.

They were bound by a promise.

When one called for help, the other would listen.

Most riders considered the story a legend.

No living dragon rider had ever witnessed the Tide Oath.

But Aren’s sword was much older than he was.

Its silver blade had been passed down through generations.

And beneath the golden guard lay a fragment of a mineral called tideglass.

Aren had always believed it was an ordinary decorative stone.

Now he understood why the blue symbol had appeared.

His sword had touched the Titan’s armor.

The tideglass had awakened.

And the cyan light in his eyes had allowed him to see what the creature was trying to show him.

Aren looked toward the enormous Crab Titan.

Its core pulsed again.

This time, he didn’t feel threatened by the light.

He felt its urgency.

The monster was searching.

Calling.

Trying to reach something beneath the harbor.

And it had recognized a rider carrying the symbol of an ancient promise.

A violent impact shook the waterfront.

The Titan’s right claw struck the base of a towering cargo crane.

The enormous steel structure bent.

Aren saw its cables swing dangerously above three merchant vessels.

“Varkh! The crane!”

The dragon turned sharply.

He flew beneath the falling boom.

With one powerful movement, he pushed the swinging cables away from the nearest ship.

The crane crashed against an empty loading platform.

Water surged over the docks.

Aren looked toward the trapped vessels.

The sailors were struggling to free their mooring lines.

If another crane fell, the ships would be crushed.

Aren pointed toward the old harbor watchtower.

“Get us there!”

Varkh climbed above the storm.

They landed on a narrow stone platform overlooking the waterfront.

Aren jumped from the saddle.

Inside the watchtower, an elderly harbor keeper was struggling with an emergency signal horn.

His name was Corwin.

He had guarded the port for forty years.

When he saw Aren, his expression changed.

“Dragon rider!”

Aren approached quickly.

“What’s beneath the eastern pier?”

Corwin frowned.

“The old foundations.”

“Something was pulled up from the seabed.”

The keeper went still.

Aren noticed his reaction.

“What happened?”

Corwin looked toward the harbor.

“Three days ago, the salvage crews found something inside an underwater cavern.”

“What?”

“A strange armored creature.”

Aren felt his stomach tighten.

“Alive?”

Corwin nodded.

“It was moving.”

“Where is it now?”

The keeper looked toward the submerged pier.

Aren already knew the answer.

The salvage crews had been reinforcing the harbor foundations.

During their work, they discovered a hollow chamber beneath the seabed.

Inside it lay a smaller crab-like creature with a dark armored shell.

Its cyan markings glowed faintly beneath the water.

The crews initially mistook it for an extraordinary mineral formation.

When it moved, they realized it was alive.

They tried to return it to the cavern.

But the rising storm made the operation dangerous.

So they secured the creature inside a heavy salvage cradle beneath the eastern pier.

They intended to release it when the weather improved.

Then the storm arrived.

And the colossal Crab Titan followed.

Aren stared at Corwin.

“You chained a living creature beneath the harbor?”

The old man lowered his eyes.

“We thought we were keeping it safe.”

“Did you know what it was?”

“No.”

Aren looked toward the enormous Titan.

Its claws were tearing at the docks.

Its cyan core flashed again.

“You took its young from a place it could reach.”

Corwin turned pale.

“The smaller creature is its child?”

Aren nodded.

“And it’s still trapped.”

For a moment, the harbor keeper said nothing.

Then he looked toward the damaged cranes.

“We have to release it.”

Aren studied the submerged pier.

“How?”

Corwin pointed toward a large mechanical winch mounted beside the old warehouse.

“The salvage cradle is suspended beneath the eastern foundation. That winch controls the chains.”

“Can it lift the cradle?”

“Not while the storm is forcing the outer boom against it.”

Aren looked toward the enormous crane arm hanging above the pier.

Its cables were wrapped around the same support structure.

If he raised the cradle carelessly, the damaged boom might collapse directly onto the trapped creature.

The Crab Titan roared.

Its mouth opened.

Orange fire erupted across the harbor.

Aren felt the heat even from the watchtower.

The flames struck the upper section of an abandoned loading shed.

Wood and rope caught fire.

The creature was growing more desperate.

And the longer its young remained trapped, the more dangerous its movements became.

Aren turned toward Corwin.

“Can you sound the evacuation horn?”

“Yes.”

“Do it now. Clear everyone from the eastern docks.”

The keeper nodded and hurried toward the signal mechanism.

A deep horn echoed across the storm.

Then another.

Harbor workers began directing people away from the waterfront.

Sailors cut their mooring lines.

Several vessels moved toward the western channel.

Aren watched until the nearest loading platforms were clear.

Then he climbed onto Varkh.

“We’re going down.”

The dragon spread his enormous wings.

And together, they plunged toward the flooded pier.

The Titan noticed them immediately.

Its left claw swept across their path.

Varkh rolled beneath it.

Aren leaned forward.

“Don’t fight it!”

The dragon climbed again.

Aren raised his empty left hand toward the monster.

Then pointed toward the submerged pier.

“We know!”

The Titan’s cyan core flashed.

Aren’s eyes answered with the same cold blue light.

For a brief moment, he saw the little creature again.

It was pressing against the chains.

Its claws were much smaller than its parent’s.

Its cyan markings were growing dim.

The sight made Aren’s decision immediate.

They had to get it out.

Varkh landed on the roof of the damaged warehouse.

Aren jumped down beside the salvage winch.

The enormous mechanism was half-covered by rainwater.

Its iron gears were tangled with broken cables.

One thick chain led beneath the harbor.

Another connected to the damaged crane boom.

Aren examined the controls.

He could raise the cradle.

But only if the outer boom was secured first.

Otherwise, its weight would pull the entire framework downward.

Varkh lowered his head beside the warehouse.

Aren pointed toward the damaged boom.

“Can you hold it?”

The dragon studied the structure.

Then opened his gigantic wings.

He flew toward the swinging crane.

One enormous claw caught the heavy cable.

The second gripped the boom’s lower support.

The machinery groaned.

Varkh strained against the weight.

Aren watched the metal shift.

The dragon could hold it.

But not forever.

Aren hurried toward the winch.

He grasped its control wheel.

The iron refused to move.

He pulled harder.

Nothing.

Then he noticed a locking bar trapped beneath the mechanism.

Years of corrosion had frozen it in place.

Aren drew his silver sword.

He wedged the blade beneath the locking bar.

Then pushed.

The metal groaned.

Aren braced one boot against the stone foundation.

He forced the sword upward.

The bar shifted.

Then broke free.

The winch released.

Chains rattled through the mechanism.

Far below, the salvage cradle began rising.

Aren watched the tension indicators.

Slowly.

Carefully.

The heavy structure moved toward the surface.

But then the entire pier shook.

The Crab Titan was approaching.

Its enormous shell rose above the harbor wall.

Its orange eyes fixed on the lifting cradle.

Aren looked toward Varkh.

“Hold the crane!”

The dragon roared.

The Titan’s enormous claw rose.

Aren saw where it was aiming.

Straight toward the submerged cradle.

The creature wanted to reach its child.

But if it struck the chains now, the damaged framework could collapse around the little one.

Aren stepped toward the edge of the pier.

“Stop!”

The monster didn’t understand the word.

Its claw continued moving.

Aren lifted his sword.

The cyan symbol beneath the guard ignited.

His eyes began glowing again.

And this time, he didn’t resist the strange connection.

He saw the harbor through the Titan’s eyes.

The towering cranes.

The frightened ships.

The rain falling across the water.

And below everything, the faint glow of its child.

The creature wasn’t thinking about the docks or the buildings.

It saw only the young one trapped beneath them.

Aren felt a powerful urgency.

Then something like fear.

For the first time, he understood the scale of the creature’s desperation.

It had crossed the stormy sea to find its child.

And every barrier in its path seemed like another threat.

Aren lowered his sword.

Through the cyan connection, he focused on the moving cradle.

He imagined the little creature rising safely toward the surface.

He imagined the chains opening.

He imagined the Titan waiting until the way was clear.

The great monster hesitated.

Its claw stopped above the water.

Aren’s eyes burned brighter.

The connection held.

For one heartbeat.

Then another.

Finally, the enormous claw lowered.

Aren gasped as the cyan light faded from his eyes.

The Titan remained close.

Watching.

He turned back toward the winch.

The cradle was almost at the surface.

Then a terrible metallic crack echoed through the warehouse.

The damaged crane boom shifted.

Varkh was losing his grip.

The entire outer framework began sliding toward the pier.

Aren looked up.

If the crane fell now, it would crush the rising cradle.

“Varkh! Release the boom!”

The dragon hesitated.

Aren pointed toward the empty cargo channel.

“Push it away!”

Varkh changed his grip.

He drove both enormous claws against the damaged structure.

The boom swung outward.

But its weight began pulling the entire crane from its foundation.

Aren understood the consequence.

Saving the cradle meant sacrificing one of the harbor’s largest cranes.

Perhaps the entire eastern loading platform.

He looked toward the distant town.

The evacuation horn was still sounding.

The nearby docks were empty.

There was no time to preserve the machinery.

“Do it!”

Varkh roared.

With one final movement, he pushed the crane toward the open cargo channel.

The enormous structure broke free.

Steel cables snapped.

The boom fell away from the pier.

Then the entire crane crashed into the sea.

A towering wall of water rose above the harbor.

Aren braced himself against the winch.

The stone platform shook.

But the salvage cradle remained intact.

The Crab Titan moved toward the falling wreckage.

Its colossal right claw caught one section of the collapsing boom.

It pushed the metal away from the cradle.

Then held it beneath the waves until the debris settled.

Aren stared in astonishment.

The Titan had understood.

For the first time, dragon and sea creature were working toward the same goal.

The winch continued turning.

The heavy cradle broke through the water.

Inside it, something moved.

A smaller armored creature clung to the iron bars.

Its shell was dark blue-gray.

Its claws were still large enough to crush a wooden boat.

But compared with the colossal Titan, it looked impossibly small.

Cyan markings glowed across its body.

Aren felt his throat tighten.

The creature was alive.

And it was looking toward its parent.

The Titan’s core flashed.

The smaller creature’s markings answered.

One soft cyan pulse.

Then another.

Aren watched the two lights respond across the water.

They were not weapons.

They were signals.

A way for parent and young to recognize one another in the darkness of the deep sea.

And when the Titan had sent its call through Aren’s ancient sword, it had allowed him to understand what those signals meant.

Aren reached the cradle’s release mechanism.

The iron latch was bent.

He tried to lift it.

It wouldn’t move.

The smaller creature shifted toward him.

Its claws scraped against the cage.

Aren raised one hand.

“Easy.”

He took a breath.

Then placed the tip of his sword beneath the bent latch.

He pushed.

The metal cracked.

He pushed again.

Finally, the lock opened.

The cage door swung outward.

The young creature hesitated.

It looked toward Aren.

Then toward the immense shape waiting beside the pier.

The Crab Titan lowered one enormous claw into the water.

Its cyan core glowed steadily.

The smaller creature released the iron bars.

Moved through the open door.

And slipped into the sea.

For one terrifying moment, it disappeared beneath the waves.

Then a small cyan light appeared below the surface.

The Titan lowered its enormous body.

Its great claws moved carefully around the glow.

Slowly, the young creature rose beside its parent.

The Titan curved one massive claw around it.

Not gripping.

Protecting.

Aren stood motionless.

He had never imagined witnessing anything like it.

Varkh landed on the damaged pier.

His enormous wings folded against his back.

Aren approached him.

The dragon lowered his head.

Aren placed one hand on his scales.

“We did it.”

Varkh gave a quiet rumble.

But the harbor was not yet safe.

The eastern crane lay beneath the water.

Debris filled the cargo channel.

And the storm continued pushing waves against the damaged seawall.

Aren looked toward the Titan.

Its enormous shell still rose above the docks.

One sudden movement could destroy what remained.

The great creature turned toward him.

Its burning orange eyes were no longer fixed on the ships.

They followed the young one beside its claw.

The cyan core in its chest continued glowing.

Then the light expanded.

Aren felt the familiar warmth beneath the guard of his sword.

His eyes glowed blue again.

But this time, he saw no desperate movement beneath the water.

No trapped chains.

No fear.

Instead, he saw an image.

A vast underwater cavern.

An ancient reef filled with thousands of blue lights.

Creatures like the Titan moving slowly through the darkness.

And high above them, dragons crossing the sky.

The image vanished.

Aren looked toward Varkh.

The dragon’s amber eyes were wide.

He had seen it too.

The Tide Oath.

The ancient alliance hadn’t been a story invented to inspire young riders.

It had been real.

Dragons and sea creatures had once guarded the same world.

The sword had carried a memory of that bond.

And the Titan had recognized it.

Aren bowed his head toward the enormous creature.

“I’m sorry we attacked you.”

The Titan watched him.

He looked toward the small glowing shape beside its claw.

“We didn’t know.”

The great creature lowered its body slightly.

Then released a deep rumble that traveled through the pier.

Varkh answered with a quieter sound.

For a moment, the storm seemed less important than the exchange between them.

The Titan turned toward the open sea.

Its enormous claws moved through the water.

The young creature followed closely.

Aren watched them pass between the damaged harbor walls.

He expected the Titan to disappear immediately.

But at the edge of the port, it stopped.

Its cyan core flashed once more.

Aren’s eyes answered.

This time, the connection lasted only a moment.

A single image appeared in his mind.

The young creature safe beneath an enormous armored claw.

Then the light faded.

The Titan moved into deeper water.

Its fortress-like shell slowly disappeared beneath the waves.

The smaller cyan glow followed.

For several seconds, two lights remained visible.

One enormous.

One small.

Then both vanished into the darkness.

Aren watched until the sea became black again.

Only the rain remained.

By morning, the storm had weakened.

The harbor was badly damaged.

One great crane had been lost.

The eastern loading platform required rebuilding.

And several merchant vessels would need repairs.

But the town had survived.

The evacuation had succeeded.

No one had been left on the collapsing pier.

And the enormous creature had returned to the open sea with its young.

Corwin approached Aren as the first sunlight touched the harbor walls.

The old keeper looked exhausted.

“I’ve been here forty years,” he said.

“I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Aren smiled faintly.

“Neither have I.”

Corwin looked toward the wrecked crane.

“The port will be closed for weeks.”

“I know.”

The keeper nodded.

Then looked toward the ocean.

“But the little one got out.”

Aren turned to him.

“Yes.”

Corwin was quiet for a moment.

Then he said:

“We should never have kept it chained down.”

Aren didn’t argue.

The harbor keeper looked toward the damaged piers.

“We thought we were protecting our crews. We secured the creature because the storm made returning it difficult.”

He sighed.

“But after we trapped it, we stopped asking whether it was safe.”

Aren nodded.

“Next time you find something alive beneath the sea, don’t treat it like cargo.”

Corwin lowered his head.

“You have my word.”

In the following weeks, the harbor rebuilt.

Workers recovered the fallen steel.

The eastern platform was reinforced.

And new procedures were created for protecting marine creatures discovered during underwater construction.

Aren remained long enough to help the town understand what had happened.

He told them about the chains.

The young creature.

And the colossal parent that had crossed the storm to find it.

Some people struggled to believe the Titan had acted out of fear for its child.

They remembered the burning buildings.

The shattered cranes.

The enormous claws moving above the harbor.

Aren didn’t deny the damage.

The creature had been dangerous.

But he explained why the danger had begun.

The most difficult part was describing the cyan light.

The harbor witnesses had seen Aren’s eyes glow.

They had watched the Titan’s core answer.

Some believed he’d discovered a new power.

Others whispered that the sea creature had placed a spell upon him.

Aren told them what he knew.

His ancient sword carried tideglass.

The Titan’s cyan core had awakened a bond connected to the forgotten Tide Oath.

Through that connection, he’d briefly seen what the creature wanted him to understand.

He couldn’t command the Titan.

He couldn’t control the ocean.

The connection had simply allowed him to listen.

One evening, Aren stood on a cliff above the repaired harbor.

Varkh rested beside him.

The dragon’s enormous wings were folded.

His amber eyes followed the distant waves.

Aren drew his silver sword.

Beneath the golden guard, the cyan symbol was still visible.

Three curved lines.

A circle.

A pair of wings.

He touched it carefully.

Nothing happened.

The light remained dormant.

Aren smiled.

“Perhaps it only works when we’re needed.”

Varkh released a quiet rumble.

Aren looked toward the open sea.

He remembered charging the Crab Titan without hesitation.

The enormous claw sweeping overhead.

His sword striking armored shell.

The wall of orange fire.

And the cyan core that refused to go dark.

He had believed courage meant attacking the danger directly.

But the creature’s power had shown him something his sword couldn’t.

A frightened young one beneath the harbor.

And a parent desperate to reach it.

Then a distant cyan glow appeared beneath the water.

Aren straightened.

Varkh raised his head.

Two lights moved through the deep sea.

The larger light traveled slowly.

The smaller stayed close beside it.

For a brief moment, both lights pulsed.

Then disappeared beneath the distant waves.

Aren lowered his sword.

He didn’t call the dragon into battle.

He didn’t chase the lights.

He simply watched the horizon.

The Crab Titan’s glowing cyan core had never been a hidden weapon waiting to destroy the dragon rider.

It was the heartlight of an ancient sea creature calling for its trapped young.

The same light awakened in Aren’s eyes because his sword carried the forgotten symbol of the Tide Oath.

For centuries, sky guardians and sea guardians had been separated by fear and forgotten history.

But in one stormy harbor, that old promise awakened again.

The rider had entered the battle believing he had to defeat a monster.

Instead, he chose to free its child.

And the creature he’d attacked became the ally that helped save the harbor from collapsing.

Sometimes the greatest power a dragon rider can discover isn’t stronger fire, a sharper sword, or the ability to command an ancient Titan.

It’s the ability to understand what the creature in front of him is fighting to protect.