The Sea, the Sky and their Opperator

Chapter 17: End of Part 2

The cold ripped at Caspian, so he went from walking to running. The arhythmic motions of the ocean pushed and pulled at his body like nothing else. As the water stole his heat, the ocean became smaller and smaller as Caspian pulled his body against the waves and into the black depths.

I really don't know anything, Caspian thought clearly to himself.

That was all he was certain of. He didn't know where he came from, why we was alive, who his friends were, or who they thought he was. he didn't know who he thought he was.

The song gently wafted on the waves, slow and steady though muffled.

That wasn't right. It should be louder here, Caspian thought to himself.

The icy water squeezed him tight pulling mercilessly at his clothes. Only the vaguest sense of self preservation made Caspian keep his clothes on.

The paddled helplessly in the churning water unable to get any closer to the black forms so far away. A spurt of water contry to the slapping water at high tide caught his attention. It took all his energy just to stay in the same place. He'd been a strong swimmer in Australia, but a pool is as pool, nothing like an ocean.

There was no time to regret.

The ocean, dark and murky in the night, masked everything in sameness. He could only see the hands in front of his face and the occasional cresting wave. Below was the nothing, only muted gloom. It waited for him, and in his growing panic, he could feel it more and more.

Caspian pulled on desperately.

He couldn't see the whales but even in the crashing sounds of the ocean he could hear them. Their music boomed under the water, a physical presence.

Are they coming closer? Caspian prayed the the gods he never worshiped. He mustered his ebbing strength and burst forward, pushing against his heavy clothing that dragged on him more and more. He pulled oxygen into starving lungs, until that too seemed impossible.

It was never enough.

Against his own will, he slowed. The cold, sharp and tangy in his mouth, seeped deeper in him, blocking out the sky above and the murky depth. He paddled weakly as the ocean whipped around like a rag doll. It was becoming almost too hard to keep his head, mouth, nose up. Everything was dragging him lower and lower and he had nothing to keep him out. Even thought had betrayed him.

The song, sad and eternal, sang on. It pushed out the fog of the cold just enough, entwining with the call of the whales just out of reaching.

Even empty, Caspian's realised bitterly that the songs were not the same.

'Help,' Caspian called out to the seas through the door.

But they couldn't answer him .

The whales will save me! Caspian thought's lied to him.

'Dad,' Caspian called out with all he had left.

His head bobbed and dropped below the waves.

Nothing.

The last of his air escaped his mouth. Lifeless, the body sank into the dark.

A line of text appeared behind Caspian's eyes.

OPERATING SYSTEM IN DANGER OF FAILURE. EMERGENCY PROGRAM INITIATED.

INPUT/.