The Precipice (ON HOLD)

Chapter 2

The water splashed into my eyes as I crashed into a wave.  I felt my skin grow sleek and smooth under the water's touch, helping me push forward.  It was high tide, and even with my skin glowing with energy, it was still hard wrestling my way in.  I heard more splashing as they followed me in, peculiarly close behind.  I could’ve sworn I had a head start and some element of surprise.

Unless they wanted me to go into the water.

I paused, and it was a mistake.  A particularly big wave collided with my body, dragging me under, back to the way I came.  I tried to swim against it, automatically opening my eyes to see.  They stung, and I squeezed them shut again.

Strong arms wrapped around me, rough fingers grabbing my flailing limbs with the ease of experience.  They kept me underwater, and although I held my breath to keep from breathing water, my lungs craved for either.  When I couldn’t take it anymore, I gasped.  Water spilled into my mouth and down my throat.  It burned, and oh, the taste!  It was horrid, more so than that of Ashore’s polluted air.  The water spread throughout my system, and my body quivered as it tried to adjust to such a sudden change.  When I finally released the last air still hiding in my lungs, it raced in a series of bubbles back to the surface.  My body bobbed with the rhythm of the sea’s currents, and I felt it vibrating down my limbs every time my capturers fought off a wave.  We were quite deep in, where the currents were strong, and I couldn’t help but be surprised that they were still standing firmly, their grip like steel.  The water barely even touched their chins.

And I’d stumbled right into their trap.

Looked like I wasn’t going to be tonight’s dinner.  Or else I would’ve already been dead.  That meant they wanted me alive, and for the life of the water I was breathing, I didn’t know why.

Humans despised us, killed us to rid us of their perfect, masochistic world.

I could hear them shouting overhead, confirmations yelled at each other.  One of them fisted a chunk of my hair and yanked my head above the surface.  My body revolted and a whole torrent of water escaped from my mouth.  By then my throat was already raw.  How I hated salt water!

My ears were still drowned in water, but still I could hear the horrid man when he rasped in it.  “Now, you pretty lil’ thing.  You’re going to cooperate, or else we’ll make you.  Understood?”

Helpless, I wanted to refuse the repulsive man.  I didn’t like the fact that I was being threatened.  It was a notion I’d never had to experience, within the safe confines of Encante.  Now here I was, and I had no one to blame it on.  It would be safe to just play along.

I nodded feebly, and he gave another yank, dipping me under water to stake his point.  I held my breath, not wanting to make the transition from air to water again, and blinked salt out of my eyes when my head surfaced again.

I felt myself being lifted, and after a moment of disorientation, I realised they were dragging me into a boat.  Where it came from, I would never know; I hadn’t even heard its engine.  They heaved in after me, and one pinned me beneath him while another bound my wrists behind me.  I didn’t fight when they bound my ankles, too.  The third started the engine and we took off in a spray of sea foam, the wind whistling past us.  A blindfold was knotted in front of my eyes, which I admitted reluctantly as smart thinking on their part.  The sea was endless, but it was my territory, and one that I knew well.  I may live in Encante, but the sea flowed in my veins.

I lost track of time, but my sense of direction remained engraved on my brain.  We were heading east, deeper into the Indian Ocean.  The polluted quality of the air changed into an oxygen-rich drizzle, and I felt the throb of home strengthening.  We were still far away, but Encante could be very abstract, so its location often varied in specific timelines.  This timeline, though, was one I’d often visited, since I knew it was Eugene’s favourite.  The bastard liked provoking the humans with his tricks.  If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve accused him of exposing us to the world.  But it was impossible, since the humans had followed myths written from the beginning of time, as it was inevitable that one was too observant, spotting us migrating.  At some end, we were forced to be driven off the face of the earth, quite literally.  Some of us adjusted, others took it bitterly.