Oceans Call

Chapter 17: Lost

All I remember is the power, the feeling of holding the entire ocean in my palm. I'd felt it before - every time I bent the water I could feel the ocean, but never so strongly. That was just a taste compared to this. The emotion of the water was magnified a hundred fold. I felt restless, livid, heartbroken. An incomprehensible urge to destroy, to consume, coursed through me. I became aware of every creature in the water, be it shark, person, or even penguin. I could even feel the gentle touch of a bird rocking on the waves or a drop of rain hitting its surface. Every flickering fin across the endless spans of water was like a tickle on my own skin. 

At first it was wonderful. I was untouchable. I pulled my arms upward and an enormous wave towered above me, growing and growing as I directed more of the salty water into that single stream.

I could feel everyone's eyes on me: the nurses, the injured, my father, Connor, and most deliciously, Ryu's.

His fear was a trickle in the water. It was a raw horror, so powerful that for a moment, I mistook it as my own. The power at my fingertips scared me. The ocean's desires clashed with my own, I could barely tell them apart. As I opened my eyes, I met Ryu's gaze. Behind the fear clouding their depths was a glint of envy.

The ocean floor stretched as far as I could see, bare because I'd pulled its ocean blanket away.

"Just know that you cannot destroy a monster without becoming one," he said, and his voice was an obsidian snake slithering across my skin, reaching to constrict my throat. 

Struggling to balance the conflicting thoughts and emotions, I shut my eyes once more and let the ocean fall down, down, down. 

The water seemed to fall in slow motion. Undine soldiers and sea life flew through the currents, dancing in the surf. The liquid flowed out as if an invisible shield had been erected around me, sparing me from its force. Accelerating, the water plummeted downward, hitting Ryu with all its strength. The waves penetrated the giant Shadow being, which was dwarfed by the tsunami.  Ryu was separated into mere molecules until all that was left of him and the Shadows was a thin film of darkness, which quickly diffused in the surrounding ocean. 

The waves clashed against each other, slamming me backwards as my shield disappeared. Windows shattered, letting the water in the interior. A handful of buildings were swept clean away, leaving an eerie gap between structures. 

I was still connected to the raging waters. My heart clashed with the waves. I was pummeled with ideas and memories, flashes of images both familiar and unfamiliar. The flashes built up, one on top of the other, the pressure growing on my head and chest. My breaths came shallow and quick, barely even present. A scream ripped through my hoarse throat as I clutched my aching head. I couldn't breath, couldn't think. I curled into a ball, begging the ocean to leave me while simultaneously commanding it to stay. I couldn't go on without it - I would be a shell without it. I clenched my eyes shut. 

Darkness.

I floated in an ocean of eternal darkness. An endless abyss of shadow had swallowed me, a microscopic figure. I was slipping away, down, down, down. 

~*~*~*~

The darkness was pressing down on me, a comforting but constricting pressure. Stay, my voice coaxed. Stay and rest, just a little longer. 

It would have been so easy to give in, to give up. But I could barely breath. Wake up, Melody. Wake up! The words ring through my head, echoing against the walls. Immediately, my eyes popped open.

I don't know how much time passed, but I was no longer in the water, no longer in the darkness. I'd never been happier to have escaped the waves. Without moving, I let my gaze shift around my surroundings. I was in a cave, dimly lit by lanterns. Opaque blue light shone through the glass, organisms inside gliding through their glass prison and casting moving shadows on the stone walls.