Ocean’s Heart

by Isha Fáng

  A single tear of fate that is stolen from me.

  I rub my chest to ease the ache, but it’s fruitless. Nothing can heal this scar. I wipe the stray tear that has escaped, hot and burning, hopeless and dead down my cheeks.

  I inhale a wet, shuddering breath and will my body to move back toward the landing dock. It’s time I went back home and stopped chasing around on a foolish errand.

  I’m almost near the dock when the sky fills with clouds of darkness.

  Potent.

  Pirouetting.

  Twisting and turning.

  They are rolling with such power, I just know they are here to do one thing. Unleashing, raining, demolishing that has a life in its path.

  I quicken my steps, my legs moving faster than ever before.

  I run, like my life depends on it. literally.

  I run, because my body demands it.

  I run, because I want to live, irrespective of my PGAD.

  I run, because I still have my life to live.

  I see the driver has started the engine and is waiting for me. I jump and latch on the ladder. I try to climb as fast as I can, but slip and lose my footing. “Fuck.” The stinging in my knee sends a tremor down my body. “Not the time to cry and check my wounds.” I push myself to climb as the boat moves away. The driver is racing, as fast as this weather will allow him.

  I manage to climb up and take my first breath since I saw the dark clouds. I watch as he sails the boat, moving toward Catalina.

  I hear voices like sirens as we cruise forward.

  “Destiny has spoken. Destiny has Chosen.”

  I’m losing my mind. I’m definitely going crazy.

  “Must you choose. Must you decide.”

  The words buzz in my ear, in my head.

  Pesky.

  Deranged.

  “Shut up!” I scream and hold my head in my hands, clutching, pulling my hair. “Stop it. Please, stop it.”

  They don’t.

  Insistent.

  Urgent.

  The words push forward.

  “Fate is waiting. Fate is calling.”

  “Stop it. Please… stop…” the words die on my tongue, shoulder tense and my eyes widen.

  Fuck!

  A terrifying monster wave crash against the boat, knocking me to the side. I grab the bar near the window and hold on to it.

  Dear, God!

  I frantically look outside, and see another monster wave barreling toward us. I hold on to the bar, clutching it with all my might. Hearts thundering inside my chest, I take-in a big gulp of air and brace for the impact.

  Fuck! My fingers are forced to loosen their grip as water flows through the deck, pulling me along with it as the boat’s altitude changes.

  My limbs wail, searching blindly for something to hold on to.

  Water... salty, cold water fills my mouth, flowing down my throat as I try to breathe through the chaos. I hit the front railing of the deck, but before I can catch a breath, another wave crashes in, pushing me off the boat.

  Ohgodohgodohgod!

  I can’t believe... I am...

  Falling.

  Falling.

  Falling.

  Is this how my life is going to end?

  Is this how people are going to remember me?

  Is this what people are going to talk about?

  I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I want to live.

  Before I can pray, the ruthless ocean pulls me, swallowing me in it’s endless pit! I sink deep within it.

  Destiny has spoken. Destiny has chosen.

  Kalon

  “Gods-damned Oceanus, there better be a cure here. I don’t want my journey to this far place to be a waste.”

  It has taken Father decades to make sense of the teller’s words, and to find the two sisters. They are two big rocks on the surface. The riddle was slightly difficult to puzzle out, but once Father figured it out, he sent me immediately to find the cure. And tonight—thousands of years later—is when two moons will collide.

  I really hope I find what we need to survive. It is our last hope. Our only chance to survive, or my species will fade away in a few decades.

  Oceanus curse Echidna Serpent for beshrewing Aeonian and its people. That woman and her kind are hunters. They are monsters that like to play and prey on the weak. But this woman fancied my father and propositioned him to mate with her. My father, King Orisan of Aeonian, had already mated to my mother, Kallistê, and had several children with her, so he refused and ignored the serpent’s advances, her calls to love her.

  But then one day she sneaked into our place and tried to pose as my mother, but Father was quick to catch her deception and demanded to know where his beloved was.

  She was tortured and beaten and starved for days until she finally told him where she was hiding his mate.

  Oceanus help us all, my Father released the wicked serpent when he found Mother. In retaliation, Echidna cursed my father and our people once she was released.

  It is said she died of a broken heart because the one her heart desired wouldn’t love her back. But rumors are her heart is still beating and alive, and buried deep in the ocean cave.

  Oceanus bless us, if it’s true I hope it stays there and no one revives her.

  I hope this cure or whatever the gods-damned Oceanus it is, does the work and heals Aeonian. We are dwindling with our inability to propagate. Our sole purpose as a cecaelian is to procreate and to guard the ocean from the humans and other creatures who seek to go near the Styx river to trespass into the underworld.

  The teller promised there’s a cure here. Something about two legs with two hearts is our only hope.

  By all that’s Oceanus, she better be right, or else my siblings and I will be the last cecaelian to rule Aeonian. The family line will end with us.

  My brothers and sisters have found their mates, but they cannot breed. The curse won’t allow them to.

  I sigh and increase my pace, I need to be near those rocks after the sun goes down.

  As I near the location of the sister rocks, I sense this strange calm in the ocean, the one that comes just before a storm. But that shouldn’t be possible. It is not the time for the Anemoi Thuellai, the Daemones of the violent storm-winds to appear.

  Something is not right.

  Dread grows deep into the pit of my being, crawling, dragging, decelerating like a snake into my veins.

  I take a shuddering breath, I push forward, curling my fingers tighter around the trident.

  The creatures of the ocean flea, their tails moving faster, swimming away, deeper into the ocean where they know they’ll be safe.

  I spin my trishula and light illuminates around me. There’s swirling in the far distance, exactly where the sister rocks are.

  The blood in the vein goes cold.

  Icy.

  Sharp.

  Deathly.

  Oceanus drown me, this is not good. I need to get on the rocks to search, but cannot do it if Anemoi is going to be an asshole.

  You have to try. You have to strive.

  The words ring in my ears, holding me captivated.

  “W-what’s that voice? Who is it?” I look around, and find the ocean deserted.

  Must you choose. Must you decide.

  The words continue to drill. “Get out of my head!” Eyes wide, hearts thumping.

  Fate is waiting. Fate is calling.

  “Get out of my head! Get out of my head!” I scream and thrash and cry. “Who is in my head? Why? Please, stop it. Please...” I sob and clutch my head.

  The words are like thousands of needles piercing into my head.

  “Stop!” I scream.

  Again and again and again.

  My breath cut through, in and out, like a blade.

  Tears fill my eyes.

  Falling in agony.

  Falling in confusion.

  Falling with defeat.

  Go! A voice whispers to me.

  I can’t move.
Every muscle is locked. Frozen.

  Jammed.

  Rusted.

  Go! Urgency hone the word. Go! Go! Go!

  I'm trying. I am trying so hard but suddenly my body is no longer mine. It is foreign, alien. Suddenly, it is as if someone else commands it.

  My body is locked.

  Possessed.

  Controlled.

  Puppeteering.

  Fight it! Break it! The voice commands. It’s gravelly, hoarse. Like the King of Aeonian, my father.

  “Aaaah,” I scream and will my body to break the hold, to fight against whatever it is that’s holding me. Stretching my arms, every tissue tearing, my back arches and another piercing scream spills from my lips, creating a ripple around me.

  My muscles unlock, my body free. I charge forward, my tentacles thrusting and propelling me forward.

  I’m near.

  Almost there.

  A little more thrust and I’ll be there. Just a few more.

  The sudden lightning that flashes and the thunder that rumbles has me stumbling, pushing, yawning me deep into the ocean again.

  “Shit! Fuck!” I mutter as I try to get a grip on myself.

  I need more speed if I want to reach before the chaos erupts and before I’m pushed further into the ocean.

  I point my trishula downward and run my left ring finger over the specter, summoning a riptide that propels me forward with such immense speed.

  I shoot through the current that is building rapidly by the second.

  Strong.

  Consuming.

  Fatal.

  I’m almost there when a blurry, shadowy object falls into the ocean. From my spot it looks like a… no that can’t be right. I’m just imaging. I don’t know what it looks like, it’s difficult to make out in this swirling, muddy water.

  But I know what I saw. A human with only four tentacles.

  Is that even possible? No Cecaelia has ever been alive after losing more than two tentacles, especially if they are connected to our spine and hearts.

  Something is wrong. Something is very wrong.

  My hearts urges me to help it, him, but my brain reminds me about the cure, about my people’s salvation. However, one brain against three hearts is a losing battle every time.

  I know what I want to do. What I must do.

  Arion

  My body finally decides to fight back and swim back to the surface, but the current is so strong… no matter how many times I push and propel against it, it pulls me back. I know the waves are pushing me further and further and far away from the island perimeter, away from everything I love and care about. It’s like the ocean doesn’t want to let me go. The ocean wants to claim me. Possess me. And the only way to do that is pull me deeper and deeper into it.

  For some reason the saying ‘ocean will never accept a person with a weak heart’ comes to my mind.

  Is that what’s happening to me?

  Does the ocean know I’m not strong? That my life is meaningless? That I don’t have a lover waiting for me? That I don’t have anyone to get back to?

  But that’s not true.

  Yeah, I have my brothers, my friends, a social life—whatever is left of it—my job. I have things I want to get back to. My friends and brothers will miss me, they love me.

  I fight, claw, and swim as much as my tired limbs will allow, but it’s a lost feat. My eyes are burning, the water pressure pressing in on me, popping my ears. My lungs are giving out. The burning inside it sends a paining tremor through my being.

  I know I’m out of oxygen, but the desperate need to fill my lungs with air has me opening my mouth.

  Water fills in.

  Salty.

  Grainy.

  Dirty.

  The salty taste assaults my taste bud, my stomach revolts to push it back out, but it keeps filling me, sealing off air, keeps entering my mouth, because I don’t know what else to do to fill my lungs with air than open my mouth. Instincts are warring with common sense.

  I hold my throat.

  I need air.

  I need air.

  I need air.

  Air.

  Air.

  Please.

  Everything hurts.

  I’m going to explode.

  My vision blurs, my head foggy.

  Something approaches me. A silhouette.

  White lightning flashes through the water, brighter than sun, and I see the form. A human. A man.

  I struggle to speak, because my stomach and lung are filing faster than the water moving around me.

  It’s just a matter of time before the water will make me heavier, the weight of it clogging all my orifices, and I’ll be sinking.

  No one can save me.

  Nothing can save me.

  I am going to die.

  Die here, claimed by the ocean.

  My body will become a part of it, part of lost ships and souls and treasures.

  At least I won’t die alone. I have company until my body and soul gives out. That matters, right?

  My eyelids flutter, ready to shut, when the man grabs my face and puts something pointy against my open mouth. All the water that has filled me comes out in ropes.

  My eyes widen, my numb, foggy brain wakes up, alert and scared.

  What the fuck is happening?

  How the fuck did he do that?

  Who is he?

  I blink several times as I watch, incredulously, the rope of water coming out of me.

  I already feel light, the buzzing in my head has almost gone. But I still need oxygen. Still need to breathe if I want to live.

  I open my mouth and look him in the eye to ask for help when he grabs my head and pulls me closer. The feel of his warm hand, the warmth of his breath, the heat coming off his body… It all triggers my very annoying and noticeable issue. There is no hiding it. My cock starts to throb and ache, sending me all the signals it usually does when this happens. The kick is what has triggered it.

  Not the monster waves that keep crashing against me.

  Not the fall off of the boat.

  Not the fear.

  Not even the lightning and thunder.

  But his fucking touch.

  Tears fill my already burning eyes.

  Shame, humiliation and defeat fills me, pulling me down into the pit of despair.

  I’m already losing all the control over my body, and now I’ll lose even more, along with what’s left of my pride and dignity.

  A sob attempts to escape my mouth. I shake my head to stop it, to stifle and push it back to where it is coming from.

  I can’t cry now. I can’t…

  My body arches, cock expanding in my shorts, but my lungs still burn. The tingling spikes in my veins, down my spine, through all of my being.

  He leans forward and his lips crash against mine. I gasp as air fills me. I wrap my arms around his neck and deepen the kiss, getting more air inside me.

  Oh, God, thank you.

  thankyouthankyouthankyou.

  The more we kiss, the more air I get in, the more I harden.

  Hard. Hard. Hard.

  His arm snakes around my waist, our bodies touching, moving. The feel of his body against mine… I grind my lower half—the important part of my anatomy—against him, pre-cum leaking. A moan spills from my lips when his tongue trails across my lips, asking for my permission.

  I immediately open and grant him entrance.

  He thrust his tongue and I’m consumed. By him, his taste, the softness and the passion that is igniting inside me from just his tongue is… I fight to taste it some more, but he has other ideas. He fucks my mouth, our tongues snaking the other, sucking, biting, exchanging saliva.

  A whimper quivers out of me, his teeth scraping over my lips.

  I hump against him.

  Faster.

  Harder.

  Desperately.

  Seeking, wanting, needing.

  My fingers thread through his hair, and I deepen the kiss. My spine ten
ses and pulls back when my ball tightens. And bam! I come hard in my shorts. My body convulses, blood thrums, my toes curl and tremor after tremor shudders through me.

  I breath in the scent of him. How I don’t know. I just can.

  My eyelids lower as my cock continues to pulse in my shorts.

  This reprieve is short. It almost always is. Once it triggers, there is no stopping it. Not till my body gives out, and from the looks of it, that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

  Fuck! I feel another prickle slowly climbing up my spine, my ass itching, twitching, throbbing.

  I don’t want to endure these unstimulated orgasms on my own. I want to exploit, participate with a partner.

  Feel it.

  Live it.

  I swallow the tightness in my mouth and ask what I need.

  Call me shameless, but I don’t care about it right now. I need to find pleasure and he’s the only one available right now. This episode is strong. Stronger than before.

  “I need you. Please…” I grind against him, pressing my cock, finding more friction, “… want you.”

  I want to tear my clothes off and feel his ripped body rubbing against mine, feel the spattering of his chest hair tickling me.

  He kisses me once, filling my chest with plenty of air. “Hold your breath. I need to take you to a safe place,” he whispers against my lips, and I hear him loud and clear amid this chaos.

  I nod and rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes, but my body can’t help but grind against him. I rub my hard cock, my hips bucking as he swims through the strong current, taking us wherever the hell he thinks is safe for us. The more we descend, the harder it becomes to hold my breath. My chest tightens, and I feel like my veins are being squeezed. And the way he’s speeding, I feel dizzy.

  I can’t see, but I can feel the darkness as we swim deeper into the ocean.

  We finally surface and I take in a big gulp of air. I breathe some more. My eyes snap open when my back touches hard, rough ground. I can’t see anything, it’s very dark here.

  “Where are you? I need you.” I cry, my body arching, thrashing, writhing, reminding me why we are here.

  “Are you sure?” His voice is silky, wicked and sensual.

  “Yes!” I shout and claw at my clothes. I tear my shirt off, nothing caring a bit if I’ll have any clothes to wear later when the episode is over and I’m safe on a land