"What she really craved was a connection. That feeling you got when you knew you were supposed to be with someone."

- J. Sterling, In Dreams

The ocean was calm the day I first saw him.

Calm, with the exception of an overflow of black ink that polluted the water so horribly it drove out all the beach-goers. It all began when I decided to have a bit of fun with a girl who was lounging carelessly inside a pink floatie. I hovered beneath her for a moment, circling a few times and contemplating all the different ways I could make myself laugh. If there hadn't been so many people in the water, I might've flipped her entirely over – inner tube and all – but the attention that would've drawn would've taken away from my personal entertainment. So I decided on simply pulling her toes, which were dangling precariously in the cool waves.

My fingers darted up above the waterline just quickly enough to yank on her three middle toes and come back under before she could react. Her body lurched forward, reaching for her foot as she groaned, "Oh no! Leg cramp!" I sank into the waters with a wide grin plastered across my face, my fingers twitching with an excitement for my own deviousness. I knew the girl would be fine – a few pulled toes never killed anybody – so I saw no harm in having a bit of fun with her. Even if that fun was one-sided.

The joyful plan I'd laid out began to quickly deteriorate though as a boy swimming several yards away reacted to her cry of pain. He swam the awkward way humans do along the surface of the water and over towards her. I couldn't make out what was being said, but I watched on regardless with wide and curious eyes as the two interacted with one another. The girl was obviously older than the he was, him looking to be no more than a child, but still for some reason she blushed, as if flustered by what was happening between them. How odd… I thought to myself.

After another moment of their bickering, the two knocked heads and she tipped back, apparently that having been enough to leave her unconscious. My mouth fell open into a small 'o' of interest, my body repositioning vertically as if I intended to go check on her. And perhaps I might have, if the little boy hadn't been so capable. He paddled them both back to shore as I slowly followed just out of the way of his kicking feet. I poked my head up above the waters when I could go any further and continued to watch as he dragged her to shore – albeit awkwardly, but how smoothly could a person his size really go about carrying a girl so much bigger?

Admittedly I was beginning to feel guilty, knowing that I had been the catalyst that caused all these problems. How was I supposed to know that a toe-pull would end with an unconscious girl though? If anything that seemed like the most outrageous possible outcome for my short second of shenanigans, and yet there I was, watching on from the shallow part of the sea as a pre-pubescent boy leaned in to give a teenage girl CPR.

I felt relieved when the girl came to quickly enough to stop the impending lip lock. Seeing something like that would've made me flat out uncomfortable. The pair began yelling at one another again, and I strained to make out the actual words.

"… you grab my boobs, you beat me, now you wanna kiss me?!"

"What are you talkin' about?! I just saved your life! Quit bein' a hardheaded jerk."

"I'm hardheaded? How'd I get this lump?" A new smile split into my cheeks as I listened to them amusedly. This was far more entertaining that I could've ever hoped for! The entire conversation was absolutely ridiculous to me, and I wondered if all humans talked to each other like this. The thought nearly brought me to laughter.

Soon enough another pair of walkers had appeared on the scene, and by the way they interacted with the girl I could only guess that they were companions. I hardly had the mind to take notice of that though, or anything that they were even saying, as suddenly I only had eyes for this ebony headed boy. My lids peeled back wide as I leaned forward towards him, holding myself up on my hands which slowly sank into the soft sand below me. I couldn't explain or even understand why I felt this way, but there was something that drew me to him as if he were the most important person in all of Assiah. I wanted to get closer to him. To unravel him and figure out his most well-kept secrets and darkest memories.

Who are you? I thought incredulously to myself. My heart jumped inside my chest as suddenly he looked my way, confusion pinching his face as his eyes roved over the waves. Having panicked, I ducked into the water and flattened myself to the sand just before having been caught. He'd turned in my direction so abruptly and on cue it was as if he'd heard me. Had I said that out loud?

I didn't have the time to think on it too hard, however, as my train of thought was shifted when I smelt something putrid and only a moment after saw a trickle of black muck float in front of my face. I blinked for a moment, then rolled my eyes as it dawned on me what it was. Kraken, I groaned inside my head as I discordantly waddled myself backwards with my hands until I was back deep enough at sea to swim more freely.

It'd been some six months since the Kraken had last decided to pay this village a visit, and while I may not have had much experience in the ideals of humans, I felt safe in guessing that they liked their lives better when he was away. The Kraken had a knack of ruining everything it touched, not to mention scaring grown men so horrifically they defecated right into the ocean (which, consequently, always ruined my day). I personally knew the demon to be nothing more than a blundering idiot with a poor sense of direction and absolutely zero concept of the word 'gentle'. Put both of those things together though and you were left with bad news for human settlements. Particularly ones so close to the ocean.

I crested through the turf as schools of fish darted in the opposite direction of myself, shouting words of warning inside my mind. "Don't go that way!" "The Kraken's back!" I would argue that their distaste for the oversized demon was equaled to that of the walkers, but not at all for the same reason. No, their only complaint about the giant squid was that it stunk up the water for miles around wherever it went. In that sense I always felt sort of bad for him. It wasn't as if he could help it.

But still, the ink was a pain in the ass. I squinted my eyes and scrunched my nose as I got closer to the black cloud. When I came so close I couldn't stomach it anymore, I breached the surface and took a deep breath of air, reaching my hands up to wipe away any of the goo from my face. When I opened my eyes, I turned my attention towards the red and white stripped lighthouse. Just as I suspected, a small crowd of people had gathered around to peer out on the polluted waters with plainly frightened expressions. And right there, front and center of all those faces, was boy that I swore had read my mind.

My hands dropped back into the waters as I stared up at him, not even realizing as I subconsciously began to drift closer to the high wall he stood on. The gap between us was too much to hear anything that was being said outside of a general murmur of distraught chatter. He, along with the other boy from earlier and the poor victim of my toe-pulling prank, were talking with what looked like an old monk. Most likely he was catching them up on the story of the Kraken.

Soon enough the man's story had reached a conclusion that must've lead into something else, as they were all turning to walk away. Perking up with a sudden need to get his attention, I darted beneath the water and to the ocean floor. Picking up a hand full of pebbles I swam as quickly as I could back up to the surface to see that, luckily, the boy had lingered behind to take one more look at the foreboding blackness. Only taking a second to measure my aim, I cocked my arm back and flung one of the small stones directly at him. I swelled with pride when I realized that I'd actually hit him, seeing as he winced and instantly became angry and confused. I threw another pebble his way to get his attention, and went it knocked him on the forehead he immediately turned in my direction.

I smiled up at him, and his expression dropped to one of awe. "H-Hey!" he stammered, sounding a little uncertain still. My lips curled up into a brighter smile as I let the rest of the stones go and waved at him. He placed his hands on the railing and leaned over slightly. I couldn't help but to think how exciting it'd be if he fell over and I could heroically save him, dragging him ashore and letting my face be the first thing he saw when he came to.

But of course that didn't happen, rather all he said was, "What are you doing in the water?! Don't you see that giant cloud of ink behind you?!"

"Yes!" I answered shortly, pleasantly. This for some reason threw him completely off as he looked around himself, as if suddenly needing reassurance from someone that this was actually happening. Nobody was paying him any mind though as his friends had already left, and so he turned his attention back on to me.

"Do you need help?" he called down, and I thought it kind that he was so concerned for me.

"No! I'm alright!" I responded. "Thank you though!" Again, he seemed completely dumbfounded, and I couldn't help but to wonder what about this was so unbelievable to him. He opened his mouth as if meaning to say more, but something behind him had caught his attention. He turned slightly to be looking over his shoulder as he said something, then peered down at me one last time.

"Look, I really don't think you should be in the water right now! If you want I can ask someone to send a boat out to come and get you!" He glanced behind himself once more, and I could tell his attention was needed elsewhere.

"I'll be okay, don't worry!" I assured one last time before giving him a wave. "I'll see you around, okay?" He looked like he was caught on what to say, so I simply waved goodbye and ducked below the water, swimming deep enough that I knew my outline wouldn't be seeable from above.

I found myself smiling once again, in spite of myself, as I casually coasted towards the sea bottom. It felt almost instinctual to me that I find a way to get closer to him, and on one hand I was fearful that this was some dark order sent out by Satan. But the feeling I got from this boy was so bright and lovely, I couldn't possibly see how there could be any correlation between him and the King of Ghenna.

Turning over onto my back, I let myself drift completely down onto the soft sandy floor. Lifting my hands up behind my head I closed my eyes, my lips still curved contently upward. Yes, I felt nothing but good intent radiating from him, and perhaps it was just in my fate to know him. I thought of all the fairy tales my mother had told me as a child, and couldn't help but to feel hopeful that perhaps this was the start of my own merry story.