Chapter 8 – Queen of the Sea

Chapter 8 – Queen of the Sea

I suddenly was jolted from my unawareness as I felt air around me instead of water. I immediately tried to breathe, choked on the water I had already inhaled, and ended up coughing up about a gallon of seawater. Then I took a breath and looked around me.

I was on top of a large, blue, rubbery… something, which was floating in the water. I spotted Kaden lying a few feet away from me, and I dragged myself closer to him to check if he was breathing.

Suddenly he shifted and opened his eyes, spewing out saltwater onto the surface we were lying on and then gasping for breath. After doing this, he closed his eyes again wearily.

"Where are we?" he asked me in my mind. "What happened?"

I collapsed back onto the rubbery surface tiredly. "It was an Octillery," I told him. "I don't know where we are, though."

"What is this?" Kaden inquired.

"What is what?"

"Whatever we're on top of." We were both too exhausted to move, so I understood why he didn't point to it or something.

"I don't know. It could be a Wailord…"

"No, Wailord are bigger."

Suddenly my tired mind finally got working enough to allow me to remember something. "My parents said that they were helped by a big blue sea creature. This could be the same thing."

"What's it called?"

I tried to remember that, but gave up when my head started hurting. "I don't remember."

Then Kaden opened one eye and glanced at me. Suddenly his other eye opened and they both widened. "Avari! What happened to you?"

"What?"

"You're red all over!"

I was too tired to look. "I am?"

"Yes! What happened?"

I remembered. "I used Metronome, and, well, caught on fire."

His eyes widened even more. "What?!"

"To get away from the Octillery…"

"You burned yourself?!"

"Yes, but do you think I can control what happens?"

"No, but that's why you shouldn't do that!"

I closed my eyes, my weariness finally catching up to me. "Too late now…"

Then I fell asleep.

.

I was in a dark hallway. Looking down it, I saw lots of strange machines, with glowing lights. There were some tanks filled with green fluid. Curious, I went down the hall until I reached the first glass tank.

I looked into it. Inside was… my father!

"Father! What are you doing here?"

He opened his eyes and stared at me. Then the glass tank broke, and he came out of it, floating toward me.

I looked around, and discovered that I was surrounded by multiple copies of my father. "Which one of you is the real one?" I asked.

They formed a circle around me and began to spin around me, the circle growing tighter and tighter. I became afraid.

Then I saw another one of my father, standing outside the circle and reaching out to me. "Avari!" he called. I reached out to him, only to be blocked by the others. Another one reached to me.

"I am your father, Avari."

I then turned as another one spoke. "Don't believe him! I am!"

A third said, "Why can you not tell the real me from these fakes?"

I began to cry. "I don't know!"

Then my surroundings disappeared, leaving me in a void of blackness. I stopped crying and looked around.

A figure walked toward me. I couldn't make out any details.

I asked it, "Who are you?"

The figure looked at me, and I saw that it had blue, glowing eyes. "I am the one who comes with the darkness of the moon. Help me, Avari…" The figure slowly faded.

A voice whispered to me, "When three were one, one did come, and from one was none. When all were one, none was all, and one will be one. But when one is none and then is one, one will be all…"

Then I was falling…

.

I awoke suddenly and immediately cried out in pain. My skin felt like it was on fire. I started thrashing in the sand, unable to do anything against it.

"Avari! Stop! It won't help," Kaden said to me. I stopped thrashing with an effort, and instead lay on the sand panting and wincing in pain.

"Ow… It hurts…" I moaned. Kaden looked at me, concerned.

"You burned yourself pretty badly."

I looked at myself. I was covered in red burn marks and sand. "I… couldn't tell..." Then I glanced around, wincing as my skin erupted in pain. "Where are… we?"

Kaden shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe an island or something. That creature that saved us dropped us off here."

I couldn't see anything except ocean and some beach without turning my head, which I didn't want to do. Instead, I simply laid back down on the sand, flinching occasionally (in other words, about every three seconds) at the discomfort in my skin.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" Kaden asked.

I thought for a second, then realized that I was thirsty. "Water…"

Kaden glanced back at the ocean, then at me. "You need more water?"

"No… thirsty."

He finally understood. "Oh, okay." Then he flew off, most likely to find water.