Chapter Nine

Nightmares

Tides rolled by, unstoppable as the cycle of day and night. Sage's journey of his discovery of new songs, new adventures and new experiences persisted long and hard, each new day answering questions that plagued Sage, and opening the doors for new queries to be asked. The waters were warm, clear and brimming with life. Used to his existence in the icy lands, the explosion of creatures overwhelmed Sage, of colours and shapes and sizes that Sage had never known existed.
Young, his mind lapped up the knowledge freely expressed to him, adding to his song, and expanding the length of his juvenile tunes dramatically. The song expanded from the songs of the hunt, to include the vengeful tones of the narwhal, the narcissistic notes of the beluga, the silent stalking of the sperm whales, the playful jingle of the dolphin, the long tympanis of the humpbacks and many, many more. Anything that Sage saw, that engrossed him, he composed a song for, describing the creature, stone or weed. Sage's song combined all the songs that he learnt or composed into one lengthy and glorious melody that resounded throughout the waters that he swam, attracting the attention of many.
The tides had taken their toll to Sage's youth. Marks and scrapes were now a commonplace occurrence upon Sage's once smooth skin. Wounds from brushes with rocks, sharks and prey that fought back left his skin disfigured greatly. Long gashes from encountering sharp stones and smaller sharks streamed down his now burly body, while holes from the death lock of a shark's jaws that Sage found it possible to escape from, resided upon the tender belly and the tougher spine.
The travel had redesigned Sage's body, from the small and chubby calf body he'd left the pod, to the thinner, elongated and muscular body of the traveller, providing him with power to fight or flee, no matter what the option for him left would be. Having already fended himself from several smaller shark species, Sage was beginning to become a slightly more formidable fighter, capable of tackling creatures of roughly equal size, and surviving the battle.
As for his feeding and hunting, it still remained a case of trial-and-error, more often so, error. However, becoming accustomed to the famine he was often inflicted upon, Sage felt hunger lesser. Each hunt proved to be an experience of learning, more skills gained or knowledge learnt, wherever the hunt resulted in food or hunger. Whenever Sage captured something such as a seal, or a smaller shark, an item that filled his belly full, he'd sing a personal song of satisfaction, pleased with his efforts.
Youthful games remained part of Sage. At times of boredom or emptiness of the heart, a game of splashing and breaching about would remove these feelings, if only for a little while. He sung songs, the same songs as sung by his mother, and by Elli, to remind himself of his pledge to return to the pod. As long as he sang the song, he would return by any means.
To his mother, one night during his travels, he felt something. He felt something from the mutual bond that a mother and their child only share between them. A strong and sudden lunge of life, which Sage sensed from the far north one night whilst he rested, bringing with it a sense of life, and then dread. Unsure of what this meant to him, he sang of a song that he composed right there for his mother and sibling.
Elli's songs began to capture the heart of Sage as time moved on. His feelings for her grew stronger with every passing day, forbidden love festering in his heart. He knew that no orca could be this close with a cousin, but it made little sense to Sage to as why he felt this way, when these feelings were stronger than even those for his dear mother.
But then, Elli had been a friend life-long and beyond. She was more than a cousin to Sage, more as a sister, whom Sage cared more than life itself for. At times, Sage felt as if Elli was something different, not a member of the pod, but some angel sent to watch over him, and guide him and love him. But even then, these feelings were as strange, for the truth that Sage felt in such feelings.
No orca partnered up for life. It was a tradition that mature males sired with any willing females whenever pods crossed, bringing with it new life. It was a great honour for a female to bring new calf into the world, as it was the goal of the male to have as many offspring as they could, even though they may never meet their own children.
It was true that Sage knew not of his own father, for his mother had been sired from over nine different males before the bulge of pregnancy had signalled the coming of him-self. Any one of these males could have been his father, but his mother knew not even the names of these males, for the act of siring was not of romance and loving.
So, why did Sage feel strange for Elli? He knew the traditions, yet he contradicted them with his feelings for Elli. And then, he contradicted other laws, such as lying to the pod, and assuming the blame of other's guilt, both crimes to the orca code.
But, in love with a member of the family? He would face the most humiliating title if he were to ever admit his guilt to the pod, even his own mother.
Often shaking these feelings loose, Sage tonight, as the new moon floated in the sky, the fifth rebirth of the moon since he'd left his home, floated in a small inlet, resting his aching body, and dreaming his dreams of home. Though he did not sleep his body, Sage's mind would rest, dreaming to converse and replenish the energy in his mind. His eyes watched open, but his brain peered into a completely new ambit of his mind, dosing together fantasy and reality into one false authenticity.
Within his personal realm of fantasy, Sage remained at home, by his mother's side. She was not pregnant and sluggish, the very mother Sage had grown up from as a calf, full of games and fun and not sibling. His belly was full of the sweet meats the pod preyed and there was evermore for him, when the hunger arose. Elli sung the chorus' that Sage sang along in unison, their voices echoing throughout the vast oceans, love being their guide and music their art. Gol would watch over them, singing in his amazement of the song, as the rest of the pod… no, the world, listened and marvelled to the song, spellbound by the sheer exquisiteness of the hymn.
Every dream, Sage felt the same dream come on. Always he was the hero of the pod, marvelled and honoured by all, showered with gifts of song, as the world listen to the carol of he and Elli, amazed at the majesticness of the hymns that Sage composed.
Every dream.
Except for this one.
In this dream, a strange creature appeared before the assembly of listeners, admirers and song-masters, greed in its eyes. The creature resembled an overgrown medusa, clear, translucent flesh, with two long tendril-like limbs that lashed out with stingers, numbing anything that it struck. The flesh wobbled, as the monster swam with a lazy gait, seeming to be drawn by the song.
As Sage continued his singing, the creature neared the crowd, and with a swipe of its tendrils, devoured the crowd one-by-one, swallowing each member whole. Panic ensured, with the fiend engulfed dolphin, whale and more, its hunger never sated, gulping greedily Keeki, Okura, Kiera, Gol and the rest of the pod in its frenzy of feeding. As Sage continued to sing, unable to stop his own carol, the crowd disappeared inside within a matter of seconds, and the monster approached now Elli, mesmerized by her own singing, unable to heed the danger.
As the nightmare drew near a close, a single piercing scream and ingest, and the love of his life was gone, into the belly of the beast. As the abomination turned to him, it screamed again, the scream shattering the light of the dream. In the dank dark, the glowing outline of the atrocity morphed, the fusing body shrinking and lengthening, squashing and compressing into that of another singer, face and body hidden from view in the murkiness of the lurid hallucination.
It threw back a song of deep laughter, screaming in insane lust for power, death, destruction and hatred, as it reared back, charging towards the now lone Sage, teeth lashing out…
Snapping suddenly to reality, Sage opened his blowhole in shock, being only just underneath the border of his realm and the beginning of the sky. Panicking as the waters of life and death filled his lungs, Sage coughed and spluttered at the surface, exhaling the foulness from his lungs, whilst giving loud songs of pain, surprise, fear and worry. It had been a long time since a nightmare had plagued his dreams, and he felt tears of fear coming on. He wanted his mother's comforting touch to let him know it was going to be all right, and that the danger wasn't real.
But she was thousands of tides travel away. Her comfort would prove to be little use.
Instead, Sage shivered in fright, beginning to snivel in tears of loneliness. Up until now, he had been alone and upset at the thought of no one to comfort him in times of fear; but now, he was distraught. Such a dream frightened him, reminding Sage he was still just a calf.
The inlet Sage found was small, off the edge of a large coral reef, teaming with life. This inlet had only one narrow passage out of it, which had seemed like a good idea, now frightened Sage. What if the monster were to come for him here? He was trapped like a seal on an ice floe. This little lagoon was shallow, small and had no place to hide.
That monster was going to be able to get him!
Unable to control him-self, distress and panic gripping his soul, Sage launched into a song of great, painful sorrow, his heart tearing at every note as carolled to the silent skies. Alone had been, but now he was unaided in a time of need for great comfort.
"Young one," a familiar voice boomed from a small distance away. "Why do you cry?" In terror at the sudden appearance of song with no body, Sage turned, fear of the dream gripping his heart, to see…
Okura?
As the large male orca approached slowly, Sage then noticed that this orca wasn't Okura at all. The white underbelly was more pure white, than the stained white that he and Okura owned. The factor that had made Sage so fast to jump to conclusions was the long scar on the left of his face. Unlike Okura however, this scar ran across the eye, blinding the eternal whiteness of the eye. This male also seemed to be fatter and, yet smaller in body size than Okura, with a dorsal that was missing the top half. A strange questioning seemed to linger in the eyes of the newcomer.
In fear, Sage back-finned away, knowing there was little escape. The thoughts of the mysterious malevolence singer in his dream swam to the surface of his mind, fearing Sage to trust this lone one. Tears still in his fearful eyes, Sage's calf inside struggled free, screaming to him, You're gonna die! A though that caused Sage to release a single note of song in shrill, unadulterated terror.
"Mother!"
Freezing in his approach, the male orca saw the terror surging through the song of the younger calf. Looming towards him would cause nothing more than more howling songs of tears of fear, the male back-finned, to instead observe the calf with his eye, than to attempt contact straight off. He whistled a warning to the nearing pod at the entrance to the inlet, telling them to remain back.
As the calf bawled with tears, the male scanned his good eye over the impressively resilient looking body of the youngster. Noticing the many, many wounds upon the young body, disfiguring the face and marring the body and the sunken belly of starvation, he thought to himself, So much pain, for one so young…
As he turned his attention towards the appearance of the orca beneath the wounds, he noticed a few traits that surprised him. Stained white skin, the very markings of an ice dweller. Several marking upon the chin that glinted slightly in the pale light of the moon. And then, a song of fear, that was quite possibly the most beautiful song of fear he had ever heard.
Venturing again, "Young one. I mean you no harm. I merely wish to ask you why you cry so loud and float alone, so far from your icy home? What name do you hail by?"
Lifting his afraid gaze, Sage glanced the concern and kindness in the shape of the eyes. Calming his fears forcefully, Sage replied, hoping not to seem rude or afraid, "I… I am called-- Sage, sir. And, I…"
At the name, the eyes of the orca, including the blind one smiled gently, lighting up. "Sage, the traveller and seeker of songs of the seas? The orca, hailed from the pod of Okura and Kiera, the White River pod?"
"Y-yes," Sage nodded, suddenly confused and fearful at this orca's knowledge of his past. "How… How did you know me… And-and about the pod?"
A glare entered the orca's eye. His blind one. "I know Okura very well. He took my eye from me in a duel many, many years ago." The sudden harshness of the song caused Sage to back-fin in fear once more; suddenly fearful that this orca would extract revenge upon Okura, by inflicted it upon him. But on the contrary, a bark of laughter rang from his song. "He is my best friend, and sent word with travellers to me to look out for you young one. And to take you to the place that you will find answers to many of your answers about legend and history.
"My name is Wind, young Sage. And I lead the pod that guards the entrance to the sunken city…"