Tale from the Deepwater

chapter 7

Deep into the night, she lay on the surface of the water. Her wings shone with delicate silver patterns appearing and vanishing dimly as there was no moon in the sky that night. The pearl hanging by a stipe which she had found from kelp that ran around her wrist, shone brighter than usual in the darkness. She was half-asleep and half-awake with her eyes closed as she heard some sounds coming from below. She had heard calls of whales, howls of beasts, and scary sounds of various things in the water before, but never had she heard such strange whispers. They spoke something in a tongue similar to hers but she could not make out what they said. She recognized that it wasn't the voice of the man either even though she had heard him only once.

She was on the surface to see the rising sun, but it was a long time before it rose. Curious, she dived into the water following the voices. They seemed to be coming from somewhere far but still within reach, however, no matter how far she swam, she didn't seem to reach any nearer. She came a long way from the known watery regions till slowly, she stopped feeling the water on her skin and the sensation was lost to her completely. For the first time, she felt neither the water nor the wind against her body. Despite it being a night of the new moon, the imperceptible noises and faint lights in nature had kept it from being completely dark, but where she entered now felt like getting lost slowly in an immutable lightless vacuum. She looked behind but no path taking her back was visible. Slowly, she was losing perception of time as well and after what seemed like a never-ending stretch of floating through an invisible tunnel of weightless space, she heard the sounds coming now from somewhere around and above.

She suddenly landed on something hard. She tried to look up to the sky and it was covered in the same darkness, but then she heard those sounds splitting and rising skywards as she could finally gather what were saying.