Oceans Apart

Chapter 1 - Leomaris.

Somewhere in the Mediterranean, a long, long time ago..

I hear screaming. A human. A child. It's high pitched and deafening, even from nearly a mile away. Popping my head above the water, I observe the weak creature. A small girl, sitting in the sand crying. Her pale face now red and swollen from her absurd torment to my ears. Moments pass by for what seems like hours, and she stands, still crying, but walks to the sloped cliffside covered in unstable rocks.

Is she idiotic?

She may be a child, but even us sea creatures are taught at a young age what is safe and what is not. The blonde girl starts to climb, only getting a few feet above the ground before stopping.

"Mama!!" She yells in her cries. "Mama!!" she repeats over and over. This is torture, to watch such a pitiful scene, not because I feel bad for the weak thing, but because she's making my ears bleed.

I'm not sure how long she sits there on that rock, but high tide starts to roll in, the waves becoming rougher as a storm approaches from the west. Waves splash against her, soaking her distraught clothes and messy hair. It's been hours, I think. I've been watching this horrid scene for hours. I don't know what about her is intriguing me. I don't know if it's the screaming that makes me want to kill her; perhaps that's what's keeping me here. A defenseless meal. 

The girl stands, her skin red from the sun, and face swollen from crying. 

And then she slips, falls down the side of the rock, scraping her small arms and legs in the process. She cries again. My god, does this thing ever stop crying? Our kin do not cry like this. They pout and whine, but not cry. They do not scream in such an antagonizing manner. Perhaps it is only the weak species that have acquired this irate trait. 

The smell of her blood fills my nose, but it does not have the usual effect on me. Usually the smell of blood will send me into hunting mode. Telling me there is easy food near by for the taking. 

But for some reason, her blood..

Her blood is sweet, and it only makes me pity her pain more so. I do not want to eat this girl. Especially not after such a pathetic scene. She rolls into the sand, huffing her sobs. As she pushes onto her hands and knees, the waves roll in, pushing her back down. The water covers her small body, and after a moment I notice her getting pulled further and further into the sea. She struggles against the water.

Can this pathetic thing not swim?

She looks much to old to not know how to swim. Aren't all kin of all animals taught how to swim at young ages? If something as weak as a tiger can swim at such a young age, why can't she? Even a rat can swim, but she cannot? I've never seen such a feeble creature struggle so much. Her head disappears under the water. She does not return to the surface.

Oh hell. Seriously?

Before I realize it, I'm moving towards where I last saw her. Her small frame is now several feet under the water. I move behind her and place my hand on her back, then push her towards the surface. Humans cannot breathe underwater. I hear her coughs, and I push her small body back onto the beach. I do my best to retreat before she can see me, but I need to make sure she is okay. Something in me is yelling to ensure her safety.

Her head turns, staring back at the water, but before I can move, she sees me.

Her eyes hold mine, and it sends a shiver down my spine, all the way from the top of my head to the tip of my tail. I throw myself back under the water.

What the fuck. What the fuck?

I do not think as I push back up, her eyes meeting mine again. Neither of us speak. Neither of us move. I do not breathe.

She is fated to me. This weak, pathetic, thing? Over 300 years I have lived on this planet, and now? Now I am fated with such a creature? She is but only a child! I cannot have this. I will not stand for this. For such a punishment! Such a vexatious creature I am mated to! What have I done to deserve such cruelty?!

Yelling fills my ears, from down the shoreline. I revert my eyes from the child and dive down, after a moment, returning to the surface to see two adults. A man and a woman, yelling "Violet!" over and over. "Violet!!" Their yelling will not reach the weak child's ears. They are much too far. Are these humans her parents? How should I direct them to their offspring? I decide against any interaction with the adult humans. They are too smart. They will know what I am. But a child? A child will talk of me and her parents will only think she is speaking of fantasies.

I decide to approach the child. I suppose her name must be Violet, if that is what the parents call her.

I do not reveal all of me, only to my shoulders. I point to the direction of her parents. "Go that way. Your parents are looking for you." I sink back down.

"But-!" 

I don't stay to listen to her words.

I told her where to go. If she is much too dull to follow my heed, it shall be her own ignorance that is the death of her. I've saved her once. It will not happen again.