EA#42:
Read From the Beginning or the start of Trial Two or Three or Four or Five or Six or Seven
The Mountain in the Clouds, Part Forty-Five
“
I found myself in the midst of a storm.
It felt like a dream.
I was on some sea vessel, rocking to and fro in the tumultuous ocean.
My balance was completely thrown as I was tossed about on deck. I had no idea how I’d gotten there or any clue where I was, why I was sailing at all.
Last I recalled I was with Gumpelthwomp in some blizzard in the Barrow Downs or thereabouts.
The oceans roiled about and the ship, it seemed, was at the bottom of the swells of seawater. Salt spat in my eyes, and I trembled in terror.
This was one of my worst nightmares. To be in a terrifying, merciless storm at sea, with the threat of death looming in every possible way. I simply felt my human body was not meant to be in such an extreme place, at the mercy of the angry waters, far from land.
I didn’t have much time to think as my body reacted to the moment. A tremendous wave loomed overhead…. it seemed a hundred meters high. I stumbled, slanted, across the deck, somehow wishing to escape it by running in the opposite direction. The ship tilted almost completely on its side and I fell face-first on the slippery wood planks.
Screeching past a coil of rope, I grabbed on with all my might. But the wave came anyway.
The waters poured upon me with salty determination, washing me away with ease. I couldn’t hold my grip, nor could the ship. The vessel was overturned simply, like a giant swatting a mountain fly.
And I was dipped deep into the waters, struggling and scrambling to hold myself above water. The ocean lifted and dropped me over and over, diving me under and covering my eyes and mouth with stinging water and spray. I could barely see or breathe. I couldn’t swim hard enough to keep going. The storm raged on.
And I passed out.
I dreamed a dark dream of fearful things. Beasts in the shadows, fangs and teeth and claws and torn bodies of some dreadful host of monsters marching towards me. And I felt things wrap around my body, drag me with slimy might.
And I awoke cold.
Less cold then the blizzard I imagined myself waking to.
But still cold.
And very wet.
What a terrible dream. I’d been lost at sea in a frightful storm.
But as I realized that I truly was soaking wet, my bleary eyes adjusted to my surroundings, and I knew why.
I was indeed at sea, floating in an endless ocean. My body was lying on a piece of wood, perhaps from the ship I thought I’d only dreamed of. It was holding me above the water, but I was half submerged in a pool.
Overhead the bright sun nearly blinded me. I held my arm to cover my eyes and propped myself up out of the pool. My body ached, and my breath was short. I coughed up salty water.
By the gods where am I now? I thought. How did I get here, from that freezing snow storm with Gumpelthwomp?
And where was my giant friend? He was nowhere to be seen.
Truly, nobody was there to be seen. And nothing else either, but some more bits of floating wood and planks, a barrel over there and a bit of canvas holding fast to some of the debris. A heavy rope coiled around one of the boards and dipped into the ocean water. The sea lapped over the broken pieces again and again, constantly spilling new salt water onto my singular perch of salvation, as it were.
There was nothing there for me. No food, no water, no tools of any kind. No help to be found. And as I scanned the horizon, I saw no sign of land, nor any other vessel that might be near.
Despite that, the ocean was calm. The air was mild. The wind frittered past gently. The sound of the waves was almost calming, and it would have seemed a restful place to relax if it weren’t so frighteningly lonely and inescapable.
Ok, my mind began to wonder frantically. Really, how did I get here? Where am I? Why am I floating on the ocean? What am I to do? How do I get out of here? Gods help me.
Just then I got an answer, of a sort. But I wasn’t convinced that it was the gods who responded.
Something bumped into my piece of floating wood and jostled it enough to rock me back and forth. I had this sense that something had swam past in the water.
This notion sent overwhelming fear shooting down my back. If I weren’t already lost at sea, now some creature was sensing me out. At least I have this wood to float on.
Then I was rocked again, this time a little harder. I had to grip tightly to hold on to the wood.
I saw something then. I couldn’t make it out, but it looked big. It swam through some of the other debris and pushed it aside with ease.
The fin showed itself next, and I was sure that it was a shark. It was soon joined by two more fins. They circled about for a bit, almost as if they were teasing me.
Surely they couldn’t know I was here, could they? My understanding was that they sense out blood, and I’m not…
I realized then that I had not been fully aware of my situation. A shooting pain in my arm called my attention and I looked down to see a deep gash in it. I must have snagged it on some sharp edge of wood or something. I wasn’t sure, but one thing was clear… my wound had sent a pool of red fluid into the water. Surely this must have caught the attention of the sharks.
My breath came fast, my heart race, and my thoughts narrowed to a fraction of consciousness, simply the desire and will to survive. I was terrified. I was frightened to death of sharks and the real threat of dying at sea in this way…
Great, I thought. After all this time, this is going to be my end? How could it be that I would come to a place like this, one of my greatest fears? To be lost at sea, with sharks, and no hope…
Oh! it donned on me. Of course, my fear! I am in a trial of fear!
As soon as I realized that I came to some awareness about why it was happening. Yet still I did not know what to do. The very real threat still loomed before me. And the sharks were closing in. They rounded one of their taunting circles and made a beeline straight towards me.
I looked around, seeking something to hold onto. There were bits of wood that stood up like broken poles, and somehow they offered the best handhold. I grabbed on as strong as I could, kept my body low and braced for the impact.
The sharks approached fast. They swam at an incredible speed. In fact they seemed to gain speed, even height as they came towards me. It was almost impossible… I couldn’t believe my eyes at how they moved!
Then the reason was made clear as the ocean water lurched high and even the sharks themselves were sent sailing past through the air. The monster at cause rose out of the deeps, the serpent I’d met in the sea of hate. It was enormous, larger than I recalled. It must have lifted at least fifty meters out of the water, and I couldn’t be sure how far deep its body was submerged.
It coiled its neck into a question mark, reared its head back and roared… a terrible, bone-chilling sound that made me cover my ears. Multiple rows of deadly teeth were exposed, and its forked tongue licked its bearded lips with delight.
But most terrible to see were its eyes. For in those empty circles I saw no emotion, no sense of recognition, no consciousness beyond its pure desire to eat whatever it could see. Those massive voids had a haunting lifelessness to them.
It seemed then that time had stopped. I was holding on, the ocean almost appeared to settle, and the monster hung in the air for an eternity. Everything was frozen, myself most of all, but maybe it was just my fear that kept me still. I didn’t even feel like I was breathing.
But when time decided to turn back on, it came in a sudden rush.
The sea serpent of hate snapped its neck like lightning, crashing towards me with its mouth wide open. I didn’t know what to do, so I cowered where I was and closed my eyes, ready to face my end. Well, not ready in most ways, just not knowing what other option I may have. I was sure this was it.
Somehow the movement of that great body shifted the waters just so, and when the beast struck my board was pushed back and I scraped by mere inches from death. But the force of the impact crushed the wood from under me, and I was plunged into the ocean, gulping for air a few meters under.
I clambered to the surface and gasped for air, seeking quickly to locate the monster’s position. Where did it go? The ripples of the water suggested it had dove back into the sea as well, so I was assuming that it would surely come from below.
A commotion arose next as the monster spun around, coiling its body in the sea around me and all the debris. I swam as fast as I could towards the next thing I could hold, but the serpent’s tail began writhing about, smashing all of the wood before me.
It may have been my imagination, but I could swear I saw the beast cast its head back and let out a wicked cackle.
Ok, I guess this is just the way I die…
And the monster swooped in again, lurching itself with all its might towards me.
A faint inner voice deep within me suggested that I do the unthinkable. Rather than float there and wait, it said go under.
Go underwater? I asked, aghast.
Yes, it urged. Quickly.
I truly seemed to have little recourse, so, willing to trust that inner guidance that I had cultivated, I dove.
As soon as I was under I felt the impact of the beast crash into the waters above me. I was not swallowed up or even struck by it, but the force created sent me shooting downwards at an incredible speed.
This is not the way to go! I shouted inside my mind. This is not the way to my salvation! Surely! I cannot breathe down here! I cannot survive underwater!
The air I had gathered above the water was quickly forced out of my lungs. My body grew more and more fatigued as I tried desperately to keep my mouth shut.
I went deeper and deeper into the dark waters, growing colder and colder and more and more pressurized. I could start to feel the affects on my eyeballs and my lungs and my very bones, pounding and crushing and bursting.
And then there was a new sight to instill dread. A glimmer of light shone before me, but instead of a saving grace, it illumined the menacing face of an toothy angler fish, mighty in size. If this alone I had found then, I’d have been nervous, but it was the creature behind that truly petrified me.
The shark was gigantic, an enormous dragon bull shark. The three sharks I’d seen above the water paled in comparison to this mighty creature of legend. Even the sea serpent would meet its match against such a foe.
It’s body filled all the vision I had left as that angler light outlined its fat, meticulous form swimming in wait. I never saw its face, only the rows of teeth opening up to swallow us both, the fish and I.
My terror was overwhelming. I had never envisioned such a terrible fate as this. Cold and alone in the depths of a dark sea, not a chance at survival as one of the largest ocean predators was nearly meters away from swallowing me whole. My lungs were empty, my muscles completely fatigued, and I had no hope in the world.
I had nothing to do but allow. Just let go and allow my end to come.
“
Thanks so much for reading.
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Blessings to you,
Matthew