Missing Ocean
Linda opened her soft, brown eyes only to see that there was nothing there. She was just floating in a black abyss. It was so comfortable that she felt like she could lay there forever. Then, a light flashed and she started to fall; only, she wasn’t falling deeper into the darkness. Linda found herself going up instead. As she continued to “fall,” she could feel water beating against her skin. She was never in a black abyss. It was only the ocean. Black was quickly changing into blue.
As she continued her ascent, she could see all the ocean life around her. They were all moving out of her way, making a path to the surface. She tried to see the creatures that so kindly aided her passage, but all she could see was a blue whale, a dolphin, a shark, a seal, a turtle, a tuna, and a clown fish. When she finally reached the uppermost layers of the undersea realm, she saw a man.
The man seemed much older then Linda. His hair was a bright red;so bright that Linda believed she would be able to see it from miles away. As she got closer, she could see his eyes. They were blue. A deep, dark blue that almost looked like the ocean itself.
“Help us,” the man said in a deep calm voice. Linda tried to answer him, but she suddenly felt something push her. She then felt the warm blanket on top of her, and her soft bed under her body. Every thing came stumbling back. She was merely dreaming, and her mom would tell her to wake up in 3...2...1...
“Come on Linda its time to get up,” said her mother right on time. “You need to hurry if you want to make it to school on time.” Her mother, having accomplished her job, left the room to continue making breakfast. Linda slowly rose from her bed.
“That has to be the 12th time that I've had that dream,” Linda said to herself as she started to prepare herself for the day. Linda was running late, as always, and had to hurry or she would be late for school again. "What a disaster that would be," she thought as she rushed out the door.
When she finally arrived at school, she realized that the bell had just rang and that she had to run to her first period; thankfully, her first period was PE.
When she arrived, her good friend Chelsea exclaimed,“Wow! That was close! You were almost late.”
“You just made it!” yelled her friend Bruce.
“Just barely,” answered Linda.
As the group stood around marveling at Linda's speed and luckiness, their teacher strolled out and happily said, “Today I’m going to have all you students run around the field twice."
With a groan and a mixture of various, whispered curse words, the first period class drowsily started their run. Most of the class set a slow pace; in fact, they were almost walking. Linda and her friends, however, were running so that they could have more time to talk and hang out after the run. One of the boys in class noticed that there were sea gulls sitting out in the field, and decided that he could chase them. Linda quietly watched as the boy chased the poor birds, but most others laughed at him and his crazy antic.
So consentrated on the flurry and insanity of the frightened birds, Linda never even saw the puddle that she was heading strait for. When she did finally notice, it was already too late. As she tried to stop herself, she still managed to trip. She was falling straight into the puddle. The only thing was, she never made contact with the muddy water. Instead, she continued to fall; deeper, and deeper, and deeper into a neverending void. While she was falling, Linda started to feel tired. To feel exhausted. To feel as if she would never wake up from sleep if it managed to take her into its grasp. Soon she could not withstand this temptation of the mind, and she slipped soundlessly into a stupor and the state of unconsciousness.
Ch. 2
new world!
“Hey, you awake yet?” Linda didn’t recognize the voice, but it sounded like a boy. When she opened her eyes, she did see a boy; one with brown hair and dark, brown eyes right in front of her face. She jerked up.
“So you are! I’ve been waiting a long time for you to wake up. Its been hours.” He looked at Linda. “Oops, I didn’t introduce myself. I'm Cliff, of the Hawk Spirit, and you must be of the Sea Gull Spirit.”
“Of the 'Sea Gull Spirits'?” Linda looked confused at this. What did this guy mean when he said of the something spirit?
“You must be from a different world to not know about the Spirits!” he exclaimed. “Come on, we have to leave before we are noticed.” The boy who called himself 'Cliff' began to pull Linda off of the ground where she sat.
"Wait! Where am I? What is this place? Who are you!" Linda screamed at the strange new person, panic completely gripping her voice and body.
“You're on a beach of a different world.” Cliff explained.
“Beach? But I'm not wet!” she stammered as she looked out at what lay before her. What was supposed to be in front of her was the ocean, but instead there was nothing. All the water was missing. The ocean was missing.
“Come on, we have to go! I’ll tell you everything later,” Cliff said nervously as he pulled her up to her feet. Still clinging onto Linda’s arm, Cliff began to move them toward the forest that was to the back of them. Not knowing what to say, Linda silently, and obediently, followed him. She had no choice but to.
“We’re here,” he said with his voice almost at a whisper.
“Where?” asked Linda, following suit and being equally quiet. She looked around until she noticed some houses that dotted the landscape. They were small, and seemed poorly built compared to the houses that she was used to. Cliff walked into the first one on the the right, and Linda quickly followed; she dare not lose the one person she knew. Or at least, the one person who seemed willing to help her.
“I’m back,” he announced as he entered the small domain. An echo of “Welcome back!” filled the room as both Cliff and Linda entered. Linda looked around and was surprised to see how many people were in the small living space.
“So the stories are true, then? She does have blue hair!” yelled a man. At this, Linda looked at her hair for the first time since the strange events had started happening. It was blue! Normally, and logically, her hair would be brown, but it appeared to have taken on a deep royal blue sheen, with aquamarine strands running through its entirety. How could this be!
“And she has such lovely blue eyes.” Said an older women.
“No, my hair and eyes are brown!” Linda tried to explain.
“The Spirits must have changed your hair and eye color then,” Cliff explained.
“What's your name dear?” asked the elderly woman from before.
“My name is Linda,” she replied.
“Linda? You can't go walking around with a name like that!” yelled an older man. She almost asked why, but then Cliff explained it to her. “Linda was the name of a great princess who saved the world once. In honor of her, no one has shared that name since. Because you are of the Sea Gull Spirit, why not be Umi? At least, for a little while; while in this world, anyway.”
“Ocean? You want my name to be ocean in Japanese? Because that is what that word means,” Linda replied.
“You are right. That name does mean ocean, but what is this 'Japanese' you speak of? Umi is a word from an ancient language that once resided in this world. It's been dead and long forgotten for eons, but it has been handed down to us through names and stories. But, would it be alright if we called you Umi?” Cliff seemed calm as he talked. Linda was stunned. She didn’t even know where she was, and now someone that she had never met before wanted to change her name? What was this strange place?
“Poor girl has no clue what's going on. Come dear, sit down and have some tea. I just made it myself,” said a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties.
“Thank you,” Linda said as she walked to the chair that the women had offered her. The woman gave Linda the tea in a neatly-made cup that had etchings of marine animals and waves adorning it. "How beautiful..." Linda whispered in a hushed voice.
"What's that young lady?" the generous woman humorously inquired.
"Oh, nothing, ma'am. I was just looking at the cup's design. Its very pretty. Much prettier than anything i would have at my house."
"Well, thank you. Those tea cups of mine have been handed down to me by so many generations, it's amazing they haven't all been broken! They have suffered the wares of old age though, i am sad to admit." At this, Linda noticed the scuffs and scratches that accompanied the wonderful artwork; an occasional chip or two also appeared in the fine ceramic cup. Linda ignored these imperfections, and prefered to look at the cup's designs. For some reason, they seemed familiar. Where had she seen them before? She finally decided to take a sip of the tea that rested neatly inside the beautiful cup so as not to appear rude or uncivilized. It was very hot. And very bitter. The taste and temperature was so strong, in fact, that Linda almost spat it back out as soon as it touched her lips; but she forced it down, and swolled it. She feared that doing otherwise would affect the woman who offered her the tea in the first place, and she did not want to appear ungrateful. Besides, Linda didn’t even know if what she tasted was what tea was supposed to taste like; after all, she had never had tea before this moment.
“Well Cliff, isn't it about time you told her what's going on?” the old man said. Cliff looked a little flushed. It seemed to Linda that he didn’t know what to say at all, but she still listened to him without a word.
“I suppose she does deserve an explanation...although i don't want to be the one who gives it. But if i must..." He trailed off, looking hopefully over to the others who lined the room. None of them took the hint, or ignored it if they had, so Cliff was forced to unwillingly continue on with whatever he was about to say.
"Well, I guess I should start with the legend," and so, Cliff began. He looked up as if he had forget something, but shortly continued on, seemingly enlightened on the topic that had previously escaped him.
“A long time ago, the humans and the Spirits of the Land, Sky, and Sea all lived together peacefully. Their two worlds were connected, with neither side affecting the other; neither race disturbing the rest. But, one day, the humans started to polute the ocean water, and this angered the Ocean Spirits. Some of them decided to punish the humans, but others did not. The peaceful times that had only recently been turned into a turmoil of intention still gave other Spirits the impression that we humans were good; simply mislead by some unseen force. These kind Spirits that took pity on us knew not how to cease our senseless dirtying of the sea, and so could not stop the angered ones from pursuing their plan; to take all the water away from the ocean. These Spirits were clever, however, and they knew that, in time, we humans would be capable to cross time and space to regain what they had taken from us. To stop our race from reclaiming our sea, they decided to take the oceans and water from other worlds as well; using the power that only a true Spirit can posess. They are are planing to drown this world, and make it one big ocean. To use what we took for granted to crush, destroy...and ultimately...end us.” Cliff looked over to Linda, as if to make sure she was still listening to him. Apparently seeing that she was, he continued to speak.
“Seven Ocean Spirits were against this cruel plan to exterminate our race and the rest of the land-based world, but they were sealed away by the Evil Ones. Now, the following information was passed down from parent to child in my family. As is was taught, the last human to ever see one of the Sealed Spirits was my great, grandfather, bless his ancient bones. The Spirit that he was honored with viewing before its imprisonment was the Great Seagull Spirit. Before the Spirit was sealed away, it gave my grandfather these words: ‘There is a flaw in their seals, so have no fear. If they use the seal, I will simply go to a different world. Then, when the time comes, you will call upon me, and i shall return with a new partner. Tell your people that i will return one day...one day when their future is more than a watery tomb...’” Cliff stopped and stared at Linda.
“You are that Seagull Spirit. You are our hope returned to us..." He looked down. His eyes were slightly glistening with tears, but they did not fall. He seemed to be somewhere else; somewhere that no other person could possibly go. Linda thought he was happy. But that wasn't the right word for it. He was neither happy, nor sad. What was he? But then she knew. He was hopeful. He was saved. He had a dream, no, a wish come true. Something had happened, and he believed that she, Linda, could save them. But how could she? Just barely an hour before, or at least what seemed like an hour ago, she had been in P.E. When she woke up this morning, nothing was weird, nothing was different, nothing was what it shouldn't be. But...there was that dream. That dream that was so real, but so unreal at the same time. That was different. And he had been there, hadn't he? Or, had he? For some reason, Linda could no longer remember what exactly she had dreamed so vividly just the night before. There was water. There was a boy-no, not a boy, a man. A man with fiery hair. With blue eyes. A man who needed help. And a man, she could never help, because he was merely a dream. But here was Cliff, a real boy, or, at least to her knowledge, a real boy. And he needed help. He needed hope and someone to believe in. And here he was...but, where was she?
All of the thoughts that raced through Linda's head did nothing more than make her confused and slightly frustrated, and she knew she shook her head more than once for no apparent reason to the surrounding audience. She couldn't comprehend what she was thinking, what she was feeling, what she was seeing. What was this place? Was it another world like this boy wanted her to believe? Was there really such things as Spirits? Was she really one of those Spirits? Before she could debate the question with herself any longer, Cliff snapped out of his dreamy state and suddenly shouted, "You need a disguise!"
"Wha--?"
"You need a disguise! Everyone knows that the ones that are of the Seagull Spirit have blue eyes and blue hair! And they also know that the next one, in other words you, is a girl!"
Linda managed to stammer out, "But why do i need a dis--?" before Cliff cut her off again.
"Some people believe that the only way to save the world is to kill the Spirits; both the good, and the bad. If they find you, they’ll take you away and probably kill you, and we can't let them do that!” he exclaimed in an almost hysterical manner. Something had happened to him, and Linda knew it. But what could it have possibly been that would make him react in such a strange way?
“Calm down Cliff!" said one of the women still standing in the room. Linda had almost forgotten that there even were other people in the area, she had gotten so wrapped up in Cliff's story, words, and emotions.
"I made this outfit when I heard she was coming. I do hope you won't mind dressing up as a boy for a little while, deary, but it really is the best way to hide a girl.” said the women.
Linda opened her mouth to protest when the door brust open. A dark frigeter darted across the room.
“Moon!” Cliff yelled sounding serprinsed. The dark firger landed on Cliff’s shoulder. It was a Hawk! She had never seen one so close up before. She was so concentrated on the hawk she didn’t notice the man at the door till he he started to loudly stammer into the room.
“Kuma!” shouted Cliff. Cliff ran to the man and started to help him to a chair. The man was wearing a dark clock that coverd him completly. He was hunched over and looked beat up. It wasn’t untill he took off his hood that she reacognised him. It was the man from her dreams! The man with the bright red hair.
“We all thought that you were long gone.” said the old man.
“We were all so worried about you, Kuma.” the women said. Soon everyone was shouting welcomes to Kuma while Linda was still wondering what was happening.
“Brother, I thought that they had taken you away for good this time.” Cliff said as he hugged Kuma. Linda was in shock. Brother? They were brothers! She was really confused.
“I had a little help.” Kuma replied. He glance over to the window. Outside was a bear! It looked like a grizzly bear from what Linda could tell. Kuma looked back over at Linda. “You must be the one that I summoned. I am Kuma of the grizzly bear Spirit.” Kuma’s voice sounded tired and he looked like he could collaspe at any moment.
“I thought that they had taken you away!” exclaimed Cliff. Linda couldnt help but wonder just who ‘they’ were. Just as she was about to ask, Kuma started to expain, “He’s talking about the ones who want to kill the Spirits. They found me when I was summoning you and I’m just going to say that they weren’t happy.” He almost seened to be laughing at them “I still cant belive that they thought they could capture me.”
“I know that you’re strong, but still brother can’t you be a little more careful.” Cliff said, sounding a little annoyed.
“They have tried lots of times, but they never seem to get me.” Kuma replied
“This wasn’t like the other times! They sent 50 men for you! 50 of there strongest men!” Cliff was just plain mad at this point.
“Well I’m here now, so they weren’t strong enough. “ He then turned to Linda. “You should put on that disguise on. We’ll be going soon.”
“That’s right! Come this way, dear.” The women said while pushing Linda to a back room. Linda could still hear the brothers agreement. “They may fight but they love each other.” the women said.
“I can tell. I do have one question though.”Linda replied
“What is it dear?” asked the woman
“Why do I have to disguise as a boy?” asked Linda
“theirs no time to explained those two will just have to tell you later.”
The clothes looked old and beat up. After putting them on she realized that they were too baggy. She felt a little small in the huge clothes. She looked around the room to see if there was a mirror. There was none, there was barely anything in it. All it had was a bed and a cupbooard. The bed frame look hand carved with extraodinary detail. The carvings looked like a dense forest with three flowers starting to bloom. She couldn’t tell what kind of flowers they were, but they looked so pretty she couldn’t help but stare at them. Just then the woman came bursting into the room.
“I found a wig that you can wear!” She explained. She then ran up to Linda and started to put it on. “Here,” she said while holding out her hand. In it was a red bandana. To Linda it looked like something a bandit from an old cowboy movie would wear on the faces. “You can wear this when there are lots of people around. It should help people not notice that you’re a girl.”
“I guess thats why these clothes are so baggy.” Linda replied
“Why yes! Come now we need to hurry” She said as she pushed Linda out the door and back into the room that she was first in.
“You wear sure to give her lots of layers right? You know how cold it gets at night.” Kuma looked much better. It was almost as if he was never hurt at all.
“Oh no, I forgot,” she said and ran back to the other room.
“How cold does it get?” Linda asked. All she got back were stares. After a few moments she got an answer form Kuma, “Well, it is so cool in most places people are known to freeze at night.” Linda thought for a little while. She remebered in school she learned about how the ocean actually keeps the world’s temperature at a liveable temperature. Water can hold a greater amount of the heat that comes from sunlight, making nights warm. During the night, the water slowly loses its heat. This makes the day cooler as well as the night warmer. She guessed that without the ocean, this couldn’t happen, making it colder at nights and hotter during the days.
“Can I just ask you all one thing?” Linda asked.
“Of course you can.” Cliff replied.
“I stukk want to know why I have to pretend Im a boy?” That question had been bothering her for a while and still hadn’t been really answered. Cliff and Kuma looked at each other as if to say ‘you tell her’. They started to have what apeard to be a stare off. Eventually Cliff was the one that gave up, “Well, you see, when a Spirit moves to a different person after the old one has died, it always goes to someone of the opposite gender. Since the last one of the Sea gull Spirit was a boy of course, the next one would have to be a girl.”
“Ok, I got that much, but I think my question still stands.”
“A lot of people want to hurt you. That’s all you need to know.” Kuma said “Hurry up now, we need to get going.”
Ch.3
The First Spirit
Kuma, Cliff, and Linda, who is now called Umi left the house. Umi looked around. There were more houses that she did even notice. All the houses were small and none of them looked like something anyone would want to live in. All of them were run down. Some didn’t even have door. Inseed there was a large peice of wood on top of a large hole in the wall.
“Come on we have to leave town quick.” Cliff said to Umi but she ignored him. She was to busy woundering just how people could live in those house. Then a bear can out from behind some trees.
“hey girl!” Kuma shouted. The bear just stared at him. There eyes locked and it was as if he was in a transe. After a few moments the bear turned around and started to walk.
“Come you two. She says that she knows were one of the sprits was sealed.” Kuma said as he started to fallow the bear. Just as Umi was about to ask him how he know that the women came running out of the house with a box in her hand.
“Wait! Before you go I want to give you this.” She opened the box to revel lots of jullery. Umi was surpised at elagat the jullery looked.
“We couldn’t do that.” said Cliff
“Oh, but I want you to. Besides your sapost to be travoling mectens right? Well then youll need something to sell.” She repled instetly. Cliff sighed
“I guesse that I cant argue with you. We’ll take that box with us.” Cliff said with the look of deffet. The women turned to Umi.
“Here you go. I hope this will aid you in your quest.” She bowed and then walked away.
“Thank you very much!” Umi yelled after her.
“You have to stay quite.” kuma order, “There might be some enemys out there waiting for us. Cliff send Moon to scout the area. If Moon comes to us after finding someone he should carry a stick and if he sees someone drop it on your head and continue flying.”
“You heard him boy if you see some one drop a stick on his he...” just then Kuma intruped “No drop it on Cliffs head not mine!”
“Its your plan!”
“Well its your bird!”
The two of them started to stare at one another. Umi could almost see fire in there eyes like in all those cartoons that she used to wacht when see was little, but it didnt last for long since, Cliff caved in after a few short seconds. “Fine! just go!” Moon took off and in a matter of seconds dissapered into the dark sky. The three then headed into the dense forest.
By the time they had left they had all lost sight of the bear. They could only hope they were going in the right dirction. It was so dark that Umi could barly see were she was going let alone two that were trying to guide her. They ran agoly throw forest she could only gusse that it was because they know the forest but she still felt slow. It didn’t help that she keeped stumbling on tree roots.
Sudenly she see could see a large figure in the distance. She and Cliff stopped dead in there traks but Kuma ran right to it. They hestited but soon fallowed. As they came closer Umi noticed that it was a bear, the same bear as before. Kuma and the bear staired at one another intesly. Then sudenly the bear started to walk away.
“fallow her.” He wishpered and without even thinking they all chased after her. This time they wanted to be sure they didn’t lose her
It felt like they had been walking around for hours. Umi had never done this much walking in her live. Sudenly the bear dissapered form view. They walk alittle farther to discover a clearing. In the middle was a hugh rock that seemed out of place amoust the luss grass.
“Over there is were the Tuna spirt is sealed.” Kamu wisper
“You mean that big rock?” Umi asked
“Yep thats it. now unseal.”
“How?”
“We have no idea” Cliff said, he seemed alittle uneasy, “Your the one thats suppost to know how. Im alittle worried about being out in the open. I think Im gana get a good look around.”
Cliff then jumped but this was unlike anything Umi had ever seen! He jumped from branch to branch with ease. She staire at him. All she could think about was how did he do that. Kuma ovesly didn’t feel like explaining since exede of wanting for Cliff, he picked her up and made a break for the stone. She had never seen anything like this ether. She know that she was very much on the lighter side but no one had ever been able to pick her up with such ease. She was no more then a feather to him.
Thanks to Kumas speed they were at the stone in no time. She study it. Then she thought about all thoughs fantasy storys she used to read.
“Mabey if I touch it.” She thought outloud. She very slowly reach out her hand. When her hand and the stone meet there was a big flash and then everything was black.
CH. 4
A New Friend?
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What the Ocean is missing!
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