Time to save the world, Sinto thought.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Consequences
The sea raged. Its waves rising in hilly turbulence. The ship was tossed about like a fallen branch, each wave protruding from the water like an appendage, and striking it with another waiting wave. The sky was carpeted with clouds of intense density. Thunder roared treacherously. Lightning crackled, splitting the air.
The turbulence had swept Eldana and her friends off their feet, leaving them clinging to the ship’s starboard and port, to prevent from them being thrown overboard.
“I cannot control it!” Siem shouted through the din. “It is too strong.”
The storm had come upon them like a thief. One moment, their day was going well. And then the next moment the sun, and the sky above was swallowed mercilessly by thick, ominous black clouds. Sooner than they had time to think about going closer to land, the sea began to broil under the command of the savage wind. Eldana had tried to dispel the storm, by defusing the concentration of the clouds. She strained against the strength of the storm until her strength waned. Mikko tried, as did Siem. But the storm was too strong. So far the journey had been smooth sailing up to this point, with the serenity of the sea laid out before them. It was frightening and shocking to the whole crew to see how something so peaceful and calm could turn into a raging, murderous storm the very next.
“Who is doing this?” Hermon cried.
“I do not know,” Mikko replied. “But this is no magician’s work. No one can be this strong.”
The boat lurched violently to the side as a wave knocked against it. Just then, another wave rose from underneath the boat taking her high into the air. For a few instants, the hands of the people on board were the only body parts in contact with the ship as they scrabbled for railings and ropes. The rest of their bodies floated in the air, as the ship hurtled towards the surface of the sea. The impact of the crash knocked their bodies hard, back down against the deck violently.
Hermon’s hands slipped off the starboard, and he began to slide across the deck. Quickly, Eldana reached out with one hand and manipulated the air to form an immobile cocoon around Hermon.
Hermon’s motion stopped abruptly. Very gently, Eldana pulled herself across the floor while she winced in pain. Holding herself with one hand amidst the ship’s tossing was beginning to hurt her muscles.
As Hermon neared the starboard, he reached out with both hands and grabbed the ledge. Eldana, whose fingers were beginning to slip, quickly put her now free hand back and sighed.
“Bring it on!!” D’rmas roared. There was a maniacal smile on his face like he wanted to face death and was not afraid to wrestle with it.
Eldana shut her eyes. And thought that she could hear voices in the wind. She strained her hearing, trying to pierce through the wind’s howl and the sea’s splashing.
She heard them again. This time clearer. There were two of them, speaking calmly. But Eldana could tell that the composure of calmness was just a charade. She could feel the riotous rage crackling under the voices, like a huge pit of rattlesnakes rattling at once.
“Girl.” One of the voices called. “Open your eyes. Look at what you have done.”
“Yes.” Another voice said this one was soft, and lighter, belonging to a woman. “Look at what you have done!”
Eldana did not need an introduction, whether formal or informal, to bring to her knowledge the identity of the voices in the wind.
“Camin! Lowus!” she yelled into the storm.
Her friends flashed a concerned look at her but said nothing.
“So impetuous.” Lowus scolded. “Look what that did to you. You fled your responsibility, without thinking. And for what? Your selfishness. You could not think of the consequences. Now, it stares back at you!”
Eldana was the only one who could hear them. It was the first time this was happening to her, and with it came the consciousness of a practice that had lasted thousands of years. She had the memory of all the girls that had been sacrificed, and she intended to end it. They could find her if they wanted, but she had to be sacrificed as a show of all creations’ subservience to their rule. Eldana did not buy into that.
“If you are not here to save, then I think you should be on your merry way back to the depth of the skies. I have the fate of the world to rectify,” Eldana cried out into the face of the storm.
There was a chuckle, low like the grumble of thunder.
“You think you are trying to save the world?” Camin asked.
“Yes,” Eldana answered defiantly. “What have you both done for this world, other than take the lives of innocent girls for your power craze? I am trying to do what both of you have never done!”
“You think you are saving the world? By running away from the one sacrifice you can make with your power to save it? What good has that done you so far? Or the world, most importantly?”
“I am doing something,” Eldana growled.
“And yet the people you are trying to save are dying in large numbers. What better way is there to define selfishness and stupidity?” The spirit of the god-thing chided and jeered at her.
“You do not even know that what you are embarking on will work,” Lowus said.
“I know it will,” Eldana replied. “And my friends know it too.”
“Your friends will die, just as you will, foolish girl,” Camin said.
Almost as suddenly as it came, Eldana began to feel the wind lessen. The presence of Camin and Lowus disappeared with it. The sea that had only moments before churned, like there was a huge cauldron of fire underneath it, gyrated with gentle ripples. The ship rocked slowly with the ripples.
Siem, let her hand fall from