Revelations: The Shrine of the Sea God

Winter

    Winter time is here once more, and Vadība’s fur is al fluffy and abundant, so soft. We haven’t been able to get out at all because of the blizzards; recently they’ve been getting stronger and winter storms are becoming more regular. Vadība’s been acting strangely since the beginning of winter and it’s really concerning.

    I looked out the window to see how the blizzard was going and saw the silhouette of a woman standing in the direction of my house. Creepy as f**k, no thanks; I closed the window and rested my head on Vadība’s warm and furry belly and went back to sleep. NOT. I got up closed and locked all doors and windows and THEN went to sleep on Vadība’s belly. I wasn’t risking waking up and finding a weird woman in my house staring at me.

    When I woke up the blizzard had subsided and it was safe to go out. Great, Vadība hadn’t moved since I went to sleep and I knew he had to tend to his physiological necessities. I looked out the window and the woman was not there anymore; still I looked out all the windows in my house to make sure there really was nothing. Damn, that was really creepy; I hope I don’t have to go through that again... I REALLY hope I don’t...

    There was no woman so I opened the door and Vadība went running outside, rolled on the snow and then went on to tend to his dog necessities. I was looking at him from a distance because I am a good owner and take care of my pet, just so you know. Suddenly I noticed Vadība sniffing at something which seemed strange because the snow was probably too deep to be able to smell something buried in it...

    I went over to where Vadība was sniffing and noticed what seemed to be a human arm. I was not in the mood of finding corpses, and first of all it was a stupid idea to go out in that ungodly blizzard and not expect to be buried in the snow. Still I uncovered it and noticed it was the body of a woman lying on the snow, pale but I could barely see her back moving; she was still alive.

    I carried her into the house because I am not a horrible human being; I would not leave a barely alive woman in the coldness of winter just because my life is not as great as I thought it would be. I laid her down near the chimney so that she could warm herself; I prepared dinner for two for a long time in days. I left the food on the stove (in low heat of course, I’m not an i***t), and went to check up on the woman I had left near the chimney.

    She was still sleeping but at least she was not cold anymore; I carried her to the sofa and put a blanket on her. Vadība was on his bed sleeping too and I was the only i***t awake making dinner; since I felt pathetic, I woke her up. Not really, dinner would still take a while so I decided to do some household chores.

    When the woman finally woke up, she seemed nervous and refused to talk. I gave her some dinner and she ate without even blowing a little; I mean, yeah she was almost frozen to death but damn, you’re going to burn your taste buds, girl. I began eating, and Vadība changed locations and decided to lie next to me. I swear it was the most awkward dinner I’ve had in years; no one said a word, we didn’t even looked at each other’s faces.

    When we both finished eating, the woman stood up, put her plate on the sink and washed it (at least she had manners) and began her way to the door. I stopped her on her tracks because, let’s face it, she was just going to end up in the same situation; the blizzard had started again.

    I commenced with the interrogation after lending her some warm clothes. Her name was Ilze and apparently she got lost after she arrived on this set of islands. She told me there were other islands beyond the sea, that there was more to the world than what the people here think there is. I was dumbfounded; she was crazy.

    I tried explaining to her that if someone even tried to set out to sea, the Sea God would send guardian monsters to destroy any form of ship or floating device found in the sea. The sea is a dangerous place; it can end your life in a matter of seconds. No one knows what lies beyond it, not to mention below it.

    Ilze just looked at me as if I was some kind of i***t, and I don’t blame her, sometimes I think I’m an i***t too. “Does everyone on this island think the same way as you do?” she asked, with a very worried expression. It kind of pissed me off a little bit. “Well, that is what the High Council told us to believe”, is what I said, and honestly I have lived a pretty decent life believing in something a bunch of people no one knows told us to believe.

    Ilze looked at me with disbelief so I just told her everything I just explained to you in “The Basics”. The High Council is a group of people no one knows of. We don’t know their names, we don’t know their faces, and we don’t know if they are even from this island. We know nothing about them aside from the fact they are composed of both men and women.

    As I was talking to her, explaining lots of stuff about the island and the overall way of life of the people living in it, there was a knock on my door. No one knocks on my door on winter because no one is stupid enough to go out. I looked at Ilze and she was as confused as I was. “Were you waiting for someone to come?” she asked as she was looking at the door. “No”, I said as I got up slowly from the chair.

    “This is how people die in horror books”, is what I thought to myself as I walked to the door. I heard another knock and this time, I heard a man’s voice clearly say “I know they’re here, I can see the lights on”. I don’t know about you but I found that creepy. Still, for the plot to develop, I opened the door only to be received by the same couple I saw the week before.

    “Good day and sorry for disturbing your meal, but there are some things we would like to discuss with the both of you” is what he said. He must have seen my unconvinced face because he added, “If it’s not an inconvenience, of course. We would hate to interrupt you if you were doing something important”. I looked at both of them and after analyzing the situation, I concluded that I was curious enough but not stupid and so I said “Ok, but if you have something to say, do it right where you are. We can both hear you perfectly”. If they were panning on doing anything, I could just close the door shut and let the blizzard get them.

    The couple looked at each other and then looked back at me. “Well”, the tall one said, “We came here to talk to you about… an offer.” Oh no, I was pretty sure they were going to start with the whole 'going under the sea and do stuff' kind of talk. Not a good thing to talk about, but I still continued listening.

    “We know there is a woman who comes from another island. We came to tell you that we are the same. Knowing that there is someone from another island here, we want to make a request, for both of you. We would like you to go with us on a journey. We have a vehicle capable of going underwater. We used it to come here and we saw very interesting things. We would like to go further down but we need more than just the two of us. We don’t know what is down there after all.”

    I’ll be honest with you, I needed a minute to process everything that man said. They arrived in a vehicle that can go underwater? What? That was absolute nonsense! “Wait wait wait wait wait. Wait a minute” I said, “You expect me to believe that? And how in the world did you know that Ilze was from another island?” The short man continued from where the tall one left off, “Of course, we are only asking for cooperation, and you have every right to deny us. But it seems your friend over there is interested”.

    I looked around and Ilze was a few steps behind me. She had a serious look on her face, and as she approached me she asked, “If what you are saying is true, then I will be willing to help you. I must know the reason for the strange behaviors in the sea. I must know about the history of this world.” Okay, this is nuts. My ignorant mind can’t cope with the reality of what’s happening and it’s making me uncomfortable. And when I thought everything was going to be over and that Ilze would follow those men, she grabbed my hand and said “We both accept your offer. When do we go?”

    “WHAT? NO! I am just a worker! A normal person! I have nothing to do with this! Yes, I must admit I have thought about some inconsistencies in our way of living and the situation with the High Council is a bit shady but I never do anything to change it! Why do I have to go on a journey like some kind of chosen hero in search of a truth I don’t want to know about? f**k no! I’m not going anywhere!" I exclaimed. I was about to tell those men to leave when I realized they, along with Ilze had already sat down on the couches in the living room… When did I ever say it was okay to come in?!

    I closed the door because it was freezing outside and all the cold was getting into the house; I looked around and walked to the living room and sat down on my reclining chair. Let me tell you, the look on my face the whole time was that of a mind long lost in the thoughts of existence so I didn’t really listened to what they were talking about.

    After Ilze and the men finished with their conversation, the men stood up and left. It was only the three of us again. I snapped out of my existential thoughts and looked at Ilze “Are they gone?” I asked, still trying to cope with things as I have been trying to do so for hours apparently. “Yes, they left, and you looked like you had an existential crisis the whole time. Rest for now, I’ll tell you everything we discussed tomorrow. I stood up, and started to make my way upstairs until I came to another sudden realization: Ilze.

    “Oh right, there’s an empty room upstairs with a heater and a bunch of blankets. You get some sleep too.” I mean, I wasn’t going to let her sleep somewhere else. She probably didn’t know how to get around the island. If she began wondering the forest she wouldn’t last a minute before the beasts got her. She looked at me for a moment, “Oh, uh, are you trying to say it’s fine for me to stay here?” is what she said and I replied “Well, yeah. I’m not a horrible human being. You can stay here for the time being, I don’t particularly mind. You already got me into a huge mess already so I’ll just go along with everything; I’m too tired”