Blue Tide

“Nobody believes in us anymore, Oceanus.” Pietra said, caressing her lover’s chest as they lay in bed after another moment of love-making. “We are falling Gods.”

“Petra, that is foolish.” Oceanus replied with a short chuckle “If nobody believed in us, we wouldn’t have any power.” He said with a soft smile as he ran his fingers through her golden hair.

Suddenly she pushed away from him, her Goddess form completely exposed to him as he stared at how astonishingly beautiful she was.

“What I meant is that nobody believes in you anymore, Oceanus.” She stated seriously, not sparing him to any pain “Nobody prays to you anymore but old fishermen. Nobody believes that you exist… you are falling from grace.” She said pulling a robe over her as she exited his bed and he quickly followed.

“What do you mean Petra? I have my kingdom. All the seas are mine, you are mine. What do I need more? The power that I have now is sufficient.” He said growing uneasy around her as the Goddess turned to him, her dark grey eyes burning into his light blue orbs.

“I’m not yours Oceanus and I’ve never been. You know that I am drawn into power and I can’t stay with a powerless God.” She said coldly as his heart sank while she gave him a self-conceited look. “We’ve had our good times but I never eluded you.” She said sharply “I left it clear that I chose you because you were among the most powerful Gods, but now you are not anymore so you hold no interest for me.” She said as he grew tense and growled at her.

“How dare you speak to me in such terms?” He snarled with hostility as his dark hair floated around him, his hands closing into tight fists.

She smirked as her clothes changed in front of his eyes.

“I’m simply speaking the truth Oceanus. Our affair is over or did you really think that we had anything else aside from sexual intercourse?” She asked with disdain towards him. “Did you really believe that I loved you?” She asked with a mocking tone, her mouth turning into an arrogant smile.

“I knew you only wanted me to satisfy your lust but, like me, I thought that your feelings had developed into something else.” He admitted, feeling extremely disappointed and hurt.

“Poor Oceanus.” She mocked “Your heart still melts like butter and that is your weakness.” She said sharply as she kept smirking at him as she ran her hand through her hair “Well, I must leave. Goodbye.” She said as she vanished from his sight.

It was a cloudy, grey and windy morning at the Guincho beach. It was a Saturday morning and Sarah was sitting by the sand. Except for her, there were only some surfers on the waves while she was sitting on the cold sand while looking at the waves and listening to the sounds around her.

“Cousin!” She heard a male voice call as she looked at the sand in front of her and saw her younger cousin Damon running towards her with his surf board in hand.

“Hey there.” She greeted with a smile as he sat next to her and kissed her cheek.

“What are you doing here?” He asked curiously, his hair dripping with salty water.

“Oh you know, I was in the mood to walk but instead I ended up here at my favorite beach.” Sarah said with a small smile as Damon patted her head playfully.

“I’m going back to my waves. If you stay long enough, you may see me do something awesome!” He said proudly as he ran back to the waves with Sarah’s eyes glued to him.

“Be careful!” She shouted.

Oceanus growled as he felt his usual strength weaken. Petra wasn’t on his mind anymore because, deep down, he didn’t really love her so having her gone wasn’t much of a loss, it was actually a blessing. He knew that she wasn’t what he was looking for, she wasn’t what he needed. He craved for true love and he had been wandering, searching for it for too long. He had used Petra to satisfy his needs but her words didn’t leave him. She was right, his heart melted like butter because he fell in love easily and he was also growing weaker because he had no believers, nobody prayed to him and nobody had temples for him in which to make offerings.

He growled again as he winced slightly and inhaled deeply. Unfortunately, he was slowly losing his ability to control the ocean. At any given day, he was able to decide where it was stormy and where it was calm but now he was having more trouble in controlling it.

“DAMON!” He heard a faint yell as he looked up, realizing it came from really high above. It was the scream of a human woman.

“DAMON! NO, GET OUT OF THERE! SOMEONE HELP HIM, PLEASE!” He heard again.

He narrowed his eyes curiously and swam up near the area from where he had heard the pleading. He sighed as he immediately recognized the Guincho beach. It was a wild beach, a perfect daughter of Mother Nature. It was ferocious when it had waves they seemed to be able to crush and swallow the Earth but when it was calm, it was a paradise.

As he moved even higher to see what was happening, he realized that the waves were especially dangerous, probably a result of his lack of powers, and there was only one human in the water. He sensed that he was barely conscious and if he continued there he would drown. Then Oceanus spotted the source of the yelling and realized that it was a human woman, who was standing in the sand yelling her lungs out for help. Suddenly she began praying and Oceanus’s eyes widened once she whispered ‘Aqua’, the modern name the humans gave him.

“DAMON!” Sarah yelled again as another surfer was trying to hold her down from going into the water.

“It’s too dangerous!” He said as she kept struggling against him while heavy rain poured on them.

“I can’t just leave him there. DAMON!” She yelled desperately as she saw the body of her cousin disappear. “Oh my God... no, NO!” She yelled again, her entire body shaking while tears ran down her cheeks.

As she shut her eyes and fell to her knees on the sand, she heard gasps around her and as she looked up a tall man was approaching. He was carrying Damon in his arms like if it was no problem and once he was close to Sarah he laid Damon down in front of her.

Sarah looked up, her green eyes locking with his light blue eyes. His skin was pale and his hair and facial hair were a beautiful tone of ginger mixed with brown. Damon coughed as one of the surfers kneeled down to help him while Sarah stood up still shaking and approached the man.

Her hands were still shaking and she was freezing cold but she managed to smile widely at him “Thank you so much!” She said “Thank you.” She whispered as she pulled him into a tight hug.

Oceanus was beyond shocked. He had never shifted into a human form before and it seemed to be convincing. Also he had never been embraced by a human woman like that one was embracing him and the gratitude she was showing, made him feel worth something. He reluctantly placed his arms around her and was slightly startled by how shaky she was. She must’ve been really frightened and cold. Why had he saved the human man? Because for him it was easy, the ocean would never hurt its own Master and because that human woman had called and prayed for him.

“You are welcome.” He said softly as the human woman released him and he saw her beautiful emerald green eyes more closely, a smile growing on his features.

“How did you do it?” She asked shivering as the rain kept pouring on them.

To Oceanus it didn’t make a difference. He didn’t feel the cold and he only noticed that he was wet when small drops of water fell from his hair onto his face.

“I heard you screaming in panic so I dived in without a second thought.” Oceanus said, locking their eyes and blessing himself for being able to be a good liar most of the time.

“Oh… that was extremely brave.” She said smiling at him as they shared a moment of silence.

Their eyes locked and Oceanus felt his heart flutter slightly, a soft heat rushing to his cheeks. As he was about to say something, Damon called for Sarah.

“Sarah…” He called almost faintly as she immediately went to his side.

“I’m here Damon.” She said as she helped him up and glanced at Oceanus.

“I’m sorry, I need to leave. Thank you so much for saving him.” She said thankfully as Oceanus gave her an apprehensive smile.

“Does he make you happy?” Oceanus asked boldly as Sarah furrowed her eyebrows.

“He’s my cousin.” She chuckled as Damon winked at Oceanus.

“She’s a catch.” He said playfully as Sarah chuckled.

Oceanus became instantly more relieved.

“I’ll see you around?” Sarah asked with hope.

“Just be near the ocean.” Oceanus chuckled as he waved goodbye at her and stood on the sand watching her disappear with her cousin beside her.