Bottom of the Deep Blue
The cavern was so dark, Eli was sure she was dead. The last thing she could remember was the cold rush of the ocean swallowing her whole, and the cold stares of her crew as she fell. But she wasn’t dead, her heart pounding in her chest was the biggest tell; and there was no pain, something she expected with her afterlife. It was almost impossible to see in the faint blue light, but she could make out a wall of rock to her right, and above her. It was dry where she lay, but somewhere in the distance she could hear dripping water. Eli figured she had to be underwater still, in some sort of cavern.
Eli stood slowly, silently, for she had a notion that she wasn’t alone in this cave. Something- or someone- had brought her here, and saved her; or perhaps just set her aside for dinner. Still, in the cavern there was no sound but the dripping water in the distance. She made her way across the room, to an opening in the rock wall, a door, almost, into a hallway. Did she dare explore this place? When her footsteps echoed off every surface around her, magnifying the sounds? It wasn’t like Eli to be scared. She shook her head and stepped into the corridor, grasping at her side where the hilt of her sword used to be. No weapons. Either she lost them when her crew chucked her into the ocean, or her savior took them. Letting out a sigh, she kept going; she was dangerous enough without blades.
The stone corridor was long and darker than her room was; the blue light kept fading intermittently, which left her clinging to the walls. Rocks bit at her bare feet as she went, and she struggled to hold in her curses. When it seemed like the hall would never end, it opened into another room, a cave, bigger than the one Eli had woken in. The light was brighter in here, and from the corridor she could see a hole in the ceiling, letting in the light. The hole was open to air, no ocean covering it; but the pesky sound of dripping water was still ringing in her ears. Eli managed a step out from the stone, and regretted it when a deep, gravely voice boomed
“You’re awake.” Not a question, not a conversation started, just a simple observation from a man across the room. A man who’s back was to her, who seemed to be taller than life.
“What is this place?” Eli hated how raw and soft her voice sounded. “How long was I asleep?” She tried to sound more commanding, more like herself with each sentence- but the man before, even just his back, was intimidating.
The man chuckled without amusement. “I suppose it’s your cage, captain.” Her turned to face her, and Eli gasped.
The man wasn’t a man at all, more so a beast. While his face was humanoid, he had a long beard ending near where his navel should have been, except his lower half turned to fins and tentacles. He grinned at her, with sharp rows of teeth like a sharks. The beast had no feet, just ten tentacles, scales covered his lower half, under a dark coat. His arms, thank the lord, where human. Eli, in every right, was terrified.
“What are you?” She demanded, shaking from head to toe.
“That’s a very rude question. Didn’t your mother teach you manners?” He grinned again.
Eli only gaped at him, at his teeth.
The beast sighed, “I have no intention to harm you, little human. You fell into my lair by accident, interrupting my century of solitude. I don’t want you here.”
“So you’ll send me home?”
“If I could do that, do you really think you’d still be here? Besides, as far as I know, you have no home now.” His words his a raw wound in Eli.
“I do have a home.” She protested. She had to get out of here; she had to prove her crew wrong.
“I’ve seen this time and time again, little human. You females masquerade as men upon ships, and each time, you’re surprised when they chuck you into the sea like yesterday’s dinner.” The beast sighed, almost pitying. “You know pirates are a paranoid type, you should know that your kind are considered bad luck, yet you ignore the warnings.”
“I have a home.” Eli protested again, though she didn’t quite know why. Everything this beast said was correct. Still... she had another home to return to.
“You should be grateful the sea had mercy on you, little human. Other girls, prettier girls, are never quite as lucky. And the few who are, die from terror on their first night. They never make it past the first room I left you in.” He laughed, “they think themselves in hell, with Davy Jones.”
“So... you’re not him?”
The beast gave her a dark look. “If I were him, you would never have made it in here. He is cruel, merciless. I, however, am damned with a human soul.”
Eli didn’t say anything more, didn’t know how. She had too much going on in her mind, flying around like seagulls.
“There’s truly no way for me to leave?”
The beast scoffed and ignored her.
“Please, I’ll do anything.” She begged.
The beast merely raised a hand, and pointed to an opening on the other side of the cave.
“If you insist on leaving, the answers you seek are through there.”
“Thank you-“ She said, and crossed to the opening.
“You won’t be thanking me soon.” Was the last thing the beast said to her, before disappearing from the cavern.
Eli left too.