The Krakens Bride

The Cave (Chapter 9): Yuki

My body sunk beneath the surface of the churning waves and at once I sucked in a deep breath of the cool ocean water. It hummed through my lungs and escaped my parted lips in an almost playful manner.

There was a weight on my eyelids, making them heavy enough that I couldn't open them as the water spun around me, somehow enveloping my body.

It felt cold but warm in a way that came off as hard to explain yet felt so right I didn't want to leave.

The strong and thumping pulsations within the water hit my body over and over.

The ocean that once felt cool to me began to heat up, and in less than a few seconds I was encased in water that felt close to boiling. My skin warmed and I felt as if I was sweating, which was a weird sensation when your body was already wet to begin with.

I could faintly hear the gravelly voice of Zale in the background of the insanely loud sound coming off the churning waters surrounding me. It was like a symphony of bubbling water and husky words that I couldn't make out, but they entranced me.

The water was now quite hot, even so I tried not to fight my way out of the water since I'd made the choice to undergo this change, but it was entirely too hot. It felt as though I was being boiled alive.

The heat grew increasingly intense, while the sounds around me amplified to the point that it felt like Zale was loudly speaking directly into my ears with the ocean bubbling right next to him.

Gritting my teeth, I tried to pry my heavy eyelids open to see what was going on, but it was no use. They were virtually useless flaps of skin upon my face at this point. I couldn't open my eyes in the slightest, not even a sliver.

My senses seemed to be heightened due to my inability to see, but that did me no good if all I could do was endure this tortuous heat that seemed to eat at my skin, with zero insight into what was causing it.

The heat expanded then.

Not only was my skin boiling, but now the heat seemed to creep beneath my skin. My veins felt as though they had all been set alight with roaring flames of torture, and with my boiling skin covering my steaming insides it felt like I was truly dying.

I felt the scream escape me rather than heard it. My skin was so hot I couldn't think, and the pain of my veins seemingly burning from the inside and out was excruciating.

Never have I burned myself, but if I had; it wouldn't even hold a candle to the pain I was going through right now.

The raspy chanting of Zale continued throughout my screams and the water around my body churned on with its boiling temperature.

There was no relief. I could only scream out my agony as the heat from the water boiled my skin and the heat within my very veins seeped further into my body.

My heart felt like it was roasting, while my lungs begged for mercy as each breath of the boiling water scraped my nasal passages like a searing poker before it settled within my lungs like a storm of fire.

Everything was burning, all my senses were shot, and I was in unimaginable pain.

Yet and still, I wasn't regretting my choice.

This internal fire went on for what felt like eternity while my external fire raged on like a veteran's battle. I couldn't see, yet I could visualize the way my skin had to have burned away by now with only my exposed muscles to battle the boiling waters.

As if that wasn't enough, my internal fires spread further. Now my brain was feeling the intensity of the flames in my body. My head was throbbing while every nerve in my body screamed in unison.