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“I cannot know for certain, but I will ensure that their perseverance ends in knowing sorrow and death.”
Penny reaches out to me and places a hand on my check. The tentacles around my mouth caress her hand and wrist, holding it tenderly.
“You are worried,” I say.
“Yes.”
“Don’t be. I am strong.”
“I know you are, Laiken,” Penny says and bites her bottom lip in worry. “But there will probably be dozens of them. Maybe even hundreds.”
“I don’t fear them.”
“But I fear losing you!” she shouts. The determination in her eyes shocks me out of a response. “If you die then I’ll have no one, and this temple is too big for me to spend all my time alone.”
“I would never leave you, Penny.”
“Not willingly, no,” she says, voice growing softer. “But I am still coming with you.”
I shake my head, shaking her hand loose in the process. “Absolutely not.”
“You cannot stop me.”
“I can, and I will,” I say, leaving no room for further argument. “This place will keep you safe just as I will keep you safe. I have the power and the ability to get rid of them all, you know this. I would feel much better about it all if you were here in our home and far away from them.”
Penny doesn’t respond for a moment and so I take her hands in mine. “Please, stay here.”
“I want to help you,” she murmurs. “I want revenge for what he did to me.”
“Allow me to take it for you.”
“It won’t be the same.”
“Penny.” I squeeze her hands as tight as I can. “You cannot come with me, I won’t allow it. I will not beg for you to stay. I am not even asking for you to stay. I amtellingyou that you need to stay here.”
Her eyes meet mine, and for what seems like an age, neither of us speaks until the ferocity in her gaze dies down into compliance.
“Fine,” she says finally. “But if you do die, I will be very cross with you.”
“You will have all the reason to be. But I will not.”
Penny pulls me into a hug, pressing her body as close to mine as she can. I have to unwrap her arms around me so that I can go protect her and our home.
“Stay alive,” she says. I nod.
When I engulf myself in the waters of my temple and swim back towards the exit, I feel the same calm that the ocean shows right before a storm. My heart beats against my chest like a war drum, and my claws expose themselves along with my black, violent heart. I will enjoy ripping them to shreds in the name of Penny. Perhaps I will be able to accomplish my dream of presenting her with their bones so she knows she will be safe forever.
The sea, too, will be thankful for this blight being eradicated. The angry waters will blitz the bones into dust that will be used to make sandstone to build colonies full of memories that will outlive the anger of these slavers.
They deserve nothing but the harshest punishment, my rage.
I propel myself forward out of the temple and towards the cave. The water almost feels cooler, as if my icy cold rage has lowered the warm comfort of the sea.
Stay there,I urge Penny with my thoughts.Stay safe.
In the carnage, I worry I won’t be able to watch out for Penny as much as I should, putting both of us in danger. The best thing she can do is stay in our bubble of safety and let the temple take care of her.
The cave that stretches from the temple to the open waters is not that long of a distance, but right now it feels infinite. The further I go, the more I can feel the foreign bodies in the water, and the more disgust I feel at the thought.
