Tropinano's Brain Jellies

Prompt: 20. Some sea creatures exist in ways we can't quite see; majestic things, all shimmering waves and countless weeping eyes.

I was told of dragons as a kid, but only of those in the air. When smoke from fire nearly took a form when escaping into the atmosphere, steam seemed to hide away sparkling scales, and oddly-shaped clouds moved faster than the breeze should allow them.

But only of those in the air. The air scared me.

I lived to dive. The sea allowed me to float unlike the sky, and for some reason it made me feel safer than on land. It was a getaway, a recluse. From the dragons. From the other elements. From the problems.

The dragons were vicious that day, letting their anger reign upon me. Wind pulled the earth from its seams and smoke started to fill the air as my house caught on fire. I made a run for the coast, but the waves had other plans for me.

I was pulled under, and felt the sudden icy cold. It thrust my head deep before I had a chance to take a breath and for once — I panicked. This was not the sea I knew. It betrayed me, and I fell for its trap.

I was bashed along the rocky sea floor, being tossed back and forth by the current over and over again, continuously being bashed onto the hard and jagged stones like teeth. Was this a new dragon?
Another tooth crashed into my head, and as the gaping maws of the ocean surrounded me I heard a crunch, and I was gone.


I woke up to lights too bright for me to see. I was floating again - calmer this time - and tried to move.
I was completely trapped in a gelatinous slime.
An eye peered open at me, tremendously larger than I. An echo of a voice wisped through my ears.
"Hello, little fish."
I stayed quiet, trying to avoid the slime entering my mouth.
"Are you lonely? Do the waves not suit your flow? Does the stream not follow in your direction?"

Not once was I mentioned to about dragons living in water. I struggled.
"Stop it! You are disturbing me. I am the only thing keeping you safe from the pressure."

As the creature spoke this, what was once blinding light faded rapidly into choking darkness. It had gone transparent.
"I am not a dragon you so greatly fear. I am not one to be feared. I am a larva just like you, little fish."

And slowly, it uncoiled. I thought I was going to be crushed from the pressure of the abyssal depths, but somehow, it was warm and light.
The beast spun open like a ribbon in slow motion, and I saw more than just its eyes. Its body was completely transparent, like all its organs had been flattened, or even removed. I saw its bony face. It was an eel.

"Do you see now? How far I stretch? How much of a haven am I, keeping you from what you created."
I didn't understand it. I didn't want to, either.
"You run to the sea like you wish to run back to your mother's womb. Do you enjoy the feeling of the fluid? Or do you enjoy not facing what comes after?" It said as it circled me. I tried to ignore it, but its voice grew louder.

"You don't face the dragons. You don't turn around and meet them in the eye, you don't bare your fangs when they bare theirs. It does not help you."
I faced it.
"You can not be a larva forever. You can not stay in my nursery forever."
I swam. It gave chase.
When I looked back down, I could not see its end.
It opened its gaping maws and with a crunch, I was back on the sand. My head seethed with pain, but I stood up. I faced the dragons.

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