Hey everyone! Chron here, with a bit of a rushed and last-minute entry for the Aqua Blog Contest... However, that doesn't mean it wasn't crafted with love. I hope you enjoy! As always, feedback is appreciated. (I'll add a thumbnail when I find the time.)

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I woke up to the cold drip of the faucet in the adjacent room. I wasn't sure where I was, but it felt like home. A chill slithered up my spine as I emerged from my cocoon of a bed. Stumbling through my labyrinth of a room, I came to my senses, and began to feel the rush of worry, as though I had forgotten something. Something insignificant, yet crucial. Had I... No. Could I have... Not really. Was there... Definitely not. I was unable to finish a complete thought before the dam broke, and the terrible events that had occurred, or had not occurred, came rushing through my system, drowning me in a dark veil of memory.

It was incredible. It really was. At the time, I had thought there was nothing greater that could be done. The enveloping tide, swallowing the earth on a cosmic timer. The repetition of the sheets of liquid, fighting against the sand, struggling to gain ground in the eternal war of erosion. Had I known how beautiful the pain could be, I would have endured it much longer. Much more... Vigorously. Without ceasing for a mortal breath. I had to feel it again. There was nothing, no force or thought, that could stop me.

After what felt like eons to my restless spirit, my body finally got the memo. I set out to relive the... I don’t even know what to call it. Feeling? It was too strong to be confined to a simple emotion. Whatever it was, it was dragging my lifeless frame by my heartstrings, as though it were a child dragging its first pet. I could already hear the cool, crisp waves overtaking my veins as I fought against my conscience. Stop, it said. Wake up, it said. Or else you never will... I didn't care. I never cared.

I rushed to the edge of the land, swifter than I had ever thought imaginable, my body knowing full well its destiny. I prepared to depart from the earthen realm when I came to a sudden halt. My liquid tranquility had been ripped apart from my grasp, whisked away for other means. I could only imagine what had happened... It brought me so much. It took so much, but never enough to offset the sweet, satisfying burn. I felt empty without it. I ran home as fast as I could, using my own sheets of liquid, streaming from my eyes, for comfort. They didn't help. The never really did.

Only steps from my dilapidated, dry solitude, I came in contact with a puddle. A mere puddle, pooled in the middle of a beaten path. Individual drops, with individual minds, individual intentions, all collided with one another in serene chaos. It was hard to take in, that simple puddle. My head was racing... My liquid tranquility... I wanted it one last time. Where had it gone? Why did it leave me? Did it not love me?

I had to find it. My parched bed would not be enough to console me today... I had to have the rush of the enveloping... enveloping... I couldn't hold out much longer. After removing my foot from the cold, unforgiving puddle, I turned away from the beaten path and discovered a fountain. Children were playing, splashing, carelessly dismembering every drop, bringing chaos upon the current. As I witnessed this madness, a fire burned in me, like never before. I had to fix it.

I wanted to bring them into the tranquility with me... I wanted to ease their pain, the pain they brought upon the world. I couldn't force myself to do it. They could never embrace it the way I could. They could never feel the enveloping peace, cold, yet warm, salty, yet clear. Burning, a calm fire. I couldn't toleration sheer contemplation, I had to... feel it. To be enveloped.

We survive, together
Always burning apart
Take me in, be separate no more.
Envelop me, soul and heart
Rescue me from my core.


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