Ocean Prince 3: Heart and Soul

In the light of the morning sun, Elena opened her eyes. Isaiah with his sexy tan Hawaiian skin, long hair and child-like innocence was looking at her with eyes filled with wonder. "I want you to come flying with me."

His silky surfer voice made Elena's heart flutter. "Yeah, definitely." She cuddled close to his chest as she laid naked in Isaiah's loving embrace. "I would go anywhere with you."

"I was hoping you'd say that." The muscle tissue of his back crackled and split as his wings fully emerged. He scooped Elena up in his arms carrying her like a bride. With a wave of his hand, the patio doors opened and he quickly took to the sky.

Elena couldn't help but look down to see if Kaylinani was still on the patio in her turtle plushie form. Although she didn't have a fear of heights she was expecting to feel a sense of vertigo, but much to her delight that was not the case. She felt a mystical, serene sense of peace.

"Kay went back to the ocean," Isaiah said over the roar of the wind. "My sister knows I'm safe now. I have you; my bride, my purpose." He handed on a sandbar and stroked her cheek.

She could tell by his smile he was up for another round of passionate lovemaking.

"I'll learn how to exist here, how to keep healthy. We'll have each other."

Elena was smiling so much she couldn't speak. She nodded, reaching out to touch his beautiful face.

"With you by my side, Elena, nothing can harm-" Isaiah's words were cut off as a series of tentacles emerged from the once calm water. Within seconds he was grabbed and pulled under.

"Isaiah," Elena screamed. She started to look around. "Kay? I know you did this."

The reply came int he form of an earth-shaking roar. "my brother belongs to the sea." The tentacles raised Isaiah's body from the sea. He appeared to be crucified on spikes made of water. Elena watched in horror as the spikes tore off his wings, leaving behind bloody open wounds. The wings were hurled at Elena as Isaiah's body was enveloped in a bubble of water.

His body transformed from human, back in to his real form; an innocent little turtle with large gashes where his shell used to be. He looked at Elena with sadness in his eyes.

Elena could have sworn she saw the animal silently mouth, 'Help me,' just before a massive wave crashed down, pulling him under.

"Kaylinani?" Elena looked around at the now calm waves. "Please don't do this, you're going to kill him!" She cupped her hands over her mouth as tears rolled down her cheeks. Isaiah needed the sky just as much as the sea. There was only one thing to do. Elena dove into the water.

She opened her eyes as she came face to face with a un-inflated pufferfish. 'Hi little guy.' She had always thought the little fish in their relaxed state looked cute, but in their angry state they looked like an army of spike balloons attempting to force her to the surface.

Elena closed her eyes, trying to think of a plan when suddenly she felt a strike to her side. It didn't feel like a puffer fish, it felt like a missile made of sandpaper.

"Grab on," said a disembodied female voice. "He won't hurt you."

Elena was more afraid of hurting the shark. But the animal was swimming in slow circles, as if waiting for her. So she reached out her arms to give it a hug. Or let it kill her; at this point it didn't matter. She would find Isaiah or die in the ocean by his side. As soon as Elena touched the shark they were both pulled into a vortex, moving faster than the East Australian Current.

The water pressure was so intense she had no choice but to close her eyes, focusing her strength on gripping the shark by the dorsal fin. The shark took a sharp corner, hurling Elena in the darkness of the ocean. She felt hands made of water holding her, dressing her in a gown of seaweed, shells, and coral.

When Elena's feet hit solid ground, she opened her eyes. Her head was encased in what felt like a giant air bubble allowing her to breathe and see (somewhat) underwater. Before her stood a woman who appeared to be made of crystal. "Hello?"

"Hello, Elena." The voice was clear; this was the woman who Elena met on the beach: Isaiah's mother.

"Hello," Elena said nervously, her voice distorted by the air bubble helmet. "I'm sorry this happened. You trusted me and I-"

"You blame yourself?"

Elena nodded. "You sent him to me, you trusted me to watch over him."

"I sent Isaiah to you because it had always been his dream to live on the surface world. He had such a love for art and culture."

"Had?"

The crystal goddess began to sob. "I should never have allowed Kaylinani to find you. I should have intercepted her. I should have been the one to guide you. I just-"

"You believed in him. You knew he just needed a little time to find his path." Elena could feel herself starting to cry. "All he needed was to learn to eat the correct foods, and find a job that would allow him to be outside. I'm the reason he got sick."

"And you shall be his salvation." The woman started to sparkle, transforming into a harsh beam of light.

Elena took a few steps forward, to take a closer look at what now stood in the woman's place. A sword? "Are you inside the sword?" Elena asked as she picked up the silver hilt.

"It breaks my heart," the voice echoed, "to save my son, my daughter must die by my hand."

Elena held the sword, gazing at the blade made of pure light. "By my hand?"

"Will that be a problem?" Isaiah's mother's tone seemed to ask 'Are you ok with killing another living creature?'

But that was not Elena's main concern. She was thinking more about how much pain she was going to be in when Kaylinani used her turtle-goddess powers to tear Elena's weak mortal body limb from limb.

A smile crept across Elena's face. She had already won; if she died she would be reunited with her husband. It was a little twisted that her mind went to her husband before Isaiah. But saving Isaiah seemed like the less likely outcome. "I have no problem at all." She held the sword to her chest like a knight. "Show me the way."

A pod of dolphins appeared. They circled like sharks, then came in closer, nuzzling like horses. "Kay is keeping him in her lair," said one of the dolphins with an adorable squeak. "My warriors will guide you but even we can only go so far."

Elena knew what they meant. She strapped the sword to her back and held on to two of the dolphins. They swam for hours, into the middle of the Pacific. The further out they went the rougher the waters became. Eventually, the waves became abnormally violent, crashing down like a series of avalanches.

"We're here," the voice of the sword echoed telepathically in Elena's mind. "Hold let go of the dolphins and let yourself fall. I will be the one to guide you."

Elena closed her eyes and allowed herself to sink into the abyss. At first, she was afraid that the waves would tear her apart before she could even reach the bottom but with the weight of the sword, she sank like an anchor.

Elena landed in a familiar cave-like room. This was where she met Kaylinani the first time to ask her to save Isaiah from the illness caused by life in the human world. But this time it was filled water and lots of creepy eels.

"Begone," Kaylinani's deep, demonic voice echoed through the water.

"Dear daughter," the sword replied. "You are truly your father's child."

"Leave father out of this! He works hard and serves the greater good all while you're fornicating across the globe."

Elena remembered her saying that her father was Hephaestus, the disfigured, reclusive, god of the forge. In direct contrast, Isaiah's father was Hermes, a free spirit who lived above the clouds.

But what was their mother's name?

Elena looked at the sword. "Are you Gaia?" A light echoed through the cave as Elena struggled to keep hold of the sword. "You're Gaia?"

"I am, and as the spirit of this sword, let me guide your hand."

Elena held the sword with both hands. "Take me to Isaiah." She raised the sword and struck the wall. A golden crack started to form. She took a breath and swung again. Rocks fell from the ceiling, splashing into the water until it was clear of all Kaylinani's henchmen. They may be undersea predators but they were still just fish.

Kaylinani stood before her in all her giant-stone-turtle glory. "You will never find him."

"I already know where he is." Elena looked at the stone turtle. She was the size of a monster truck, but she was covered in red metallic veins. "You told me your father is Hephaestus, you admire him."

"I respect him."

"Which is why you hold Isaiah close to your heart." Elena charged at the stone turtle. Sword drawn she hoped Gaia would do the majority of the work. Elena managed to ram the sword into one of the red veins, which were not veins at all, but seams.

"Your father was God of the forge, so you forged yourself a new home, a new world," Elena gave the sword a hard twist, "a new body." She removed the sword to reveal a glowing red hole.

Kaylinani screamed, causing an earthquake. Water rushed in from all angles, threatening to drown Elena.

But Elena had nothing to lose. She reached in a pulled out the small turtle with a blood-covered shell. "Isaiah!"

The little turtle looked at Elena. "I knew you'd come for me."

Elena could feel how weak he was. His tiny body was trembling in pain."How do I save you?"

"The same way you did last time."

"Kaylinani saved you last time," Elena said as she struggled to stay on her feet. "She shared her powers." The ceiling was caving in. She held the little turtle close to her chest to block him from the falling debris.

"Kay took my wings," Isaiah said, in a voice that was no longer cute. "I need to take something precious that belongs to her."

Elena had no idea what he meant, there was no way she could take a piece of Kaylinani. Suddenly a falling rock hit her in the face, cutting her cheek deep enough to draw blood. As her blood touched Isaiah's shell she noticed he was healing. "No, you don't; you don't need anything from Kaylinani." Elena turned the sword on herself. "Take my heart. It always belonged to you, Isaiah." Before she could change her mind she plunged the sword into her chest.

Elena could hear Isaiah's cries as her vision started to blur. Her blood mixed with the ocean water and within seconds the cave was flooded up to her neck. The last image she saw was Isaiah taking human form.

His long hair hung wet over his shoulders as he picked up the blood-covered sword.

Elena awoke in a hotel room. She gasped for air. Her body was shivering. Had it all been a dream? "Isaiah?" She stepped off the bed into a pool of water.

Crunch!

And shells. the floor was covered in seashells like what Elena had worn in the cave. she looked at her naked body: there was a massive scar in the middle of her chest. It had been closed with a strange golden thread. "Isaiah?" She looked through the closets for something to wear, if only to cover herself. But this was a new hotel room, somewhere she hadn't been before. And there were no clothes in the closet.

Elena pulled the thin white comforter from the bed wrapping it around herself like a dress before opening the curtains. "What the f-?" This was not Hawaii, this was the desert.

And this was some kind of roadside motel overlooking a vast empty wasteland. She looked around to the other rooms in the motel. It looked deserted. But there was a working cash register with a working credit-card scanner. This place was a shop? She noticed there was a fridge with water and a place filled with snacks. If this was a gas station or a store there had to be a sign somewhere.

There was a hand-painted wooden billboard. "Turtle Rock Extreme Desert Tours." Her heart started to race; where the hell was she and how did she get here? She could hear what sounded like a bird but louder. Elena looked to the sky and saw a plane. It appeared to be headed back towards the hotel.

As it landed she could see it was not like any man-made plane that existed. The plane looked small, like a someone's private jet. But when it landed, it was billowing smoke.

Elena took a few steps closer. It wasn't smoke, it was steam. The exhaust smelled like the ocean. The plane landed with a wave of sparkling light. She was expecting a group to get out but there was only one man, the pilot. He was muscular and wore sunglasses and his dark hair was short, professional. But when he turned to her his smile was unmistakable. "Hey, Lena."

Elena fell to her knees and sobbed. "Isaiah, what happened? Where are we?"

He took her in his arms. "Come flying with me?"

"Can get something to wear?"

"Not that you don't look beautiful the way you are," he said in his sultry surfer voice. With a wave of his hand Elena was now wearing a flight suit like something a military pilot would wear.

Elena took his hand. "Where are we going?"

"Sky diving."

This had to be a dream. Was she dead? Was this heaven? She noticed Isaiah didn't take a seat in the cockpit. The plane was taking off and flying itself.

She looked out the window at the amazing view, then back at Isaiah. "What happened?"

"A little over a month ago I defeated my sister and finally took control of my life."

"Did you say 'a month'?"

"Yeah, you've been asleep for a month. I hid you in the hotel section of my new tour shop. I mean, it was a hotel originally, when I found it..."

Elena gripped his arm. "I was asleep- after I cut out my heart?"

"You saved me. You and Mother lent me your powers, your courage. And with that I succeeded." He patted the wall of the plane. "Isn't that right, Kay?"

The airplane shook.

Isaiah chuckled and gave the wall a hard punch. "Play nice." His hand glowed with a white energy similar to what Elena had seen from his mother. Was it possible he now wielded the full power of Gaia herself? He ran his fingers through his hair causing it to grow back to it's original long length, complete with beaded braids. "It's almost time, everyone's waiting."

He took Elena by the hand and opened the side door. The wind rushed by with such force she nearly fell out.

Isaiah grabbed hold of her. "I spent the last month waiting for your to regain enough strength to wake up. I'm not going to lose you now." He strapped a parachute to her back. "I'm going to dive with you, pull your chute then I'm going to meet you on the ground- understand?"

"Yeah,um, ok," Elena replied over the wind. She let him do just that. After a few seconds of falling her chute was opened and she started to float down to a grassy field.

From the view she could spot what appeared to be the Grand canyon. It was like California, Arizona and Nevada all compressed into a single space. Elena landed on her knees, the parachute falling over her.

She scrambled to her feet in time to see Isaiah making an elegant landing with his newly regrown wings. And applause. There was a crowd of people waiting in this field oasis.

"All hail the queen!" "The queen has awoken!"

People were reaching out for Elena; touching her, grabbing her. Luckily Isaiah came from behind and pulled her close. "My queen." He waved his hand and caused the a trees to become ripe with fruit and flowers to bloom. It was as if he was painting with all the colors of the world. He turned Elena to look into his eyes and as he did, he touched her stomach causing it to swell.

Elena fell to her knees in pain. "What's happening? What have you done?"

"You will serve your true purpose, to give me a child."

"I have learned the ways of your world and started one of my own."

'A cult, you started a cult.' Elena smiled through the pain of her stomach muscles and organs arranging to accommodate a rapidly growing fetus. "So you run a farm?"

"My people live on a farm. But I own whatever I please; the ocean, the sky, my traitorous sister. But I want only to stare it with you."

"What exactly happened after I stabbed myself?"

"You saved my life. Your blood restored my wings, with it my power. During the battle your body drifted to the surface but after I used my mother's sword to disembowel my sister she begged me to spare her life."

Elena was wondering where he was going with this story. "Oh?"

"I told her I would, only if she would lead me to your body. She called upon her army of sea creatures to find you, but your were already dead. - mostly dead. You had a light glowing within your womb; our child. She offered to give her life force to save you. And now all that remind of my sister is the shell of her armor."

"That you made into a plane for skydiving classes."

"You and Kaylinani are forever bound together as one life force."

"Oh, ok..." Elena touched the moving growth in her stomach. She didn't know what to make of his statement. Did she have Kaylinani's powers, did Kaylinani served her or, worse, was Elena going to give birth to Kaylinani? Either way it would be a small price to pay to be a queen and rule by Isaiah's side.

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