The will of the Sea

William dumped his schoolbag on the sofa and stepped into the kitchen. '¿Mom?' he called, '¿Dad?' No one answered. Unsurprised, he turned on the TV and collapsed on the couch to wait for them. An image of a large family leaving their cliff-side house was being shown, as the news reader stated that the East coast of Florida was under evacuation due to the abnormal drawback and freak waves reported during the last week. Will thought back to his happy memories from his grandparent's house in Miami. He would be very sad if they lost the house to a hurricane.

His parents arrived shortly and they ate lunch. Will finished his homework and set out to fetch Thomas. Thomas, his lifelong friend and partner-in-crime, lived outside town, in the posh residential area they called "The Blocks". Together they raced down the dirt track to the valley, dumped their bikes in a hollow bush and sprinted up the stream, happy with the prospect of an exam-free week ahead.

Their spirits could not have been dampened even if the afternoon had not been so fair. Before long, Thomas had picked up a blunt stick from the ground and was jabbing expertly at his friend. Laughing, Will climbed the nearest willow with practised ease and tore a branch with which to defend himself. He parried Thomas' thrust and disarmed him, casting the stick into the stream. Then, landing lightly on his feet, he jumped from the tree and held his own branch in front of him with his eyes closed. Still laughing, he marched absurdly around the tree, arms outstretched and the stick pointing straight ahead. Thomas roared his approval. 'Water witching now, are we?' he grinned, 'I think you need a Y-shaped rod for that!' Will raised an eyebrow in mock offence. 'Behold, William the Diviner.' At this he slackened his grip on the branch, making it dip towards the ground.

Thomas was getting bored. He looked around for good stone-skipping pebbles. Will dropped the stick to join him. As he relinquished his grasp on the shaft, the branch dug vertically into the ground, thrumming. He froze in shock. Tentatively, he tugged at the stick. It did not budge. Hailing Thomas, he pulled forcibly at it, to no avail. The two boys laid flat on their bellies and pressed their ears to the soil. Above the burbling of the stream, they felt a deep rumbling. And then, with widening eyes, they heard it.

'Well, about time, too.' A rich, male voice spoke, directly into their heads. It's tone was bored, almost impatient, but the sound was full and mellow; it flooded every recess of their consciousness, fluid-like. William and Thomas remained silent, too stunned to reply. They did not, however, get up. Of one thing they were certain: the entity -if not, perhaps, the voice itself- was issuing from beneath the soil, where the deep rumbling heralded the presence of fast-moving groundwater. 'Well? Are you there, mortals?' it said, 'I was starting to think you'd all given up on finding me. Not surprising... I mean, who's idea was the dowsing rod in the first place. Please.'

"Mortals?" Will's first thought was: 'Is this God?' To his greater shock, the voice answered, even thought he had said nothing. 'God? Yes, well... I suppose so.' The boys caught their breath and looked into each-other's faces. It, meanwhile, continued speaking. 'You have gotten so muddled up lately. I loose track of the modern divine disciplines...' He sounded exasperated. 'My wife tried explaining this to Thales of Miletus. Bless him, he only got it half right in the end. Ah, well. Pay attention. If you are to be my instruments, I better explain first-hand, and I don't want to repeat myself. I say, are you there? Your attention span is limited, isn't it? Well, I can't say she didn't warn me.'

The children were still trying to get their heads around the fact that they were speaking to someone -no, something- that claimed to be a god, yet had a wife. 'Where are you?' blurted Thomas. 'Me? Oh, you know, here and there.' "No, we don't know", thought Will, but he remained silent. It must've heard his thoughts because it replied again: 'You ever heard of the term pantheism?' 'No,' the boys said. 'Well, that's just too bad because I'm not going to try to explain,' the god continued conversationally, 'your puny minds cannot fathom anyway.' Will did not quite understand what he'd been told, but could gather enough to know that his intelligence had been insulted. 'Why us?' he said, aloud this time. 'Oh, you just happened to be here. Are you anyone important?' it asked. Thomas furrowed his brow and, searching Will with his gaze as he spoke, replied, slowly: 'Er... no, we're children, actually.' 'Children, adults, it's all the same, you are mortals and you will have to do. Now if you will let me explain...' The boys nodded, more to each-other than to the voice, and rested their heads on the ground once more.

'I am, as I said, what you would call a god,' the voice started. 'One of two, actually. They used to call me Abzu, the freshwater; and my lady is Tiamat, the salt-water. In fact, it is because of her that I have sought you out. The last time I preoccupied myself with the lesser creatures was to perform my most spectacular trick to date, the Deluge, which you have surely heard of. I'm not proud now that I think back on it, but that is of the past anyway. Where was I? Oh, yes, Tiamat. Well, you see, my spouse is a... ah, how to put it... an irascible deity, let's say. It so happens that she has become quite prickly of late. This is to a great extent your fault, I must add, but I am not here to blame you. I am here to warn you. To counsel you. Look, I've never much cared for living beings, but Tiamat is powerful and she is jeopardizing my jurisdiction. She accuses me of invading her seas. It is by no means true since I no longer control the ice caps. They where a whim of mine during creation, but I now dedicate my full attention to liquid freshwater. Well, the ice caps are weeping into her oceans, and she is answering by attacking the continental water. She has already taken it out on humanity with her insidious Sea-Triangle, which she no doubt finds funny. It is more vexing than dangerous, really, but her master-stroke will not be. She plans to invade the coasts.'

William and Thomas were listening raptly, even thought half of it wasn't sinking in at all. Will sat up. 'Wait, the Bermuda Triangle? That's always been there, hasn't it?' The voice sighed. 'Yes, dear, of course it has always been there. Like all the rest of it. That's not important now. What you need to do is get everyone inland. If people stick to the rivers, I can extend my protection, but you must not be in the way when she strikes. What you call tsunamis are Tiamat's merest tuts of displeasure. This is wrath we are talking about.' 'She's going to attack the coast?' Thomas asked, finally catching up. 'But we can't do anything. No one will believe us. No one will listen.'

'Oh, I really don't know why I waste time on you,' Abzu said, 'you'll bungle it just like all the rest have. Why can't mortals listen to each other?' 'No, it's not that,' Thomas replied, 'they do listen to powerful people, they just won't listen to us,' he added naïvely.' 'Oh, so it's power you need is it?' the deity mused. 'Well I can definitely do power.' He chuckled in his burbling manner, 'what you need is proof of me.' On the last word, the voice fell silent, and a thunderous torrent burst from the ground, launching the boys into the air. The stream swelled and flew upwards, joining the jet of turbid liquid that supported Will and Thomas. Then the water cascaded down, drenching both children as they hit the sodden ground, gasping.

Slowly, the fluid started pouring itself into Thomas, through his skin, his mouth, his ears, leaving the willow grove dry. Will yelled and shook his friend, his mind blocked and useless. Thomas, however, seemed unhurt. He was laughing. Pointing at Will with his finger, he squirted water into his face. Then, marvelled at his power, he got up and began to prance, showering the ground with water at will. William was starting to take in the recent events when, without warning, his friend burst violently. The former presence of Thomas could only be suspected by a pile of clothes lying in a puddle.

Will ran for the Blocks, screaming. By the stream, Abzu's voice lingered, phrasing a distinct: 'bugger'.