Heart of the Ocean

Sehira stalked through the streets of Albanore. Puddles of grimy water splashed beneath her feet, gummy mud squelching and sticking to her boots with each step. Every once in a while, a shadow shifted down an alleyway or around a corner, and each time her hand slid automatically to her waistline where her fingers brushed over the hilt of a hidden sword, tucked beneath her thick cloak. But it wasn’t street thugs she was itching to run through with her blade. No, she had someone particular in mind.

Tall, dark buildings teetered up all around her, creating the narrow streets and alleys of the city. Even in the darkness of the closing evening, she could see the filth that clung to their walls, casting them all with the same grey-brown hue. Every surface was clammy with the damp fog that rolled ceaselessly in from the ocean. If it weren’t for all the dirty, crooked buildings blocking her sightline, Sehira would have been able to see the ocean now. The lulling crash of its tides could be heard in the distance. Though it could rarely be seen, the ocean could always be heard in Albanore, like a constant hissing whisper carried over the cliffs on a chilling breeze.

It was towards the ocean cliffs that Sehira was headed. Her heartbeat thudded louder in her own ears the closer she got to her destination. The crooked buildings of the city began to thin and grow shorter. The cobbled street beneath her became sandy gravel, and the world seemed to drop away in front of her. She’d reached the edge of Albanore. The jagged rocks of the cliffs stretched out toward the open, rough ocean. On the horizon, the last sliver of sunlight wavered at the edge of the world. Sehira scanned the cliffs, her eyes darting from left to right, but she could not find what she was looking for.

“That liar,” she seethed.

“I may be many things, Sehira.”

She whirled around. A darkly cloaked figure stood only a few paces behind her. They pulled back their hood to reveal a dazzlingly beautiful face, lit with a smile.

“But I’m not a liar.”

“Denira,” Sehira greeted the woman, not a hint of friendliness in her tone. “You’re late.”

Denira’s smile twisted in a smirk as she turned and began to pace back and forth, her strides slow and graceful.

“How can I be late when you yourself have only just arrived?”

Sehira’s hands clenched at her sides. “Never mind all that. Did you or didn’t you bring what I asked you to?”

Denira stopped her pacing and turned once again to face Sehira. Her elegant hands slid up to the clasp of her cloak and with one fluid movement, she pulled it from her shoulders, allowing it to fall to the ground at her feet. She stood with her arms outstretched at her sides, palms open and facing toward Sehira, as if she were presenting herself as some sort of prize. Beneath her cloak, she was wearing nothing but a thin white chemise of a dress, lacey and delicate, and much too cold for the frigid ocean air that surrounded them. But Denira didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the temperature.

Despite all of this, Sehira had very little interest in Denira’s choice of fashion, nor whether she was cold. She was much less interested in her thin excuse for a dress and much more interested in what she was wearing around her neck. There, hung on a delicate silver chain and resting between Denira’s breasts was a blue glass pendant. Sehira’s eyes focused on the round pendant hungrily.

“I brought it, just as you demanded of me,” Denira said, her hand fluttering to touch the pendant. Sehira stiffened as she watched her. “I knew it was the only way you would agree to talk to me.”

Sehira’s hand slid over the hilt of her sword. “I never agreed to speak with you,” she said through clenched teeth. “I came to reclaim what is rightfully mine.”

Denira let out a musical laugh, but Sehira only continued to scowl at her.

“Rightfully yours? How can it be?”

With a mischievous smile, Denira grasped the pendant in her hand and brought it closer to her face.

“It chose me. We both know Mother would have left it to me, not you, Sehira.”

A shiver of rage traveled up Sehira’s spine.

“The hell she would have,” she hissed, her grip on her sword tightening. “She didn’t trust you. Not as much as she trusted me. And for good reason. You have darkness inside of you, Denira, and Mother could see it.”

Denira dropped the pendant and splayed her hand on her chest in feigned shock.

“How can you speak of your own sister this way?” she said in a syrupy voice.

It was Sehira’s turn to laugh, but the sound was devoid of humor.

“You haven’t been my sister for a long time, Denira. You made sure of that yourself.”

Denira’s perfect, pretty face darkened. The air around them seemed to grow colder, and the last of the sun’s light slipped away behind the horizon.

“Let’s make it official then,” Denira said. Her hand wrapped around the pendant again, and a faint blue glow emanated from between her slender fingers. “After tonight, I’ll truly be sisterless. Once and for all.”

Sehira unsheathed her sword and pointed toward Denira. Behind her, the ocean crashed angrily while thick, white fog oozed up over the cliffs. Somewhere in the distance, over the roiling waves, thunder began to rumble.

“Just give me the Heart and we won’t have to do this,” Sehira said, staring at the blue light still seeping from her sister’s hand.

Denira laughed, the cracking thunder joining her. “You think I would give it to you so easily?”

Sehira searched Denira’s eyes. Those wild, dark eyes that had always hungered for more, that had always looked ahead, never focused on the present but on what could next be attained. 

“You could be my sister again,” Sehira said softly, though the blade of her sword was still pointed steadily at Denira. “If you just give it up. If you just hand it over to me.”

Those dark eyes stared back at her coldly. Gone was the warmth they’d held in their childhood. All that was left was the destructive ambition. 

Above them, seething, dark clouds rolled in. Sehira took a deep breath and tried one last time.

“It’s what Mother would have wanted.”

 Denira’s face contorted in a wicked grin.

“Damn what Mother would have wanted,” she said with a cackle. “I never cared for her opinion much. That’s why I decided to take matters into my own hands, and take the Heart for myself. That’s why I killed her.”

Sehira faltered. She almost lost her grip on her sword.

“You killed her?”

Denira opened her palm and held up the pendant so that its blue light illuminated her face, casting it with menacing shadows. 

“You said it yourself. She never would have trusted me with the Heart. And that’s why I had to take it for myself. She couldn’t see my potential. The greatness I possess, and what I can do with it if I hold the power of the Heart. But now she’s gone. And nothing can stop me from claiming my destiny.”

Sehira’s hands shook. She’d been angry enough when she’d only believed that Denira had stolen the Heart from her Mother’s corpse. But this. She never would have imagined this, not even from Denira.

Her grasp on her sword constricted, and she held it steady again, her gaze alight with fury as she glared at the woman standing before her.

“You would kill your own mother, just to gain power?”

Denira scoffed. “Power? The Heart is more than just power!” 

Her hand closed around the pendant again and the thunder boomed louder than ever above them. The waves at the bottom of the cliffs crashed with such ferocity that Sehira felt their spray where she stood. 

“I am lord of the ocean! I possess the ability to control the very sea! I am a Goddess!”

Sehira took a threatening step closer to her.

“You’re no Goddess. Just because you carry the heart of one doesn’t make you a Goddess yourself. Mother understood that, and that’s why she was allowed to be guardian over it.”

“Mother was weak,” Denira hissed. “She was afraid to use the Heart to its full potential. She lacked the imagination that would have helped her achieve greatness!” She ripped the silver chain from her neck and held the Heart high. Thunder cracked all around them as a flash of lighting hit the bottom of the cliffs, where ocean met rocks.

Sehira shook her head. “The Heart is not for wielding, but for protecting and controlling.”

Denira’s dark eyes focused on her, wide and wild.

“You can’t control me. I won’t be controlled.” 

Another bolt of lightning descended from the heavens and split the ground just to the right of Sehira. She stumbled away from it, barely moving out of the way in time as another bolt hit the spot where she’d just been standing. Denira cackled.

Before she could send down another bolt, Sehira sprinted towards her sister, sword raised and ready to strike. Denira snapped her attention towards her. A towering wave of ocean water swept impossibly high over the edge of the cliffs and crashed over Sehira. The world disappeared for a moment as she was raked over the rocks. She reached out wildly for anything she could grab onto, until finally the wave of water receded and she found herself clinging to jagged stone right at the edge of the cliff. If it had pulled her any further, she would have gone over and been lost to the waves below.

Spitting salty water and gasping for breath, she pushed herself to her knees and searched for her sword, praying that it hadn’t fallen into the ocean. Finally, she spotted it as Denira kicked it aside and approached her.

“It’s as good as over, Sehira,” she said in that honey-sweet voice, even as the thunder continued to rumble. “Just accept it.”

Eyes still stinging with ocean water, Sehira glared up at her.

“It’s the only way the Heart will truly be mine,” Denira said with a sigh, wearing an almost comical pout. “I could feel it when I killed Mother. Some of the power of the Heart transferred to me. But, because you’re also her daughter, some of the power transferred to you as well. So I have to kill you, in order to take full control.”

Denira was standing over her now, the Heart glowing brighter than ever and pulsating as if it were really beating with life. She crouched down so that she and Sehira were almost eye-to-eye.

“In the end, you were just as weak as Mother,” she said with a small smile. “You would have never been able to wield the Heart.”

Denira held the glowing glass pendant in her open palm, and Sehira could hear the ocean swelling behind her. She sucked in a sharp breath.

“She loved you.”

The smile dropped from Denira’s face.

“Mother loved you. She always did.”

Denira sneered again, but this time Sehira could see that it was forced.

“Now who’s the liar? That woman never loved me. I was never the daughter she wanted me to be. I was never you.”

Sehira held her gaze. “But she still loved you.”

She could see Denira faltering, could hear the waves below receding as her mind was distracted, and she took her chance. With one quick movement, Sehira brought her elbow up to meet Denira’s chin. Her head snapped back and the Heart went flying from her hand. Sehira wasted no time and jumped to her feet, lunging to the spot where her sword had been kicked. She scooped it up and turned to find Denira already reaching for the Heart, lying in a shallow puddle on a rock at the very edge of the cliff. With one long stride, Sehira stomped down on Denira’s outstretched hand.

She howled with pain and fell back, clutching her crushed hand. Before she could make another mover, Sehira planted herself over her, raising the point of her sword to her throat. Denira stilled, staring down at the sword. She turned her head and spat blood, then glared up at Sehira, her eyes bulging with hateful rage.

“You’re too weak to do it.”

Sehira’s gut twisted into a knot.

“I loved you too, Denira. I’ve always loved my sister.”

Denira’s eyes widened for a moment, but then she only sneered and spat more blood. 

“You disgust me. You always have.”

A pain shot through Sehira’s chest, and she almost didn’t see as Denira’s eyes flashed towards where the Heart still lay at the edge of the cliff. There was a flash of movement as she moved to lurch towards it, but Sehira was faster. 

Everything stilled.

Denira’s dark eyes slowly slid down to where Sehira’s sword had pierced her chest. Then, she looked up at her sister, all rage and determination gone from her face. Now, there was only shock. Fear.

“Sehir—” she tried to choke out her name.

Sehira released her sword and dropped to her knees, leaning over her sister.

“I’m sorry,” she said, pulling her onto her lap and stroking her hair with gentle hands. “I’m sorry it had to end this way.”

Denira’s mouth hung open, and she looked up, past Sehira, to the stormy clouds above them. A large raindrop fell, splashing on the rock beside Denira’s head. Then another fell, sliding down her cheek like a tear, but Denira did not flinch. She did not blink. She was gone.

The sky opened up.

Rain poured all around Sehira as she clutched at her sister’s lifeless body. She leaned down and kissed her softly on the forehead before closing her eyes.

On shaky legs, Sehira stood and pulled the sword from Denira’s chest. She dropped it to the ground with a clatter. Then she turned toward the cliff’s edge.

Rain mixed with tears as she bent and picked up the still-glowing Heart. It felt warm in her hand, and a tingle of energy traveled up her arm. As she clutched it, she could sense the power it contained. Her eyes slid closed and she brought it to her chest. She felt it beating in time with her own heart.

All those years, their Mother had told them the stories of the Heart. It had been passed down for generations through their family, from mother to daughter. It was a burden. A curse. A power that could never be used. But a power that would have been impossible to defeat in the wrong—or the right—hands.

Sehira opened her eyes. She stared down at the Heart, glowing brighter than ever before. She felt the heat of its power surging through her entire body. Grasping it in one hand, she held it high above her head. Thunder rumbled as the rain continued to pour down around her.

And then she threw it over the cliff’s edge.

A great sigh of relief escaped her lips as she watched the Heart fall to the ocean waves below and disappear. She stood for a long time, maybe minutes, maybe hours, drenched in the rain, and watched the waves crash below. Then, suddenly, she turned on her heel and picked up her sword, washed clean of blood by the rain, and walked back toward the city, leaving the Heart and the past behind her to be lost in the ocean, where they belonged.