Chapter 43 - Water Freak?

Constant waves. A vast ocean. A sleeping figure lays encased in a milky bubble of sea form.

"Clo, open your eyes my sweet." A voice ripples from everywhere.

The slumbering beauty stirs. Her eyes open to a world of cream, a shore for the ocean beyond.

"You're safe, Clo." The voice ripples from all directions.

"Who're you?" Clo asks as she looks around, past her bubble and into the ocean.

"Long ago you called me Squishy." The voice echoes in every direction.

Froth gathers in front of Clo. It morphs into a cute albino Octopus, no larger than two fists.

"What will you call me now?" Squishy says as it floats with its wiggly tentacles.

Clo stands stunned at the sudden appearance of her Squishy, the Albino Octopus. She reaches out to touch her once precious pet from childhood. Her harmless Squishy who died too soon.

"How are you talking?" Clo asks as she embraces Squishy, "I must be dead but I am happy."

"Far from it, Clo." Squishy says flapping its tentacles, "You are so alive. This is your Dao-Heart."

"Dao-heart?" Clo asks as she stops caressing Squishy, stopping to look at it in her hands.

"Yes my dear, Clo." Squishy says, "A space within you containing so much."

"But no clothes." Clo says as she examines herself.

"This should help." Squishy says.

A mirror pops into existence right beside the duo. Reflected on it is beauty incarnate. Blue, curly hair like the waves of the ocean itself. Deep oceanic blue eyes upon a face no older than 25. A pearly white octopus sits on luscious latte-skin hands.

"Is that?" Clo begins to ask.

"It is indeed you." Squishy says.

"What happened to me?" Clo asks, transfixed on her reflection.

Gone were the bags beneath her eyes hidden by makeup. Gone were untold scars accumulated from her lifetime of living. Gone were her favorite tattoos. Gone was her 55-year-old self.

"An incomplete metamorphosis." Squishy says with disappointment.

"Incomplete?" Clo asks, examining her own curves.

"Not enough Cosmic Qi but this will have to do for now." Squishy answers, "Sadly, time is short."

"I don't understand." Clo asks, taking her eyes from her gorgeous reflection to look at Squishy.

"Into the deep end then." Squishy says.

Suddenly, the milky barrier of sea form evaporates. Clo and Squishy are submerged in the endless ocean all at once. Clo instinctively attempts to swim but has no bearings.

"Just breathe." Squishy says while waving its tentacles, "It's fun."

Clo inhales the breath she didn't realize she was holding. The expected burning sensation of saltwater entering her lungs doesn't happen. Clo exhales and inhales again in disbelief.

"I'm breathing underwater!" Clo shouts with excitement, "And I'm speaking underwater."

The water surges toward Squishy and Clo, forming a whirlpool around the duo.

"That's not all." Squishy says waving its 8 tentacles around, "Can you feel the water?!"

The drop is the wave. The wave is the drop. The endless fluidity of the ocean. For a moment, Clo becomes the ocean itself. All-nurturing. All-purifying. Life's ceaseless adaptability.

"I can feel it." Clo shouts, "I feel... everything!"

"Sadly, I must leave you now." Squishy suddenly says, "We'll have a proper chat soon."

"Squishy! How do I get out of here?" Clo says to the rapidly dissolving octopus in her hands.

"Shine together!" Squishy says.

Everything returns to… quietude.