The Secret Sea - (Chaptered Version)

* 32

We land. Hard.

I'm blind. The earth gives way beneath my feet. Unable to stand, I grope around through hot sand until I finally touch Eve's arm. "Eve," I whisper. My eyes burn and refuse to focus.

I pass out again.

I wake up in darkness. My head is soaked with slime and I still can't see. My arms are pinned to my sides and I can barely move. I gasp for a breath.

A hot gust of air pushes me out of a slippery tunnel, spilling me onto sand. My eyelids force themselves open, revealing a rhinoceros the size of a Sherman tank hovering over me, drooling. I wipe the saliva from my face and realize my head was just in its mouth.

"It grows dark but you mustn't sleep." The Rhino's voice sounds like four old trucks trying to start their engines at the same time. "The temperature drops rapidly at night. You would have froze had I not awakened you."

"Th...thanks," I say, struggling to my feet. "A talking rhino. Right." I shake off the cobwebs and search my surroundings. "Where's Eve?"

"This human body holds two souls," replies the rhino. It lowers its head and I can see Eve resting comfortably, stretched across the massive mammal's wide neck. She's unconscious.

"Eve!" I shout. "Is she okay?"

"She sleeps and she bleeds. We will return to my hut. I can help her."

I'm stunned. "How did you get her up...there?"

"My horn carries the sacred light." I stare up at the rhino's singular horn and notice it's at least a foot taller than me. It begins to glow and I feel my feet lifting off the ground until I'm atop the creature. It's pitted, grey skin is solid as concrete. "Hold tight."

Eve looks serene as she sleeps. I take her limp hand in mine, relieved to feel some warmth. "Hang on," I whisper. My body lurches as the rhino breaks into a run, its flat feet battering the desert like massive hammers. "What's your name?" I yell, gripping the beast for dear life.

"Karkadann, Lord of the Desert," replies the rhino.

I scan the horizon, seeing nothing but cracked earth and low sand dunes stretching for miles in every direction. "Where are we?"

"Physical plane. Earth."

"More specific, please?" I ask, my mouth full of grit.

"Thar, India."