Creative Writing Contest 2007

April 20, 2007

Islesboro's Thirteen Annual Creative Writing Contest

Coordinated by Katie Nelson.

This year's theme was "The Sea".

Students were awarded at an assembly April 6, 2007.

Creative Writing Contest Winners

POETRY :

1st Place - "Cool Navy Blue" - Samantha Durkee - Grade 9
2nd Place - "Pelecypod" - Davis Boardman - Grade 6

Middle School PROSE:

1st Place MS Prose - "Brilliant Star" - Patric Skigen - Grade 8
2nd Place MS Prose - "The Sea" - Michelle Reidy - Grade 8
3rd Place MS Prose -

"James Pond: Underwater Secret Agent" - Ben Shepherd -Grade 7

High School PROSE:

1st Place HS Prose - "The Sea" - Olivia Boucher - Grade 10
2nd Place HS Prose - "The Serene" - Brittany Pendleton - Grade 10
3rd Place HS Prose - "The Sea" - Krysti Hall - Grade 12

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WINNING ENTRIES -

POETRY -

First Place Poetry
"Cool Navy Blue" Samantha Durkee

Dark pooling water,
surrounds my feet.
Rippled silk splashing at my knees.
Bumpy white sand, squishes
between my toes.
The hot sun, smiles down on
my freckled face.
Cool navy blue, rushes
past my tired legs.
Sweet salty nectar, flooding
over my shoulders.
At last, I am submerged
into churning heaven.
White surf, dances above
my head.
Sparkling silver dreams, frolic
in the misty blue.
My glorious paradise,
to which I go.

Second Place Poetry -
"Pelecypod" Davis Boardman

I am sitting here,
A foot below the surface of the water.
Waves washing over me
Make the seaweed sway.

I have many neighbors,
They change often.
When the water decides the time for me to move,
I move

O dear!
A child almost stepped on me.
The rushing tide forced her inward.

I feel the sun setting,
The tide is growing higher.
I must sleep.
The tide is high now,
So I will be protected all night.

Middle School Prose -

First Place Middle School Prose -
"Brilliant Star" Patric Skigen

John Trace watched as fifteen sailors loaded the Lunar Song with the cargo he would need for his experiment. The Lunar Song was a 30 foot long schooner with two masts. It was an excellent boat; every board had been finely polished, so finely that the boards reflected the sun. Each of the sailors had a sword strapped to his belt or a bow across his back. They needed to finish loading the boat before the soldiers around the dock noticed that some of the crates were glowing. The sailors soon finished loading the schooner, and they set off. At the end of the cove where the harbor was located, an imperial boat stopped their progress. Heavily armed and armored soldiers began searching the Lunar Song for any illegal cargo, but most of the cargo was already in the secret smugglers hold. The soldiers finished their search and left the boat and her crew to go on their way.

The wind ruffled John's short blond hair as he stood on the prow staring at the sea that was the same deep blue as his eyes. He turned as one of the many screeching gulls flew overhead and went to his cabin and began reading one of his books. Not one of his books was normal; they all had something special about them. The book he picked up was one of his more valuable books. It was entitled Dark Arts for the Experienced, at least most of the time. On full moons the title disappeared to be replaced by a darkness all across the cover, a darkness that seemed to absorb light. When that happened it became more than a book. At the time, John was reading the chapter on controlling dark forces, and he planned to use that knowledge soon.

In another part of the ocean, Dinin Tyme stood on the prow of his ship the Brilliant Star, a three-masted galleon, gazing out over the brilliant blue sea. The wind ruffled his black hair and a fire burned in his piercing blue eyes as he turned and walked towards the upper deck where stood the captain at the wheel. The captain was a gray haired man with weathered skin and eyes the same green as the northern seas.

"How long 'til we reach Silmane, Captain?" Dinin asked.

"We'll be aground 'afore sunset," replied the captain, whose name was Eric.

"Good, once there we'll reload our supplies, rest for the night, and leave at daybreak. We must intercept John Trace and his crew of pirates before they can reach their destination."

"Yes, with what John's planning, we must."

John Trace and his crew of pirates were well known across the southern sea as bloodthirsty murderers, but few besides those aboard Brilliant Star knew the truth. John Trace was a practitioner of the Dark Arts and had found a way to become immortal. In order to become immortal he must gather the souls of one thousand humans. Until recently, he and his pirates had barely scratched the two hundred mark, but he had now found a way to gather the souls much more quickly.

Dinin and his warriors were going to stop them. Dinin was the leader of a group of warriors dedicated to protecting the known world from creatures beyond most humans' comprehension. They had been following John and his pirates for two weeks now, and were finally starting to catch up with him. Dinin wasn't sure what John was planning, but he had a notion that it had to do with controlling demons. So far John had collected all four shards of an ancient mirror, which legend had it could open a portal to the demon's home plane. Dinin had guessed that John's next destination would be the only place where the mirror would work. That place was deep under the center of a whirlpool, and Dinin needed to get there before midnight on the night of the full moon. In other words they needed to get there in two days.

Brilliant Star soon reached Silmane and the crew gathered supplies. The next morning they left Silmane as soon as all of the sailors were prepared.

Dinin and his crew went as fast as Brilliant Star would carry them, but luck was not on their side; the sea was so calm it seemed unnatural. Fortunately for them, Dinin was also a practitioner of the Art, or magic, as well as being a warrior, and he conjured them a favorable wind. Using the Art always drained the user, though weather spells less then some.

"How long until we reach the whirlpool, Captain?" Dinin asked.

"If you can keep up this wind, we'll reach it by sundown tomorrow."

"Once I prepare for underwater travel, that will give us plenty of time to dispatch John's pirates."

The days passed quickly, and soon they could see a boat tied to a huge rock rearing out of the water. They could hear the rushing and churning of the whirlpool from somewhere beyond the rock. They could see no one on deck, so they came up next to the pirate's boat, the Lunar Song, and boarded it. They searched the entire ship but could find no one.

"That's odd, John wouldn't leave his ship unguarded, unless..." Dinin said. "Wait, where's Hodge?"

"I dunno I thought he was..." Eric stopped as he was interrupted by a scream and then a sickening thud.

"Invisibility spell! Everyone back to our ship and get us away from here!" Dinin yelled too late as the Brilliant Star pulled away from the Lunar Song.

"Eric, follow that ship," Dinin said. "Hold, on, what's that hissing sound?"

"Sir, the hold is filled with gunpowder," one of the sailors yelled.

"Everyone overboard!!" Dinin yelled.

Everyone jumped, needing no encouragement. Then there was a huge explosion, and Dinin focused all of his power on protecting himself and his crew. Then he was surrounded by heat, then cold, then everything went black.

When Dinin awoke everything was blue and wet so he held his breath until he remembered that with the last of his Energy he had cast a water breathing spell. He looked up and could just see through the surface of the water that it was almost midnight. He had to hurry for the fate of the world was at stake. He swam as fast as he could toward the area of calm just below a swirling mass of air and water.

Soon he could see a man standing in front of a mirror floating over a pedestal. In the man's hand was what appeared to be a book. The man placed the book on the pedestal and began changing something unintelligible. Then the chanting stopped and moonlight flowed down onto the book then chanting again, and the light flowed from the mirror to the bottom of the whirlpool.

"John, stop this madness!" Dinin yelled.

"No! I need these demons to collect the rest of the souls required for immortality!" John shouted back.

"Then I have no choice to stop you but by physical means," Dinin said as a silvery broadsword appeared in his hand.

"It is too late, you can't stop me now!" John yelled as fiery hole began to open in the bottom of the whirlpool. At the same time, a pair of black long-swords appeared in Johns' hands, a mad look in his eyes.

Dinin swam towards John, put his feet on the ground, and brought down his mighty broadsword towards John's head. John blocked with one sword and stabbed with the other. Dinin dodged to the side and brought his sword around for a side sweep. The attack turned into a feint at the legs, but came up towards the ribs and nearly finished John. The battle went on like that for a long time. All the while the hole widened until, suddenly, it stopped. As the hole stopped widening, so did their battle end. They looked on as hundreds of demons dropped from the bottom of the whirlpool. The demons were hideous creatures which chitinous plates all over their bodies, fiery eyes and huge claws spouting from their many hands.

"I can't control that many demons!" John screamed.

"I warned you this is madness," yelled Dinin.

Dinin grabbed for the mirror and raised it above his head as if to smash it, but John grabbed his arms and screamed, "Don't break it. If you do those things will be stuck here with us."

"At least it will stop any more from coming," shouted Dinin.

They started struggling over the mirror. Then John made a desperate lunge at the mirror. He missed, but Dinin lost his grip and the mirror flew towards the whirlpool. The whirlpool began sucking it in and John started swimming towards it yelling, "Nooooo!" The whirlpool sucked the mirror into the hole at its bottom, and John followed it. One of the closer demons lunged at Dinin, but just before it could reach him, it and all the other demons were sucked back into the portal, and the whirlpool disappeared.

"That was too close," Dinin said as he swam towards the surface. "I hope all of the others survived that explosion."

Dinin found all of his crew, and aside from a few minor wounds, they were all unscathed. Using the last of his Energy he pieced the Lunar Song back together enough to get them back to land.

Second Place Middle School Prose -

"The Sea" Michelle Reidy - Grade 8

I used to go down to the beach every day before the accident. It's not that I don't go down anymore, but it is harder for me now. I used to roll my blue jeans up to my knees and wade in the chilly, ocean water until I couldn't feel my feet. I loved to run along the long beach barefoot, letting the soft, warm sand squish between my toes with each step that I took. When I looked back I could see a long trail that my feet had left in the sand. I loved to throw rocks in the water. The different sizes made different sounds and splashes. The big ones made big splashes and a deeper sound. The little ones made smaller splashes and a quieter sound. Skipping the rocks across the water was like a magic trick to me. I watched them go out farther and farther as they glided over the mirror like water hitting it every once in a while. What I loved most, was lying on the hot, sun baked sand after swimming in the big, blue ocean and letting the sun warm me.

Until just a few years ago, I could see. Now I am blind. It was a stupid accident. It should never of happened but it did. One night in July, I went to a book club meeting with my mom. I didn't really want to go but I wanted to spend some time with my mom. I sat in some lady's living room for an hour and a half, thinking. Not listening, just thinking. If one of them asked me a question, I would nod my head pretending that I was listening. I was thinking about the ocean and what I was going to do there tomorrow. I was also thinking about why people would join one of these clubs. They are so boring! I like to read but I would hate to sit around gossiping and talking about some book.

When we left, my mom was asking me questions like "What did you think about it?" and "Do you want to join when we start another book?" I told her I didn't think that I would ever join something like that. As we were going up a hill, we saw bright yellow lights from a car in the distance. We didn't notice anything unusual about the oncoming car, until it got close enough for us to see that it was headed right for us. My mom tried to swerve to avoid being hit, but it was too late. Our car crashed into the other car and everything went black for me. I didn't lose consciousness but I couldn't seem to open my eyes. They hurt too badly. I screamed in pain. I could feel blood dripping down my head and I could taste it in my mouth, that nasty metal like flavor. I could hear my mother screaming. She was yelling at me, asking if I was okay. I couldn't answer; I was focused too much on the pain. Then I heard a deep voice yelling and asking if we were all right. Once again, I couldn't answer. I was in so much pain and I was crying and couldn't catch my breath. I was also very confused because I couldn't figure out why my eyes wouldn't open. Every time I touched them, the pain grew stronger and it was harder to focus on the things around me.

I don't know how long I cried, but I began to hear the ambulance sirens in the distance. They were quiet, but they grew louder and louder as they got nearer. I heard men yelling at each other and then I felt two large, warm hands touch me. The hands carefully pulled me out of the car and put me on something that rolled. It was probably a stretcher but I wasn't sure. I couldn't seem to focus on what was around me and everything was confusing. When I was put into the ambulance, the pain grew so bad from the bouncing around, I passed out.

When I woke up, I had not clue where I was. I still couldn't see but that was because my eyes were covered. The pain wasn't as bad as it was before. I moved my hand and something touched my arm. Then a strange voice started to talk to me. It was a woman's voice. At first it scared me because I had no clue where I was but then she told me that she was a nurse. She then told me what had happened. She also said that I probably wouldn't be able to see again. I just lay there helplessly because I couldn't move. I thought about what it would be like not being able to see again. The first question that came to my mind was how I was going to go to the ocean and see the water, the sand, and my trail of footprints. What she said made me feel like I just lost a best friend.

I left the hospital a week later. The physical pain was gone but I was left with the pain of knowing that I was never going to be able to see again. When we got back home, I stumbled around the house with my new cane. The cane was to help me around so I wouldn't bump into or walk into something. At first, I felt like giving up.

It made me so mad at times but I knew that I had to get used to the cane if I was going to overcome my blindness. The hardest part was to go up the stairs to my bedroom. My room was a mess. I never clean it. There were always clothes all over the floor, paper, rocks and sea glass from the beach. My mother told me that she had gone home and cleaned my room. She knew that when I came home, I would have a hard time getting around. She made a few changes around the house so it would be safer for me. When I thought of the rocks and sea glass that were usually scattered all over my floor, I thought of the beach. I wanted to go down right then. I told my mother who had followed me up to my room. She said that she would have to walk me down. I went down the stairs very carefully and out the old, squeaky door.

I had walked down to the beach so many times that I had the path memorized. My mother walked next to me the whole time. I told her that when I was able to see, I walked down the path many times with my eyes closed. I did it for fun then, but now it will be like that every time I walk down. I also told her that I was going to be able to do this on my own sooner or later. As we were walking down, I tried to imagine the path. I thought about the trees that lined the path with the light green lichen that hung from the branches. On the warm sunny days, the sun would shine through the trees just right so I could see beams of light. That was my favorite thing to see on the path.

When I finally got to the beach, I asked my mother if she would leave me alone. I wanted to be there by myself for a while. I told her that I would call her when I wanted to leave. I stood there and I could feel t he breeze ruffle my long brown hair and lightly blow across my skin. I took the deep breath and I could smell the fresh salty air. It was nice. It brought back all of the times that I went down there before. I crawled down to the water and rolled up my blue jeans to my knees. I sat down at the edge of the sea, took my sandals off and put my feet into the water. It was nice and warm. The water took its form around my ankles and gently tried to pull me out to sea then push me back in to the shore. I crawled out of the water and felt around for my sandals. I found them and slipped them on. Then felt around for a rock and picked one up. It felt small and it was rough on one side and smooth on the other. I listened for the waves and threw the rock in that direction. I heard the splash. Then I crawled around on my hands and knees some more trying to find a larger rock to throw in the water. A few minutes later, I found one. I listened for the waves again, got up on my knees and threw it in the water. I knew it made a big splash. It just sounded like it. I lay down on the warm sand and let the sun heat my skin while I listened to the waves hit the shore. Even though I would never be able to see it again, I knew that the sea would always be there to comfort me.

Third Place Middle School Prose -
"James Pond: Underwater Secret Agent" Ben Shepherd

It had been a normal day, I had already saved the world twice, once from the deviant Dr. Fin and twice from the insane wrath of the Gelatinous Jelly Squad, I then spent four hours trying to do paperwork (you try writing with fins). Ah Well it may be tough, but it's just another day in the life of James Pond; Underwater Secret Agent.

James had just started swimming home when something incredible happened. A bright shiny hook fell from above, James knew all about hooks, any fish who bit one went mysteriously missing. It was one of the great mysteries of the deep, but it was just soooo shiny and had a big juicy worm on the end. James's mouth began watering, it had been a long day at work and he was just soooo hungry.

So in the end, James's tiny fish brain prevailed and he bit down on the hook sending it up through the roof of his mouth.

Owwww! James thought to himself What the heck!! In his panic, James tried to swim away but the hook pulled back dragging hi towards the surface closer, closer and then Splash! He was pulled out of the water and onto the floor a giant metallic structure where huge hideously ugly creatures were laughing and cheering. One reached down and picked him up, throwing him in a bucket full of other fish all of which were shallowly breathing, barely alive.

Oh God, what strange cruel place is this James thought, gasping for air. He knew fish could only survive for a few minutes without water. Think James, come on think then James had an idea, reaching down to his utility belt he pulled out the gas filter mask used for Dr. Fin's gas chamber and strapped it onto his face. Oh sweet air. James took a few long breaths and then removed the mask letting each of the other five fish that were in the bucket take a breath.

Once each fish had taken a breath, he strapped it back on his face and hopped out of the bucket. It's go time he thought to himself as he did a double back-flip and tail slapped the ugliest one of the captors in the face.

After an aggravated yelp ugly beast took out a large knife and tried to stab James. Maybe they're smarter than they look James thought as he dodged the stabs and hands of the other beasts. Then one of them guffawed and stupidly said "fish on a stick". Maybe not.

Can't hold up much longer James thought, his tail muscles beginning to burn. Come on James think, dang it, think. That was when he noticed the large machine that was propelling the metallic behemoth, two leaps and three back flips later he was on top of the machine. One of the beasts made a grab for him, missing and flying into the water. James reached down to his utility belt and pulled out some explosive gum, sticking it in his mouth, chewing and then sticking it to the machine. He dove off it and rolled to the other side of the behemoth. BOOM! The thing exploded blowing the beasts into the water. James shot to the bucked and tipped it over into the water, freeing the other fish, then jumped over himself. Ah, the sweet wetness of water James thought as he took off the gas mask.

Ten minutes later James had found his way and was swimming home. What a day, what a day James thought. Ah well, it may be rough, but it's just another day in the life of: James Pond; Underwater Secret Agent .

High School Prose

First Place High School Prose -
"The Sea" Olivia Boucher

I had never imagined the power that the ocean held before March 2003, 1997. I was in Costa Rica during the gap year between high school and college, involved in a sea turtle rescue project. Costa Rica was a different world for me. I had never ventured more than fifteen miles past my small village in Montana.

At orientation, the director of the Sea Turtle Rescue League greeted me, and I introduced myself to all of the volunteers. Then, we were given an oral tour of the area. Another person told us about the sea turtle and reviewed the tasks that we would be accountable for carrying out.

Two days later, I was walking on the beach at dusk, surveying the sands for turtle eggs or any signs of turtles. It had been a long day and I was tired. I let myself collapse on the fine sand. I stared out at the sea. How grand it was. The water came towards me and then receded. The tide had such a gentle rhythm. I wondered about the sea turtles. How could they take off into such an immense space and be able to track back to their birth place? Thinking of this made my thoughts drift towards the story of Hansel and Gretel, my favorite childhood story. It had made such an impression on me as a child, that I once mimicked the tale from the book. One day I had left my house with a bag of Wonder Bread and had pretended to be Hansel. Gretel had been acted out by my best friend, Sari, who was imaginative, caring, and adventurous. We were wandering through the forest with our bread when Sari came to an abrupt halt. She turned in a circle, and then whispered into my ear, "I hear the sound of a distressed bird."

Our eyes started near the ground and worked their way up, as we turned slowly in a circle, trying to spot the bird which the sound had come from. I saw the poor bird first and it was resting on a branch high up in the tree and did not seem to be able to fly. I said that we should pray for the bird and then follow the Wonder Bread crumbs back home, but Sari would not comply. She climbed the tree with no problems, placed the little, scared bird in her jacket pocket, and carefully climbed down to the firm ground. I had been standing on the ground, petrified that she might fall, and wondering if I would be able to catch her if she did. I was relieved when her feet touched the ground again.

The two of us followed our bread-crumb trail back to my house and made a little home for the bird in my playroom. I remember that Sari did not want to leave that night because she wanted to stay with the weak, delicate bird. She came over every day to check on the bird and help take care of it. On the third day, we were given the joy of seeing the bird take flight, up into the Montana sky. I remember how happy we had been that we had helped the weak bird become strong and graceful again.

Three years later, when I was ten years old, Sari left Montana with her family to move to Maryland. Her father's boss had placed him there because it was where the nation's capital was.

The news that my best friend was leaving tore me apart. It was hardest thing that I had ever faced. The night before she left, she came over to my house and we went to the little tree house that we had built in the woods. We carved a circle in the tree and wrote our names on it. I told her it symbolized that our friendship would last forever. We were sad that we were going to be separated and cried in each others arms. We exchanged addresses and I brought her back to her house because we were getting goose bumps. We promised to keep in touch.

I wrote to Sari until one day, four years later, my letter was returned to me with a stamp that read "FAMILY MOVED OUT" in big red letters. After I got my letter back, I was consumed by the idea that our friendship had been cut short, that Sari had moved without telling me, without leaving any bread crumbs for me to track. I became depressed, my grades slipped, and my parents made me go to counseling three days a week. Gradually I focused my attention on school and dived into my hobbies, no longer being severely affected by my friend's absence.

As cool water licked my feet, I was brought back to Punta Banco, Costa Rica. I had fallen asleep, and while I had slept, the tide had risen up to my feet. Then the most amazing thing happened. I heard a silent voice inside y head that sounded like the ocean. It told me to keep on moving like the ocean tides. I looked out over the ocean at the stars above. The small, bright lights in the sky appeared to be so close together, but I knew that they were relatively, enormously far away from each other. I blinked, now focusing on the ocean's movement, totally stimulated by the lessons that nature was teaching me. The water that lapped my feet may have traveled around the world, whether by configuring itself as a liquid, gas, or solid. It might have been a part of the air or even the land at some point, circulating around the world.

I reached into my pocket for a scrap of the survey sheet and a pen. I wrote 'Sari, you didn't leave a Wonder Bread trail for me to track. I hope this message finds you well. Your friend forever, Ben.' I drank the rest of my Sprite and inserted the message into the translucent, green, plastic bottle. I lunged into the water, turned to face the beach, and tossed to bottle over my right shoulder. Then, I knelt down and prayed that my message would find its path to Sari as the sea turtles know their own path from birth. I prayed that Sari was living a vibrant life as she was when she left Montana. I prayed that the ocean would work its magic.

Second Place High School Prose -
"The Serene" Brittany Pendleton

The lightning flashed incessantly, illuminating the pitch black night and reflecting off a blanket of rain. The lightning was interrupted by the boom of the thunder directly overhead. Screaming winds thrashed the water into the heavens creating giant mountains of seawater. These rolling tyrants tossed the small ship around as if it were a rag doll in the hands of an unruly toddler. The water crashed onto the ship faster than the crew could bail it out. The crew only managed to stay aboard the ship by lengths of rope around their waists connected to the masts. They had already lost a few men who were not fast enough to get the ropes.

The captain stood alongside the helmsman shouting orders over the sounds of the water and the thunder. The men could hardly hear but followed their instincts to secure the ship and save their lives. The cabin boy named Zachary ran frantically to follow the directions of his peers. When he had finished one demand he had two more to start. After he had thrown another length of rope to his crewmate, the captain yanked his shirt sharply to bring the cabin boy to his position.

"Cabin boy, ready the life boats, we're not going to abandon the ship just yet but I want the boats ready for insurance," he shouted. His voice seemed as if it would be ready to give out at any moment.

The cabin boy nodded and ran to where the life boats were secured. Five other men had seen where he was headed and followed to help him life the heavy boats. They heaved the life boat down to where the pulleys were located. They attached the boat and went for a second life boat when a large wave approached the boat.

"Brace yourselves, lads, this one's a big one!!" the captain roared. The crew dashed to the mast and other sturdy-looking objects attached to the boat. Zachary clamped the ropes on the mast and saw the monstrous wave. He closed his eyes and held his breath just before the wave engulfed the ship. He felt his feet go away from the deck of the ship and the powerful flow of water tore him away from the mast. He felt himself float farther away but felt safe because the rope bound him to the ship. It seemed that an eternity was passing by: he heard nothing except for the occasional current that propelled him through the water.

When he finally surfaced he could hear shouting far off in the distance. He opened his eyes to see that the ship was far away but still close enough to see it.

"MAN OVERBOARD!!" the instant he heard those sickening words he realized how grave the situation truly was. Zachary floundered as he attempted to swim back to the ship. As the ship disappeared in the black night, Zachary stopped flailing in the water and realized how alone he now was. The storm ceased after a few hours, giving way to the light of the rising sun.

Zachary looked around hoping that the ship was still there but to no avail. He grew tired and lost any will to live, any hope for rescuer with the sight of open sea and horizon. He thought the waves were getting higher as they hit his head until he realized that he was slowly sinking deeper into the sea. He drew one last breath of the salty, crisp air that he now loved more than ever. He gracefully sank into the depths of the ocean seeing the darkness and vastness of the ocean below. He looked up to see the last he ever would of the world of air. He saw the orb-shape of the sun penetrating through the blue water, it seemed serene and beautiful. He never closed his eyes yet it all went black, he was at peace with himself and became one with the sea that enveloped him.

Third Place High School Prose -
"The Sea" Krysti Hall

The origin of the world is a mystery that is yet to be solved. There are many different ideas of how it was created and how all the creatures came to live there. Ancient civilizations had myths about all things, the creation of the universe, night and day, myths about humans, and myths about animals. There is one myth that is quite extraordinary, and that is the myth of the ocean. The ocean is vast and dangerous, beautiful and mysterious, a place of death and a place of life and its story is even more mystifying.

When the world was formed it was a dry, barren land. Nothing could live here because there was no water and no shelter from the blistering sun and howling winds. After a few hundred years, some form of life appeared on this desert planet. This life form was a bird, specifically an albatross. This albatross came from a distant planet in hopes of finding a new home. The bird's previous planet had suffered a great disease that had killed all the creatures and left the world poisoned and uninhabitable. The great bird of legend came to this world scared, tired, hungry and alone. On his arrival he found no water, so he soared the skies searching, only to find sand and rock. The bird sadly gave up and landed near a large formation of rocks above a great canyon. There was a cave inside this rock formation and so here was where the albatross made his nest. The albatross was so determined to find water so he would search everyday for any sign of the precious liquid, only to return to the nest every night, disappointed.

One day while the albatross was on another search for water he came across something that looked like the home of some creature. He looked around outside to see if there was any sign of life and then decided to go inside this cone-shaped form. Inside it was dark, warm and smelled strange. At the far side of the room there was a small hunched over human. The human was an old woman. She was wearing a big cloak and had gray hair. When the woman noticed the albatross she looked up in amazement and limped over to the bird. The woman was a shaman and could understand the albatross when he spoke, he told her he was looking for water and needed it to survive. The woman told the albatross she knew why he had come and that she would help him find water, but first he would have to do something for her. She told him that she would need a crystal from the caves, the only problem was that the caves were inhabited by dangerous creatures. The albatross agreed that he would find this crystal for the woman and immediately took off.

The albatross came to the cave at sunset. The cave smelled of rotting flesh and was hot and dry. The bird went forth deeper into the cave and came across a large cavern crawling with the creatures the old woman had spoke of. The creatures looked like shadows and they moved quickly, faster than the albatross could. In the center of the cavern were the crystals. The albatross couldn't think of any way to distract the creatures so he let out a loud cry and to his surprise spooked the creatures. The albatross flew as fast as he could to grab a crystal and then flew as fast as he could out of the cave and back to the old woman.

When he returned to the woman the bird gave the crystal to her. When she took it there was a blinding flash of light and once the albatross could see again the old woman was no longer an old woman. She had become like the shadow creatures, only she had a blue glow and was kind. When she spoke it as inhuman and echoed in the albatross's head. She told him that he was brave and had proven himself by scaring away the shadow creatures so she would grant him what he had been searching for. With another bright flash of light the old woman and her home was gone. The albatross was now standing outside and as he looked towards the sky a drop of rain fell on his beak. Then the sky opened up and it started to pour. Quickly, the dry land filled with water and green grass started to grow. The dry, desert like land became alive and beautiful like the albatross's old land. The falling rain flooded the canyons and soon was so deep even the great albatross couldn't swim to the bottom.

This was how the sea came to be. Nothing heroic or supernatural made it, just a bird trying to find a home.