Her Names Are Many

By Redford Hawke

The crab's giant claw struck the side of his head, sending him tumbling into one of the nicer beach-front hotels Miami had to offer. Beautiful white concrete crumbled beneath his weight like wet sand, instantly silencing dozens of screaming voices under glass and rubble. He cringed as much as his reptilian face would allow and forced himself to ignore the running specs of humanity below. In the three years he'd bore this curse, this was the first fight that ever made it to shore. Most of his battles took place in the middle of whatever godforsaken trench or sea the high priest of Atlantis dragged him to, and while his serpentine body was dangerous in open water, on land he was a quadruped desperately trying to keep track of his cumbersome length.

His foe, a two-hundred-foot-tall decapod, charged. He met the challenge with a bellowing roar, and the earth shook as the titans collided. Talons fought pincers to a draw, but the crab hurled its bulk into his chest. Again, Levi crashed into the Marriott. Layer after layer of steel reinforced concrete buckled under him until the rest of the structure failed. Sensing the collapse, he fought to escape, desperate not to get pinned under the building. His mind functioned at regular speeds, but between his size and the alien nature of his current form, his movements always felt sluggish and awkward, especially on land. His struggling exacerbated the issue and before he could roll to his feet, all thirty-one stories buried him under tons of sheared steel and shattered concrete. Clouds of billowing gray dust blinded him as he struggled under the rubble. As if the hotel weren't enough, the crab crawled on top. Its weight pressing him further into the basement and fracturing the foundation beneath.

His struggle grew frantic, not from fear of the crab, he'd fought worse. But situations this dire was usually when She offered help. Stout talons shoveled through the carnage as he worked himself free, twisting his snake-like neck to see what he'd be standing into.

People.

They were everywhere. If his tail swung around, he'd smear dozens across the black top like jam on toast. Reptilian eyes widened as he searched for a solution. He couldn't-no, wouldn't lose any more to this thing. His heart sank as her voices thundered in his head.

"Breathe deep and I will lend you, my flames."

He winced. Her voices carried no words, but their hate seared meaning into his mind like molten iron poured into a wax mold.   

"Leave." He thought.

"Don't be like that, Levi," She teased, "I'm trying to help."

"I don't need your help."

Her thunderous laughter drowned out his own thoughts in a deafening taunt.

"Perhaps not," She mused, "but they do, little champion?"

A monstrous claw bore down on his trapped limb. He growled in agony. A quick glance around warned him what could happen if their brawl made it to the streets.

"Dammit." He thought.

Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply.    

Her fiery soul reached into his with clumsy talons that twisted his panic into boiling rage. Something like a barrier broke inside, and a new energy surged through him with vitalizing heat. He gasped. Black smoke streamed out of his nostrils as his chest expanded with an orange glow.

The pressure built until, all at once, it flooded out of him. His unprepared neck strained to keep on target. The crab shrieked and disappeared beneath a wall of flame so bright, it darkened the noon sun. The burning onslaught pushed it back onto the beach. As the fire left his lungs, another energy crept in to replace it.

Her.

For the years he'd bore this curse, he'd always heeded the high priest's warnings against using fire. But now, as his jaws snapped shut with a rage not wholly his, he understood the gravity of his mistake. While the curse bound their souls together, She actually got the worst of it. The once great serpent reduced to a mental parasite, empowering Her host, but subject to their will. For now, at least. But the priest warned him. Her essence resided in all waters, and contact with it triggered his transformation into a primordial nightmare. But Her soul drew power from flame. Her influence grew in him, and he wondered how long it would take before his soul was as twisted and monstrous as his body.

He cast the thought aside. There would be time enough for regret after he finished the job. Channeling his anger, he rolled to his feet. The rubble that buried him crusted away in a crackling slurry of melted concrete. The crab staggered. Its shell charred black as pulpy sludge that used to be an eye trickled down chittering mandibles. Levi charged, careful to keep his tail curled until he was on the beach. Fighting like a bear, he reared up on unsteady legs and dropped his weight behind every crashing blow. Ripping a mandible away, he caught and pulled an arm, hurling it onto its back. It fought to right itself, but claws burrowed through the decapod's weak abdomen before teeth found its soft organs and finished the job. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until the dark viscera wet his tongue.

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A news chopper buzzed overhead, circling at what they thought was a safe distance. He paid them little mind, wondering what the scientific consensus on today's events would be. He almost chuckled, burying his snout into the corpse and taking several rewarding mouthfuls of flesh. Plenty of clueless marine biologist were about to get their fifteen minutes of fame prattling on like they had any insight because their knowledge of starfish anatomy. 

Let them hypothesize. They didn't know about Atlantis' abyssal foes summoning eldritch creatures from the beginning of the world. As far as anyone knew, he was just a newly discovered species, a swimming disaster perhaps, but ultimately an animal to be studied. At the end of the day, he would swim back into the ocean, people would rebuild, and life would go on like it always had, for most anyhow.

Through the smoldering hotel rubble, he peered onto the street behind. Dozens lay dead on the black top, flash cooked by the heat of his flame. Something tasty crunched in his jaws, but he lost his appetite, surveying the destruction. There hadn’t been time to evacuate properly and while he told himself he’d saved thousands; he couldn’t help but think of the hundreds trapped in the Marriot. There wouldn’t even be bodies left to identify. He’d done that. Her fire, his choice. For the greater good, he told himself. Not that it helped.     

He left and swam up the coast, cruising well above the ocean floor, not wanting his wake to disturb life in the Epipelagic zone. While he could've made Atlantis inside a day, he was in no hurry. All that awaited him at his cave was a scolding from the high priest, and the exhausting fight to rid Her essence from his body. Then, when he was human again, he'd be taxied back home. Well, not home, he'd lost the house seven months ago, but he had a small apartment only ten minutes from the water. He was four months behind on rent, but he held out hope he would find a job soon, not that he'd be able to keep it. He wasn’t suited for office work, and a couple of close calls with rain meant working outside wasn’t possible. Maybe the warehouse would hire him back. He didn’t need much, just enough to get by.

'Get by'

He drifted to a stop and let himself sink. For three years he'd barely managed to get by.  Despite the routine, it never got easier. But he couldn't give up his life to live as an animal, aimlessly swimming about until he was called upon to fight some other monstrosity. But hadn't he already done that? Perhaps he hadn't given up his life, but he'd certainly failed to keep it. Atlantis only saw him as an outsider and a weapon. On the surface, he was weeks away from being homeless. In three years, the only thing he'd been successful at was fighting monsters, and he'd saved a lot of lives doing it, Atlantean and human. Maybe he wouldn't even get the chance to choose. With her fire burning inside his chest, he wondered if he even could change back. To his surprise, the thought didn't fill him with the usual existential dread, but an embarrassing relief.

He rested on the sea floor, craning his neck over and peering down the continental slope, into the infinite blue-black abyss She called home. There was a strange comfort to the endless blue he'd once feared. Maybe it was Her influence, but he'd adopted it as his sanctuary too, being the only place on earth where he felt small.

"You're getting better, but I can still hear you under those thoughts."

As if from the abyss itself, those hateful voices echoed inside his mind, "I may have pushed them to the surface, but they're still your thoughts. That's why you believe them."

"Maybe, but I know your intentions, and I'll never stop fighting you."

"In the end, you will."

"You had your time, serpent. This world doesn't need you anymore."

"I was here when the world was new. I am the chaos of the waters. Even slain, I persist, because the deep itself is part of me. As long as it is, so am I. The oceans themselves were made for me, not me for them. It's you this world doesn't need, little Levi, and it won't be long before it’s rid of you.

“Time is nothing to me, but it consumes your kind like fire... Think of all the eons I've lived, and look how close you are to me after three short years. How proudly do you think you'll defy me in another three? Are you prepared for another ten?"

Below, the abyss stirred. Its darkness stretched towards him in the form of seven black tendrils that sprouted heads similar to his but far more terrible. The abyss twisted into the dark reflection of the seven headed sea goddess's incarnation. He reeled back from the slopes edge. A sudden madness amplified the migraine of her laughter. Mentally, he shouted to stop, calling out by every name he knew Her by, Leviathan, Tiamat, Rahab, Lotan, Yamm. Her names are many, but none crafted by human tongue could ever truly encapsulate Her hideous power.

Again and again, he rammed his head against the ocean floor, attempting to silence those mocking voices. Pressure built in his skull, until he thought it might split. Then, in a frantic effort to escape, he filled the abyss with fire. The flames burned away the blackness, distorting her ghost until it vanished.

The quiet brought a comforting relief, but it didn't last. Like before, he felt Her growing inside him, feeding off his fire. Shame and mental fatigue crushed him more than any abyssal pressure could. Feeling small here no longer brought comfort. He shuddered. If the high priest didn't kill him first, She would be free. The oceans would return to chaos, and boil in her primordial wrath. Despite all his power, he was a pawn in the most dangerous game the world has ever played. Regardless, it was his move. 

There was still a war raging, and Atlantean or surface dweller, people needed saving. He would fight, Her and every other monster, but in his heart, he knew she was right. In the end, he would fail. He would be killed or She would claim his soul. Whatever his fate, he vowed not to meet it today, or tomorrow, or the next day. How long he could continue, he didn’t know, but certainty brought a somber relief as he once again stared into the abyss. With a fiery resolve, he dove, plunging into the infinite blackness, afraid but unyielding.