My apologies to UmbrellaSky. The title of this story is the same as theirs, but this story has been in my mind since summer of ’06, so I didn’t take it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! E-mail me with comments!

In the fantasy land of Saskala, there were three villages: SeaReef, EarthMound and SkyCloud. The three villages were, respectively, on a reef above water, in a hill next to a large plain, and on the top of a mountain. In Saskala, when a child turns 12, they then have a weird experience with an animal from their habitat. They then become connected to that animal, and become a Rider. They ride their animal, and they are spiritually connected. Sometime they even are able to speak through their minds. The villages were at war. The ancient practice of the Riders was now being used for war. SeaRider is a story told through the eyes of a boy from SeaReef, named Gildrix, who changes the world with his green sea turtle, Geddyr.

BBBVVVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!

“Huuuh?” THUMP! “OW!! GAAH!” The alarm of SeaReef just went off; blown through the end of a giant shell. Rubbing my forehead, I rolled out of my hammock. “Stupid roof…,” I stumbled down the hallway, black fingers creeping at is vision. My name is Gildrix, and I’m 12 years old, the magical age in the world of Riders. I started to get a headache. I shook it off and walked into the main room of my driftwood home. “Hey, Dad,”

“Hello, my son!” called my father, a plump, round man. “I assume you slept well?”

“Why you ‘sume that?” I replied groggily.

“Well, you…” My father was never the tastiest grape in the bunch…wait. That doesn’t sound right…

“Come, I have breakfast,” Yeah, I could have guessed that. “Crabcakes.” Could’ve guessed that, too. I sat down to eat, when a small, ponytailed head peeked around the corner, and started sneaking towards me.

“I see you, Nerissa,” I said, matter-of-factly.

“GRR! How come you always see me?” she responded.

“It ain’t that hard to spot yo-” I began.

“I believe you mean, ‘It isn’t that hard to spot you,’” interrupted my mother, who had just walked in.

“Yes, that is what I meant, mother,” I said, not really meaning it. You see, my mother is a scholar, my dad, a warrior. Doesn’t mix well, but they are happy. Oh well.

I finished my breakfast, and then walked out of the house. As always, the sea was instantly there to greet me. You see, in SeaReef, the houses are anchored to a reef, and float on the water. Because of this, you can take three steps out of the house, and be in water. It is right there. I looked to my left, and saw my family’s boat. To the right, I saw a sea lion basking in the sun. It cracked its right eye open, and made a small honk.

“Good morning, Jomei,” Jomei is my mother’s sea lion. He usually lays around, but when he gets going, he just goes, and goes, and goes, and… I could see the shape on his back, denoting that he was a Rider’s animal. Also, on the Rider’s dominant hand, left or right, was another symbol, denoting that the human is a Rider. I also saw a pilot whale playing in the shallows. This was Shae, my father’s animal. She was 14 feet long, but thought she was just a 3 foot long baby. This often causes problems, because she breaks things, thinking she is smaller than she really is. She is still a sweet girl, though. I jumped into the water, and swam over to her. She squeaked when she saw me, and proceeded to swim in circles around me. This terrified every animal in the vicinity, and caused 1 foot tall tidal waves that splashed all the houses nearby. See what I was talking about? Anyway, I dove down, with Shae on my tail…or was it her tail…I don’t have a tail…hmmm… Anyway, we followed the reef to the center of the village. I surfaced, patting Shae on the head, and told her to go on and play. She squeaked and clicked, then dove and was gone. I pulled myself onto the capital building (if you can call it a capital), and walked into it. I saw my brother, and hailed him. “Reidar!”

“Gildrix. What are you doing here?”

“Came to see you and say hello, but I see you don’t need it!” I said, taken aback.

“Go and play. I have work to do.”

“Fine!” Jeeze. I think he’s way too into his work as a personal assistant to the mayor. Anyway, I walked out of the building, and walked around it. I saw a sailfish tied to the building, its sail flopped over because it was above water. It reflected how the sailfish felt inside. This was Kiril, Reidar’s sailfish. I shouted Kiril’s name, and one gloomy eye peeked above water. It instantly brightened. You see, Kiril is a bright, happy animal, and because of this, he always wanders off on his own, always to come back, but never when you want him to. Reidar now ties him up to keep him here, so he is sad. Don’t tell Reidar, but everyday I untie him, play with him, and this cheers him up. I quickly untied him and jumped in the water, and raced away. He blew past me, and stopped in front with a wild look in his eye. Every way I turned, he was already their, blocking my way. The only way was up. I kicked hard and shot above water. He just watched me, then circled me when I came back under. I signed a message to him. You see, Kiril and I have developed a language, with me using hand signals and sounds, and him using body movements, plus sounds. After clicking once, he shot away, only to return, moments later with Shae. He even had Jomei! I was surprised. He seemed sluggish, but I knew he would perk up. I swam away to the north, towards the wild area of the reef and the undersea ruins. I saw black and blue blurs whizzing by me, and knew that Kiril and Shae were happy. Jomei just slinked up next to me. Then, he jerked his head around. He saw something. A yellow flash went by his nose, and he was gone. This cheered me up a little. As we approached the ruins, I saw a lone green turtle swimming through them. He was about 2 ½ feet long, and looked ever so lonely. He noticed the three animals whizzing around, and dove behind a broken pillar. He peeked out, only to see me. We looked into each other’s eyes, and I felt something I had never felt before. We both swam slowly towards each other, and met. I held out my right hand; he, his left flipper. I grabbed his flipper, and streams of light traveled up our hands (or flippers). It burned bad, as they traveled across the back of my hand, making a strange symbol. The light traveled across the turtle’s back, and created another symbol there. I could tell this burned him, too. All of sudden, it was over, and all I saw was black.

Tune in next time for SeaRider!