Primordial Sea
Primordial Sea
Bobbing.
In my previous life, that was an onomatopoeia that had nothing to do with me.
From morning till night I was chained to the company, and even on my days off the leftover housework and sleep swallowed the entire day. The idea of simply entrusting my body to the water and doing nothing at all was something I had never even imagined.
"...Where am I, I wonder."
I murmured softly and opened my eyes.
Endless darkness stretched out before me. Yet strangely, it was not frightening. The whole world seemed draped in night, but it was different from a pitch-black void where nothing could be seen.
Beneath my feet lay the sea.
Black yet transparent water. A sea whose depth I could not begin to guess. Every time I moved, gentle ripples spread outward.
Floating.
Floating.
That was all.
No sun, no moon, no stars. Only me, and this endlessly continuing sea.
"...I really do seem to be dead."
My last memory was still vivid. Overtime. The familiar exhaustion. And the moment everything before my eyes turned pure white. After that, nothing. So I must have died.
Yet it was strange. Even though I was dead, my body was perfectly fine. I could breathe, I wasn't hungry, and I felt neither cold nor hot. When I lifted a hand to touch my face, the skin was soft, and long hair spilled out like waves across the surface of the sea.
"...A woman?"
I was startled for a moment. But only for a moment.
"Well."
"I'm dead, so this much is nothing."
I found my own unexpected calm a little curious. My personality had always been rather easygoing, and since I was already dead, thrashing about now wouldn't change a thing.
So what was I supposed to do?
Live, I supposed. Or rather, I wasn't even sure if I was alive.
Floating.
I entrusted my body to the sea once more. The water was unbelievably warm, wrapping my entire body as gently as if someone had drawn a blanket over me. Feeling better for no particular reason, I spread my arms and simply drifted.
"...Nice."
The word slipped out on its own. I couldn't even remember the last time I had felt rest like this.
No work that had to be done. No ringing alarm. No phone. No calls from my boss. All I had to do was float without a single thought.
It was better than I ever expected.
I had no idea how much time passed. With no sun, I couldn't even tell whether a day had gone by. Hours, days, years—none of it meant anything. Yet strangely, I never grew bored. The mere sensation of the waves rocking my body was enough to soothe my heart.
"...I could keep doing this forever."
The healing feeling was just too good. Smiling faintly, I flicked the surface of the sea with a fingertip.
A single small ripple began to spread slowly, endlessly, across the once-still water.
Splash...
The soft foam and lapping sounds where ripple met ripple.
"Haaah... so good."
What kinds of things would be born from that foam—I had no way of knowing then.