The Ocean Walker

This is what I think of when I hear the title.

The skies were overlaid in dark, thick clouds.  The sun had just set, leaving the earth below to cool quickly.  Steady winds blew over the sand and rocks, driving waves further and further up the beach.  Thunder rumbled on the black horizon.

Daniel pulled his lightweight jacket around him, reconsidering his decision to stay.  The relatively short distance home seemed to grow tremendously as cold, sharp drops of rain fell from the sky.

Retreating up the beach onto a rocky outcrop, Daniel looked behind his shoulder one last time at the angry paradise, which appeared as if nature rejected the fact that people normally enjoyed the location.  Gazing out on the sea, he noted a defined shape that was darker than the rest of the waves.

Losing his balance on the slippery stone, Daniel felt his feet slide out from under him.  He fell and promptly crashed on a hard platform he climbed past earlier.

Inspecting the hands and knees that broke his fall, Daniel confirmed that he was not seriously injured, but the shock of his landing still left his bones feeling jolted from the impact.  Daniel propped himself up and sat, squinting to see if the shape that distracted him was still there.  Although the waves constantly shifted, the same dark outline that Daniel noticed earlier did not move with the water.

The shape gradually increased in size.  Daniel slowly stood up and walked down to the beach, wincing as his joints complained and the wind drove rain into his face.  Folding his arms tightly around his chest, he made his way down to the edge of the surf.

What he saw now grew larger and more defined until he identified it as humanoid.  It approached slowly over the top of the waves.  Now Daniel questioned his vision.  Blinking furiously, he again squinted out over the grey waters in the direction of the figure, to no effect except to see that the outline appeared even more convincing.

As the figure approached, Daniel picked out features and clothes.  He saw a tall man, over six feet in height, with pale grey skin almost matching the waves in color.  The man’s hair reached past his shoulders in scraggly, black, tangled locks.  He wore a tall trench coat over matching pants, thick gloves, and heavy boots.  The man’s clothing looked as if made of leather, but showed too many signs of wear for Daniel to be certain.

The approaching storm beat on the figure as much as Daniel, yet while he shivered and grimaced on the beach, the man showed no signs of discomfort.  The figure kept his head down and made no signs of noticing Daniel until they were only a few feet apart.

The man halted at the point where the ocean ended and the earth began.  He lifted his head and gazed down at Daniel, who stood at the edge of the beach.  The stranger's eyes were dark, calm, and full of wisdom, as if they had seen everything there was to behold in the world.  Daniel felt as though he should be afraid, but his natural inclinations deserted him for a feeling instead of awe and pity.

“Wh-who are you?” Daniel said.  He felt he should say something to break the silence, or what was left of it after the waves and wind wore it away.

The man was silent for a moment before he replied.  As he spoke, his voice filled the air and reverberated through Daniel’s body from all directions.  The very ground beneath his feet rumbled with the power of the word spoken by the stranger.

“I was chosen.  Chosen before humans ever walked upon this earth to experience all pain and suffering of the mind that ever existed.  To physical ailments I am immune, but only through experience can I handle the collective negative emotion of billions of people I will never know.”

Daniel looked behind him to see if anyone else had seen or heard the stranger.  He stood alone on the beach, apart from the man who had appeared on the waves.  Daniel looked back at the man incredulously, hardly believing what he heard.

“Why you?  Why would anyone have to suffer so much?”

The man looked as if he might chuckle at the question if he was anyone but who he was.  Again his voice rang through earth and air in deep, mellow tones.

“When you feel sadness, it is temporary.  Emotion always needs a host, and when it is quelled in a human body, it leaves and returns to me.  Someone must bear the burden; he and I are the same.”

Daniel frowned and looked at the ground, contemplating that man’s words.  Drawing his gaze back to the mysterious figure, he asked one last question.

“What are you called?”

The answer came even more powerfully than the man’s previous speech, hanging heavily in the air and remaining there.  As he turned and walked farther away into the night, small waves washing over his ankles, the figure’s last words echoed through the night and inside Daniel’s head.

“I am the Ocean Walker.”

Author's Note

6.6.12 A few more minuscule edits.

9.11.11
I made a bunch of minor edits dealing with grammar and word choice. It should now read more clearly than before.

9.9.11
The only inspiration I had for this story is the title, which I heard from someone else. It had the potential to be epic.

Reviews

[Celeste]

This is great, to be honest. Aside from a few grammatical errors, it's a good read. I really like your idea of an Ocean Walker as someone who has the burden of feeling all the emotions of people. It was also surprising to know that you formed this story out of what you heard from someone. Amazing.

Keep writing!

[EMF]

Great story and well written to boot. Really well done. Yeah. A couple of typo's. The God's won't fall because of them. It's still a damn good pice of work and I'm glad I read it.