*This is the sequel to “The Last Page… The First Word” short story, but can still be read as a standalone.
Safa has only ever heard of OceanCity from her father. People in BookCity, where she is from, didn’t know about it; they were never free enough to… always shackled to the distractions of books and stories, just as intended by the Keepers and their guards.
In BookCity, nothing changed, everything stayed constant, day and night became the same, which was so unlike OceanCity, where everything always moved; waves crashing on the shore, and even the stars shooting across the sky.
In OceanCity… nothing ever stood still.
And this was such a foreign concept for Safa who stood by the ocean, clutching her precious package and staring as the sun immersed itself within the waves and the moon took over.
“You’re holding on too tightly.” A voice startled Safa and she looked around her quickly trying to locate the source. She saw an old man walking towards her. His eyes seemed wary and his clothes were withered, and both the same colour as the sea.
“Who are you?” Safa asked, taking a step back.
“The City doesn’t like things that stand still,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes like this was some sort of inside joke that Safa wasn’t in on.
“OceanCity,” Safa whispered mostly to herself, finally acknowledging where she was.
The old man smiled, “The City where things don’t stay long enough to belong to you,” he said.
Safa stayed silent, pulling “The First Word” book even closer to her chest, as if trying to hide it within her. She wasn’t a fan of the man’s cryptic words.
“You’re not from here,” the man said, after a moment, continuing what appeared to be a one-sided conversation.
Safa just shook her head.
“You’re looking for something,” he announced, like he knew this to be a fact.
“Just a way out of here,” Safa finally spoke.
“Then you need to find the book that will lead you to the key,” he said.
Safa went speechless, wrapping her arms around her book even more.
“Not the one you’re holding,” the old man chuckled, “but the first book in OceanCity, and the last. The one about everything in between.”
“There are books in OceanCity?” Safa asked, feeling a sliver of relief that there was mention of something she’s familiar and comfortable with… Books.
“There are many stories here in the city that never stands still,” he said, “but only one book you should be looking for… The Book of Lost Seas.”
At Safa’s blank look, the old man continued, “It’s not just a book. It’s a record. Of everything the sea has ever taken, ever hidden, and everything it has yet to reveal.”
The old man’s eyes zeroed in on hers. “It will show you where to go,” he said, walking away.
Safa tried to keep up with him and call out to him, but to no use.
She found Zain later that day, or maybe… he found her.
Walking in OceanCity and trying to make heads or tails of whatever the old man was talking about, she stumbled upon a young man leaning casually against the front of a store called ‘Cozy Ocean’.
“You look lost,” and Safa was yet again startled by a stranger’s voice, but this time, the voice sounded kind and warm, almost amused.
“I’m looking for a book,” Safa said, unknowing how she even got the sentence out, unfocused as she was.
“That’s not an easy thing to find here,” Zain said. “I would know,” he continued confidently, “I sell stories of the ocean… May I interest you in one?”
“Only if it’s about the Book of Lost Seas,” Safa exhaled.
Something shifted, just for a moment, in his expression and stance. “You don’t tell the story of the Book of Lost Seas,” he said.
Zain helped her navigate this unknown city. With him, she felt safe and comfortable. She never felt alone.
He guided her to the places where people, stealthily, told stories about the Book of Lost Seas. Listened to too many stories and solving a lot of clues, Safa felt she was on a treasure hunt.
And Zain was there throughout it all, a constant presence, a shoulder to cry on when things got to be too much.
He made OceanCity feel like home… away from home.
Slowly, Safa’s thoughts and feelings, previously occupied with books and her father’s stories, started to shift… towards Zain.
To her, the friendship was becoming a reason to stay, a matter of survival, before it became something that was just a little bit more.
She told him.
He promised to stay and always be there, even if he didn’t feel the same way.
And then… he changed.
He wouldn’t come when he said he would. He would disappear for days without word.
Safa understood, or she though she did. ‘It was the city that never stood still, and neither did its people,’ she continued to tell herself.
The spaces between his presences grew even bigger, his eyes seemed distant and walled-in, like it was never before.
And yet, she stayed. She waited.
Not intentionally, but enough to hesitate before moving forward, enough to look for him before taking any step or making any decision.
Enough to forget that she came to OceanCity for something else.
She found the Book of Lost Seas alone, resting inside the hull of a broken ship that was half-submerged into the ocean.
The book told her of the sunken city with the key and the black door, and the caves to walk to get there.
She hesitated… again. Thinking of Zain, missing him and grieving his friendship. Wanting to share her find with him, before she remembered.
She remembered the last time they talked, his promises to her that she matters, and then his vanishing all over again.
It hurt her. The feeling of abandonment. But the book in her hand became more than just a book. It was her anchor, her reminder that she did all of this alone. That she mattered in the large scheme of things, and that her worth wasn’t measured by someone else’s attention, and never should have been.
And yet, the thought, for just a second, to wait for Zain was overwhelming.
But, she finally knew, that if she waited, she would never go. As he would never come.
She found Zain at the entrance of the caves leading to the sunken city, or maybe, he found her.
“You went without me,” he stated, with no accusation or anger. Just a fact.
“Yes,” she said and he nodded, like this all made sense.
Safa went into the caves without Zain, without long explanations or emotional goodbyes. She finally realised why he was put in her way in the first place.
He was exactly what she needed to move forward when she didn’t know what she needed. He was her reminder of her strength and her worth. Maybe, he just didn’t belong in her next chapter.
So, she went into the caves, found the key and the black door, and crossed over to WitchCity.
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