Written By: Analiz Rios
Once upon a time, there was a little ice village called Love Love Paradise. By a little village, it was really a large chunk of ice floating out in the sea, and paradise to the humble folk there. Penguins bleated and bobbed their heads to popular tracks, smiling from ear to ear as they shanked the ice with their spears, some even using their beaks while greeting their neighbors around the floating mass. They would create giant ice slides and have racing competitions as they’d go tobogganing. They had all the food they would ever need, and partied at sunset with K-pop music.
Who lived there, one might ask. Well, the penguins of course! They inhabited this icy heaven, but they were not the rulers of the sea.
Love Love Paradise indeed felt like a paradise for there was one rule that kept it that way: don’t enter the water.
I mean, why would you need to? Love Love Paradise provided everything! Now there was one particular penguin who went by the name of Cielo. She wasn’t the type of penguin to indulge in regular penguin activities. She always kept to herself even if her size always became the center attraction; even more so since her yellow-colored chest basically acted as a neon “kick me” sign. Cielo would bump her beak into everything and even the common penguins as she rarely made eye contact. Thankfully she never stabbed anyone because she towered over most and her bill was short. All that ever consumed her time was working in her office, which she hardly ever left; however, this one time her friend managed to convince her to join the recurring sunset party.
“Here, drink some! It’ll loosen you up.” Her friend punched her and she couldn’t help but think that it would somehow bruise through her two layers of feathers. She gave in after being borderline assaulted and coerced and drank some penguin liquor. She hadn’t been out in so long that she decided first to observe how the other penguin folk’s funkiest moves before deciding to partake in the so-called “dance.” They waddled and hopped high and harshly as they bumped into each other very often since the ice was slippery. The disco ball above suddenly changed color and started flashing as a signal towards their traditional dance: the penguin shuffle. She was about to leave when she was tugged rapidly by a strong flipper and suddenly she was exactly where she didn’t want to be: the center. She folded her flippers inward and curled them over her head, which she held low, and shut her eyes. But then the music started and her body couldn’t help but react. She relaxed her wings as her head started bobbing from side to side and her flippers started tapping to the beat. She broke into a light running man, slowly moving her head up and if she had only opened her eyes, she would have seen a circle of penguins nodding and smiling. They started to join her and suddenly she’s sliding and shuffling with more energy. She slid a bit too fast as she bumped rapidly into someone creating a domino effect and penguins began to tumble down. Other penguins side-eye her, but she didn’t notice as she was bumping her head to the music along with other penguins. She began to squawk and caw as her moves got stronger. By the time she opened her eyes, the crowd had thinned out and she was one of the only ones left.
Cielo didn’t want to end the night with red solo cups and flashy steps without spectators. She felt lonely and desired a fix.
“Watch the sea!”
Cielo’s eyes immediately darted down to the owner of the voice.
“Hi!”
Startled, Cielo tumbled back. She’d never heard an orca speak, much less to a penguin. Moreover, she had never been this close to one before! Puzzled, she replied, “Hello?”
The orca splashed around in excitement, “You look lonely, want to take a ride?”
Cielo ruffled her brows as she said, “I’m not supposed to be in the water.”
She made a “hmph!” sound as she got up and was about to walk off to where the other penguins are when the orca butted into the ice but only enough for her to feel the vibration. “That’s gotta hurt,” she thought in her head.
“Owiiieeee!” The orca exclaims while rubbing his head with his fin, “My name is Infra!”
Cielo chuckled at him and deemed him to be silly. She no longer backed away and started to come closer, still maintaining her distance from him, but enough to converse. And that’s what they did.
Every sunset, Cielo would go to the same spot at the edge of the ice to speak with Infra.
They’d talk about their favorite fish, or how ethical it is for ribbon eels to choke elephant seals as reported in recent news, and other useless but meaningful topics. When he asserted that politics are as useless as the insane notion of dolphins eating orcas, she laughed at his stupidity.
Once again they were back at the sunset, having their usual chit chat when Infra hit Cielo with the question, “ May I take you for a ride m’lady?”
He said it with a giggle as he displayed the biggest puppy eyes the world had ever seen.
She thought he looked ridiculous and almost gave in, when he said with a pout, “You trust me don’t you?” as he tilted his head.
Putting aside this unsettling feeling she had inside, Cielo didn’t want to hurt his feelings so she waddled off the ice and got on his back. He smiled and she smiled back at him. He took her across the sea. He did flips and tricks and other shenanigans. She made herself feel at ease by telling herself that nothing happened because, well, technically, she wasn’t in the water. She was on top of an orca.
Infra brought her back before the sun hit the sky and right before placing her back on the ice, saying smilingly, “You know what I always love most about today?”
Cielo smiles but inquisitively replies, “What?”
“This part.”
They look into each other’s eyes and as her smile starts fading he throws her into the water. Swimming back to the float was no obstacle, but Infra was. Although a quick glance, she noticed how he’d bared his teeth as he smiled, but his smile did not reach his eyes.
“This is my favorite part! Run” His tone was still as bubbly as ever as he took a massive bite of the water just behind her.
All Cielo saw from the warm-blooded mammal was coldness in his gaze as the doubt that earlier was hazing her mind quickly became fear. She swam as fast as she could, turning the clear blue waters into a bloody nightmare. She attempted to go around the ice to see the penguins waking up, but it was futile as he was right at her back flippers, so she yelled for them at the top of her lungs. She flails her flippers around trying to create a commotion, with tears and snot running down her white feathered face as the colors of her feathers became gray and the white of her eyes turned red. They saw her only to realize she was in the water and rushed over to help, but it was no use as they stopped in their tracks to see the giant orca right behind her.
He gave Cielo the widest smile, squeaking in his high pitch, before swallowing her whole.
Everyone gasped, even the orcas around, now that she was in el Cielo.
The tale, my dear, doesn’t end here, for a rule had been forgotten on the whale’s end you see. Trumpets blasted as the orcas backed away slowly from Infra as he looked puzzled. The penguins dashed over to their magical bouncy castle, the center of Love Love Paradise. They got armor and spears and started their calculated attacks. He looked around at his fellow orcas and who had turned their tails on him. Infra was so desperately confused and in that state of confusion, he wasn’t paying attention to a spear that landed in his unsmiling eye. As he screeched in pain, the penguins took the opportunity to stab him a million times. Blood gushed out as they stabbed his lifeless body hanging limp in the ocean. They worked methodically, extracting his organs to make a lovely stew for dinner.
The rule he did not know was at the heart of the silly politics he didn’t care for: you cannot eat an empress penguin.
He’s definitely in infra-mundo now.