Her heavy, persistent caress, undular contractions
Breath.
Nordleys rode each crest with precision
Despite the fact that the vessel had no breath of it’s own.
Protected by the minute craft, witness to this great collision of limitless water and grandiose heavens
He took painful, sharp breaths, falling directly in contrast to Her slow, purposeful ones.
Nordleys heaved, he braced, and She inhaled.

Salt burnt his tongue and gnawed at it’s hull.
The leaks were more numerous now, increasing with every vast breath.
He could only smell grime, an essence that always hid, just out of his full realization.
He had to escape, had to survive, strove to get away from this force
Force which played with him, caressing his boat, able to crush either in a callous instant.
Everything seemed to inhale, as if he was riding atop the chest of Gaia herself
About to be drawn in Her mouth.

The wind kissed his neck, flirting, yet coercing him towards the inevitable.
He remembered his fathers’ tales of serpents and squids, crushing and maiming gentle sailors of yore
It wouldn’t take a serpent to end his journey.
It was then that he felt the tumultuous vibration rattle Nordleys, the soft wood becoming rigid.
He knew his breath was sure to cease.
The little vessel exploded, chunks assaulting Her, his only retaliation against the cool behemoth
His initial terror immediately drowned as She caught him in one breath, absorbing him.
When She exhaled, he was no more, content in HH Her firmament.

He had thought only God was omniscient.