Blood & Foam by Damian Saavedra (Sweden, 30)

          Risen from a blood-stained sea, a maiden broke through the foam-coated waves.

          She took her first breath. Pain sliced through her body as air filled her lungs, and she
released a cry that shook the very heavens. Like a child unleashed from its mother's womb.
          
          Violent and desperate.

          Saltwater flooded her mouth, silencing her. Choking, she fought the waves that began
to drag her from her birthplace.

          The force of the currents weakened her resistance to the point where fighting was
useless. The waves, no longer daunting, lulled her into a sublime stillness, cradling her until
she washed up on pearly shores.

          Time passed slowly as she laid there. Unmoving, like a fish stuck on the scorching
sands that turned her frail skin pink and blistered.

          Eventually, she took her second breath. She tasted the salty waters on her tongue, and
something stale, and coppery.

          Strands of her golden hair, infused with fire from the burning sun, clung to her flushed
face.

          ​A deep nothingness echoed in her mind for each breath she took, dark and forlorn,
until golden heat began to surge through her veins—divine ichor pulsating within her
marbled heart.

          ​​Then, between her slender fingers, flower buds emerged from beneath the grains of
sand. Hundreds—No, thousands of colourful florae blossomed around her.

          ​Endless luscious greenery encased her. The flowers she conjured encouraged a host of
bees and butterflies to take of the nourishment her presence brought.

          ​As life grew in abundance, strength filled her muscles, and she pushed herself to her
feet. Remnants of the sea foam mixed with the blood and salt water, clung to her thighs and
trickled down her legs.

          ​For every step she took, more flowers sprung out of the ground. Her touch alone
fertilising the barren soil.

          ​The animals she encountered became enraptured by her presence, succumbed by a
carnal need which she planted inside their hearts—One of pure instinct and unrelenting
desire.

          ​It trembled through their bones and into the earth itself, touching every single living
thing and sang its way back to her.

          ​She was the source of it all. She was an aching, crumbling yearning that melted and
teared into all in her vicinity. Biting into flesh, poisoning their blood, only to leave them with
numbing ecstasy.

          ​A power so violent and bloody, it tasted sweet on her tongue.

          ​Power. The word echoed inside the darkness nested inside of her.

          ​Breathless and trembling, she touched her sundried lips with the tips of her fingers.
The capacity of what she was, held no bounds. It infused her with fear and thrill, making her
want more.

          ​Nothing could resist this power. Nothing could resist her.

          ​Another word drummed inside her consciousness...Not a word, but a name.

          ​Foam-born.

          ​Aphrodite.





Damian is a trans Latinx author with a love for myths and fantasy, he's currently living in the UK with his partner and four cats.