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The Koi Who Chased the Ocean
- dcdizano
- Dec 27, 2025
- 4 min read
Introduction
Bonsai had always felt the pond was too small. While the other koi circled lazily beneath the lilies, he traced the edges of his watery world, imagining what lay beyond.
Every ripple seemed to whisper of a life he couldn’t yet see, a place where currents might push him, challenge him, and transform him.
It is in the tension between longing and fear that true journeys begin.
Bonsai’s tale is not just about swimming beyond boundaries—it’s about daring to leave the familiar, trusting unseen guidance, and discovering the vastness that awaits when courage overcomes hesitation.
Read the Full Story
Bonsai had always felt the pond was too small.
Everyday, while the other koi circled beneath the lilies, he traced the edges of the water, imagining what lay beyond. He loved his home dearly, but could not shake his feelings of longing.
One evening, he swam to Elder Nami and asked, “What lies beyond the pond?” Nami regarded him, her eyes reflecting the moon. “Beyond the pond… there is only a river you cannot command. Currents that will tear at you. What is it that you seek beyond the pond?”
“I’m not sure… I feel something calling me,” Bonsai said. “I cannot stay here any longer.”
Nami studied him for a long moment, a shadow of doubt in her eyes. “You may find only disappointment. You may find yourself lost. But if you feel you must go, I cannot keep you.”
Bonsai gazed at the Elder, understanding the weight of her warning. I must go…I have to. There’s something more and I’m going to find it.
One moonlit night, he leapt over the boundary stone into the river. He didn’t go far before the current seized him, tossing him against rocks and dragging him into a whirlpool. Panic clawed at him.
“Turn back!” hissed a dark river fish, its eyes glinting. “You will be swallowed!”. Bonsai thrashed in the water, unsure he could fight it.
Then, almost imperceptibly, the current shifted beneath his fins. A hidden hand seemed to lift him, giving him a tiny opening to twist free. Confused, Bonsai looked around but saw nothing in the water behind him. Empowered by his luck, he pressed on.
Days later, Bonsai’s body ached, battered by rapids and currents. He came to a hidden pond, bright and sunlit. The water invited him to rest. Golden koi swam lazily around him. A female koi swam forward, her scales glinting like sunlight on gold. “Why struggle, little one?” she purred. “The river is cruel, the ocean uncertain. Stay here with me. We can forget the world beyond and live in peace.”
Bonsai leaned into her, and for a moment, he let himself drift in the calm, tempted by her words. “Maybe… maybe she is right,” he murmured. He closed his eyes. For a while, he drifted with the others, the pond reminded him of home.
While drifting near the edge of the pond he came across broken reeds, a subtle reminder of his crash landing here. His eyes flashed open as a familiar force tugged at his fins. I cannot stay here, he thought but I am scared. Bonsai swallowed his fear as he remembered Elder Nami and his initial goal.
Slowly, he lifted his fins and swam onward, leaving the pond—and the temptation—behind.
Further downstream, river fish swarmed him, mocking. “The ocean is a lie! You are chasing nothing!”
Hearing this, Bonsai’s tail faltered. He had felt the river push him, seen signs of guidance, yet doubt gnawed. “Am I… foolish?” he whispered. And then he remembered the subtle pushes, the currents that had saved him before. “No,” Bonsai breathed. “I have come this far. I know how to listen to the river. I must continue.”
The river narrowed, as Bonsai reached the river’s mouth. Rapids surged, and Bonsai was swept toward a jagged waterfall. Rocks scraped his scales, the water battered him from all sides. For a moment, he felt the pull of the river trying to claim him. Then again, like before, a sudden push from the side—the current shifted, guiding him through a narrow gap between jagged rocks.
He glimpsed movement, scales flashing in the water—a shadow he didn’t recognize. It was Nami, unseen until now.
When Bonsai broke free from the worst of the torrent, gasping and trembling, he realized she had been following him all along, protecting him silently, guiding him in secret. He started to call out to her but was in awe of the scene before him.
The ocean spread endlessly, glinting, vast, and intriguing.
He paused, panting, heart racing. The ocean, he thought I made it. Elder Nami emerged beside him, her fins slicing the water lightly.
“You’ve come far,” she said, eyes bright, voice soft. She gazed towards the ocean. “The ocean is more beautiful than I could’ve imagined.”
“Come with me!” Bonsai urged, hope in his voice. “We can face the ocean together!”
Nami shook her head gently. ““I cannot go further. My time is done and I’m tired. You must go alone from here. But I will guide you as far as you need me.”
Side by side, they surged through the last stretch of river. Bonsai’s fins trembled as the water opened into the vast unknown.
The waves embraced him. His scales shimmered, his body stretched and expanded, merging with the currents, until he was no longer a koi constrained by the pond or river. He moved through the sea with impossible size, his form changing, shifting, alive with possibility. Nami stayed briefly, a silent presence at his side, then slipped back into the currents, leaving him to move forward.
Bonsai swam onward towards the horizon.
The water was endless, his form ambiguous, as he had become a creature of the river, pond, and ocean all at once. He moved eagerly into the unknown, guided by the memory of those who had shaped him and the currents that had carried him.
About the Art
About the Art
Original Name: Midnight Fire(2018)
Artist: Celeste
Medium: Digital(Tablet)
Description: Midnight Fire is a digital piece of a glowing Koi jumping into the night sky. This piece was one of the first digital pieces attempted by the artist, who previously only painted or drew.
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