Chapter 1
Dagan pulled in his line for the evening and glanced at his measly catch. It was going to be a hard sell, after all, what kind of fisherman could show off a handful of puny fish and compete adequately with the other sellers. He'd be drowned out by their voices alone.
He hauled his equipment to the side to begin the arduous row back to land. He bit his lip in disappointment -- he'd even stayed longer than peak fishing hours for the chance to produce a larger yield despite the known danger. Men had been taken by the nightly currents, capsized by sea creatures or simply lost to the sea and never seen again. But he withstood the fear of danger because another larger fear anchored him to stay, the fear of losing his family.
The sun quickly set under the horizon of the sea, plunged under the water and shimmering its remaining light atop the tips of waves. Under the glistening surface all was still. Dagan was overcome with a sense of peace despite the circumstances. The waves turned to ripples and slowly but surely, turned still until he was the only one causing disturbances.
He was compelled to stop rowing. A deep, woolly feeling bloomed in his chest and head. His jaw went slack and his arms dangled, letting the oars sink into the oar stops. The blue water illuminated to a algae green as glitters of yellow danced between. Something was approaching.
As a child, Dagan had heard stories about the sea. Incredible and horrifying creatures dragging screaming people into the depths, supernatural things beckoning the naive dangerously close to the shore and waves as tall as mountains erasing entire shore towns from history. He chalked it up to cautionary tales told to children and reckless men. There was no reason for a man of sense to ever believe these things. He thought of himself as such. But in this moment, where the sun was but a sliver and a swell of seawater ballooned over him, all sense left him. His mouth dried with fear.
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The balloon of water melted into a figure. It's head appeared a disgraceful cross between a bull and a person and its limbs long and muscular. Dagan did not know what he was looking at. He swallowed.
"I have family. I have a child, my wife is gone. Please!"
The creature’s eyes shimmered black, then yellow. It moved closer, as though it was peering at him with intrigue.
“I had a child too.” It said with the voice of many.
Dagan pleaded “Please!” over and over again until the syllables blended into each other. The creature leaned back.
“I propose a deal. Give me your life when the child is 17. Only your life. Or, I shall take it now.”
It seemed obvious what the answer was.
“Ye-!”
“Every month, come here. On the fullest moon. Come here.”
Dagan nodded ecstatically. Of all the horrible stories that could have happened to him, he was a very lucky man to experience something so meagre.
“Yes! I will!” He said.
Dagan felt a burn on his cheek. He clasped and felt that it was wet with his blood. The creature’s gnarled, long nail retreated from him and toward its mouth where a three pronged tongue licked his blood off.
“I have you. Do not disobey.” Though it spoke in short sentences, Dagan knew a threat when he heard one. Whatever this thing was, it had him somehow and there was no escape.
Before Dagan could get a word out a tornado of water surrounded it and wormed into the sea. The greenish yellow light abated and he was left in the purple twilight of a long withdrawn sun.
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