A black-scaled fishman hummed as he swam towards a shore, holding onto a dead shark by its dorsal fin. Today was the day of the national hunt, and he was confident in securing a high ranking with his prey. On the shore, hundreds of fishmen roamed about. Their backs were finned like sharks, and more fins extended out of their elbows and calves. Their hands and feet were webbed while their faces were narrow and scaled with sharp teeth in their thin mouths.
“Ah!” one of them shouted as the black-scaled fishman arrived at the shore, dragging the dead shark onto the beach. “Carl’s caught a big one!” The shark was nearly three times the size of most of the fishmen on the shore. Carl laughed and flexed his bicep, eliciting a few whistles from the crowd.
Carl looked around the shore and saw other dead sea creatures: octopi, squids, sharks, a tiny whale, a few sea urchins caught by kids. His catch was the biggest. The further out into the ocean one went, the larger the marine animals, but the danger increased as well. He believed he went the furthest. “How is it?” Carl asked a fishman who wandered over to judge the dead shark. “First place?”
“For now,” the judge said and nodded. “George still hasn’t returned yet, and there’s still another hour before the sun starts to set.”
“George smorge,” Carl said and flapped his gills. “This year, the prize is mine. He’s getting too old.”
A wry smile appeared on the judge’s fishy lips. “Don’t let him hear you say that,” he said before directing a group of fishmen to drag the shark towards the kitchens—the national hunt was always followed by a feast. Carl licked his lips. This time, he’d be the one at the head of the table. Last year it was George, but Carl didn’t believe anyone could reel in something larger than his shark.
An orange-colored fishman walked up to him. She smiled and nudged his side with her fins. “You’re going to gift me the prize, right?” she asked as she looked up at Carl with big, round eyes.
“Well, that really depends on what happens during the night, doesn’t it?” Carl asked with a smile.
The orange fishman giggled. “You’re so bad,” she said before shaking her head. “What else are you going to do with a necklace of glowing pearls?”
“Well—“
A commotion broke out on the shore, causing Carl to frown and turn around. A green fishman was crawling onto the beach from the ocean, gasping for breath. “Isn’t that George?” the orange fishman asked. “Why’s he look so scared?”
Carl frowned but didn’t respond. He was glad his rival didn’t bring back any prey, but at the same time, he was unsettled. George was capable—Carl couldn’t deny that. Then what made him so flustered? Carl ignored the orange fishman by his side before walking up to George. “What happened?”
George continued to gasp, and a while passed before he could properly speak. “I saw a leviathan,” he said with wide eyes. “A leviathan!”
“A leviathan this close to land?” Carl asked and frowned. Murmurs spread throughout the crowd of gathered fishman. A few children began to cry while their mothers shushed them. Everyone knew about the leviathans. They were like the dragons of the sea that mothers fed misbehaving children to.
“It was massive,” George said, his body trembling. Drops of water flew off of his body and landed on the sand as he stood up. “I never thought it really existed. You know I’ve been alive for over forty national hunts. Never in my life have I seen a creature like that.”
“What did it look like, Uncle George?” a fishman child shouted.
George shook his head. “It was just too big to see. Its neck was longer than that tree,” he said and pointed at a palm tree in the distance. “Its body was even bigger, but the scariest part was the tail. Its tail was like a giant eel with a blade that glowed brighter than the moon attached to it. I didn’t know what I was looking at at first.” He laughed. “I’m lucky I got away! Praise the sun!” His arms raised into the air as he dropped onto his knees and kissed the warm sand.
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“You were so scared you didn’t bring back any prey, huh?” Carl asked. “Looks like I’m taking the head of the table this year.”
George laughed again. “Competitions don’t matter when you see something like that and live,” he said. “I feel like a new man. Who else here can say they stared a leviathan in the face and survived?”
“It’s an auspicious sign promising great things to come. It isn’t everyday a leviathan blesses our waters,” one of the judges said. “The national hunt ends now. Stay out of the ocean for the next few days.” The crowd cheered as the uneasy atmosphere was dispersed in an instant. Leviathans never came into contact with the land.
The fishmen celebrated as Carl was paraded around the beach with a jar of alcohol in his hands, drinking every time someone toasted him. The cooks set the pre-gathered logs on fire and set about cooking for the feast. The air was filled with fishy smells and revelry as laughter and cheer rang through the area. A massive table that stretched the whole length of the beach was carried by a group of fishmen and placed by the water. Food was placed on top of the wood, and Carl was seated at the head of the table. The judges came up to him and presented him with a necklace of pearls that shone in the red sunlight. The sun was beginning to set over the horizon when someone let out a cry.
“Someone’s coming out of the water!”
The surrounding fishmen turned their heads towards the water and saw a pale creature with black hair rising out of the water. Horns jutted out of her head, and the fishmen let out cries of astonishment when they realized she had no scales. “It’s a human!” one of the fishmen children said. “That’s a real live human, right!?”
Tafel muttered something about dragons and curses as she wiped the water out of her eyes. She blinked and stared at the procession of fishmen who were staring back at her. She cleared her throat as she covered her naked body with her hands. “Hello there,” she said as her face turned red. She took a few steps back and sank into the water until only her head was showing.
“What’d she say?” one of the fishmen children asked.
“She said hello in a very weird way,” an older fishman said.
The judges rose out of their seats and approached Tafel. “You … lost?” they asked.
Tafel scratched her head. “You could say that,” she said. “Where am I?”
“Nibaba,” one of the judges said. “Our home.” His pronunciation was awkward, but Tafel could still understand what he was saying.
“And where is Nibaba…?” Tafel asked. “Is this the northern continent?”
The judges looked at each other and discussed in fishmen language while Tafel waited. Eventually, they turned back to her and shook their heads. Tafel sighed and placed her face into her hands. Why was Vur’s family like this? Speaking of Vur…, Tafel turned around and sighed. He was just as crazy as his family.
A massive shadow loomed in the water. A few fishmen shouted as the water bulged upwards. A massive reptilian head broke through the surface of the ocean, causing the fishmen to scream in terror and retreat down the shore. The eyes of the creature were glazed over, focusing on nothing in particular. By its chin, Vur was holding onto it while swimming, pulling it along. The table had been abandoned long ago, and the fishmen retreated to the border where the sand turned into grass. Vur stepped onto the beach, his body completely naked, and continued to pull on the dead leviathan until its whole body was on the sand. Its head had reached the grass at the end.
Vur ignored the stares of the fishmen who were hiding behind trees and turned around. He waved at Tafel. “I told you I could do it,” he said with a smile.
“It wasn’t a matter of could, but should,” Tafel said and sighed. “I said you shouldn’t do it, not you couldn’t.”
“Well, I couldn’t hear you that well over the waves,” Vur said and shrugged. “What’s going on here?” His attention turned towards the table he had shattered to make space.
“I don’t know, Vur,” Tafel said. “I really don’t. What was your Grandpa thinking when he messed with my teleportation!? We could’ve died!”
“You should yell at him, not me,” Vur said and shrugged as he tore a chunk of flesh off of the leviathan’s body and sniffed it before placing it into his mouth.
“You’re not concerned one bit about our situation, are you?” Tafel asked as she wrapped a nearby towel around her body.
“Nope,” Vur said as he chewed and shrugged. Tafel was about to say something, but Vur swallowed his food and continued. “Anywhere’s fine as long as I’m with you.”
Tafel’s face turned pink, and she lowered her head but turned away a second later. “Put some pants on please,” she said. Her face burned as she felt the stares of hundreds of fishmen digging into her back.
“Don’t have any,” Vur said as he dug out another chunk of flesh from the leviathan. “Want some?”
“No,” Tafel said. Her stomach growled. She bit her lower lip and snatched the flesh out of Vur’s hand. “Maybe just one piece.”