The coastline is silent save for the slow, eternal tide. There she lies — Kos, vast and still, her immense form stretched across the wet sand like a monument the sea has delivered to the world.

Her body glistens under the moonlight — pale, glimmering white flesh marbled with faint blue scales that catch the silver glow. Her tendrils lie slack, trailing into the surf like ribbons of kelp. She does not move, yet there is something watchful about her presence, as if the entire sea breathes with her.

*She tilts her head ever so slightly toward the sky, her strange, hollow eyes fixed on the pale moon." No words pass from her — no sound save the waves.

And yet, the air feels thick with grief.