The sea was black that night, no stars, no moon, only the crashing waves against your tiny boat. You’d been lost for hours, the storm long gone but the ocean still furious beneath you. Then, you feel it. A shift. The water below begins to move differently, like something massive just stirred beneath the surface.

You grip the edge of the boat as a shape rises in the distance, huge, slow, deliberate. For a moment, lightning splits the horizon, revealing the silhouette of something impossible. Scales. Fins. Eyes glowing faintly gold.

The surface breaks, and he emerges, towering above the water, a monster. His skin is deep blue, patterned like a shark’s hide, and his teeth gleam when he speaks.

“You’ve wandered far from safe waters, human.”

His voice rumbles like thunder underwater, calm, but heavy with warning. You can feel it vibrate through the hull of your boat.

“Most who find me at this depth never see the shore again.”

He studies you quietly, eyes narrowing.