© J.B. Norman — Published by Emona Literary Services™
“Beware the Phosphorescent Squaliform Thanatobeast, my son!” the old fisherman perched on the wharf cries as Kat passes by.
“I, uh, I’m a girl,” Kat mutters — normally, she’s usually sensitive about called a dude, but the old man looks to be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2700 years old, so she’s willing to cut him a bit of slack.
The old man coughs awkwardly. “My eyesight isn’t great anymore. But, my advice is still good: Beware the Phosphorescent Squaliform Thanatobeast, my s— child…”
“Uh huh,” Kat says sceptically.
“No, seriously,” the old man says. “That Phosphorescent Squaliform Thanatobeast is the one of the most vicious creatures in the Powers’ blue sea. Why, it’s five hundred leagues long from snout to tail.”
“Uh huh,” Kat says sceptically.
The old man shrugs. “Well, not really. But it is big.”
“And you’ve seen this, um…” Kat realises she wasn’t paying attention to its name. “… thing?”
“Oh,” the old man says, nodding eagerly. “Hard not to. Why, so phosphorescent is the Phosphorescent Squaliform Thanatobeast that the whole sea seems to light up with its glow when it nears. Actually, it’s quite a lovely shade of purplish-red. The very same shade of my sitting room.”
“Uh huh,” Kat says sceptically.
“There is but one way to overcome the Phosphorescent Squaliform Thanatobeast,” the old man continues.
“Let me guess,” Kat offers. “Magic sword? Magic arrow? Magic something right?”
“Oh no, my s— child,” the old man says. “The one and only once and future means to overcome and vanquish the Phosphorescent Squaliform Thanatobeast is to…”
He pauses. Kat isn’t sure if it’s for dramatic effect, because he’s running out of breath or maybe starting to drift off to sleep.
“Yeah?” Kat urges.
“… give it a mighty wallop right in the nose!” the old man concludes.
“You just said it was miles and miles long!” Kat protests. “What is a person punching it going to do?”
“Ask me not why the knowledge of the ancients makes such a proclamation as this, my s— child,” the old man says.
Kat sighs. “You don’t actually know, do you?”
The old man coughs awkwardly again.
“…No,” he murmurs.
Kat sighs. “Uh huh.”
“Oh,” the old man says suddenly, reaching for his fishing pole. “I’m getting a bite.”
“No, you’re not,” Kat notes.
The old man turns away from Kat. “Oh my,” he says. “This certainly requires all my attention.”
As Kat continues along the pier, she sees Dunstana come dashing down the gangplank of her ship as it docks.
“Kat!” Dunstana says, running eagerly towards her sister. “You’re never going to believe this! First, the water started glowing, like, purple and everything. Then this big, huge shark-looking thing pops up out of the water! And was, like, eight million miles long — well, not actually, but it was big! Also, there was this seagull that was flying by and it landed on the big, glowy shark’s nose and it did not like that at all! It started running away right away!”
“Told you so,” the old man calls over his shoulder.
The master list of all my Short Scenes is here.
If you’ve enjoyed my content, please consider supporting me through Ko-fi or Patreon, or through Paypal by scanning the QR code below:
Follow Realmgard and other publications of Emona Literary Services™ below:
Subscribe to the Emona Literary Services™ Substack newsletter here.
