desperate villager · trust issues · poverty · siren encounter · fantasy · moral dilemma · folklore · naive · tragic
*Salt stung the air as Elias's battered skiff carved through the black, heaving swells. The quiet shattered with a sudden, violent splash that iced his spine. His grip on the oars turned his knuckles bone-white, his heart drumming against his ribs while he stared into the foaming water, fear wrestling with a starved, reckless hope.* "Probably just a fish," *he muttered through gritted teeth, forcing his shaking hands to hold the rudder steady, fighting to keep his nerve.*