Dead in the water.

The moon ran silently along the calm ocean, tracing a path through the pitch black abyss towards a lone ship, gently bobbing. Upon the ship stood a sailor, a tall man with auburn hair and a hooked scar tracing a path from his right eye to the corner of his mouth. A gentle breeze blew upon him, a few strands of his weathered hair danced across his face, tickling him gently with their touch. He breathed deeply, taking in the salty musk that he knew all too well. A life spent on the sea, yet each day seemed the same. As he stared transfixed upon the moon, the peaceful water beneath him broke silently, revealing a young woman's head, her hair fell in rivers of messy black waves; the black sea connected with the girl's hair, seemingly blending together as if the ocean and her were one. Gently she drifted toward the ship, her cold green eyes fixed upon the man, who was still oblivious to the sudden movement beneath him.

Lifting herself from the depths of the sea, the mysterious woman grabbed hold of the boat above her, digging her sharp nails into the side of the ship, black tendrils of hair covering grey scales, that moved from speckled coverage at her chest to form an opaque deep green tail at the bottom.

The man remained standing still under the gentle glow of the moon, his daze only being broken by the quiet yet persistent scratching sound that had emerged beneath him. Looking down he saw two glowing eyes from the darkness, mere slits of emerald in the centre of the dark abyss, and a scaly hand swiping swiftly across his feet, sending him crashing to the floor with a loud and painful thud. Before he could process the fear, she sunk her claws into his leg and dragged him into the black ocean after her. Twirling and tumbling down, they sank with considerable speed, the man grasping and thrashing against the immense strength of the woman; grabbing helplessly at the water above him, each soundless scream erupting a stream of bubbles that leisurely floated above him, taking their time to break to the silent surface of the sea. His lungs burnt from the salt water that was now flooding into them, and eventually he lost the energy to fight back. He looked back one last time at the distorted image of the moon from the floor of the ocean where he was trapped, his vision clouding till finally there was nothing but darkness.

The ocean above lay still and empty. Waves slowly sloshed against the side of the ship. An eerie quiet held within the air.