"Past the village, under sea ice, Haunting the shoreline since days came from nothingness. Watching you with unblinking eyes, Waiting for you to defy." The boy observes him before the fire Ancient tribesman speaking in somber tongue Fascinated, leaves in the night Glacial wind bites at his eyes Words of elders ring in his mind "Hair of a maiden, skin of a basilisk. Stealing children too brash to comply, Sentencing them to the deep." "I'll come to you," The child calls to ocean depths from the snow He listens for the humming sound Wishes for the creature to appear Splash of water, unrecognizable noise Vision hazy, still his feet move ahead Flash of emerald, now a presence inauspicious Cranes to see, stability compromised Into the blackness of Antarctic sea Tidal momentum; submerged in her monarchy From waves, he calls to vacant land Sinks to the bottom Upon realization of his breach, they retrace his tracks A form floating near the polar fronds Familial collapse The tribesman lauds the child And curses the monster living in the waves, Old as the sun Rising whale with emerald tail Merely adrift, more beast than myth