Seal's Cove was encompassed by darkness, revealed only when the strike of lightning that coalesced with the booming claps of thunder briefly illuminated the arena. Jagged rocks rose from the ocean's waves like rotten teeth, and the eroding sand, darkened with rain, fought a constant battle with the sea who sought to claim the land and those who walk firm footed across it.

The scraggly shrubs that edged the beach rustled furiously in the violent gale; the slither of leaves skating across asphalt was a sinister whispering that called for blood beneath the moan of the whirlwind. The flag that stood tall on its pole flapped in the wind, the metal attachment clanging against the steel pole, emitting an ominous man-made sound that rang with a warning..

No one of sound and stable mind would ever venture out in a summer storm of such violence, such ferocity. Yet as the world shut itself away, hammered down loose ends and fastened the shutters of weathered windows, a lone figure could be seen almost untouched by nature's anger, walking with such grace and purpose towards the lone, derelict pier, unabated by the rolling waves that fought to submerge the entire structure.

She was only a tiny little thing, with wrists about as thick as toothpicks and long, twisting vines of dark hair whipping around her in a dance with the wind. Her thin white dress flapped about her slender body like a sail, joining forces with the gusts in a fruitless attempt to drag her back to shore. She was like an ethereal being, a fallen angel who knew she did not belong to this world. She struggled to pull herself forward, towards the pier's edge, towards her destiny.

The young woman was knocked to her feet when a large wave broke above her. Her fingers scrabbled against the rough wooden planks for purchase, stopping herself from being swept over into the roiling mass of dark water.

On hands and knees, the young woman dragged herself to the very precipice of the pier and leant over, staring deeply into the murky depths. The rain was pummeling down in sheets of water now, the thunder cracking open the sky in frequent intervals, allowing for sharp surges of light to reveal the events in disjointed fragments. The woman, undisturbed by the long ropes of her hair obscuring her vision, tipped forward a fraction more, until she was hardly an arms length from the water's surface. What she was searching for in the middle of a violent storm was unfathomable, however the glazed, faraway look in her vacant eyes held a story that could not be heard above the oceans roars. Her cold hands gripped the wooden planks when the storm took a sudden, unexplained breath of silence. The rain seemed suspended in the air, afraid to fall, afraid to rise. The ocean paused, as if waiting for something to happen. Even the wind held its breath, knowing that the blood the slithering leaves had called for was about to be taken.

Suddenly the water seemed to explode; white water shot outwards like a toxic frothing mushroom cloud as a figure burst from the surface, arms strong and relentless parting the waves as it leapt up from the watery depths. It teetered in the air for what seemed like an eternity, its pale skin glistening, its pointed teeth bared in a smile, the long tail glinting like steel in the light of the storm, before it wrapped its large hands around the young woman's thin arms. With one tug the woman tumbled from her perch into the arms of the creature and was swallowed by the ocean. Her scream, if at all emitted, was lost as nature resumed in its wrath, the moment of waiting over.

The creatures who lurked beneath were content.

For the moment.