She was falling. No, not falling: sinking. With icy water squeezing in around her, holding her and pulling her down into its cold embrace. The salty waters stinging her eyes like unshed tears. She couldn't breathe, and it hurt trying to hold on to the last drop of air.
The light was fading. She was sinking deeper into the darkness around her. A shadow of where she came from was still there, where the sea met the sky, illuminated by the taunting moon which smiled at her.
She didn't struggle. She didn't try to swim; she knew it was futile. She could feel the bite of the rope holding her legs together and pulling her deeper into the sea. The weight of the anchor, too much for her, but still weighing nothing compared to the emptiness she felt at what was happening to her.
She was going to die here. The last of her air left her in a torrent of bubbles as she screamed, not in fear, but in an all consuming rage. She wanted them to suffer. Suffer like she had due to their lust and fear.
As the salty water entered her lungs, she reached for the fading light and cursed all men. She cursed their lust, and their arrogance. She cursed all men to fear the sea. May She test all who dare brave Her waters, and consume all like the ones who defiled her.
The light left her eyes as she continued to sink further into the icy black waters. No warmth remained in her limbs.
She could still feel the water pressing in on her, when suddenly she realized that if she could still feel: she was still alive. As she had looked to the last of the light; as the darkness of the depths had swallowed her, she had begun to change. Her bare legs, that had been tied together were no longer legs, but one sleek and flowing limb. The rope continued to sink unheeded, pulled by the anchor, even as she had slid right out of it.
She reached her hands down and felt the texture of her naked skin. As she slid her hands down, just under her navel, skin gave way to a glossy, silk-like texture. It felt like the eel her father had brought home when she was a little girl.
She wished she could see, when she realized her eyes were closed. Slowly, she opened her eyes to discover she could see even in the limited light reaching through the waters from the moon. She had a tail. It was as black as the waters beneath her. She drifted in the water for a while in wonder.
She experimentally moved her new limb, which felt boneless, so she could feel the fan-like protrusion at the end. It felt of the finest silk, soft and delicate. But she somehow knew it was stronger than it looked.
A flash of movement caught her eye, and she turned her head to see that her hair was affected by the change as well. Her once common brown was the same inky black as her tail. It floated around her like a cloud and she reached up to run her fingers through the soft strands.
She was alive. She almost laughed and a smile spread across her face, before she realized that no, she had died. Her smile quickly turned into a frown as determination filled her. The woman she had been was no more. In that woman's place was a monster all men would learn to fear. As she swam to the surface she decided: the Sea had heard her wish. All men ruled by lust would perish by the very waters that rebirthed her.