The tourists on the pier noticed the shift in the water first. It wasn’t just ripples; a massive, dark displacement was moving upward from the deep channel, directly toward the small boy sitting at the edge.
“Get away from the edge!” someone yelled, pointing at the expanding shadow. The boy, oblivious to the panic rising behind him, just kept crumbling bread into the water, as if waiting for a pet.
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The water erupted without warning. It wasn’t a splash, but a breach. Two enormous, leathery black “wings” broke the surface, spanning wider than a minivan. The crowd collectively gasped and recoiled.
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A woman rushed forward to grab the child, but she froze. The boy didn’t scream. He laughed, extending his small hand right toward the gaping mouth of the ascending creature.