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Chapter 1 - Dawn adventure

 The sun had yet to rise over the horizon, in the fishing town of. A lovely breeze sneaked through the windows of a humble house near the great river, carrying the smell of soil and vegetation from the river mixed with the salty smell of the ocean not so far to the north. Kae, a 25-year-old fisherman, opened his eyes, yawned, swung his legs off the bed, and started stretching out before walking to the window.

Kae stood there with a faint smile on his face, thinking about how beautiful the day was, before remembering he had to spend it in his boring job just like he had wasted the last nine years. With a surrendering sigh, Kae said to himself, "Grow up, you're not a kid anymore," and turned to the table near the window and grabbed the clay water jar and started drinking. It was cold and tasty one of the few joys in his day. At that moment, he heard his mother calling for him from downstairs.

"Kae!!! Come down and eat with your father."

Downstairs, he found his father seated at the dining table and his mother holding a steaming teapot in her hand.

"Good morning, Mother. Good morning, Father," Kae said.

"Good morning, son," they replied in sync.

"Ahhhhh, what a nice smell," Kae said.

His father said with a huge smile on his face, "Good luck finding a wife who can cook like your mother."

"PFFFT" the sound of muffled laughter came from the stairs behind Kae, and he already knew what was coming next.

"Like he could find a woman who is willing to marry him. He sounds like an old man, Dad," said Kate.

"Yeah, Dad, Kae acts like he is older than you," said Kathy with a playful expression.

"Yeah yeah. I'm not thinking about marriage anyway," Kae replied.

"Eeeeh," the girls held in a scream as they noticed their mother glaring at them.

"We are joking, Mother," said Kate.

"Y-yes, Mother," added Kathy.

"I know, darlings," the mother said with a warm smile.

Kae looked at the three of them, reminding himself why he went to work every day. For his family, he was willing to do anything.

"OK!!! That is enough. Let's eat before the food gets cold," said the father while rubbing his hands together.

As he does every day after their very early breakfast, Kae went to work.

Today he had a new member in his team, and that reminded him of his first day on board almost nine years ago. In those nine years, Kae managed to become the captain of a small fishing vessel leading a team of four men, and today they were welcoming the fifth member. Their crew specialized in catching a type of precarious fish so big the boat could only carry three at once. And being this big, no fishing rod or net could hold this fish, so they used a harpoon to catch it. It was basically a monster in fish form.

At the port, Kae met his crew: Tom and Jack, his friends whom he had worked with for a long time they were the same age as him and he knew them long before starting to work in the ocean. Also, there was Roland, the oldest member of his team. He used to own a restaurant, but he needed money, so he sold it and went back to work in the ocean. And John the sailor. Lastly, the new member, Jammy.

"Good morning, everyone," said Kae.

"Good morning, Captain," they replied.

"C-Captain... Good morning, Captain," nervously said Jammy.

"Hey kid, are you ready for your first day?"

"Yes, Captain, I will do my best."

"Nice, that's the spirit. OK, Tom, is the bait ready?"

"Yup, stinky as ever, Kae."

"Good. Jack, ropes, spears, harpoon?"

"Ready, Kae."

"John, are we ready to sail?"

"Yes, Captain, at your command."

"Mister Roland, you will be in charge of the new kid today."

"Okay, lad, I'll make sure he learns well."

"Let's go then," said Kae as he grabbed the helm.

When they arrived at the usual spot, Tom started throwing the bait in the water, and Kae and Jack readied their spears. Before long, a dark shape was visible underneath the surface. Roland grabbed Jammy by the shoulder and pointed at the creature and whispered, "That's what we are looking for a 'sea bull.' Have you ever seen one?"

"Not alive," said Jammy, as he felt cold sweat run down his back.

"Do you know why it's called that?" Jammy replied by shaking his head.

"Sea bulls ram their prey to stun it before tearing it with their sharp teeth. Now grab that hook and be ready."

After saying that, Roland grabbed the harpoon and moved to stand next to Kae and Jack. As soon as the creature showed up, Kae and Jack attacked it by throwing spears at amazing speed, landing two critical hits at the same time, killing the sea bull before it could even react. And quickly, before it sank down, Roland stabbed the harpoon in its head. Then he shouted,

"KID!!! Quickly grab the tail by the rope and start pulling!"

"Okay, mister," said Jammy.

And just like that, they got the first one, and later that day they got another one and called it a day.

On their way back, the crew members were having a good time, complimenting the new member Jammy and looking forward to selling their catch. The sun was almost down, and the men could see the port clearly when it happened something hit the bottom of the boat hard. The crew looked shocked. They knew there were no rocks in this area, and the hit was too strong it must have been something big.

And then they saw it. It was huge. Jammy fell back to the floor in fear as everyone else ran to the side of the boat to take a look.

Roland said, "It can't be... what is a whale doing this far south?"

"A whale?" said the three friends.

"Yes, I saw one a long time ago when I worked on a merchant ship," replied Roland.

Then Kae said, "I heard that whales live in waters around the northern continent, and sometimes they could be spotted in the western continent. But what is this one doing here?"

"It makes the sea bull look like a tiny fish," said John.

"No one will believe us if we spoke about it in Delan's bar," said Tom.

"Yeah, but you're going to talk anyway," said Jack with a smile, and then everyone burst out laughing with Jammy in the background spilling water on his pants to cover the fact that it was already wet.

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