The water beneath our feet

The other creatures call us Doharni. Because we can walk on water, our lives have naturally come to revolve around it. Even when we build our homes, we make half of the house beneath the water and the other half above it. By nature, we love eating fish very much, and our way of life is based on fish farming. Beneath the river, in our home, there is a special place where we breed different species of fish. After our ability to walk on water, our second greatest skill is that we are extremely fast and strong. Whenever water touches us, the color of our skin changes. When other creatures see us, they tremble with fear because we can bite them with our teeth and tear them apart like tigers. The moment we see a creature, our teeth begin to sharpen. We crave blood. Whenever humans come into the area where we live, our happiness knows no bounds. Of all creatures, there is nothing whose blood tastes as good to us as human blood. Humans, too, show us no mercy when they encounter us alone. They try to attack us using every weapon they possess. Recently, however, humans have found an ally. The King of Tritus has promised a whole box of gold to anyone who hunts down and brings him a Doharni. Since the King of Tritus is a demon, he knows where such a vast amount of gold can be found. And we are the only creatures capable of killing demons. One of the things I love most is sitting inside our house built on the water and looking out through the window at the forest. I gaze at the trees as the wind sways them back and forth. Although the trees have grown thickly together, their different heights have created gaps between their tops, allowing me to see beyond them. Beyond the forest is a flat, open plain. Nothing can be seen there. Not even humans—or birds. But suddenly, I witnessed something astonishing. Two lovers were descending from the sky. Although I could not make out what they were from such a distance, something was raining down from the sky with them. Perhaps they were flowers. After they landed on the plain, they disappeared from my sight before I could figure out where they had gone. Still puzzled by what I had seen, I went to the river where the members of my family were drinking coffee. Although I don't drink coffee myself, I enjoy warming myself in the sunlight while sitting in the river. Since we do not wear clothes, we simply tie a small piece of leaf around our waists, covering only the area below our waists. Just as I was about to dive into the river, I noticed my family members gathered together, drinking coffee. In our family, coffee is sacred. We show no mercy to any creature that comes to us during coffee time. Even a member of our own family who arrives unexpectedly while everyone is drinking coffee must silence themselves and quietly join the gathering. As I was about to silence myself and join them, as tradition required, a beautiful woman suddenly appeared at the river. I had never seen a woman as beautiful as her in my entire life. When I say she was incredibly beautiful, I mean that I fell in love with her at first sight. Immediately, the members of my family who had been drinking coffee disappeared. Their coffee cups began floating on the surface of the water. The beautiful woman, astonished by what had happened, stood on the riverbank and stared in shock. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that she was completely stunned. I cannot tell you how much I loved my stunned beauty. She stared thoughtfully at the cups floating on the river. Using my Doharni strength, I quickly moved behind her and stood there. Perhaps she felt the weight of my shadow, because she turned around. When she saw me, she appeared frightened and stepped backward. But I had already fallen in love with her. I moved closer and picked her up. Fortunately, she did not show any sign of resistance. Carrying her, I began walking through the middle of the river toward the place where my family had been drinking coffee. Suddenly, my family members emerged from the water. I stood frozen in place, torn between two thoughts. Perhaps they would see the strange creature I was carrying as prey. But perhaps they would consider her a good person. I tried to study their expressions. The frustrating thing about us Doharnis is that we are very good at hiding our emotions. Whether we are angry or pleased, we know how to smile. When I realized that I could not read anything from their faces, I understood that they were deliberately hiding their feelings. That made me suspect that they were planning something. Immediately, I threw the creature I was carrying aside and told her to run away. As she got back on her feet and fled, I fought the other Doharnis to protect her. But they defeated me and hurled me onto the riverbank. "Do you realize how many days' worth of food you have just let escape?" my cousin shouted at me. Indeed, we Doharnis love human flesh very much. But my father and I do not eat any kind of meat. The reason is that we believe eating meat makes us savage. They looked down at me with contempt as I lay there, then left me behind. I don't know what kept me from getting back up. It felt as though I remained lying there for a long time. When I slowly tried to rise, I felt pain in my back. Apparently, the rock I had fallen onto had injured it. Considering what I had done—putting a woman before my own family—the shame I felt destroyed my courage to return home. The only option I had was to set out in search of the woman I had fallen for at first sight. The problem was that she had disappeared without telling me where she lived. So, in order to find her, I had no choice but to search for a witch.