The House Upon the Sea

Three fishermen set out one day to a cape far from their homes in search of a bounty only the sea could provide. Limited by only their imaginations and what their schooner could carry, they embarked on a mission fed by fantasy but satiated by adventure. They were headed to the mysterious Cape Chessa in hopes to bring back an even more mysterious cargo; the elusive fish called Perrin. But few fishermen of their native land had seen them, and even fewer, of any cape or inlet seafaring village, had caught one.

“They’re almost as rare as giant squid they are,” an old fisherman told the three adventurers but one night before their departure.

“They come up for no more than one hour of one day of one month in one year.

But I tell ye, I seen ‘em. Glistenin’ like the stars above with bellies as black as coal they be. Big as barracudas with teeth twice as long. An’ they got eyes like the white of the moon. An’ just as big too. They ain’t got no pupils or life in ‘em like you an’ I’s do. They are a soulless, round abomination. Some say they come up on this one day to put the souls in their eyes so they can see again. An’ some say they come up to collect ‘em. Not to keep ‘em, oh no, but to bring them to their master who lives in that abyss where havin’ eyes do you no good, cuz down there you can’t see the nose on yer face. So I warn ye, do not catch ‘em. In all the history of fishing for Perrin, one fisherman was rumored to have caught some. But, when he came back to his coast, he was not a man no more. For, his eyes were of the moon and his body became like that of the Perrin.”

“As the story goes, he came back as if under a spell that some gypsy or she-devil put on him. He ne’er speak or eat. All he do were walk and blubber and gurgle as if he had water in his lungs. Time come when all he do were stay in his home where none a visitor may reach him. He become a hermit an’ no one ever see him. It come of strange rumor that his house were favored by the sea an’ that it reached for his home upon the dunes. It is rumored that his house so invited the sea in, an’ every night there be sea that crept through his walls and doors an’ windows. Soon, the house was where the sea didn’t need to invite herself in. The house became a part of her.”

“But what be the strangest of all is there be a boy in that village who say he saw the fisherman who dwell within the house. The boy say he saw that fisherman outside when the house be surrounded by the sea. But the fisherman he saw were no man. Nor did he wear that which men meant to wear. He were naked except for a rain cap and coat, all tore up an’ held together by few strands. He had the face and scales of a fish, with fins an’ tail protruding all sorts of sharp spines an’ such. His mouth were that of a fish’s with long curled teeth. His eyes were the color of the moon, white an’ soulless. He were like that of the Perrin.”

The three fishermen did not interpret the old fisherman’s story the way he had meant them to. What was to be that of a warning was misunderstood as opportunity; opportunity for fame, adventure and fortune. The three shook it off as a fairy tale and the curious ramblings of a man with less a catch in his net than they had in theirs. It was a justifiable excuse for a much needed adventure of a secret and formidable fashion. Not only would they seek these “Perrin”, but they would bring back so many that they could sell these monsters to parties of all manners of curiosity. They could indeed retire early and live in all respects of comparisons to that of the aristocracy whose lifestyle exploits were obtainable only through dreams. Had they found a way to attain such desires of wealth and repute that seemed, but a day before, as that of fantasy?

So on that clear, wistful morning that the Perrin were said to rise, the three set sail to find out.

The trip, they estimated, would take but a week’s sailing. According to the old fisherman, it was relatively close to a coast that had been marked on the map. Cape Chessa was the locals’ word for a place that hadn’t been properly named. Or the name was unknown. To the locals, Chessa meant chance. And so it came to be that whenever someone had set their sights on goals of unknown circumstance or outcome, they were said to go by chessa. It became a novelty of sorts among the three fishermen that they refer to Chessa in such a manner. By chessa we’ll have a great haul tonight, by chessa we’ll miss those squalls, and so on. Therefore, it was by chessa, or more appropriately, by Chessa, that they would locate and capture the Perrin.

To flatter the old fisherman’s story in all of its gruesome elements, they provided themselves with every precaution at their disposal. They supplied their vessel with newer, tighter, stronger netting. They sharpened their blades and scalers. They even replaced their gloves with what could only be described of having the appearance of medieval gauntlets with the strength and endurance of much more. To the onlooker, they looked as if they were out to slay a dragon. The old fisherman certainly made it out to be as such. They wondered if they were the only youth in the village that had heard such stories from such an eccentric old timer. Maybe there were more. But they would certainly know if that was indeed the case. Word travels fast in such a small village that they call home. This is what made it a quest in their minds. It seemed as though they were seeking a myth. After all, they were all in their mid to late twenties and their ears would certainly have ensnared such talk of strange beasts of fish that reflected both the stars of the heavens and the void of the abyss. But it hadn’t. As far as they were concerned, it was meant for their ears alone. And, in their talk of this amidst their voyage upon the sea, they considered that it was indeed something meant only for them. So was the aspiration of fame and fortune that guided their spirits and flooded their dreams. As the word chessa became a novelty in their conversations, so it was that fame and fortune became a contest between the three. The more grandiose the fantasy, the more worthy one is of their share. Such a contest became even more grotesque in the extravagance of riches and repute than the telltale attributes of the very monsters they pursued.

Three days out now and they were surrounded by sea and anticipation. They were close to their destination as map and compass read. The weather had maintained and the omen was good. Though the wind had died down but a little, they still made good time. Sea birds of an uncanny variety now accumulated around the three fishermen breaking the steady crashing of waves with all sorts of chatter. They were close, as the omen suggested. It is known amongst seafarers that their presence suggests land is on the horizon or there is a bounty of fish. Perhaps the birds are also anticipating the coming of the Perrin? It did seem logical by what the omen represented. But how could such small birds compete with the hideous features that the old fisherman stated they possessed? It was not their obligation to question such, nor was it their concern. For nature had been good to them already.

Day had become night and the three retired to their respective bunks. The excitement of the day had taken its toll. Dreaming now awaited their youthful spirits and entertained with content much like before. It was within these walls of sleep that their exciting and most wild adventures would come to be. Surely, the contest of such nocturnal wanderings could raise the stakes and provide a much more imaginative stage on which a whole new contest could be determined. Though these possibilities were great, dreams were best kept to oneself. Since seafarers tend to be a superstitious lot, interpreting a dream as premonition might contest the omen and prove ill for the journey and its travelers. It was not by telling of dream, however, that would change the omen to permit such a condition that the three awoke to the next morning. As well, it was undetermined as to whether the sign before them was in their favor.

As the three came on deck, they stood and stared at what surrounded them. A mist of thick composition and of mysterious property enveloped their vessel and provided neither ocean nor sky opportunity to be viewed. It was silent. No sea birds called or babbled to each other like they had the previous day. There was no sound at all. Not even from the waves. There was but a slight breeze that brought upon it a smell of a sea not one’s nostrils had familiarity with. It was thick like the breathing of some slumbering behemoth and had a taste of fish to it. Bewildered, the three looked at each other with concern and uncertainty. The smell of fish was promising, nonetheless. Yet, the method of trolling for such a mysterious fish, whilst keeping the nets reserved for it, though unable to see, posed a problem. Despite their quandaries, they stayed the coarse; both in mission and nautical aim.

As the three traveled through the fog, they heard what they could only interpret as the sound of a horn. And the coast was close. With each passing hour, as they awaited the fog’s dissipation, that sound would periodically break the shrouding silence. Sometimes it even shook the very timbers of the vessel’s deck, startling its three passengers to no end. But as youth gave in to the trappings of superstition, so it did to the virtues of courage as well and they kept their wits about them. There was no need to succumb to fear or madness on this voyage. After all, such emotions would be of no use. They would only hinder their abilities to act in the benefit of their mission. As the three waited for their signs of fortune, their patience paid off and they soon came upon a clearing in the fog. They could now see the ocean below them and, looking up, could see the stars above. It had been night for what all would perceive as being one day. A full day of fog seemed strange to them, but they could not comprehend that a day had been present at all. The sunlight brought by such a day seemed as though it were trapped inside an eclipse. Swallowed up by darkness. They simply had not taken notice ‘til now. But now there were no means to dispute that the omen remained good. It was within this clearing that the three regained a bearing of where they were. And it was determined that they hadn’t drifted off but a little from where this Cape Chessa stood. It would be any time now that these monsters of the abyss, these Perrin, would make their ascent. And with that they cast their nets in anticipation of their arrival.