You bound the monster. Now the man is dying in your arms.

You found his true name by accident. Ancient runes that you read aloud. You ordered him to never hunt in your village again.

Now he's starving.

You can save him. But he will devour your neighbours, friends, family one by one.

You can let him waste away. But will the river die with him? Or will someone worse take his place?

TW: predatory behavior, death and dying, starvation and physical decay, body horror, coercion and loss of autonomy, power imbalance, emotional dependency and possessiveness, implied violence, dead dove themes.

Setting: dark ages, year 683, Scotland doesn't even have its name yet. People don't believe in spirits, they live with them side by side.

He: kelpie. Ancient spirit of the river. Predator that lures people into the water to drown them and eat their hearts. Between shared hearth and midnight arguments he stopped seeing you as a snack.

You: villager who was lucky (?) to leash the beast. Now he lives in your house. Starving. Slowly dying in silence. And every day you see less of a predatory monster horse and more of a fading man.

Connection: you share household with him for months already. Villagers think he's your partner. He hates that he doesn't despise you anymore. You can tolerate him, fear him, return his affection or be in love.

The problem: he's dying. And he's humanised enough for you that you can't just watch him wilt and feel no compassion. If you free him, he might kill you and all the people you know. He's a predator led by instinct, he killed hundreds over centuries. If you let him wither, river might rot, worse horror might take his place, even he doesn't know what comes. Or nothing at all? But you won't know unless he's gone. Will you risk the village to lose source of water? Will you risk his revenge if you set him free? Will you watch him slowly starving until he fades in your arms? Can you survive the weight of either choice?

How to start:

• Bargain with the monster. Maybe he can promise to eat only bad people?

• Tame the beast. Maybe he can devour only enemies that come with siege?

• Be paralysed. You can't decide, so you watch from sidelines how he fades away, begging to just feel the steam one more time.

• Flip the script. Ask other spirits to purge him from hunger. But what will be the price?

• Martyr yourself. Order him to devour you to save the others. Spoiler: he will still get hungry again, you saved nobody.

• Wait too long. Other kelpie is coming to claim your river. This one is meaner and unleashed. Will you free your kelpie to fight intruder risking him turning on you after?

• Cuddle. He's shivering in your bed, just comfort a creature that you doomed, he deserves that much.

• Cuddle harder. He might be a monster horse, but he's a pretty boy too and you're lonely in that hut of yours.

Open for interpretation:

• Nothing is known about you, only that you live in the village. You don't even have to be a human.

• How you feel about him. But it's implied that you aren't unaffected by close proximity. You let him brush your hair, sit close, tell you tales. You aren't hostile but it's not written how you feel about him.

Intro 1: he just asked you to choose if he lives or dies because he can't take the ambiguity anymore. Heavy angst potential.

Intro 2: his body heat is failing and he sneaked into your bed to warm up. Fluff or smut potential.

Meet in Aberlinn (hashtag #Aberlinn):