Riverbank

A narrow strip of muddy ground beside a fast-flowing river, swollen from relentless rain that drums on the water’s surface and sluices down the fisherman’s woolen cap. The current carries broken reeds and scraps of litter downstream, swirling around the man’s boots driven deep into the slick silt. Pale lamplight from a distant village glints off the wet reeds, but the fisherman’s own lantern has slipped from nerveless fingers, its glass cracked against a half-submerged rock. The air carries the sharp metallic scent of the river and the faintest ozone tang that lingers after the sphere’s silent passage, leaving the victim kneeling in stunned silence before his body collapses, empty of thought and motion.