Rootsby
androidtComment by K3Master: It crawled up onto the rocks and lay there, the tentacled creature from the lake. It had taken a grievous injury and had come here to die. For centuries it had been feared and reviled, through no fault of its own. All it wished to do was live, and let live. To hunt for the tasty fish that lived and swam closer to the surface, but the humans that frequented this place that would chance to see it would call it a monster. They would hunt it and avoid it and fear it, and it saddened him.
For he knew it was not he that they should have feared, for there
was something terrible and evil in that lake, but it was not him. The thing lived in the deep waters and caverns and was almost never seen, but occasionally it would come hunting, and until now he had known to avoid it. Until now he had hidden from it when it came from its den to terrorize the waters.
This time, however, there had been a boat upon the lake when it came, and in that boat a father with his little girl, a girl that had seen him many times before, and hadn't been afraid. She had thrown fish into the lake for him, and had even talked to him, and he had come to like, nay, love, that little girl. On this day, however, she was now threatened, for that evil thing that was his nemesis had gone straight for the boat and the lives of those within would have been forfeit. So he had acted. He had attacked that evil thing and had fought with it, and the violence of that fight churned the waters and the father, seeing the activity, had taken himself and his daughter to safety, and had called all that would listen to come and witness such a thing.
And so he fought, and through a sheer force of will and love he had triumphed and destroyed that evil thing, and it had drifted to the far bottom of the lake. Yet he had not gained victory without cost, for he was mortally wounded himself, and it was only with struggle that he managed to crawl out of the waters where he did, and lay down to die.
So the people gathered and saw him there, and rejoiced that the monster of the lake was revealed and that it was finally dead, and they need not fear anymore. They, in their ignorance, cheered his demise and set a celebration to mark the day. All of them, that is, but one little girl, who stood back with a tear in her eye and silently thanked an alien creature that had given his life for her safety, though none, but her, would ever know.
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