Serial Fiction: The Astral Testament

Episode One: A Flick of the Tail

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Babazadeh rowed his tiny boat from the coastline of Tyre and wearily cast his net on the morning in the middle of the month of Tevet and spent the day laboring in the cold wetness to yield only bloated coconut husks and a rusted anchor. "Ah, El have mercy upon me," he sighed. He dragged his net, entangled by the anchor over the side of his vessel, and it landed with a heavy thud onto his tiny deck. In reaction to this disturbance, the boat rocked, and Babazadeh tensed his thighs to maintain his balance before falling over the side of his boat. He struggled with the net to release it from the anchor and cinched his dirty blue simlah over his stained white kethoneth to shield himself from the cold as he rowed out over the shallow Mediterranean. Hunger panged him. He had taken to rationing the food in his humble household for the past two days, as the fish had not found their way into his net.