A clear, moonless night shrouded the little village in silence. It was that time again, once more Alistos snuck into one of the small villages, this time his choice fell on galas, right on the edge of the Tuman. Only at the new moon and only when he needed new soldiers or wanted to collect protection money did he come along the long path that led through the mountains. The last time he came was three months ago, the villagers already knew him very well, the time had come in all three new moons ... They had given up fighting, now they only gathered in silence on the market square when the observers in the towers spotted him. No matter what they did Alistos always got what he wanted. Guns weren't much use against amphimes anyway and this time he wasn't alone, two others of his race followed silently. Slowly but threateningly, like shadows, they came to do what they loved to do: to spread horror.
There were gills on their necks and an almost transparent web of webbing stretched between the strong fingers.Amphimen, incarnate fish from the seas of the tropical south coast ... dolphins, trout, catfish, carp, minke whales and even rays and sharks. All in all, they had the ability to breathe on land with their lungs and in water with their gills, in addition they towered over humans by almost two heads and possessed an almost inhuman strength. A plague from which the simple citizens of the mountain villages had to suffer for years. You could say the creepy fish creatures were almost invincible. But like so many things only almost ... because what hardly anyone knew, they needed a water bath about every 12 hours to survive. Incarnate, no matter how, they were still sons of the sea. But in all these years no one had dared to set a trap for their tormentors or even to rise up against them. They were too cowardly for that and the amphimes too powerful.
Each of them carried a fin on their backs (except for the rays) the strength of the amphimas could be determined by their size, the bigger the stronger.Alistos' mighty shark fin was undoubtedly the largest of them all, and made him the unmistakable leader. As the son of the mighty Aquasiox, this privilege fell to him without fail.
His teeth flashed in the light of the torches that stood around the village. It was clear to the residents that this time he would choose someone again and take them to his "school". It was probably Umbriel's turn this time. Poor boy. He was one of the strongest in the village since Alistos had last taken Mellmeg with him and even helped the men with the work in the fields, although he was only eight years old. Since the death of his parents, he lived with his little sister Panu in an old house on the market square
The leader of the amphimes only took children between five and ten years with him, everyone else could feel safe, and thus their parents too. Nothing would happen to you. But those who did not give up their children voluntarily felt Alistos' amphim powers.Most of the time, however, he let his subordinates do the dirty work, he looked after his future army of kidnapped and drilled children who would then be under his command and rob and plunder for him. At least this was his plan, which he had in mind a few years ago, before he left the coast and had a kind of castle built for himself here in the deep jungle. He magnanimously called it "the headquarters".
With his head held high, he walked through the deserted alleys of galas. It was actually a beautiful and peaceful village, on the edge of the Tuman, as the villagers called the mountains behind the small village. Huge rocks towered up there, a spring sprang up here and ran down as a mountain stream between trees and bushes to galas. But the peace was broken as soon as Alistos appeared.

A low murmur went through the crowd that had gathered in the village square while Alistos and his two allies appeared there."Oh no, he probably won't want to take Umbriel with him," an old woman whispered to a young girl. People held their children close suspiciously. Everyone had the thought that their child could be chosen, but at the sight of the shark's huge teeth she remembered how useless a resistance would be.
"To the side of the pack of people!", Alistos yelled at the fearful people, who bowed silently and stepped reverently to the side. With a mocking look he watched as a swath opened up, clearing the way for him to a half-ruined house.
"Umbriel! That's your name. Come out, it's time for you to come with me!" The Amphim trumpeted up to a small window.
A while passed, it had become quiet, everyone held their breath. In the distance a dog barked but in the market place it was dead quiet, no one dared even blink an eyelid. Suddenly the old door creaked and broke the silent night, a little boy with hazel hair and a sword on his belt stood in the door."Alistos! Leave us alone at last," he shouted bravely, although the trembling in his voice was unmistakable. But no sooner had he finished speaking than he ran up to Alistos, drew his sword from its scabbard and whirled it around wildly. But Alistos, not at all impressed, just stretched out his strong arm, grabbed Umbriel's sword, tore it from his hands and hurled it behind him. He didn't care that it barely missed a man holding his son in his arms. The polished blade dug mercilessly into the hard ground and stayed upright. The only thing that moved were the three red ribbons that were wrapped around the handle and now swayed back and forth in the gentle wind. Alistos firmly grabbed Umbriel's neck, pulled him up and smashed him against the wall of a house. After a short, muffled cry, Umbriel sank down in a daze.
"Well, yes," said Alistos satisfied and smugly patted the dust off his pants, "why not glei-aaaaaahhhh!"He let out a bloodcurdling cry of pain through the night. Confused, he looked down his aching leg. Panu, Umbriel's little sister, had sneaked up on him and knocked his teeth into the flesh of his powerful lower leg.
"Leave my brother alone you stupid ugly uncle," she called up to him. She went straight up to the middle of his thighs and had to lean her head back to glare at him angrily.
"What !? Your brother ?! That is a cheeky behavior for someone like you, little one. You'd better find someone your size to play with, otherwise you will come between my biters", Alistos bared his sharp teeth. Panu looked at him with a mixture of sheer horror and a little shaky fearlessness. His shiny teeth were as long as her entire hand.
"I'm not afraid of you ... you fish!", She mumbled with puffed cheeks and kicked the amphim in front of his shin. Oberon, a muscular and intelligent-looking devil ray with long black hair that he had tied in a braid, gave a short laugh.Apparently he enjoyed watching Alistos argue with a child.
“Now it's enough!” Alistos reached out his hand to Panu and lifted it up. The little girl resisted reluctantly, ineffectively, Alistos' grip was too strong. He literally crushed her jaw and now slowly turned her head from right to left.
"Hm, pretty strong for your size and quite ready for violence. You have a big mouth too. You are a raw diamond as I see, I think you could become something, hehe something useful. I make an exception for you, I think ... Sub! Oberon! We'll take her with us, she's much more talented than her ridiculous brother. I don't think he gets up that quickly either. "Panu, whose feet were just recently kicking helplessly in the air, had finally pulled himself free and solid ground under your feet again. Offended, she rubbed her aching chin. She did not yet recognize the meaning of the words Alistos had just uttered and which were to change her whole life.Then she was in a tight spot again: Sub, an amphim with very large eyes and red scales (he was probably a kind of goldfish) grabbed her left arm and Oberon the right arm.
"Take them to headquarters," Alistos ordered triumphantly and walked through the crowd back to the dark path that led to the Tuman. Sub and Oberon followed him, with Panu dragging them backwards across the floor.
"What, you want to take me with you? No, big brother, Umbriel help me. Umbriel!" Panu shouted for help but none of the people moved. She fidgeted, but could not free herself from the iron grips of the amphimes. But Umbriel seemed to have heard Panus calling, he opened his eyes in a daze.
"What? ... my head," he rubbed clumsily over the bloody wound on his temple. At the same time he noticed that Alistos was about to kidnap his sister, "Pan! No Alistos, leave her alone! Please, she is only four. Alistos please take me in her place.No, please don't Pan, "he begged. He tried to get up with difficulty, but Alistos had probably broken something when he threw it against the wall of the house. He sank back to the floor against the cold stone in biting pain.
"No, Pan!", He fought desperately against his pain.
"Big brother," Panu screamed at him, his face smeared with tears.
"Now the screaming is over!", Alistos intervened and put an end to the noise with his own roar, some of the motionless village people startled. He gave Oberon a quick gesture with his hand. Panu then hit the edge of his hand in the neck and she tilted her head to one side, unconscious.
"Paaan! What are you doing with her ??", Umbriel yelled and tried again to get up, but this time the villagers held him.
"Let her, we all have to make sacrifices. Otherwise Alistos would kill us. Don't make him angry." Reluctantly, Umbriel watched as Alistos simply took his little sister with him in front of his eyes, there was nothing he could do to prevent it ...