The Crescent Moon Fish

One day, a man named Joe was out fishing, but nothing was biting. The lake was quiet, except for the breeze as well as the water splashing when Joe rowed the boat around. Suddenly, he felt a pull as if something was finally biting. He reeled in his fishing rod, and… A brilliant small fish hung from the hook helplessly. Joe was taken aback. He stared at the fish intensely, its black scales rippled with a blue incandescence. Its head bore the mark of a crescent moon turned with its tips pointing down towards the fish’s eyes. Holding it gently in his hands the man inspected the creature closer. It had small flecks of almost glowing white in seemingly random places. Joe quickly filled a bucket of lake water, unhooked the gasping creature and dropped it in to the bucket, where it calmly swam in circles. Joe was a sensible outdoorsy manly man. He wore checkered shirts and loved all things big and dangerous. Like axes. Joe did not appreciate the arts, cared not for spirituality, he believed once we die, we turn in to fish food and cease to exist. Joe also really enjoyed killing things with really big, and really dangerous guns. What Joe did not realise is he caught a celestial being. God-like creatures who spend their spawn phase in the various lakes and rivers of Earth. This ‘fish’ that Joe has captured communicates with the stars and changes its constellation markings and lunar crest in accordance to the skies it is under. When they reach adulthood, they swim through the sky and join the stars. However, these beings have a strange effect on humans. Short exposure at three miles can induce paranoia and mania. Mood swings, God complexes, and recklessness. No human has been near one for an extended period and no human has ever captured one. Joe decided to take the creature home. He was a selfish man and did not want to report his findings or sell the animal. He found it too mesmerising. Over a short period, Joe created the perfect habitat for the celestial being. A large tank with all a fish could ever want. He was meticulous in his care. More meticulous than he had ever been in his life. Joe stared at the fish for a long time, watching the patterns on its body shift and the crescent on its head disappearing and re-appearing. Joe was not much of a star gazer so the connection to the sky was never made. Joe started losing his mind. His mood changed with the moon and his energy entirely depended on the current position of a particular star in the constellation of Sagittarius. Joe had become very successful and Joe had also become a recluse. He was convinced everyone wanted to hurt him in some way or another, and he felt he no longer belonged with people. He had started to use incense on a whim. He had a large collection of gemstones. He was now spiritual. He believed the fish granted him powers and he was blessed (it didn’t, it didn’t really like him), and that one day he would become an all-powerful being. The fish had had enough of Joes nonsense and left. In the night, while Joe slept surrounded by crystals to cleanse his chakra for ascension, the fish swam as fast and as hard as it could. It swam out of the water, glided with no effect of gravity through the air and smashed through the fluorescent light of the tank and the tank lid. Unphased by the impact the celestial being continued on its upward trajectory through two stories of house, a water pipe, a chest of draws and finally the roof. It swam rippling blue through the cool night air towards the constellation of Sagittarius. Growing larger and larger as it did so. Until it disappeared in to the inky black of the galaxy. Joe awoke to a very smashed up and partially flooded home. His God was gone. Joe felt weirdly free. He packed his things and went on a trip far away.