"Are you sure there is anything here?" Alyra asked, looking at the bright blue lake.

It was a beautiful, calm and quiet place surrounded by trees, like so many spots in this forest. There were so many natural glades here, and not to mention all the, now abandoned, man... elven-made clearings. Over the past few weeks, we had figured out why most were abandoned.

The white dire bear that we had encountered a few weeks earlier is called Grudon and has been around for a long, long time. Apparently, the bear had been driving away the wood elves from those clearing for centuries now. But this place, this lake was the only place the bear never even comes close to, which is why the village was built very close to it.

But not too close, as to not disturb some strange, magical fish that lives there. Nowadays that story is just a fairy tale told to children. But hey... maybe it's true... I hope...

"I mean this has to be the lake," I responded.

"Yeah, but I mean is there actually anything in that lake?" Alyra asked.

"Only one way to find out," Ilmar said as he threw out the fishing rod he had brought.

"And you really think some mystical, magical fish will just fall for something like that?" Alyra asked her brother, putting both hands against her hips.

"I dunno, better than just waiting for it to randomly show up at the surface isn't it? Maybe you two should have brought some too!" Ilmar complained as he shook the fishing rod a little.

"Sure, sure. While you do that we'll actually try and find a way, alright?" I said.

"Oh shut it!" Ilmar responded.

I sat down beside Alyra, looking at the lake.

"So any ideas?" she asked.

"Hmm... 'at noon the metallic scales may glisten from the sun... when needed it will emerge... its scales it shan't give up for free... a monster from the depths, that's what it is'... Something like that, right?" I recited part of the fairy tale, lines from a short poem that had been written for who knows how many years.

"And what exactly does that tell us?" Alyra asked.

"That it's metallic, I guess? And that it will emerge when needed... but what does that even mean? It also tells us that we have to do something to get its scales... but what? Do we have to fight it? Or solve a riddle?"

"Maybe the fairy tale tells us more?"

"Nah, I checked... all it said was: 'and may you overcome the trial so it shall give what you seek', or something like that."

"So some trial... and it will come when needed... but how does it now when it's needed?"

I picked up a stone and threw it into the lake.

"No clue," I said while throwing in another stone.

I watched it sink into the lake as I thought about how to summon this magical fish. But the water suddenly began to whirl around, forming a whirlpool. And emerging from said whirlpool was a large, black fish. Its scales seemed to be made from metal and reflected the sunlight. As for the fish's form... it seemed to be a koi fish with overly long silver whiskers or barbels or whatever they were called.

The large koi fish looked at me with its white eyes, the small irises focused on me.

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"Hello," I said.

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The fish let out a ba sound. I did the same, pressing my lips together and then opening my mouth. It seemed like the large koi fish smiled when it heard me doing the ba sound as well.

This can't be the trial, right? No way it's that easy...

The koi fish's eyes suddenly turned red and it spat out a thick jet of water. I jumped out of the way and where I had just stood was a hole.

"You angered it!" Ilmar yelled to me.

"Maybe it was your attempt to fish it out with your trusty fishing rod?"

"Oh ha ha ha," Ilmar said.

But why is it angry all of a sudden? Did I really anger it? I barely had time to think while trying to constantly dodge jet of water after jet of water. And why is it only going after me? The next jet of water nearly hit my head. Shit... Alright, no think all attack!

I let my wood elven magic mark spread over my body, used [Predator's Agility] and [Predator's Strength] to sprint towards the fish at a speed where the ground beneath my feet cracked slightly. When another jet of water was about to hit me I jumped up, spun around on my side in the air and brought down my fist onto the fish's head.

A metallic cling rang through the forest, echoing through it. My ears were ringing and my hand hurt like hell. I let out a gasp of pain before collecting myself and realizing that I was in trouble. One of the koi fish's silver whiskers had wrapped around my leg like a tentacle and the whirlpool was forming again.

I began kicking the fish's head violently, hoping it would release me, but to no avail. All I managed to do was drive it closer to the lakeside... the lakeside where my two closest friends were.

"I might need some help here!" I called out while trying to get the koi fish closer to the lakeside.

Alyra was looking around hectically, same as her brother. Thanks for the help here, guys... Guess there's nothing they can do...

I once again hit the head of the fish with my full strength. The shock of the impact went through my entire body but there was now a dent in the head of the fish. Oh and my hand hurt like hell, yet again. To my luck, the whirlpool disappeared and the water calmed down again. Thank god... or whatever...

The large koi fish had stopped moving and now just floated at the surface of the lake. Is it dead? Or maybe unconscious... I grabbed the strange fish by one of its whiskers and jumped off it, nearly not making it all the way to the lakeside. Once there I dragged the fish out of the water and threw it against a tree. The tree cracked and threatened to fall over.

I heard Ilmar whistle.

"See, you didn't even need our help," he said.

"Shut it," I responded as I approached the koi fish, its metal-like, black scales shimmering in the sunlight, its silver, tentacle-like whiskers limp on the ground and its once red eyes closed.

"Well then you overgrown fish, give up your scales or perish while trying to defend them!" I declared loudly.

For a short moment, I waited for a response of some sort...

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Nothing came. I waited a bit longer, expecting to hear another ba.

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But still, nothing came from the koi fish. It's still breathing so it must be knocked out...

"Guess this is it then..." I mumbled to myself as I burst forwards and brought down my foot onto the fish's head.

The pain vibrated through my body but it was bearable. On the other hand, the fish's head looked like it had exploded. Red blood emerged from the wound, dripping onto the ground and painting the grass red.

"Is... is it dead?" Alyra asked.

She had approached a few seconds after I had kicked the fish's head.

"I think so..." I said as I studied the body before me, there was no movement at all... but wait would there even be? ... Ah who cares.

"Let's take it back to the village," I said as I grabbed it by one of its whiskers and dragged it along with me.

The other two nodded and we made our way back to the village. I was breathing quite heavily, exhausted from fighting this fish. I hadn't noticed since I do all of my mana management unconsciously but that last kick took quite a lot out of me. How hard is this thing? I can destroy the thickest of trees with a simple punch... guess those scales must be really crazy! I smiled.

Once we arrived in the village we were welcomed by the hunters that had just returned from their hunt, their mouths dropped open when they saw me, a ten-year-old boy with a giant, black fish on his back. I gave them a smile and walked past them towards my father, who looked at me with wide eyes.

"We got the fish, now we can kill that bear, right?" I smiled at him as well, with what might have been a slightly crazed expression on my face.