A Nøkk on Death's Door † Dennor

A Hike in the Wrong Direction

Mathias felt the beautiful music pulling him towards its direction. He didn't even notice when his foot left the trail. His ears were his guide now. His heart was pounding, but his brain was unresponsive as his ears led him further and further into the dark woods. Mathias continued walking towards the violin, trampling over the untouched wilderness without even acknowledging the fact that he was losing his way back home. 

He was in a trance unlike any other, in which his ears were acting as his brain, and his brain was simply vestigial. Mathias had been walking for a while, the music growing louder and louder as he seemed to be getting closer to the source of the beautiful music. Eventually, his ears led him to a path with no trees. He continued down the path until he reached the bank of what seemed to be a pond. 

Mathias was still in a trance from the gorgeous music, so he didn't notice the figure playing the music in the pond as he creeped closer to the edge of the water. Every cell in his body was urging him closer to the sound, and it wasn't until he took a step into the pond that he snapped out of his trance. Mathias shook his head in disbelief as he noticed that he had taken a step into a pond. When did he walk to a pond? Last thing he remembered was being on the trail. 

"What the hell..." Mathias muttered, still looking down at his feet in the water, completely unaware of the creature a few feet away from him. The music had stopped now, and Mathias was thoroughly confused. Closing his eyes, he pinched himself, hoping this was simply a strange dream that he could wake up from. It wasn't until he opened his eyes that he saw the someone standing, frozen in the water. Letting out a scream, Mathias backed away from the pond onto the bank. 

Mathias rubbed his eyes. In front of him, like something from a nightmare, was a creature staring at him from the water. It's top half was human, with skin that was glowing with a white aura and ice blond hair. It had dark violet eyes with no pupils, that shimmered in a way that made Mathias's heart pound. Mathias couldn't see its bottom half, as it was wading in the murky water, but he could imagine that the creature definitely wasn't human. Its light pink lips were parted slightly and its eyebrows were raised, as if it were just as shocked as Mathias to see another creature in the woods. It was holding a dark brown violin that was covered in moss and green algae, which Mathias figured was the same violin that lured him to the spot in the first place. Mathias had never seen a creature so beautiful, yet terrifying, in his entire life. 

After a few seconds of staring, the creature seemed to snap out of its trance and immediately dissapeared under the murky water. "Wait!" Mathias called out, reaching out an arm as he lost sight of the alluring creature. He kept staring at the spot where it stood, shaking in a mixture of fear and intrigue. After a few more minutes of waiting for it to reappear, Mathias decided it was time to go home. He no longer wondered why people had warned him to go into the woods. He no longer doubted the existence of spirits.

Mathias ran as fast as he could back onto the trail which he came from, now realizing that the horror stories told by the elders were true. Now that he knew he wasn't alone, he was freaking out. His mother was right. 

As he ran out of the forest and back into the village, he thought about what had happened. That creature had nearly lured him into the water, but it stopped. Why? What was it? Why was it so enticing?

As soon as he reached his house he bolted upstairs to his mom's library and took out a book on Danish mythology and folklore. He needed to find out what he had just seen. He furiously flipped through the pages looking for what he had just seen and couldn't find anything as remotely beautiful as the being that he had just encountered. Slowing down, Mathias flipped through the pages again, finally stopping when he saw a page with a scary-looking creature holding a violin. It looked nothing like the creature he had seen, but he decided to read it regardless.

Nøkk (Nokken/Neck/Nixie)

A male water spirit who playes enchanted songs on the violin, luring people to drown in lakes or streams. However, this spirit is not necessarily malevolent; in fact, many encounters exist that indicate the Nøkk is entirely harmless to its audience. The Nøkk species are said to grow weak if they do not have regular contact with a water source. It is difficult to describe the actual appearance of the Nøkk, as one of its central attributes is shapeshifting. It is said that he does not have any true shape. He usually shows himself as an unclothed man playing the violin in brooks and waterfalls but can also appear to be treasure or various floating objects or an animal.

Mathias's mouth dropped open in shock after reading the page. The beautiful man in the water was trying to drown him? Then why did he stop?! Mathias wanted answers. Not wanting to put himself in danger, but also wanting desperately to see the ethereal Nøkk again, Mathias debated what to do in his head. Reaching into his pocket, he took out a coin. He decided he'd flip to see if he should go back, or if he should avoid the forest all together. Heads for staying home, tails for going back to the pond. 

Mathias flipped the coin up in the air and watched as it hit the ground, spinning for a few seconds before finally landing with the tails side up. His mind was made up. He was going to pursue the Nøkk.