Codex

2 - The Water Elemental

We left Aquan in a carriage, on our way to the mission. "Wow! Eric, this atmosphere could kill me! Say something, anything!" Donna advised. It's not like she was alive to feel the awkwardness anyway.

Say something like what? I asked her in my mind, staring at dad. He seemed nervous, like he was guilty about something. In fact, the more I peered at him, the surer I was. The mage trainee, Dawn, looked a little uneasy. She would break eye contact with me the moment our eyes met. Something was afoot here.

"I don't know. Talk to the girl, make your first friend."

You really got me down as a social reject, don't you? I asked, but the conniving little ghost didn't reply.

"Hey, Dawn," I called out to her. She looked at me a little jumpy. "You got a boyfriend?"

"Ugh," my dad grunted in disgust, "you have no tact at all, huh? Are you really my son?"

I played like I was alternating which leg I crossed and accidently mashed my heel into his foot. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were there."

He smiled despite the pain, "Is that so?" and raised his hand, engulfed in fire.

"R-remember, remember the truce, okay?" Dawn reminded us of that demon in human skin. A very convincing way to end our inevitable scuffle.

We leaned back, calming ourselves. "Well?" I looked to my father, "what's this mission?"

"To eliminate some wolves. Their numbers have been getting out of hand and the villagers' livestock are being eaten."

"I see. Well, wake me up when we get there," I said and found a comfortable position to sleep in. At around noon I was woken up. We arrived at a village in the east. A quiet peaceful place, unlike the hustle and bustle of Aquan,

Our client, an old man, pointed us towards the woods a little to the north. We entered the forest then eventually came across a small stream of water. "It'll be faster if we split up. Dawn and I will scour the hills. You can keep searching along the river. If you run into any trouble, just use a flare spell to get my attention. Same for you, Dawn."

She nodded, and we all split up. After maybe a half hour trek, I came across a lake. I rested on the bank for a while, and unbeknownst to me, there was indeed a creature around these parts.

Something wrapped around my ankle and pulled my ass into the lake before I had a chance to react. I panicked a bit, but made sure to hold my breath. I was being pulled all directions, but ultimately, I was sinking farther and farther down that watery grave. The sunlight no longer touched me at one point and I could see nothing around me. Suffocating in a random lake wasn't really my cup of tea, so I decided to get out.

It didn't take long for me to realise that a water elemental had grabbed me and was trying to drown me. To counter this, I summoned an ice elemental. Its speciality was rather effective against my foe. It froze the dense shackles of water the lake monster used and then shattered it, allowing me free movement. I simply swam back up to the surface whilst my ice elemental held back the water elemental. I got out, soaking wet, looked back and sighed. Well, this is new. I wonder how I should defeat it?

"Try something new," Donna said, wanting to be entertained.

Something new, huh?

Both my hands lit up and I summoned something – or someone rather – I hadn't seen in a long time. "Eric!" she hugged me, despite not having a single piece of clothing on, and being as soaked as I was.

"Ugh, this thing?" Donna was a bit repelled by her for some reason.

"Hey, Hydra, nice to see you too," I greeted her.