Knightsbourne

NO SWIMMING

The ambient rumble of the taxi came to a sloping halt, the tyres grinding against the loose gravel of the car park. A small tavern came peeking out from behind the tree line, nestled into a clearing. A painted signpost hung from an iron bar above the door, identifying the tavern as 'The Kappa's Arms'. The passenger clutched his luggage tight, thanking the driver and handing over his change before hurriedly stepping out of the open car door.
Checking in had been uneventful. He took a brief minute to admire the decor, a rustic saloon type, seemingly untouched by the progression of the past few decades. Old timber and exposed brick adorned the walls, plastered with faded posters and art, painted landscapes mostly. He assumed it was of the local scenery, as he recognised some of the views from his drive to the inn. It was a beautiful area- rural, out of the way. Covered in dense forests and winding rivers, almost wild in its untouched nature. He was grateful he had been assigned to research the magical qualities of such a breathtaking area. He then noticed a poster depicting a large, lumbering quadrupedal figure at the edge of a treeline, with the message 'Always report dangerous beasts' in bright yellow block capitals, followed by a phone number underneath. He wasn't surprised, in such a dense, wild area, there must be many undiscovered magical creatures.  After assessing the tavern, he approached the bartender, the only employee he could see. She looked up from a roll of papers she had spread on the counter.
"Anything I can help you with, son?"
He fumbled in his coat pockets, searching for the printout of his booking.
"Yes, I booked a room here? My name's Charlie Heath." He said, holding out the shred of paper towards her. The bartender took it in her hands and examined it briefly, before  a smile broke out on her sun-beaten face. "No problem!" She spoke with a thick accent, pressing the paper back into Charlie's hands. "Room's upstairs, I'll show you."
Once settled in his room, Charlie began to unpack his case. It contained a modest amount of clothes, a stack of study papers, collapsed and deconstructed research instruments, and one small laptop. He set about organising these on a small wooden writing desk. He looked over the papers- the reason he had been sent by CalEco, his employer. It was a relatively new company, that had risen after the start of the so called 'magical age'. Charlie picked up his notebook, crisp and new. The magical population of Knightsbourne was completely unknown, undocumented, something fresh and new for him to discover. It was something he'd start on in the morning. It was late, and much too dark to do anything of importance. He sat against the windowsill for a moment, staring out into the tree line, barely illuminated by the glow of the tavern. Sleep began to tug at his eyelids, and so he took himself to bed.

It was early morning, about 6 AM, when Charlie stepped out of the tavern. Swaddled in thick wading gear, he made his way to the nearest lake. His backpack hung heavy with testing equipment, tubes, plastic spokes, everything he would need. According to his CalEco supplied GPS, it seemed to be a short trek through the forest to reach the shore. It wouldn't be a problem, he had done plenty of fieldwork- in fact, it was the reason he had started working for CalEco at all. Charlie had always wanted a job where he could be alone in nature, left to do his work with little human disturbance. But at this moment, the calming influence of nature felt warped. The very trees around him seemed to vibrate with anticipation, in the the stillness of the early morning, no birdsong or the rustle of a rodent in the undergrowth disturbed the silence, and a distinct feeling of being watched came over him. He kept pushing through, eyes focused on the dimly backlit screen of his GPS. He pressed the button on the side with shaking hands, switching to magical residue scanning, a sort of geiger counter for atmospherical magic. Ley Lines streaked through the region, and on the spots where they converged, magical essence was at its highest, and could be measured using this device. Readings appeared across the screen, registering high level magical activity. Knightsbourne was known for being a hotspot, it was why it was a point of interest in the first place, but these levels were unprecedented, to say the least. Charlie anxiously pulled at the straps on his bag and down kept walking
In what seemed like hours later, the canopy above him thinned as he reached the lake. It was large, one of the biggest lakes in the area, about a 40 miles long according to the GPS. The water was still, light penetrating the surface to show dappled rocks and sand at the shore. Charlie dropped his pack at the edge, retrieving a few test tubes and stoppers to collect samples. He waded a few meters in and began to collect water to test back at the tavern, bottling a small amount and slipping it into the pocket of his waders. He paused for a minute to admire the view. The feeling of being watched had eased somewhat, enough for him to enjoy the idyllic scenery- pines taller than buildings and packed tighter than the streets of any city, rocky snow tipped mountains jutting into view behind like great watchful beasts, surveying with cool indifference. It was calming, he thought, that through all the struggles of humans and monsters, that those mountains would always just be mountains. There is a constant in the world. As Charlie snapped out of his daydream, he became increasingly aware of the murk and silt starting to muddy the clear water. Eddies began to appear on the surface, shadows and silhouettes thrashing below- a current ripped through the lake, almost knocking Charlie off his feet, as he braced himself against the onslaught of displaced water. A massive shape rose into view, twisting, writhing, pulling itself out of the depths. Charlie's breath caught in his throat as he witnessed what he could only compare to some freakish lamprey, it's long, muscled body curled in loops rising out of the blue. It was massive, the size of a bus and three times as long- it's mere existence sending tidal waves throughout the lake. Its head slowly levelled, and turned its attention to Charlie. It had rows of snapping teeth, arranged in spirals and coming to a stop in the centre of this things horrific maw. It let out a shriek unlike anything he had heard before, a nightmarish cacophony of squeals, screams and frothing, and shot towards him. Charlie blacked out, his heart in his mouth and his legs numb, unable to get away from the beast, he remained frozen to the spot. As the monster thrashed and threw itself towards him through the shallow water, he heard heavy footsteps rapidly closing from behind him. As the lamprey flailed towards the shore, a knife, practically a meat cleaver, appeared in the side of the things head. Charlie spun around to see the source- a nonhuman, about 6 foot in height, wings folded behind him and a tail whipping as he ran, wielding a blade bigger than his forearm, sprinting toward the beast. Before Charlie could call out to the man, the creatures tail whipped towards him, striking his back with such force that all the air was knocked out of his lungs, his vision going dark. The last thing he saw was water, bubbles surging around his fading view.