At the same time, James and company were standing in awe at the magnificence of the water body in front of them.
Just like all things in this forest the breeze made no significant sounds. If not for the feeling of the wind on your skin and the water rippling off the lake's surface it would be almost imperceptible.
Ziggy clapped his hands and out of nowhere a small box surrounded by a Blue-violet karma appeared in them. He reached into the box and pulled out objects that physically should not have been able to fit in the box.
The first object was a large tarp, the second was a grill grate and a single large blanket.
All three of them watched as Ziggy pulled all three objects and laid them on the floor near the water's edge.
Ziggy, who was pointing toward the lake,finally spoke, avoiding Ethan's question. " Here is where you will be learning the basics of karma for the next two weeks and within those weeks you must complete two tasks. "
James listened with a neutral expression but the light within his eyes couldn't be missed. 'I will never be weak again.'
Uquinn's gaze was one of determination. 'I will protect my home'
Ethan felt a fire burning in his chest. 'Just wait for me Dad. I'll find you. Just hold on a bit longer for us. '
Ziggy smiled and seeing none of them shy away raised one finger. " The first task is to swim to the bottom of this lake and retrieve this box?"
Before the three could process what Ziggy said he had already thrown a box over his shoulder.
Splash! The small box landed on a thin film before piercing it and falling below the surface, invisible to everyone.
They each watched it disappear below the surface. Both Uquinn and James who were more observant and cautious immediately noticed the anomaly with the lake.
It reminded James of the thin layer of substance on soups and milk when left out for too long.
He frowned, feeling a deep disgust wriggle in his stomach. ' There is definitely something wrong with this water.'
Uquinn had similar thoughts but she was more curious about another aspect. Uquinn's vision was enhanced by her karma transformation. So her vision was naturally much stronger than most people but she still couldn't see below the surface of the water.
Ethan also noticed the anomaly but had his own thoughts. 'How do I get it before they do? My karma nature doesn't give me any additional physical benefits. Uquinn could probably transform and reach the bottom within a minute. And James, although Ziggy said he wasn't even a rank 1 karma master said he had more potential than Relen, someone who even Juraman considers a karma prodigy.'
Ziggy grinned.
He then raised his second finger. " The second task is to develop your karma and learn the basics of how to use and manipulate karma. You will have succeeded in this task when you consistently are able to feel the gaze of at least 10 different cryptids on you."
This time all three of them froze. At any given point there was at least one cryptid watching them and no matter where they looked they could not see anything.
Gulp.
Ziggy chuckled and scratched the hairs between his fishnet. " Don't be so nervous. Right now there are at least one hundred cryptids looking at me and I'm still fine. To me this is the best way to guess your improvement. Since your karma natures are different the most objective way is to let the predators decide your worth."
James laughed and shook his head. ' One hundred of those things are looking at him like food and he doesn't even seem the slightest bit fazed. But even worse, over one hundred of them are looking at us and I can't see or feel anything out of place. '
James looked into the treeline to see nothing but overlapping branches and falling leaves.
Juraman glanced up at the spoked sun which was casting less and less light through the treeline. " Alright the sun is setting and we need to get started. During the day you will practice what I teach and try to complete these two tasks before the deadline. Any questions?"
They each had questions but none of them knew which was more important to ask first.
James, the most curious and excited, started off with a rather bland question. " Where will we sleep and what will we eat?"
Ziggy lightly gestured towards the tarp and mat and the grill. " A lake has fish, the trees have wood and you have two hands and a brain. This is also your first lesson. Survival."
James felt that in that moment that smile was the most sinister thing on the planet. ' I don't even know how to make a fire on my own…'
Ziggy laughed heartily and shook his head walking away from the trio. " I'll be nearby preventing the strong ones from getting any ideas. I have nothing to teach you tonight, tomorrow morning will be your first lesson and first attempt at diving. Set up in the meantime. "
Ziggy pulled up his sagging shorts and waddled off towards the treeline leaving the trio behind.
The three of them all looked at each other.
Both James and Uquinn looked at the axe hanging off Ethan's waist and glanced up at Ethan before once again glancing at the axe.
Guessing what they were thinking Ethan sighed and unhitched his axe from his belt. " I'll get the wood for the fire and the tarp."
Ethan without much more to say darted for the treeline and the sounds of an axe colliding with treebark echoed within the silence. Each axe swing acted as a signal flare for their location to anyone who would notice.
Seeing nothing bad happening to Ethan. Both James and Uquinn made their way towards the water.
" Did you see it?" James asked.
" Yeah, I can't see below the surface" Uqinn replied.
" Do you think it's safe to touch?" James asked again.
" Probably not. There must be some sort of catch or else Ziggy wouldn't have told us we had to dive to the bottom to get his box back." Uquinn replied.
" You're right, however we don't have time to do any comprehensive tests. I have a bad feeling and I think it has to do with us not doing anything before the sun goes down."
James once again felt that familiar premonition of danger as he stood at the water's edge. The reflection of the trees and sun on the lake's surface was being quickly swallowed by darkness.
Looking at this the feeling grew stronger. James pointed towards the encroaching shadow.
" We don't have much time. I'll just repeat what I saw and you confirm. I'm sure your eyes are naturally better than mine." James looked at the spot where the box fell and continued .
" Ziggy threw that magical box over his shoulder and it pierced that weird layer covering the lake and sank to the bottom. Anything to add?" James asked, his eyebrows furrowing at the encroaching darkness.
Uquinn thought for a second before speaking. " The box was also covered with Ziggy's karma before it fell in."
"Really? How did you know?" James asked.
Uquinn simply pointed to her eyes and James nodded in understanding. " Hmm I have an idea."
James closed his eyes briefly and started evaporating his karma. A platinum colored karma completely enveloped him.
Seeing the karma surround his body James quickly stepped towards the water and reached out his hand.
As if responding to the karma that surrounded his palm. The thin film covering the lake retreated backwards exposing the crystal clear water below. ' It seemed I guessed right.'
James, taking a closer look below the exposed surface, almost wished it wasn't. He could clearly see a large school of fish the size of salmon with razor sharp teeth, their marbled scales gleamed like edges on a shredder. They were smiling at him, their eyes never leaving his outstretched palm.
They all lightly flicked their tails in place, shoving and pushing past each other in an attempt to be first in line when he touched the water.
Before James could react Uquinn had already mimicked James' action. Karma flowed from her body exposing more of the lake's surface. James could see eyes larger than dinner plates staring at them from the deeper sections of the lake but they too were quickly swallowed by the darkness that blanketed the lake.
In his vision a scaly vial filled with red appeared over the swarm of fish. It read [Grinning Koi].
The sheer number of vials that filled his vision made him nauseous.
Uquinn paid no attention to the vials, depths or the encroaching shadow; her gaze was predatory as she locked on the dinner before her. Both her right and left hands had transformed into the large paws of an apex feline predator.
Her keen eyesight quickly locked onto the largest three fish and without hesitation stuck her hands within the water and tossed them onto the shore behind them.
Seeing that their cover had been blown the smaller fish quickly swam away.
Just as she was about to plunge her hands again and step further touching the water James shouted. "No wait!"
He quickly pushed her and himself backwards away from the water which was now pitch black.
They could not even see a hint of the colorful scales of the fish that were just eyeing them. Only an inky black surface devoid of light, even the faint ripples of the lake's surface disappeared.
Snapping out of her daze, Uquinn blinked a few times before looking at James. "Thank you."
James nodded and laid his head back onto the sparse grass and rocks. 'Fuck! We almost died just now. What is wrong with this lake?'
James for the last time tonight glanced at the surface of the lake which if not illuminated by the spoked moon and ambient light of the aurora would just look like a black hole in the ground.
" Lets set up camp at an equal distance between the treeline and the lake. " James suggested unwilling to be any closer than he needed to be.
Uquinn nodded and picked up the three large fish. James looked at the fish and felt that they had too much emotion. He could see them glaring at him and Uquinn with genuine animosity. It seemed more like it was a mild inconvenience being outside of the water.
James glanced at Uquinn who was holding each fish close to her chest and smiling as if she just found gold.
"Is it just for you?" James raised an eyebrow.
She laughed and shook her head. "No, one for each of us."
Ziggy, who was sitting nearby, sighed in relief. " Those two actually have a knack for almost dying. Ah ah my blood pressure. I guess I should tell them about the lake tomorrow."
James and Uquinn returned to their original spot where they found Ethan who had already set up an open tent. Ethan was sitting next to a chunk of the tree which he had split and placed smaller shards of wood within, burning them and creating a makeshift grill.
Two large branches of wood from two trees that he cut down held the tarp and under it was the blanket on a relatively grassy patch of land.
A faint smoke and flame illuminated the darkness that was encroaching them all.
It was silent for a while.
"Thank you for the fire" James glanced at Ethan who had his head down. Ethan raised his head slightly and nodded towards James.
" Uquinn had already placed the grill on top of the burning log. Uquinn used her claws to gut the fish and place them on the grill. The fish still seemed defiant in death as their eyes never stopped looking towards them.
James felt a bit nauseous. ' Why is it still looking at me?'
The night was filled with the light cackling of moisture escaping the wood. "
Ethan was surprisingly the first to break the next round of silence as they waited for their food. " James"
James looked towards Ethan with an expression mixed with curiosity and surprise.
Ethan continued " When you met my mom. I felt like we shared a similar story. Like you related to me, or maybe could see a similar situation playing out in your own life then. Did you also lose your father?"
James' expression quickly grew grim. The silence weighed on everyone there for a few moments as James' expression twisted constantly. Eventually he sighed and a lock deep within his memory was rattled loose.
" I couldn't lose what was never there. My father left when I was a little boy."
James poked his dinner's eye with a stick. " He left me alone with my mother and did nothing to help us beyond money on my birthday. Then one day my mom got sick and I was still too young to do anything about it and he was forced to come home. I just remembered a familiar look in her eyes when your mom talked about him."
They all listened in silence as James' voice grew more vengeful; his karma lake evaporated quickly as karma rapidly escaped from his body into the air. James sighed and calmed down.
I almost lost my cool just now... ' James looked at the two who had worried expressions. It was strange how these two figures overlapped with theirs. Friends he made that kept him sane for most of his life. "Gasper…Hazel…"
His words continued into his thoughts. 'I hope you're alright. I feel like I haven't thought about you or going home at all. Would you be angry with me for wanting to stay here? Are you angry at me for not searching harder? '
Hearing him call those two names Uquinn's expression softened slightly. " I'm sure they're out there?"
Ethan who had no knowledge of what they were talking about blurted out. " Who?"
James closed his eyes feeling that the solemnity of the situation was broken and quickly ended his tragedy. " He went missing a little while after she got sick. We never found him and a part of me is glad we never did but my mom seemed to only get worse after that."
Ethan nodded. "I guess we all have daddy issues."
Everyone nodded stiffly but James realized something and pointed out. " Everyone?"
James looked towards Uquinn who also met his gaze reluctantly.
Ethan stared at the two and realized he might have said too much and tried to salvage the situation. " There's only three of us so maybe everyone is a bit of a stretch."
Ethan glanced over at Uquinn with a grin. ' God dammit Ethan you've outdone yourself again! Good Save! '
James watched them and questions began to wander around his mind. ' Is that who she was talking about on the way to the lodge? Her father?'
Feeling Curious James decided to try his chances. " Hey, Uquinn, what is your father's name?"
Ethan and Uquinn paused their staring contest. Ethan, unable to hold it in, smacked his forehead and laughed. " You don't know?"
" What? Is this some kind of com-" James was quickly cut off by Uquinn, her eyes looked as if she was in pain but they were quickly filled with a quiet acceptance.
" My full name is Uquinn Straad."
" Okay? And what does that-" James was cut off again.
" My father is Juraman Straad, The Lonely Firefighter, The Burning Man and the Owner of the Fire Garden."
James blinked a few times and rubbed his hair which was now getting taller after a lack of maintenance. A picture appeared in his mind but he quickly waved it out of the air.
In fact he physically performed the motion waving in front of his face like a lunatic. He kept fanning the image out of his head but it kept coming back. Eventually he pointed upwards into the open air above the fire and said. "Him?"