(Luca)

A stream! It's so beautiful, and the water is so clear, too! It's our first real time coming across one since entering Lost Territory. And since we're a week away from the arctic forest, that means the temperature is nice and matching more to the late-spring weather we should have!

I wanna go swimming!

Oh, there are fish in it.

Maybe not.

The stream has a small bank on the other side, a cliff rising up on the other side of it. Because of the roundabout way we're traveling, rather than just going straight west, we've stayed in the forest a little longer. I'm not sure where the cliff came from. It appeared when I wasn't looking.

We continue walking along the stream, occasionally killing goblins or wolves or whatever else that draws too close to us. We aren't actually on the path right now. Lord Zack asked us when we left the City if we wanted to stay on the path, or if we wanted to go on a slight adventure away from the path and for some fun. He said that we could probably make it to another Fallen City after nightfall, but not the one we would've, had we stayed on the path.

All of us were curious about this 'fun' he mentioned, so we agreed to it, even if we knew that Lord Zack's definition of 'fun' isn't necessarily the same as ours. We're here for an adventure, just to explore a bit more of the Boundary before the end comes.

Just to have fun and experience new things. Like cotton candy and watching Lord Zack throw flaming coal.

At lunchtime, we reach a part of the creek with some really large boulders on this side of it, creating a brief 'pass' which looks sort of cool. The water in the space between is deeper, a little bit because where it passes by the boulders is a little bit higher, creating a small waterfall. There's also a little bit more space below, maybe an extra six inches deep from where it continues to flow downstream. So yeah, the water is about six inches deeper than normal in the area between the boulders and the cliff, and looks so nice and clear. The fish, too.

I bet Max wants to eat them. Silly boy.

We climb up onto them, and Lord Zack pulls out lunch, a delicious meal of sandwiches, salad, and fruit.

After lunch, we relax on the boulders for a little while, just enjoying the sun. For a bit, I watch the fish swimming by in the creek. Then I get an idea, so I pull off my cloak and set it and my staff together, before pulling off my boots. Only Lord Zack seems to have noticed. I contemplate what I should do next.

Should I just roll up my pants? Or strip to my underwear? To go swimming, I would strip to my underwear. But I'm not actually going swimming.

As I debate on this, I notice a pair of white and blue shorts sitting on my cloak. Where did those come from? Oh, well. They're perfect! So I strip off my pants and tunic, then pull on the shorts. There we go!

No one seems to have noticed me, so I crawl off of the boulders, then step up to the creek. After a few moments of debating with myself, I move a foot forward and touch my toes into the water. Brr! Cold! I do my best not to shiver.

Then, I gather up my courage and just walk into the stream. Now that I'm in the water, I bend over a little. The water goes almost all the way up to my knees. I move so I'm not too close to the edge and wait. It takes a few minutes before a fish swims by.

When it does, I try to catch it, but I fail, my hands barely missing the fish.

"Ooh!" Max exclaims. "Max wants to play fishy fishy!"

What?

I look up to find Max swiftly changing into shorts, then hopping off the boulder and into the river.

"Winner is one who catches five fish first!" Max exclaims.

"You guys are trying to catch fish with your hands?" Gavin asks.

"Yeah!" Max exclaims as I nod.

It seems like Gavin is debating something as Braden does… something. He takes off his headpiece, but that's all I can really see, other than him wiggling around up there.

"Let me join," Gavin says as Braden jumps into the water from the boulders, wearing a pair of brown and green shorts. "Huh. Where did you guys get the-oh."

He looks down, then sits back down and changes into shorts.

"Thanks, Zack," Gavin says.

"I stopped by Maelnor last night, while you guys were sleeping," Lord Zack says. "Figured you guys might have wanted to go swimming a bit, since we've talked about it before. So I popped back to Maelnor to get shorts for all of you. Except Max, he already had some."

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Oh, so that is where they came from! Cool!

Once the four of us are in position, Lord Zack calls for us to start our competition, so we do.

I do my best to catch fish, but I miss them every time. Getting the timing down isn't easy.

"Five!" Max exclaims, and I look up just in time to see him throwing a fish at Zack. "Me win!"

"Okay!" Zack calls as he slaps the fish out of the air, sending it back into the water, into the small pond after the short falls. "Max wins first place. Let's see who can win second!"

"How did you manage to do it so fast?" Gavin asks Max. "You seem to have caught every one you tried."

"Me old master," Max says as I notice Braden catching a fish, then holding it up so Lord Zack can see it, dropping it back in once Lord Zack holds up two fingers. I guess that means he caught two. "He sometimes make Max go into creek or stream and catch fish with bare hands. So me got good at it! Sometimes, if we be camping outside for some reason, and Master be sleeping, me would sneak back to the creek and catch another fish, then eat it."

He rubs his stomach, then crouches again. I guess he's going to keep catching fish.

We continue our attempts, and I continue to fail it. Braden manages to catch five next, and just as I catch my first one, Braden pulls his bow out of his Inventory and aims it into the woods, releasing several arrows.

"What's wrong?" Gavin asks as we look. "Zack!"

"I saw them," Lord Zack comments casually.

Of course he did, I bet he wanted to test us. None of us have our protective gear on, and only Braden has his weapon – ours are on the boulders.

"Max, you use magic," Gavin says. "Luca, stay in the creek behind Braden. I'm going to get my sword."

Gavin heads to the boulders as I move to behind Braden, still facing the bears that are approaching us. There are four of them.

Blaze Bear Level 15 Health: 12,187 Mana: 14,136

I have no idea what that means, but they aren't on fire, which is concerning to me, since their Status calls them 'Blaze Bears'. If their fur isn't on fire, why do they have that name?

Braden releases his arrows as Max throws Fireballs at the bears. For some reason, Braden isn't able to hit their eyes. The arrows seem to shift slightly, glancing off the sides of the bears. Whoa. It's like there's a mirage around the bears.

"Watch out for the flame breaths!" Gavin jumps off the boulders. "Water-based and ice-based attacks are the most efficient! Water Blade!"

Water swirls around his sword as I start buffing everyone but Lord Zack. Even if he were fighting, he wouldn't need the buffs. I bet he could just crush the monsters' heads with a punch or kick or heel-drop or flick.

Well, the flick would probably send them flying. Maybe? I don't know. I've never actually seen that happen before.

Gavin attacks one of the bears as I debate on if I should use my attacks or not. No one said to, though, so I probably don't need to.

Braden continues to attack the bears, his arrows curving slightly, and he mutters a swear under his breath. Max's attacks suddenly shift into a Water Jet. Did he just learn that spell specifically to attack these things?

"Fuck it," Braden mutters under his breath. "Those Aura of Heats they're running is making this difficult."

He draws his bow again, and this time, his green arrow is made of ice. Whoa. That's awesome. Braden releases the arrow, and it strikes a bear in the eye, traveling a little into it. The bear roars, then charges towards us, and Braden releases a second arrow.

Max keeps the bears at bay by pushing them back with the Water Jets. It's not actually all that powerful, but they're not seeming to be willing to just charge through it.

It makes it harder for Braden to aim, especially since only one was facing the two of us.

"Luca, come with me," Braden instructs, so I follow as he moves to try and gain a better spot to shoot.

Gavin manages to kill the bear he's facing, and one of the two remaining ones opens its mouth, then begins exhaling fire right at him.

"Stone Wall!" Gavin drops to the ground as a wall of stone rises up.

The flame breath burns against the Stone Wall, which takes the attack as Max continues his own attacks. Braden succeeds in taking out one of the other two Blaze Bears, and Gavin lunges out from behind the Stone Wall once the fire stops.

The bear roars, then begins to expel flames again. My turn!

I hold up a hand and release a Water Jet right into its mouth, negating the fires and turning a little to steam. The Blaze Bear continues its flame breath for only a few moments before it stops, and then it turns its head away, choking. Max hits it with a Water Jet of his own as Gavin strikes with his sword, Water Blade active, and Braden releases several more arrows.

The bear dies rather fast because of that. Individually, we aren't truly powerful, but as a team, we are epic. Almost as epic as Lord Zack himself.

I look up to Lord Zack, the others doing the same, and our immortal leader gives us two thumbs-up.

"Good job, you guys," Zack said. "You've heard about the Blaze Bears, Gavin?"

"Yeah," Gavin nods. "Mama Bear told me about them. She's told me about a few different types of bears that can be found in the Boundary. I was actually surprised we didn't run into the ice-based versions of them in the arctic forest."

"We did," Lord Zack says. "I just killed them all to lessen how much fighting you guys had to do. But then I realized as you were doing the competition that maybe I shouldn't just steal all the kills, especially against new monsters. The whole purpose of this trip is to experience new things and explore territory that's been conquered by monsters for a long time."

"Uh… thanks," Gavin says. "Are there more coming? Because we really don't mind you taking care of monsters, Zack."

"No," Lord Zack stretches. "You guys can get back to your fun. I'll handle anything else that comes our way. We've plenty of time as long as we aren't trying to reach the next City by nightfall."

I nod, then find a better spot to catch fish in, then resume trying it. Braden and Max do the same, while Gavin changes back into his normal clothes and takes care of his sword, then just relaxes.

After around ten more minutes of catching fish, Max, Braden, and I start goofing around, splashing water at each other. By that, I mean that Max and I use Water Ball and Water Jet, and Braden learns Water Ball just to join in.

It's a fun time for us, but I get exhausted after a bit, so I climb back up onto the rocks for a nap. Choosing to make this detour was definitely fun, and we got to fight a new monster, too! I don't mind getting to the next City late because of that.

What's the next fun thing we're going to encounter?