“What’s up guys???!!!?” A familiar voice entered the space of the carriage. This time it wasn’t a classmate, but a local young farmer. He was muscular, and had tan skin as well from spending time in the fields. He had blonde wavy hair and brought a brown pack with him.

”Hi Andrew.” Melisandre said.

”Nice to see you Mel!!” Andrew said, clearly recognizing her.

Alaric knew who he was. He was well known for growing some questionably legal plants in his garden. He was well regarded by the young people as being “cool” but was generally hated as the town mostly consisted of old people.

Alaric personally hadn’t interacted with him much, but he knew of him. His cocky attitude came from his father. His father was a semi-famous local mage who hunted beasts. Andrew had always bragged about receiving some basic mage training without having to pay for the school. But at the end of the day, he was still a farmer.

Andrew sat near Mel.

“Alright, we’re going now.” The driver assumed his position behind the horses and started to lead them along the road. It would be about five hours until they would get to Merchant Coast.

”So, why are you guys headed down to Merchant Coast??” Andrew broke the temporary silence.

“I’ll go first, my dad was invited to a party with the Wolf Slayer Guild, so I’m going to party with them.” Andrew said confidently.

”I’m just going to see my grandma.” Mel said.

”What about you dude?” Andrew glanced at Alaric.

”I’m going to buy a boat, and do some fishing, make some money.” Alaric answered simply.

”So let me get this straight, you have eyes that look like fish, and you are going to fish?” Andrew said slightly laughing as he said it.

”Yeah. I’m a big fishing guy.” Alaric responded.

”Sweet man. You know, we need guys that do boring jobs like fishing too in society. Give me a fistbump for contributing to society.” Andrew brought out his fist.

Alaric bumped it. He kind of hated Andrew, but there was no sense in making enemies with him. Having the defense of his father was reason enough to leave him alone for now.

The rest of the carriage ride was carried out in minor amounts of noise. Andrew and Mel made small talk, making fun of the people in the town that they both knew.

Meanwhile, Alaric was deep in thought. He would likely do his major purchasing tomorrow, so one he arrived in the city, he would find a place to stay and then purchase the next day.

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His knowledge of Esoteric Fishing was lacking other than the surface level that everyone knew. But he still wanted to go down that path. The basic gear to start Esoteric Fishing was basic. Just a rod was needed, along with some kind of bait.

What he knew and what most people knew about Esoteric Fishing was that a lot of luck was involved. It was akin to gambling with the water. But deep down, somehow Alaric knew there was more to it than that. What usually happened in the stories about Esoteric Fishing that happened, it happened accidentally to someone fishing, and then they would quit fishing to invest fully into whatever they had caught. There were only one or two major stories about Esoteric Fishing a year.

”They just don’t have it in them.” Alaric thought. He had confidence in his abilities. He wanted to pursue it fully, not quitting after initial success.

Obtaining information would be his primary goal. Once in the city, he would want to find a fisherman’s guild to talk to.

So his schedule looked like this

-get to the city

-find a place to rest

-rest

-wake up the next morning

-buy gear

-find a fisherman’s guild

He was resolute. He smiled broadly, and a glint entered his eyes. This feeling was like what he felt when he initially fished up the “thing”. He was filled with determination and spirit to complete his goal.

He knew, there was a part of him that knew he would have to succeed.

Time had passed now, they were about an hour out from their departure location.

He saw something in front of him, a hook connected to some string dangling from seemingly nowhere. The string seemingly came out of thin air.

Alaric blinked with his fishy eyes. It was still there.

“Grab it.”

”Grab it.”

Grab it.”

He found himself saying this unconsciously.

The hook looked sharp, and it had barbs in it. It definitely wouldn’t be pleasant to grab.

“Who is the bait?”

The two other passengers suddenly looked at Alaric, their heads transformed into that of fish.

”When is the fisherman going to come?”

The other passengers asked suddenly.

Shakily, Alarics hand seemed to instinctively reach out for the hook, slowly.

Alaric tried to hold his arm back, not wanting to be hooked on it.

But it was futile. His hand was inches from the hook.

Splurt

“AAAAAAH!!” Alaric cried out in pain as the hook went through the palm of his hand. It was now stuck in so that if it was pulled out it would cause great pain.

Flop Flop

Alaric looked down, there was a dark blue fish flopping on the floor of the carriage.

The fish stopped flopping and spoke.

“The fisherman and the fish have become one.” The fish said meagerly before flopping out of the carriage.

Yank

The hook was now traveling upwards, Alaric’s arm in tow.

Alaric tried to resist, pulling his arm down, but it only made it worse.

Suddenly, with a powerful yank, the hook fully dislodged the arm from Alaric’s body and pulled it through thin air.

He returned to reality frothing at the mouth,

The two other people in the carriage gave him a strange glance before returning to their conversation, spoken without the heads of fish.

Alaric didn’t know what to think. It was clearly some fishing adjacent psychosis, but he didn’t know why or how it happened, or what any of it really meant. But he internalized it. It was no daydream.

A couple hours had passed on the trip now, and they stopped at a campsite where other carriages were parked.

“Here’s your bread.” The driver opened a chest in the carriage with a key, and from inside he took three half loaves of bread.

He gave one loaf to each of them.

Alaric quickly ate his bread before talking a stop at the campsite to use the restroom.

After about ten minutes they were ready to head back on the road.

They were one hour away from the city.