[[Nykel]] made his way through the forest following a rough trail and darting between bushes as he expertly dodged obstacles and imaginary projectiles. With agile movements, he deftly sidestepped a series of deadly branches yelling "Zwooh!" on the last one, stepping triumphantly into a clearing.
He rapidly crouched and narrowed his eyes, he had almost reached his destination. At the other end of the clearing he could see a partially closed door, his prey was likely hiding behind that door, he had lost her when they crossed the river, as he almost tripped over a stone, but now she was at his reach again.
In front of him stood a dangerous stand of drying clothes, now the only foe separating him from his objective, he silently observed and calculated his next move.
Quickly springing back to his feet, he feinted an attack towards the hanging clothes, suddenly turning it into a tumble to pass underneath this mighty foe. One tumble was not enough to land at its back, so he tumbled again and again until he was facing the back of the line of clothes.
Nykel stood and almost tripped, "Agh!" he yelled slightly dizzy from so much tumbling, but quickly regained his footing and yelled raised his hands in defensive position, holding two makeshift daggers he slashed the air "Woosh!, Zap!, Woosh!".
Moving his hands and daggers behind him he began circling the row of clothes while dodging invisible attacks. After more than one full circle and returning for to his starting position, he feinted a tumble and jumped back with a grin in his face "Hah! You fell for it! ... Water... Jet!!!!" he yelled as he thurst both his hand forward in an arc tracing movement.
Nothing happened, no water came out and definitely no slicing jet of splashing water spun out of thin air cleanly cutting everything in two its path for twenty... no, a hundred meters, yes, a hundred meters, still, Nykel smiled broadly as he pictured a slash that ran from head to toe, slicing the imaginary beast in two.
"Ha ha!, take that!". His mind picturing how the fierce and unmoving sea beast had exploded in a million pieces, splashing meat and bone everywhere.
Nykel blinked in surprise with his arms still extended, they were pointing straight at the center of the drying clothes, with the house aligned directly behind it "Oops!, the house was right behind", while talking to himself he made a swift move with his hand angling its path slightly to the left, as if directing the imaginary water jet "Lucky I... emm... angled it correctly", content with this he nodded, smiled wide again.
Moving his hands to his hips in a power pose, he triumphantly smiled, proudly looking at his surroundings now safe from sea beasts.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
As he was caught in contemplation of the spectacle playing in his mind of flying meat and dirt caused by the imaginary explosion, a head popped out of the window, "[[Nykel]], are you coming or what?" said the head of a girl as she looked impatiently at [[Nykel]].
"Yes, yes, I'm coming!" [[Nykel]] said as he jumped into action, advancing through the clearing while skillfully dodging imaginary bits of gore laying on the floor.
Upon reaching the entrance, when [[Nykel]] was about to push the door open he jumped back and stopped for a second. Narrowing his eyes, he carefully pushed pushed the door open from the outside and slightly stepped back, squinting his eyes and looking inside.
As he was standing a step away from the door, he heard something and looked up just in time to see a waterfall of icy water falling to him, and Syne waving from the above window.
---
Drenched in freezing water as he was, he couldn't stop a shiver while he looked at Syne who hadn't wasted a second to come downstairs to mock him and was still rolling on the floor laughing,
"I won't fall for it next time!, you'll see..." he mumbled.
Syne stood gesturing him to come closer "You'll have to stop daydreaming first ... hah... haha..." she said while visibly shaking in laughter.
It wasn't the first time she had played a similar prank on him, but the trap had always sprung into action as he entered her family's house, never *before* entering. He'd have to be on the lookout for traps outside the house from now on, maybe the innocent looking clothes hanging outside wouldn't be so innocent next time he came.
Smiling, Syne gestured to [[Nykel]] towards the cooking pots, "Wait here, I'll bring a towel and some ice on this morning's bump".
"I don't need ice, it's not like I'm hurting or anything!" [[Nykel]] replied.
"Why were you then so mad about it this morning?" Syne replied with one eyebrow raised.
"Because it is in easily visible on my forehead! My appearance should give away nothing to the enemy so that they cannot take advantage of weaknesses!" replied [[Nykel]] offended.
"Well then you shouldn't go hitting windows with your head should you?" Syne replied as she briefly disappeared inside.
When Syne returned she was carrying a towel and what he assumed was ice wrapped in a damp cloth, [[Nykel]] waited narrowing his eyes, he his gaze throwing daggers at her.
Syne handed him the towel, "Aww, I'm sorry [[Nykel]]. I didn't think you would actually hurt yourself fleeing from a ghost", Syne replied, trying to look remorseful but also failing to hide her grin.
"Yeah, yeah... just don't let it happen again or I'll be told off again by granma" said [[Nykel]]. "She's always scolding me for not paying attention to where I'm walking and will assume I bumped my head against a branch..."
Syne waited for him to finish with the towel before
"You know she ain't wrong, you run around the city chasing imaginary sea beasts not paying attention to where you're going" said Syne as she placed the icy cloth against a bulging bump on his forehead. "You know, I assumed you'd be ready for it, I was very surprised to see a ghost would scare you so much" she said grinning.
"I only got scared when you yelled, I could tell easily it was you", [[Nykel]] said holding the chunk to his bump.
"I promise, next time I'll just tickle you instead", Syne replied, winking at him and scurrying into the house.
"That won't work either!" said [[Nykel]] as he followed her inside.