Walking along the bottom of the lake, I realized this was pointless.

I couldn’t see very far. The lake was just that dark. So dark that even my eyes couldn’t make much out.

Which was really concerning, since the lake wasn’t dirty at all. The waters were clear as could be. My eyes didn’t sting one bit down here, and the water tasted perfectly fine. Almost too fine. Fine enough to drink without boiling, even.

Yet…

Tiny bubbles ran out of the corner of my mouth and up my face, passing my eyes as they rose to the surface.

There were huge fish in here. The type of fish that told me these rivers and lakes weren’t fished at all. What little fishing the ducks did had barely touched this place’s ecosystem. Yet… such a thing only made it weirder.

If these supposed fish that kept attacking and eating the ducks really existed, there was no reason for it.

There was more than enough food in these waters, and around them, to subsist on. No matter ones size or their numbers.

They didn’t need to eat or kill the ducks. Not with this level of food available to them.

Which meant whoever, or whatever, was terrorizing the ducks…

Was doing it out of pure malice.

Not a good sign, but it was the only thing that made sense.

I continued walking deeper into the lake, and glanced upward. To follow some of the tiny bubbles that kept leaking out of me. Like always my body seemed to produce a constant source of air, somehow. It made no sense, and made me feel unsettled and itchy. The deeper I got, the more my lungs felt like they wanted to explode as the air within them shifted and squeezed.

Every so often I had to let some of the air out, lest they actually did explode. I’d survive them doing such a thing, of course, but it was annoying.

Wanting to sigh, I squinted up at the light. The sunlight was doing its best to try and pierce the depth’s darkness… and honestly did better than you’d think. It didn’t reach down here at all, but it did reach a few dozen feet at least.

From what I could tell, the entire lake was this dark. It wasn’t just certain sections, or angles. I had swam around quite a bit, and even ventured up and down some of the larger rivers… hoping to find some hint of these fish I needed to catch.

It was a little odd I’d not found them yet. If just large predators, you’d have thought one would have at least showed itself by now. I’d been swimming and walking along the bottom of the lake for most the day. Making enough noise, and disturbing the currents, that anything of decent size should have sensed me.

My lack of smell was likely the main cause. Even in water, I didn’t have a scent. Even if I struck an artery, it’d not have mattered.

Yet I wasn’t sure what else to do here. It’s been almost a month since the ducks had lost anyone to these predators, and none seemed to care to remember the last time they saw them either.

It wasn’t the ducks fault really. They were just scared. Too scared to confront them in any way… so they just…

Kept on living, in fear. Unable to do anything else.

More bubbles floated past my face, and I blinked the weird tickling sensation they gave me away as they rolled along my eyes.

Really. It was as if my body treated water as some kind of poison.

I mean… Mother had always said water was its own form of poison, so I believed it. But…

Pausing a moment, I shifted as I glanced around. I could see huge boulders and crevices around me, but not much else.

I felt as if I was deep in the lake, but I knew I was probably not at the center just yet… but…

Feeling the current, I raised an arm and allowed it to float a bit. Yes. There was definitely some kind of underground river here, nearby. Likely leading into the earth and into cave systems and other such submerged locations.

Places I’d be fine in, and survive in, but…

In this darkness it’d be a pain. And the ones I needed to protect couldn’t afford me to spend the next few days making my way through such a series of tunnels and caverns.

Which was too bad. I’d have actually enjoyed such a venture.

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Turning back, I began climbing the small slick hill I had just ventured down.

It was too bad my body couldn’t adapt to become a fish. I could force the air out and suck in water, to the point where my lungs would breathe in and out even while submerged… but I couldn’t filter and taste the water like fish could. I couldn’t hunt by the scent of the water alone. My lungs could adapt to water, but that didn’t mean I breathed the water.

I could drown, that was all.

“Drown,” I bubbled as I spoke. Funny.

Tons of bubbles flew up as I pushed off the bottom of the lake, and began to swim.

I didn’t swim too quickly, or strongly, but I still shot away from the bottom of the lake. Like usual my strength was a little too much sometimes. With only a few waves of the arms, I reached the surface.

Breaching the surface, I settled as I floated and glanced around. I found I was actually farther in the center of the lake than I had originally thought. The distant banks and beaches were just small blurs in the distance.

“The water feels good at least,” I admitted. It was chilly, but not so badly it bothered me. I could tell some of the water was definitely from snow-melt though, based off the temperature. Not a surprise, considering the distant mountains and their white peaks.

Wading along the surface, I wondered if I really was going to have to just… wait. If they wouldn’t come to me, and I couldn’t search them out, then… well…

What else could I do?

The worst of this was if there really was more than one of these fish predators, it could take a long time to hunt them all.

Getting my bearings, I used the distant mountains as a guide. I turned, and began swimming towards the large river that led to the duck’s village.

Really. My options were a little too limited.

I didn’t want to re-locate them. Couldn’t until I gave it enough effort, anyway.

I didn’t want to destroy this area. The land was healthy. A vital ecosystem to this area. If I destroyed this lake… well…

It’d cause hundreds of square miles to become unlivable. Uninhabitable. That’s how much damage it would do.

And even though an odd lake, strangely dark, it didn’t seem that bad. The fish living in it were fine. The water safe to drink. The animals that survived thanks to the lake and its rivers were also healthy and fine. I had studied the elk herd Lilly had mentioned earlier. They were numerous, and healthy. Stocky. And their horns had been healthy and large.

If not for the ducks being very adamant that they were being terrorized, I’d have thought this was a peaceful land.

Picking up my pace as I swam, I silently hoped something attacked me. From underneath. From the depths.

Yet even as I drew closer to the river and rocky beaches of the lake, no attack came.

Splashing as I slowly strode out of the lake, and onto the ground, I sighed.

This was hard for me.

“I know right?”

Pausing, I frowned as I turned to see who had spoken.

Floating not far from where I’d just emerged, was something strange. Something white.

White and naked.

Frowning at the young girl, I hesitated as I watched her float. She looked as if she had just floated out of the river, based on the direction she was floating towards. The current wasn’t too strong, and it was carrying her along the bank of the lake.

Shifting, I studied the girl’s body. She was indeed naked, but that wasn’t the strangest thing about her. Her skin looked translucent. Especially around her chest and stomach. She had long thick hair, which was a startling white in color. The large locks of white hair looked too dense to be floating as easily as they were doing.

“What are you doing…?” I asked her. She was sprawled on the water’s surface… just floating aimlessly.

“Dying,” she said.

My frown deepened, and I checked her again. For injuries.

She didn’t seem to have any. “Doing a bad job of it. I suggest rolling over, drowning is easier when you can’t breathe,” I suggested.

“I have gills.”

“Ah… that would make it difficult then,” I said. Must be near her neck or something, hidden by her locks of hair.

She nodded, and made an odd noise as she did. As if she had wanted to whine instead.

Watching the girl float, I stayed still as she neared the edge of the lake. It took her a few minutes of floating to reach the edge of the beach, and her head bonked into a large rock… as she turned her head a little as to glare at me. As if I had been the one to hit her head.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Vim. I’ve taken up the mantle of protector,” I told her.

“Protector…? Of what?” she asked with a frown.

“The Society.”

“Ah. That stupid thing those ducks belong to,” she said as she understood.

I see.

“Hm. So it is,” I agreed with her.

The girl frowned… then rolled over. Thanks to how shallow the water was, she easily stood up… and I once again noticed the way her skin was somewhat see-through. I could see muscle, bones, and even some of her organs.

Such a strange trait. There were many fish that had such traits, but I had figured most were deep water ones. Not stuff found in lakes.

She tilted her head at me, and her long thick hair stuck to her body. It covered her enough to almost seem intentional, as if acting as clothes. “Then… that means you’re here to protect the ducks,” she then said.

I nodded.

“From us,” she added.

I nodded again.

The girl frowned, and then pondered for a moment… then she smiled. “So… you’ll kill me?” she then asked.

Before I could respond, the girl jumped back into the lake. She swam away with a speed that defied her small body, disappearing into the darkness.

Watching the lake settle from her splashing, I was glad to have verified their existence… yet…

At the same time…

Suddenly a little cold, I sighed.

Wonderful.