Fisherman

"My parents were both fishermen, they'd often bring me on trips out to the sea, along with my grandfather, who was an expert at fishing. Practically my entire bloodline was comprised of fishermen, with only 1 exception."

This exception was my older brother, 9 years older than me. My father used to tell stories to both of us, but one day, a single day before this 'madman' arrived, I still wonder if he's somewhere, I hope he's better off than me. What could possibly be worse than barely scraping by in a city with execution as it's most common punishment?

When my brother left, his face was filled with joy, yet a sense of sadness. To this day, I still haven't figured out what or how he felt when he left. Is it something I'm missing? I'll probably never find it.

But him being around always calmed me. Someone that's older than me, being my friend? That's great! Especially if you get along with them, which me and my brother certainly did. We'd pull pranks on my father sometimes, hiding a fish or two whenever he counted our catch for the day.

Our father was a smart man, he'd calculated the amount of food we required, and only catch a little past that amount so that we would always have enough food, without having to exert too much energy in a one day. Hiding one or two fishes were more than enough to confuse him. We'd giggle behind a wooden crate, filled with extra fish that we'd caught.

Now that I think about it, I never put the skills I learned to use. I never had the opportunity to. The day he left was a cold one, his favorite skin fur coat around his body, a straw hat on his head, and a thick wooden basket on his back. Inside the basket was food that I'd prepared the day before. We all waved goodbye as he walked away, further down the path that me, our father, our grandfather, and my brother. We created that path ourselves.

My father planned to use it to transport extra fishes to be sold in the city by horseback. But it was only used twice, when the after my brother left, he arrived.

A man, clad in black armor. He stuck out like a sore thumb in the snow, and a lantern in his hand. He slowly approached, 'an adventurer?' My father whispered to me, but he quickly told me to stand behind him when the person arrived in the center of our home. The place where we stored all our extra fish.

He opened the doors to our storage, and rummaged through the inside. My father was quick to react, and went to question this person. But to my shock, a dark red ran through the snow under my father, it was too snowy to see, as a snowstorm was occurring at this time. We were worried for my brother, but now...

The man dropped my father to the floor, my father grabbed onto his shoulders, but his grip was weak, and he silently dropped to the floor. The only thing I remember this man speaking was 'this'll be enough.' He soon stared at me from outside the door. I hid behind it and barricaded the door with chairs and a table. But he kicked the door down, sending all our furniture into the wall.

I still shiver whenever I think back to that day. Did my brother know this was going to happen? Why didn't he tell us? Did he abandon us? I'll probably never get the answer to any of my questions. It irritates me a lot when I think about my brother.

"An entertaining story this is... yet a tragic one. Do we all share a common enemy?" The skinny figure stood, when Naomi entered the room. "Who're you!" He yelled, but his weak body couldn't even shoulder the weight behind his voice, and he collapsed to the ground, coughing.

Naomi drew her blade, but Arata frantically rushed to his friend.

Out of pity, Naomi rested her blade back into it's sheathe, and continued through the deck of the ship. "It's too dark to see... don't these guys have an source of light...?" She sighed, and made a sign using her hands...

She heard a fumbling coming from the door behind her, and she saw Arata pleading on the floor, "you're an advanced magic user? Please help me! I don't know who you are, but I'll pay you!"

A bright ball of light floated high into the dark sky, revealing a horrifying treat to the eyes.

A majestic sea creature, larger than an elephant. As thin as a snake, it slithered around under the surface of the ocean. Naomi bit her lip "tch, why is there a magic creature at this time of day?"

"I don't know who you are either, but it'd serve you well to hide inside the boat. You shouldn't stay here, it's far too dangerous."

Arata squealed when the creature surfaced infront of the boat, seemingly intending to destroy it. "So this is it's territory... you're far too weak to have your own place in the sea!" She tightly gripped her sword and leaped towards the head of the creature, 'as I expected.'

A magic creature of this caliber wouldn't warrant it having the right to occupy space, perhaps on land it could have land of it's own, but in the sea, it wouldn't stand a chance against others. Naomi swung at the creature's head, but it swiftly swam backwards and charged it's head at Naomi.

She threw an object into the air, a light blue aura surrounding it. When the creature touched the round object, it exploded into a mist that slowly froze the creature from head to tail. 'You're done for!' Naomi hardened her sword, and heavily swung down onto the top of the creature's head, sending a crack down the center.

She landed back onto the boat, the rain still pouring down on the area. Several icicles start landing on the boat, piercing it's deck, and nearly into the compartments below. 'That's not good.' Naomi started smashing the falling icicles with her blade, as she continued dodging them from below.

After a while, the mist dissipated; and the icicles stopped dropping. The creature's body continued to crack, slowly but surely. And once the mist was gone, the creature shattered into large chunks of ice. And splashed into the ocean.

"What're you still doing here? I told you to hide inside."

Arata's face was filled with shock, with an icicle landing right at his toes. He squealed again when several icicles landed on the deck. 'There's more?' Naomi drew her sword again, and started slashing at the falling icicles. She squinted towards the sky, taking care not to get water into her eyes.

"That's the last of them, are you alright?" His mouth was wide open, his eyes shaking, "y-you defeated that monster by yourself..."

"Is it really something to be surprised about? Such a weak creature wouldn't pose a threat to anyone."

"Look at the water around us, it's filled with broken ships and bodies."

Naomi took a closer look into the water, the boulders of ice sinking deeper down. Because of the thunderstorm, rain made it hard to see, but there were definitely several bodies in the water, "they're hitting the bottom of the ship, it's smearing blood all over, are you going to clean this or am I going to have to?"

"I guess nobody is a stranger to a dead body these days..."

"Ice magic's rare nowadays... who're you? And how did you get onto my boat?" Naomi cleaned her sword in the rain, "it's nothing to boast about, there are plenty of ice users in the rebellion."

"So you're part of the rebels... oh thank the gods, could you bring me to them?"

"Do you want to join?"

"Yes!"

"Then let me get you acquainted with how we work, it'll expedite the process to get you into our forces. What's your magic?"

"Stone."

"That's a mediocre magic, I might as well train you too. At least until we reach my base."

"Yes ma'am!"

"Don't call me that."