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“Family trip, family trip, a family trip for the three of us~!”

Anna asked Jen, “Why do you sound more excited than us?”

After being convinced by Anna to take them along. The family had left the borders of the village and began their journey upstream to see if they could find anything. They planned to look for at most two hours, so they could get back before it got late.

“Cause it's a combination of my favourite things, hanging with husband and daughters, solving a mystery, enjoying the open breeze, and potentially doing something good for my friends.

They could be more open with how they spoke because they were away from the village and other people in general.

George sighed but still wore a smile, “Just be careful where you step… I’ve actually needed to catch you twice…”

Luna commented, “That is impressive Mum.”

“Thank you, Luna.”

Syrus said, “I don’t think she was complimenting you.”

Eva added, “I… have to agree.”

“Oh…” Jen acted hurt at her daughter's rude remarks, while Syrus and George had a small chuckle.

They continued up the river and while they were searching for anything wrong, they were also enjoying the view, pointing out landmarks and interesting land features, and talking about what kind of wildlife lived in these parts.

The river was an important part of the village. All farming towns had to have some sort of nearby water source. The river travelled through the farms and small channels of water were dug out to spread the flow of water.

Then Syrus noticed something upstream, “What’s that in the water?”

It looked like something had mixed with the water, whatever it was it had faded away by the time it had reached where they were currently standing. The part of the water seemed darker, only a small segment but as it trailed further up the river where it mixed less the substance was darker.

“Ink maybe?” Said George.

Jen replied, “Ink, a chalk substance, or another type of black liquid, it could be any of those with equal likelihood.”

Lilly muttered, “Weird.”

The family continued to walk, following the trail. However, it was taking much longer than they expected to find the source. They were still on the lookout for other problems but nothing had been noticed. The sun dropped further and now roughly over two hours had passed.

Syrus said, “It’s quiet.”

“It’s just getting late,” George replied, “Maybe we should start heading back…”

Lilly replied, “No.” And gripped George’s hand which she was holding.

“She’s right, we can’t let this mystery be half solved!” Jen said jovially, but she was honestly concerned about what his substance was. They had been following alongside this black trail–which darkened in colour–for roughly thirty minutes, maybe closing in on an hour and they still didn’t find the source. While it did mix with the water, it struggled, only after a long stretch of water did it finally do so.

Luna asked, “Why hadn’t anyone checked up the river before?”

Jen replied, “I think some people have, but they might've not noticed anything.”

George said–beginning a small back and forth–“They probably turned around before they even saw the trail or anything of note”

“The inky trail might not even have reached the location where we had seen it.”

“Not to mention this is technically more dangerous territory, and the only reason we felt comfortable being here with you, Anna, is because of the time and seasons.” George began to use this opportunity to teach Anna a little more about the area.

Jen always ready for a teaching lesson continued, “Not that is usually dangerous, but there are times when activity is high and because of that it is deadly to be around here alone, and because we can’t tell when that happens easily. It is just safer to stay away most of the time when alone.”

George lightly squeezed Anna’s hand, “You got that Anna?”

Luna answered, “Yes.”

“Good, now please don’t try to come here without supervision.”

Jen let out a worried sigh, “You nearly gave us a heart attack when you said you would sneakily follow us…”

As George and Jen finished their little back and forth. They came across something they didn’t expect.

George held Anna tight and pulled her back, shielding her.

Jen stumbled back, “George…!”

With their extra bit of height, they noticed moments before Syrus.

There was a dark puddle of goo in the river, and resting half-submerged in the river was a collection of black bones and a darkened reddish tar.

George quickly assessed the situation, “Wait! I think it’s dead.”

They didn’t let up their guard and stayed vigilant. George let go of Anna and stood in front of her as he and Jen moved up.

Lilly asked, “Is… that…?” Seeing something she only ever saw in books.

The exact definition of what a monster was changed from place to place, mostly due to the power in charge, but in the eyes of many the mental image was the same.

A large creature–sometimes humanoid, sometimes bestial–made up entirely of black bones stitched together by a thick sticky red tar-like substance. They were a direct hostile danger to all forms of life.

As Jen and Geroge examined the situation, bouncing ideas back and forth. Syrus stared directly at the monster corpse half submerged in the water.

[This was done on purpose….] Syrus said resentfully, her hand clamped into a fist.

Luna was confused and upset, [What makes you say that?] She didn’t see any signs that indicated human involvement. Yeah, it was weird a monster corpse would be here, but you wouldn’t declare that this was done with purposeful intent with just that. However, what made her upset was Syrus controlling the head and forcing her to stare at the monster.

[Monsters hate being in the water.] (Syrus)

[They… do?] (Lilly)

Syrus mentally coughed which calmed herself down in the process, [Argh, correction. They hate dying in water, not sure if the bastards know what emotions even are. But they have an instinctive desire of some kind to not die in water.]

[...Fascinating…] Lilly wondered, due to the safety of the situation, the fear she held was being overrun by her curiosity [I wonder why this isn’t more well known.]

[I don’t know.] Syrus shrugged, [It’s not like water is a weakness, or that they will run away from it, but just when they know they are dying they try to remove themselves from water. So honestly, it just makes them more dangerous in their final moments.]

“Okay…” Jen walked over to the forest and picked up a branch, “We agree that we need to get it out of the water?”

“Yes, and after that return home and report this,” George nodded, “Anna, stay back please.”

Anlesa stood back as her parents started to plan how to safely remove the corpse from the river. It would be a while before they returned home.