Old Henry was fishing at his one of most precious fishing spots, as usual. The catch was very typical for New Sosarian waters, mostly old boots from dead adventures passed away long ago and cursed fish, used by necromancers in forbidden rituals.
Old Henry was using his good old adamantium fishing rod, the only rod capable to fish from treacherous lava pools of New Sosaria.
Old Henry though about returning to his home, but then he remembered his visit last week to Estorrath, his younger brother:
"Henolazir, this fish you caught is delicious, but both Ripley and I are getting tired of this same old "wonderous fish", which we have been eating every Sunday for the last hundred years! Uncursing all those fishes has severely drained my mana!" - Estorrath said, lighting his pipe while Ripley was sitting on his lap. Ripley agreed, even though she was grooming herself. After the grooming, Ripley looked at Estorrath and gave him the cat eye wink.
"Call me ''Old Henry'', you whippersnapper!" - Old Henry muttered.
"Fine, my dear elder brother. Old Henry, you've been living a life of a hermit. You've done nothing lately, except fishing and giving new adventurers an odd job - finding your fishing poles from your rat infested cellar! Don't you have enough fishing poles already?" - Estorrath asked.
"Who are you to judge me? You just smoke your pipe, while Ripley is lazily sitting on your lap, and when she's not, you practice long forgotten arcane arts and open dangerous phase portals to uncharted regions of New Sosaria, without much though. Why do you think we are any different from each other?" - Old Henry said, in somewhat angry tone.
"Calm down, Old Henry! I appreciate your life choices. Fishing is no different than the arcane arts I practice. Speaking of that, I visited a phase with Ripley, just like the good old times. And quess what! I found something that might please you!" - Estorrath said.
Estorrath puffed and puffed his pipe, inhaled, then hold his breath and exhaled a smoke cloud that only a seasoned smoker could do. A smoker of "Bakyre's Best Crop" tobacco, of course.
As you know, adamantium is one of the strongest metal alloys known in New Sosaria. What I found was completely different. It's called crystal and it has magical properties. As a token of appreciation, I've prepared a crystal fishing pole +5 just for you! Well, to be honest, I actually gave an adventurer an odd job to retrieve the material! I heard he's a werewolf, a golem, a phase beast or something , unlike human these days, heh! - Estorrath explained, and presented the fishing pole to Old Henry.
Much to Ripley's delight, Old Henry didn't hesitate - he accepted the gift, rushed to his home so fast, that he completely forgot about his scrolls of Kal Ort Por, which would have returned him instantly to his home.
Old Henry decided to to try his crystal fishing pole +5, a gift from his younger brother, Estorrath.
Using his Crystal fishing pole +5, Old Henry cast the fishing pole and it didn't take too long, before he felt a bite on the hook.
It was midnight, a full moon. Not even werewolves bothered him, because he was making such a noise, in excitement. Also, he knows the cure for lycanthropy. This catch was something completely different, than his previous catches.
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Part 2
Old Henry's fishing line was going as fast as a magical carpet flies from Nordhaven to Shoreline. This one was furious.
Old Henry didn't panic, because he had his favourite fishing pole - an adamatium one, enchanted by Estorrath, which has a pole made of adamantium - the ore forgotten and mined only by a certain extinct species of dwarves of New Sosaria. Only a handful of these beautiful dwarven crafted items exists to this day. The new dwarf generation of this day can mine and smelt mithril - but because of generations of migration and without actually mining the adamantium, the dwarves have lost their sense to it - they can't smell it anymore. Even their infravision doesn't help, since nobody knows where the veins of adamantium are.
It took many moon cycles. Old Henry doesn't have a pocket watch, nor had the time to watch it.
Occasionally he heard shrieks of pain and gnawing of bones.
"Probably werewolves at it, again!" - Old Henry though.
Old Henry was becoming winded, out of breath, but he didn't want to give up, because this catch was something which haven't been seen before. Being a seasoned fisherman, he was wearing a ring
of protection, a ring of regeneration and a pair of swamp boots. He hadn't completely forgotten what being a wizard is all about.
Ex Uus! - Old Henry chanted. It was a spell, to increase his agility.
Tym Uus Grav! - Old Henry chanted. A spell only Old Henry and Estorrath knew, the effects of the spell are unknown to everybody else of New Sosaria. Finally, Old Henry managed to start pulling in the fish - it couldn't win a fight against a seasoned fisherman, such as Old Henry.
The fish was so big, that once it was nearing the sight of Old Henry, it made such waves of water, or a tsunami, that farmers of Shoreline had to turn their wheat crop into a rice crop. This had a positive financial impact on Shoreline, they could hire more guardians to keep away the minotaurs - and more importantly, the Kraken. Even to this day, one doesn't have to water his crop. Well, according to Old Henry, but then again, he's a fisherman.
It was much bigger than the tower - Kodiak's test of strength. The fish was a regular New Sosarian bass, but for some reason, it had grown to biblical proportions. Old Henry's heart raced. He couldn't belive his eyes. He managed to pull half the fish ashore. First Old Henry tried to pull the fish further from the waters, but he couldn't move the fish.
"Vas Ex Uus", Old Henry yelled - yet another spell. He didn't feel the fatigue anymore and managed to pull the fish out of the water. Old Henry started to reel in the rest of the fishing line and decided to remove the hook, from the fish. It wasn't an easy task - Of course, Old Henry, being the best fisherman of New Sosaria, he was prepared for everything! He took out a mystical stone and summoned a golem servant.
"YESSSSSS, MY MASTER?" - the golem asked, in a monotic voice.
"Keep that mouth of that fish open, so I can go inside and recover the hook." - Old Henry said.
"AFFFFFIRMATIVE" - the golem said, in a monotonic voice, of course.
The golem used his arms to open the mouth of the fish, creating a passage for Old Henry.
Old Henry was crawling and crawling through the fish. After a long while, he started to see some light inside - it was radiating from the hook. There was something unusual attached to the hook.
---
Part 3
Old Henry saw a gem - an artifact - attached to the hook. It was radiating an eerie light.
"Old Henry... Touch me!" Old Henry heard the words. It was as if the artifact was speaking to Old Henry.
Old Henry felt like his whole life was leading to this very moment. He wanted to hold the artifact in his hands, more than he had wanted anything in his life. Old Henry grabbed the artifact - at the moment it was the most important thing for him to do.
Suddenly, Old Henry's eyes were filled with wonderful geometrical shapes and formations. He heard strange whispers in his ears, in a language he could not recognize nor understand. Old Henry's fragile wizard body started to vanish, piece by piece - disappearing in to the aether.
Old Henry's life flashed before his eyes: Bonding with Estorrath, his younger brother, learning In Lor spell, to illuminate, Ripley clawing Old Henry for the first (and not the last!) time, catching his first sea serpent when he was a young boy. Well, young by wizard standards. He was probably in his 50's at the time.
Suddenly, Old Henry was transported to a strange world.
The scenery was changed from insides of a fish to something much different.
"HENOLAZIR!!" - A booming voice chanted.
... to be continued ?
