24th of Summer, 517 A.V.
The shallow beach waves lapped Evarista's bare feet lazily, but she didn't pay it any heed. Her foggy eyes, with a hint of silent amazement, were drawn to something in the water... to something she had not expected to ever see again.
Several seasons ago, she had visited the lakeshore to have dinner with her acquaintance, Hadrias, the owner of Ravok's whisky distillery. When taking a stroll along the beach, she had come across a fish with some, one would say... mystical qualities. The encounter didn't end amicably, but Evarista had been determined to return later to unveil the strange creature's secret. However, every time she'd been to the lakeshore since then, she had failed to find such a fish again. Now that the general weather conditions on the beach had worsened, she hardly found any opportunities to come here anymore, and had therefore given up on the hunt. Today was just supposed to be a walk, since the weather was nice.
And today, without even wishing for it, she saw something familiar move in the water only a meter away from her. It was the unmistakable, snake-like shadow of a "zapper", as Hadrias had aptly called it. Maybe even the same zapper that had zapped her back then. Could it really be that Rhysol was now giving her an opportunity to serve the accursed fish its just desserts?
Already savoring her victory, Evarista molded her right forearm into a two-pronged chitinous fork, unblinking gaze never leaving the target. A moment later, the fork was thrust into the water, sinking into the sand on either side of the snakelike shadow and pushing it down. While Evarista was not particularly fast, the attack was sudden enough to pin the zapper to the bottom. The trapper wouldn't get an opportunity to gloat, however, as a painful shock pierced her entire body, and she felt all of her muscles contract, as if controlled by magic.
Exactly the same as last time. Well, the hallmark of a fool was committing the same mistake a second time and expect different result, so there was nothing strange there. Although her entire body felt numb, the girl still managed to cough up some silk and glue, half-spitting and half-barfing it at the loathsome creature with some force. Obviously upset by such discourteous treatment, the zapper began thrashing about to free itself from the sticky goop, but only got more and more tangled in it with each movement.
The aggressive crackling sounds were obvious signs that it was trying to repel the attacker, but Evarista had already withdrawn the fork from the water, waiting for her prey to seal its own gluey doom. The zapper tried to swim away, but being almost entirely coated in the tar-like goo restricted its movements to impotent thrashing in the shallow beach water. The angry crackling noises soon grew quiet, before vanishing completely. Did the fish spend its powers?
Still twitching slightly from the tension and the recent assault on her nervous system, Evarista extended her fork towards the thrashing fish and poked it tentatively, ready to withdraw at any moment should it try to zap her again. No zapping came, so its zapping powers were indeed spent, at least for the time being. Finally relaxing a little, the girl adjusted her fork to a long pincer and grabbed the fish firmly by the midsection before pulling it up on the beach. A moment later, the glue-coated and exhausted zapper wriggled weakly on the sand before her.
"Heh heh..."
Although some muscles in her body still twitched uncomfortably, Evarista stared at her defeated foe gleefully. It was time to turn the tables.