What is the main difference between man and monster, for it surely isn’t the shape. Many races of man are more strange, more obscure, than some monsters will ever be. Is it intelligence, then, or perhaps the ability to cast skills. No, my dear sirs, that cannot be the answer, for how well documented are the strange beasts that come nigh unto man’s intelligence, as well as the various skills they employ. No, there’s only one difference, and that is a monster’s ability to evolve.

  – Of Monsters and Men, 883

  I need more silt. Also water. I need water. I had originally wanted to fill the other half of my garden-in-process with water and create sort of Feng Shui effect… I decided against it. It’d look funny. Let’s go with just more soil instead. Maximize planting space. I’ll create another room as a pond and resting spot for my fishies. Although they’re fine swimming in the air, I think it’d be better for them to be where they are naturally supposed to be. You know, underwater. Besides, plants also need water. I really need to figure out an irrigation system for my garden, but I have no idea how to get water that’s not salt water.

  For my fishies, it’ll be fine, they live normally in salt water. Maybe I can send them to find some salt water plants under the ocean for their pond later, if there are any. But that won’t work for my lichen, I think. It’ll need fresh water, at least every once in a while since it’s already a hardy plant. But I’m still not sure where to get fresh water. Melting ice is an option, but I can’t really melt ice at the moment. Hmmm let me chew on this idea for a while.

  I send some fish down the hole with the pots for more silt. I also create some more pots to send down for water, even though I can’t do anything with it at the moment. Maybe having some nearby will give me inspiration. While I’m waiting for them to come back, I start to think again.

  I also need to find a more viable food source for my fish. It’s not really practical to keep sending them down the hole, not to mention dangerous. And I still haven’t figured out if they can eat plants. I don’t really think that lichen will cut it, though. If only there was a plant that grows meat. Ug! So many problems have begun to pile up recently. It’s making me wish for back when my life was simpler. It’s all the whale dog’s fault. Stupid whale dog.

  Absentmindedly, I pulled up the the {beginner II} path. Maybe I can get something good again. Who knows. I could get a meat plant! I fantasize in that daydream for a bit as I complete the path. I wish I had enough points for {valiant}. I have a feeling that the rewards for that one would be amazing.

  "Uh… That’s not exactly what I was expecting. Sure, it’s nice that I got another plant, but really bananas? What am I supposed to do with bananas? We’re as far as you can possibly get from the tropics!" I complain to my returning fish. They deposit the pots around me.

  Ug, whatever. I plant the sprout in my makeshift garden anyway, making sure to put some |aura of warmth| ice surrounding it to keep the plant extra warm. Well, if it dies, I’ll be sad, but I wouldn’t expect otherwise. I mean, we’re surrounded in ice. It’s just not the right climate for such a plant. I would know. It think it’s my [green thumb] skill, either that or my [plant growth], that’s giving me so much information about what plants need. I would be completely lost without it. And well, if it does die, I can always try to resurrect it with [green thumb].

  All of a sudden, I feel a commotion from the fish I placed as sentries for my first entrance, my front door. A sense of warning comes from them, and then I feel something enter my home. I waver for a second on whether to flee to my silk curtained room or go to the stairway. One way is safer, but I can’t really handle the situation. The other way is way more dangerous, but then, I could also confront the intruder.

  It hit me. There’s an intruder in my house. There’s an intruder in my house. I’ve had too many intruders in the last couple of days. I will not stand for things coming in whenever they want like they own the place. They have no right to keep doing this to me! Whatever it is, it needs to get out right now!

  I get four of my fish to lift up my carrying hammock rug thing and we dash towards the staircase room. I feel my connection to two of my fishies disappear. We swing around the corner and come into view of the entrance. At first, all I can see is a ball of ice floating in the air at the end of the stairway. I look closer and see that it’s actually a humanoid, not very big, maybe a foot in height.

  It’s actually very pretty, like a little fairy made out of ice. It has a body completely made out of what looks like ice and a smooth face with eyes completely the color of black. They should look wrong, but somehow it looks charming. It’s hair looks like magical lace dust made out of snowflakes and sparkles floating in a non-existent breeze. It’s dress is made out of the same materials.

  Several of my fish were still darting around it as I came in, trying to cut it up. They were having little success as the eira was surrounded by a light misty defensive barrier that frosted my fishes scales with a layer of ice, dulling their blades whenever they got too close.

  I hesitate for a second, caught off guard by it’s delicate features as my fish escorts lower me to the floor. But then my sight is drawn to the ground below it. Two of my poor fish are laying frozen on the ground, the life drawn out of them.

  “They’re gone?” My voice cracks in confusion. “Did they just die? Please tell me they’re not dead. Did that thing murder them?!” My rage flares up once more.

  “Get out!” I scream. “GetoutGetoutGet Out!” I begin launching projectiles at the eira, which deflects them with ease, but then my fish, all 36 of them, start responding to my range and launching themselves at the intruder. The eira’s defense starts to crumble as it tries to deal with the swarming razor fish and my ice bullets. Cuts start to form on it’s body from the sharp scales and a small chunk here and there disappear as my projectiles glance off of it.

  “Get out!” I scream again.

  I felt a craze-filled fog overcome me. I felt weak and strong at the same time as my rage seemed to grow. Mana came to me so much faster now. The eira froze under my fury and during that time, three of my projectiles hit, taking off an arm at the shoulder, a foot, a chunk of its side, and dispelling its defensive barrier. The freezing effect subsided, and the eira turned to me and screamed, its eyes pitch black holes of hate; its teeth pointed things surrounded by a bed of black gums. It scared the heck out of me.

  The eira geared up to cast a skill in my direction, but one of my sliver fish flashed past it’s face, nearly taking out an eye one the way and disturbing it’s casting process. The resulting explosion nearly took off its other arm. It screamed once more in pain and frustration, then fled out the door.

  Oh, my poor fish. You poor things. Don’t worry, you’ll be with me forever. I wish I could cry right now. They’re my only companions, my only friends, and two of them died to keep me safe. Reverently, I absorb their bodies and watch as they dissolve into shining dust. It’s the best funeral I could give them.

  I have to get stronger so that this never happens again. I don’t want to loose anyone, least of all in our own home where I’m supposed to keep them safe. As I mourn, a sliver fish drifts towards me. It gives me a feeling of comfort as well as a questioning mental nudge.

  “I’m alright,” I say as I reach out to touch its feelings. Then, I receive a prompt.

  “This, what is this? You want to evolve?” The fish’s emotions light up in affirmation. “Addable attributes… I-I don’t know which one to choose.” The fish sends me a mental picture of silk, so much silk, with the fish hiding in wait like a spider. Protect, it nudges.

  “|Ice silk|, you want me to add |ice silk|? Are you sure?” It affirms, and I hesitantly drag the attribute to the slot. Light instantly covers the fish, and I’m bombarded with notifications.

  The light slowly disappear, and I take my first look at my newly evolved fish. It was a lot flatter than my sliver fish, grayer coloring with darker spots that sometimes shined with iridescence. Two huge fins spread out on either side like wings, and it seemed to glide as it swam.

  It’s beautiful.

  flying gurnards. While they can't spin silk or fly through the air, pretty much everything else I wrote is real. Crazy fish.