The next day, Matthew decided to make a trip to the house of Isle, an elder who spent her retirement spreading the lore of the town and familiarizing herself with anything mythological. She was one of the eldest of the town and could be found singing ancient songs to ward off spirits at the spirit festival each year, and she was always in the mood for a chat with anyone seeking knowledge on the mythology of the town. 

As Mathias waited for a response to the knock on Ilse's wooden door, he took a chance to look around and admire her garden, which was filled with flowers, herbs, and little statues of gnomes sitting on mushrooms with cheeky grins on their faces. Mathias listened as he heard some shuffling behind the door before he saw it swing open to reveal Ilse's surprised face. Mathias hadn't spontaneously visited Ilse since he was a little kid and thought he saw a dragon in the woods. 

"Mathias! How wonderful to see you at my doorstep!" the woman exclaimed, adjusting her purple cat-eye glasses before reaching over for a hug. Mathias obliged and gave her a quick hug before she pulled away and gestured for him to come inside. 

"Mathias sit down! I'll get you some tea" she said as she moved him over to the couch, "What brings you to my doorstep today? The last time you stopped by you were missing your two front teeth!"

"Haha, I just need to ask you a few questions for uh- a project I'm working on" Mathias lied, shooting the elder a smile as she put on the kettle. This visit felt surprisingly familiar to his last visit to Ilse's house. All the furniture was exactly the same, everything still smelt vaguely of ginger, and even her cat was as bright an orange as ever. The only thing that was different were a few wrinkles on Ilse's face. Her house was like a time capsule. Mathias suddenly felt a little nostalgic. 

As soon as Ilse came over to the couch with the tea, she looked at Mathias with a curious expression and asked, "What kind of project are you working on?" 

"I-I'm writing a short story and I want to be as accurate as possible with the creature I'm using as the antagonist" Mathias shot back, sounding slightly defensive as he grasped at his tea cup with both hands. 

"Oh how lovely! Which creature would that be?" she inquired, taking a sip of tea as she awaited Mathias's response. 

"The nøkk" Mathias spoke, watching on as Ilse's eyes widened slightly in interest. 

"The nøkk, an antagonist?" she questioned, pursing her lips slightly as she seemed to mull over the idea in her head. 

"Well they're known for playing violin to lure people into water and drown them, aren't they?" Mathias asked, suddenly focussing intensly on Ilse's face in anticipation for her response. 

"Well yes, at a basic level, they're evil spirits. But if you really peel back the layers of a nøkk they can be quite beautiful and tragic. They're quite lonely spirits, which can explain why they lure others to their dwellings. I for one, think they're one of the more misunderstood spirits" Ilse replied. 

"In what way are they misunderstood?" Mathias questioned, wondering how an "evil spirit" could possible be misunderstood. 

"Maybe its just from personal experience, but the only nøkk I've ever encountered was quite kind, just lonely and curious about human existence" she said, staring into her tea cup as if she were remembering a painful set of memories.

"You- met a nøkk?" Mathias asked, suddenly incredibly interested in everything coming out of Ilse's voice. Could it possibly be the same nøkk? Did she know the iridescent creature Mathias had temporarily been infatuated with?

"Oh yes, these woods are full of them. When I was your age I wandered in with a few of the other girls, elder Grete and elder Elena, and we heard this ethereal music coming from further into the woods and suddenly we found ourselves at the source, face to face with a nøkk. As soon as it saw us it looked awfully confused, as if it didn't mean to lure us there. We kind of just stared at each other for a few minutes before the nøkk got frightened and shapeshifted into an eel and slithered away" Ilse recalled, "It was quite an experience." 

"What did it look like?" 

"Well it looked like a young man, but you could tell it wasn't human. It was practically glowing, and its eyes were void of pupils. It looks scary at first glance, but after a few seconds you can see the beauty in it" she admitted, perfectly matching the description of the nøkk Mathias had seen in the woods. He suddenly felt an urge to see the creature again. 

"Well thank you for the information- I better get going. The tea was lovely!" Mathias said, suddenly getting up as Ilse looked up at him in confusion. She couldn't figure out why he had suddenly gotten so excited. 

"Good luck on your short story" she winked, "I'm sure it'll be great." Mathias realized she knew more than she let on. 

"Thank you!" Mathias called out one last time before opening the door to leave.

"Wait!" she called out, "Stay safe, and if you see a myling in those woods, run." 

"Uh- thank you? Goodbye!" Mathias replied, pretending to not understand as he slipped out of her house. Mathias felt goosebumps creep up his arm as he headed back home. That woman seemed like she could read minds. 

As soon as Mathias got home, he headed back upstairs to look back into his mother's mythology book and quickly flipped through the pages before landing on "Myling". After staring into the vacant eyes of the black cloud of smoke that was considered a myling, Mathias ripped the page out of the book and folded it before stuffing it into his pocket. He didn't have time to read it right away, but he figured if he needed it on the trail it could be useful. 

Checking to make sure he had his axe keychain, Mathias took a few deep breaths before beginning his journey towards the trail leading into the woods. Mathias didn't know what it was about the nøkk, but it didn't even need the violin to lure him in, he was already obsessed.  

Haha guys remember when I used to update? Good timesssss.. I'm on thanksgiving break so I decided to hit you up w a chapter. After this I probably won't be updating until January because  I have a million and a half deadlines due in January and then I will be free from academia. Anyway, sorry for abandoning you guys and then updating, only for the update to be a filler chapter |:  ... Haven't edited this yet so sorry but ... Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed (: