Emil had known the legends and sought the truth in them for years. He would swim up and down this isolated lake every summer, looking for it. The old lore said the ritual, as much as it could be said to be one, was simple. Dive into the lake before dawn, swim the length of it, and the light of new dawn would reveal the pelt.
The stories were not always clear on what it looked like, what animal the pelt was from, or why it existed. All the stories agreed that it would appear somewhere on the shore, revealed by the morning sunlight.
Emil had been swimming in these waters for two years. Cold even in summer, diving into the lake was bracing. He'd made it a habit, at least two times a month. Emil didn't really believe the legends anymore, but it was a great swim.
Emil loved swimming, and had even done it competitively in school. He had the perfect build for it. Emil was tall and slim and naturally had almost no body hair. That combined with his frequent cardio exercises had made him a powerful swimmer, and he had maintained that ability and fitness in adulthood.
It was that total lack of any serious body hair that got Emil to reading about the pelt. When he was younger, he had fantasized about looking more "manly" and as he watched his friends develop more body hair, he had started to feel some envy. He knew that most people would actually prefer his "low maintenance" hair level; it was perfect for a swimmer, but as they say, the grass is always greener on the other side.
The legends said that the mysterious pelt had the power to give people body hair. In his imaginative youth, Emil had dreamed that he could find the pelt and use it to give himself thick and impressive chest hair. In his dream his friends would always be very impressed with it, but now that he was older he realized that no one else was worrying about these things the way he was.
Luckily, he also had gotten over it and was ok with his body now. Earlier than that little bit of maturity, he had stopped thinking magic furs on lakeshores were a thing just because he wanted it to be true so badly. He still always came to swim in this lake though. One thing he had learned was that it could be very peaceful to swim alone out in nature like this.
Today the waters had been particularly chilly, but it just encouraged him to speed up his pace. When the welcome rays of dawn finally started falling on the water of the lake, Emil was grateful for the warmth falling on his back, however slight.
Even with the sun going, he kept a good pace. Today was turning out to be a good swim and he thought he might push himself and do a little extra. Maybe if it warmed up enough when he was done he could sit in the sun for awhile to dry off on the shore. Just as he was thinking what a long way back to his starting point, he noticed a glint on the rocky shore to the side of the lake.
Curious, Emil changed direction, and swam toward the shore. As he approached, he could see there was something different sitting on the gray rocks. A piece of clothing? Maybe some animal or plant?
As he got closer, Emil thought he must be seeing things. It looked like...a piece of fur...a pelt. He thought it must be his eyes playing tricks on him, there was nothing but forest and rocks on this side of the lake for miles. As he entered the shallows he found a place to climb up onto the rocks, being careful to avoid any sharp rocks with his bare feet.
He walked on the large rocks on the shore and on top of one of the rocks, like it had been gently laid out, was what appeared to be a fox pelt. Impossible thought Emil, there was just no way that...that this could be what he thought it was.
He tried to remember if he had ever told anyone about his former obsession. If he had overcome the embarrassment and talked to someone about how he swam in a lake because he heard there was magic there. No, he'd never mentioned it to anyone. He'd read about it on his own, thought about it on his own. Even in his days as a teenage fantasist he knew that telling people you believed in magic animal furs would be met with endless teasing.
Despite there being no way this was a joke or any sensible reason this nice looking fur pelt was sitting here...there it was. Emil noticed how the sun glinted off it, a reddish gold sheen. It was beautifully brushed and looked very fluffy and soft. He reached out his hand and touched it.
He felt something as sudden as a static shock. At first he thought it was a static shock, but there was no pain, and a warm feeling began flowing up his arm.
Emil noticed that the nearly nonexistent hair on his forearm seemed to be darkening and thickening. As the strange warmth spread into his body he began to feel it in all parts of his body.
A visible shimmer, very similar to the shimmer from the pelt as it reflected the sun, passed over Emil's body. In the wake of the shimmer, his body was covered in hair. In seconds it was over, and Emil was looking down at his body as he had never known it, absolutely covered in body hair.
It was real...the magic pelt was real, and it had been very effective. Emil had barely brushed his hands through the soft fur of the pelt. As he examined his body, he was covered in hair. His arms, legs, chest, stomach, shoulders, even his entire back were completely covered in hair. He could tell there was also more hair in the places he couldn't see under his swim shorts.
Emil was amazed and elated. Firstly, magic was real, but he'd also gotten what he wanted and it had been him, Emil, who'd had the devotion and spent the time to find it.
The one thing that was a little strange, in all the legends the pelt was handled and slowly added more body hair. This had been more sudden and immediately went to what he assumed was the maximum body hair a typical human being could have.
Perhaps Emil was the only person to find it in years...maybe hundreds of years. Had the pelt slowly built up magical energy somehow over the years? Had it sat so long unused that when it had a chance to use it's magic it discharged it violently like a charged up capacitor?
Emil was reluctant to touch the pelt again and see what happened. He couldn't possibly imagine any good coming from more magic happening to him, and besides, all the legends said you were supposed to put it back where you found it when you were done. Emil said a quiet thank you to the pelt and slipped back into the water, swimming directly back to the access point.
As he swam he noticed it was a bit more difficult. No longer sleek and hairless, he was feeling all the drag of the water passing through his body hair. They really weren't lying about that being useful. He realized with a start I'm going to have to shave my body if I want to continue to do serious swimming. The thought seemed so ludicrous that Emil swallowed a mouthful of water as he suddenly barked out a laugh at the thought.
Eventually he made it back to shore, walking onto the soft soil of the beach at the inlet. His body hair was dripping with water; all the extra surface area for water to sit was so different than when he'd gotten out of the lake earlier. He could actually feel the additional weight of water that the hair carried.
As Emil walked over to his towel, he noticed a man coming off the dirt road on a bicycle. Based on his binoculars, Emil assumed he must be a bird watcher or something like that. The man looked at Emil and raised a hand in casual greeting, then did a double take.
The man openly stared at Emil for a few moments until Emil broke the tension by saying "Good morning!".
"Good morning", the man said. He then hesitated for a moment before saying "I hope you don't find it rude....but you may be the hairiest man I've ever seen."
Emil smiled from ear to ear.
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