Aboard the ship one day blended into the next and Mar began to settle into a simple routine. It hadn’t been a week yet, though it felt like longer. He was still assigned to Thamos, but Mar could do most of the jobs on the ship by now. He was beginning to wish he’d taken a greater interest in the stars back during his days in the library, after Thamos told him a good navigator might make as much as ten shares on a long voyage.

He was on lookout with Thamos when he caught sight of Crabhaven. It was a small town, really not much bigger than a village, though it’s docks were extensive enough to put minor cities to shame. The water was littered with floating cylinders of wood with ropes tied to them. Buoys, Thamos called them. Apparently they were used to mark the fish and crab traps that were located out in the deeper waters.

Anyone could tell that Crabhaven was a fishmongers bastion. Boats varied wildly in size and design but were generally of a solid construction. Two of the fishing ships at Moore were nearly as big as The Hidden Gem.

Figures in smaller hand-rowed boats turned at the approach of the smuggler vessel. Captain Rollie eventually ordered the sails to be brought down and the anchors to be dropped. They sat in the water for nearly an hour before they were approached by two smaller ships. Captain Rollie stepped out of his cabin. Mar had only seen passing glances of the Captain before, since usually he was either steering the ship or in his quarters, but he appeared now to have a word with the locals. Captain Rollie was a short man who compensated by wearing boots with a thick sole. He also had a wide brimmed hat covering his head and a scarf wrapped around most of his face, obscuring his features. Between that and the fact that he often kept to himself he was a very mysterious figure aboard the ship.

On the Captain's orders a ladder was lowered so some of the villagers could climb aboard The Hidden Gem. Three rough looking fisherman types climbed aboard, one of them much bigger than the rest. The big one clasped Captain Rollie’s hand hand shook it firmly. They exchanged pleasantries for a short while, and then the Captain gave the order to raise the anchor. The Hidden Gem’s crew passed off the hawser lines, the strongest, thickest ropes on the ship, to the locals who returned to their boats to row ashore.

When they made it the short distance to their docks there were others waiting for them, all of whom helped pull the hawser lines. Many fishing vessels had returned in the hour they’d been waiting and all those people, along with more than a few women and children from the houses, helped pull the The Hidden Gem closer to the biggest docking area the village had.

It took some delicate maneuvering on the part of the people of Crabhaven to pull in a large sailing vessel like this, but Mar had been a dock hand for long enough to be able to tell that the locals knew what they were doing. When they’d at last found themselves at port, Mar descended the ladder leading the the lookout tower. Thamos had fallen asleep while waiting and even shaking his shoulder Mar couldn’t wake him up.

Mar made his way to the port side of the ship and helped toss the lines overboard so the ship could be tied to the docks. It was interesting to be on the other side of this job for a change.

A cheer erupted from the crew of the smuggler’s ship when the gang plank was lowered. Dry land! While Mar had stopped getting sea sick at night, the queasy feeling still hadn’t completely gone away. He glanced up at Thamos, who was still asleep up in the lookout post. He was supposed to stick by Thamos until the older sailor said he’d learned the ins and outs of sailing, but Mar didn’t think that applied to time on dry land.

He went with many of the other sailors below deck, grabbing their coin pouches so they could buy alcohol or a night’s sleep on dry land. He too grabbed his coin purse, as well as Jinn, and the little bundle of crystals. He hadn’t been able to practice magic since that first night on the ship, and he was still very eager to learn more.

It seemed the villagers had done a lot to prepare for their arrival in the hour that the ship's crew had been waiting to be pulled into port. Crabhaven wasn’t big enough to support a proper inn, but they had an alehouse, one that seemed to also serve as a private home. Seats and tables had been put out over an open area, five barrels of the local brew were brought out for the sailors to spend their coin on.

Mar sat with the other sailors for a while, but Thamos was still the only one he knew well, and Mar remembered his constant warnings about spending all your coin on women and booze. After several minutes, Mar decided that he should head off to the outskirts of town with Jinn for some more practice. Several locals glanced at him as he walked away from the gathering, but Mar figured they would simply think he was off the relieve himself in the woods.

Crabhaven was located on a small piece of land between the forest and the sea, so it didn’t take too long to get some tree and between him and the settlement. Luckily the the locals had cleared most of the smaller plants so they could walk through the forest, so there were paths through the thorns, but still enough privacy that Mar could remain unobserved. He pulled the gray stone out of his pocket.

“Jinn! Wake up.”

The stone slowly took on it’s dim crimson glow. Jinn commented.

“No we’re on land for the time being. I’m ready for another lesson.”

Mar gave the demonic spirit the mana it needed. Unlike before, he only needed to spend a couple of seconds concentrating, rather than minutes, and the mana he gave now was just a drop in the bucket. His aura had swelled dramatically as it filled over the last few days.

“Okay. What’s today's lesson? I don’t have any cups or buckets of water, but I can get one if need be.”

Mar picked a short stubby weed with a base three times as thick around as his largest amethyst. Trying to stick the gemstone into the plant was difficult work. The plant was actually quite tough. He had to grab a rock he’d found nearby and bash up the base of the plant a bit. Mar was beginning to wish he’d bought that knife.

Eventually he got the amethyst inside, though the plant was a bit worse for wear.

“Okay. I think I’ve got it… does this look good?” Mar made two loops, right next to each other.

It was exactly like making a single control loop, except now there were two of them, which made Mar’s job four times as hard. It took him several attempts, but eventually he created a stable weaving.

Mar concentrated. It took him another minute, but he realized that he could sense something there. It was dim and fading fast, but it was there.

“I sense it! But it’s weak, and getting weaker. Why?”

There was an audible hissing sound buzzing in the air, like hot oil sizzling in a pan or air being blown through a long tube.

“How do I know when I’ve put in enough?” Mar grunted out, proud of the fact that he could speak and maintain the connection and active flow of mana simultaneously.

Pop!

A cracking sound echoed through the small clearing as the weed exploded into pieces.

“You could have warned me.” Mar said with a glare as he picked plant fibers out of his hair. Streaks of green ran across his tunic, and would likely be impossible to wash out.

Mar jumped back in surprise. There was indeed a scarab at his feet. It was a giant beetle, as big as Mar’s hand with a deep golden brown colored chitin exoskeleton. It started slowly lumbering over towards Mar.

“I don’t know, it’s actually quite a nice looking bug…” Mar leaned over to feel the smooth golden brown carapace. Just then the But moved like lightning and snapped it’s pincers. It managed to grab the very tip of Mar’s finger, sending a Wave of pain through his entire arm as he quickly yanked his hand away.

“Ah! By the gods that thing’s got some bite to it. Alright, no mercy. This is in the name of magic, after all.” Mar grabbed a large rock from the ground with the hand that wasn’t throbbing.

“How am I supposed to do that?” Mar asked, dropping the stone.

Mar was hesitant to grab that beetle again. The pain had started fading, but he wasn’t eager to get pinched again.

Mar hesitantly maneuvered around the scarab, but it reoriented itself to keep it’s pincers pointed towards Mar.

It hadn’t even occurred to Mar to use his spell to disable the beetle. He mentally reprimanded himself, though it was to be expected, since he’d only added the spell to his arsenal of tools recently. It wasn’t instinctive yet.

“Burst!” Mar shouted, hand pointed at the scarab. Unseen energy blasted into the over sized beetle. For a moment it’s limbs went limp. Mar nearly made the mistake of touching it when it started twitching again.

“Burst!”

“Burst!”

“Burst!”

After firing three more spirit bursts at the beetle it lay still. Mar poked it with a stick and got no reaction. He used the stick to flip the scarab over on it’s back, and still nothing happened. It seemed to be fully immobilized for the time being.

Mar searched the area around the exploded weed, looking for his amethyst, but he couldn’t find it anywhere. Eventually he gave up. He could look more latter. Jinn told him the bloodstone was better suited to a project like this anyhow. With the same sharp rock he had used to cut into the weed earlier, Mar carefully pried open the insect's mouth and shoved the small little shard or scarlet-red bloodstone inside as deeply and as firmly inside as he could get.

Mar concentrated, forming a link between himself and the bloodstone in the beetle’s jaws. With the connection established, he formed two loops of white spirit mana as he did with the plant. Through them he was able to connect to the still mostly functional network of spirit mana already in existence. Mar dumped his energy into that, slowly taking it over with his will as his power swept through the bug’s body.

There was much more room here than in the plant. As more of the beetles nervous system was connected to Mar he began to get the distinct feeling of sensation from his control threads. He had to use his imagination, but if felt a little like he could put himself inside the bug.

“This is amazing… I think I can move it around…” There was some twitching on the bugs part, but aside from causing random spasms Mar couldn’t seem to do much with the bug.

Mar was having trouble finding the connections Jinn was talking about. That’s when he remembered he had access to mage sight now. One of it’s primary uses was for it’s ability to see through things that were traditionally non-transparent, like this insect's carapace.

Mar blinked as he pulled mana into his eyes and the world changed into shades of vibrant color. Suddenly the elaborate network of magical energies that he could previously only feel were laid out before him, his clumsy control threads were lit up with a dim white glow in his vision. Why hadn’t he thought of this before? Weaving mana would be much easier when he could see what he was doing. Just so long as he didn’t look an anything blindingly complex.

In truth, even this scarab was tough to stare at for long, but so long as he focused on only a single part of it he only developed a minor headache.

Sure enough he was able make the pincers twitch. Using both control threads simultaneously was very tricky, especially to use effectively, but eventually Mar was able to close the pincers on command. He found a small hard nut on the ground and placed it inside the beetles pincers. He concentrated on both strands, triggering them to close. The nut cracked with a satisfying snap.

“Woah! Cool!” a young voice said in a hushed whisper. “I can never mess with the buster beetles without them trying to bite my hand off! How’d you do it?”

Mar looked up. There was a young girl, maybe twelve years old, with mud on her face and wide eyes. He mentally reprimanded himself for not noticing anyone approaching, but he had been too deep in concentration.

“Don’t know. This one just seems very cooperative.” Mar lied. He glanced at Jinn who was still glowing a dim red color. He reached a hand behind him and slid the stone into his pocket. In the same smooth motion, he picked up another nut off the ground.

“Do you wanna try?” Mar asked as he held out the nut. The girl eagerly took it, then looked towards the beetle. She seemed much more hesitant to go near the large brown beetle, but after several long moments of watching the bug remain completely still she darted in with the nut and shoved it into the bugs jaws.

The moment her hand was out of the way Mar triggered the beetle’s pincers and cracked the nut with a snap.

“Wow! That’s so cool! But why is it so still? It isn’t moving at all except for the pincers…”

She was right. But if he could move the the jaws of the insect why couldn’t he move the the legs with the same technique?

Mar blinked, bringing his mage sight back. He plucked one of his control threads off it’s current connection and moved it to one of the legs. Sure enough, when he sent a command down the control thread the leg twitched obediently.

“Oh, now it’s moving.” The girl said.

Mar switched the other control node to the leg. There were two joints in the leg, so to properly use it he needed two control threads. Using both together, he was able to pick the leg up and swing it forward. The bug crawled forward an infinitesimal amount.

It was still far too slow. Using this technique he could only move one leg at a time. But if he had fourteen connection threads, two for each leg and the pincers, he should be able to control the entire beetle. Mar grinned at the thought. This must have been what Jinn was working him up to. It would be tough to manage fourteen control strands, but being able to see what he was doing with mage sight made things much easier.

Mar tugged at his mana pool harder than ever before and withdrew fourteen wriggling strands of spirit mana. It took a massive effort of will to hold them in check, though they threatened to slip away the moment his attention was off them. He forced them into the beetle in their proper locations, but every time he got to the fifth connection one of his previous threads fell apart.

This wasn’t working. Maybe if he just made the threads thicker… Success! The fifth strand held. Better yet, when he kept an active stream of white mana running through it into the beetle the connection was even stronger!

Jinn whispered mentally, but Mar was too deep in concentration. He dug into old skills he’d learned and perfected over his years in the library to block out all distractions, allowing him to focus his entire mind on the task of hand.

“Cool, it’s glowing! I’ll be right back.” The girl whispered reverently, through Mar took no notice.

But the young mage wasn’t paying attention. He was so close to attaching the eighth connection, more than halfway done, when something pushed back against him.

Mar’s concentration shattered and the control threads frayed apart, dispersing into wild mana. His mage sight vanished as he fell backwards on his rear. He was about to stand back up when he noticed something huge looming over him.

He just barely moved his head away in time to keep it from being crushed between a massive pair of pincers. He rolled to the left and scrambled a short distance on his hands and knees until he could stand up.

When Mar turned around to get a proper look at his attacker he was amazed to see it was a giant brown beetle. It clearly resembled the large hand-sized insect he’d been toying with just a minute ago, but the proportions were slightly wrong. All six of its limbs were as thick across as Mar’s legs but they were twisted and misshapen, and it’s beady eyes were bigger around than a fist, though one of them was far larger than the other. It probably weighed the same as a full grown pig, and was many times more dangerous with it’s huge set of pincers on its front that looked like they could crack a full grown man in two. They weren’t lined up quite right, with one pincer much larger than the other, but even so those things were clearly dangerous.

Mar backpedaled rapidly. He scanned the clearing for the girl who had been with him a second ago, but she was gone. Good. He glanced around for anything that he could use as a weapon. The sharp rock that he had used so effectively before was looking woefully inadequate. Mar threw it at the beetle that was clumsily approaching him on it’s legs of varying length. It bounced harmlessly off the rock-hard carapace with a sound similar to a pebble being thrown at a block of iron.

“Guys look the bug is glowing-”

Mar heard the girl’s voice, and she was trailed by several other local children, some bigger some older. One chubby boy who looked to be about fifteen stared at the beetle with wide eyes and an open mouth. Finally he managed to overcome his slackjaw expression.

“It’s a monster!” The chubby boy cried.

“Get out of here!” Mar yelled at them. They needed no further prompting. They turned and ran.

The deformed beast glanced between Mar and the fleeing group of young humans. Whatever intellect that creature possessed decided that the chubby boy looked like something it wanted to crush in its mandibles and it started scurrying after the boy as he ran.

Mar waved his arms to try and get it to catch it’s attention again. He wasn’t sure how it happened, but this abomination was his fault.

“This way!” Mar shouted as he waved his arms, but the former-beatle ignored him and continued it’s path towards the boy who let out a high pitched scream as he ran back to the village as fast as his stubby legs could carry him.

Mar chased after the overgrown bug as it chased after the children. He wasn’t sure how he could stop this thing, but it was his responsibility to try. Still, it would be suicide to attack it without a weapon, but he didn’t have anything on hand. If only there was something he could shoot at it like an arrow or a spell.

That’s right! Magic! He’d forgotten about it again.

“Burst!” Mar shouted at the tail end of the beast. Mar felt the spell leave his body, but it didn’t slow down the creature at all. That was alright. It had taken four blasts to subdue the creature before after all. In it’s newly empowered state it would take at least that many.

“Burst!”

Mar missed with that shot. The sun was low in the sky now and provided little light, but torches in the village proper were lit and as they got closer to the villagers homes torchlight illuminated Mar’s target.

“Burst!”

“Burst!”

“Burst!”

As far as Mar could tell all three of those magical missiles hit their target, but none of them managed to draw so much as a glance from the giant beetle that was single-mindedly pursuing its chosen target.

“What’s all this racket out here. Can’t you kids see we’re entertaining guests and— By the Gods! It’s a monster! Louise!”

“Burst!”

“Burst!”

“Burst!”

There was a slight hiccup in the monster's movement now.

“Burst!”

“Burst!”

“Burst!”

Somewhere in the distance a bell was ringing.

“Burst!”

The beetle came to a sudden stop. Without warning it whipped around. As it turned its massive pincers it clipped Mar in the stomach and knocked him on his side. Apparently he’d finally annoyed the monster enough to catch the it’s attention.

Again Mar rolled to give himself some distance and scrambled to his feet. He met the approaching creatures eyes and backed away slowly. Suddenly his back collided with something hard and solid. He didn’t need to look to realize he was pinned against a wall.

He couldn’t turn left because there was a building in the way, that meant the only way he could move was forward or to his right. The scarab must have had an instinctive understanding of Mar’s predicament, or just been lucky enough to position its body in such a way that it had a good chance of grabbing its prey through either path of escape.

Mar reached around him, looking for anything he could use as a weapon. A loose piece of wood or a brick… there was nothing.