Monte, Dario and Auggie were sitting on the seats of the new air skiff. There was a red and blue ant sitting towards the stern of the skiff. The skiff flew through the air. The ant chittered and clacked. It sounded suspiciously like laughing.

“Is that ant laughing?” Auggie asked. “That is the most disturbing sound I’ve ever heard.”

The ant laughed some more. The skiff swooped and soared on currents only the ant could see.

“How does this stupid thing work?” Auggie yelled over the wind.

“The ant can see the mana air currents.” Monte tried to explain. “The sails on the boat are pushed by the mana currents. The fins on the side help hold us up.”

“Can we only fly on the air currents?” Auggie asked.

Monte shrugged. “You really need to ask Swoops here.” Monte yelled over the wind. “The flying ants have a better grasp of mana sailing than I do. I just helped make the boat.”

“I really need to learn mana vision.” Auggie said. “I would really like to see what it is we are flying on.”

The fins from the bottom of the skiff glowed with blue mana. Streaks and sparkles constantly flowed down from the skiff. An orange glow surrounded the sail. The skiff flew through the air accompanied by the sound of ant and man laughing.

The skiff stayed above the trees of the forest surrounding Tree.

“You know, we really can’t see anything up here Monte.” Auggie called.

“The mana is disturbed under the canopy.” Monte said. “It’s not a really good idea to go this fast down there.”

“Swwwoopy, Soooar.” The ant forced out.

“Holy shit.” Auggie exclaimed. “Swoops can talk.”

“Yeah, it takes a while.” Monte explained. “They normally have ant method of communicating. Making sounds doesn’t really come naturally to them.”

“Like telepathy?” Asked Auggie. He turned around to look at Swoopy. The ant seemed to be enjoying herself. “Hey, how do I tell ants apart? Is Swoopy a boy ant or a girl ant?”

“Jesus, Auggie.” Monte yelled over the sound of wind rushing past the skiff. “You just can’t ask that about an ant.”

“Why not?” Auggie asked back. “Also how do they communicate?” He asked again.

“You know, I’m not sure.” Monte answered back. “I think it's a mixture of pheromones and telepathy.”

“Alright, let’s try the new magic guns Tree helped us make.” Monte said. He unlimbered a tree branch. It was a branch grown in the shape of a gun.

“This is wild.” Auggie said. “I wasn’t expecting a gun making tree.”

“For ease of use.” Monte explained. “I convinced Tree to make a few modifications. This is actually a heavily modified wand. There are runes along the barrel. The runes channel and amplify the mana to make the desired spell. In this case, fireball. The power for the spell comes from this end.” Monte explained while pointing towards the butt end of the rifle. “This chamber has six reservoirs. Once you discharge a pod, you need to recharge it. Red means it’s empty. Blue is full. You cycle resources by working the lever. You recharge by channeling your mana into the reservoirs. They should be calibrated to power the spell at medium strength. Recharge rate is dependent on your mana regeneration. This switch links all the chambers together and powers one very powerful fireball. But it damages the spell work and don’t keep spamming it. Any questions?”

“Not really.” Auggie asked. “Where are we going?”

“Monsters. Range.” Swoopy articulated in a raspy voice.

The skiff continued on its way.

After an hour of patrolling and moving out further from the Tree the group saw something.

“What are those?” Auggie pointed down at movement.

“They, kind of.” Monte squinted down where Auggie was pointing. “Look like skeletons.”

“Skeletons are bad, right?” Auggie asked. He brought his mana gun to bear on the skeletons.

“I’ve been aching to fire this thing all day.”

“Yeah, skeletons are bad.” Monte yelled back over the wind. He turned towards Swoop. “Keep us here, Swoops. Just circle around.”

Swoopy waved an antenna in agreement.

There was a swoosh and then a crack as Auggie fired down.

“Hell’s yeah.” He whooped. Another swoosh and boom. Skeleton parts rained down onto the ground.

Monte signaled to Swoops. “Bring them around on my side.” He yelled. Monte emptied his mana gun.

Swoosh. Boom.

Swoosh. Boom.

Swoosh. Boom.

Swoosh. Boom.

Swoosh. Boom.

Swoosh. Boom.

“Oh, yeah.” Monte exclaimed. “This is the stuff. We gotta make more of these.”

“What about the fire?” Auggie asked.

“No worries.” Monte said. “Tree has a way to suppress fires in the forest. For some reason it doesn’t like fire and found a way to protect itself.”

“Why is it making boomsticks then?” Auggie asked.

“Because even Tree knows fire is the best way to kill shit.” Monte explained.