[Hit it with a mana pulse.]

The Wisp looked from the mana flow it had been tinkering with to the engine, and sighed. The interior gate, though weaker than the other, had bought them some time to plan and repair, but with the engine temporarily (hopefully at least) offline the Wisp couldn’t actually prepare any more traps.

[What template are you even referencing?] The Wisp asked. [How would damaging the machine more possibly restart it?]

[It worked for the gate during the first attack, couldn’t it work here?]

It twisted two flows into a knot, watching as the system steadily destabilized and collapsed before it dispelled them. Trying to work up to engine repair from such a low knowledge base had been tough going. If it had some spare engines to dissemble the Wisp assumed the story would be different, but metal had unfortunately eluded them thus far. There was not much point in thinking about that though, as even a little metal probably would’ve saved the engine from overloading in the first place.

[I didn’t just slap the gate with a mana pulse.] The Wisp corrected. [I cut the other flows, and that redirected their built up stores to the gate. Completely different principle.]

[It still might work.] Hazel said. [Come on, what harm could it do?]

[An excessive amount.] The Wisp conjured another two flows to play with. [Need I remind you that a hacky approach to mana flows is what got us into this mess in the first place?]

If it were to be completely honest, the Wisp was somewhat impressed with the hunter so far, though it probably wouldn’t ever vocalize that. It wouldn’t have imagined that it would be able to collapse the freeflying mana flow itself with just a simple condensed pulse, and especially not that it would end up overloading the entire network all together. If the physical locks and gate defenses weren’t as robust as they were, that might’ve even granted their opponent a free entrance into the base. It certainly explained why the templates cautioned them to bury the flows into the walls.

[Come on, you can’t really blame us for that right? How were we supposed to know it could manipulate magic like that? The templates we have only list about half a dozen animals that can do that, and 3 of those are different types of griffins. And another 2 are dragons.]

[Our corrupted templates.] The Wisp reminded.

[The ones dealing with surface life seem to be relatively complete.] Hazel said. [And besides, it specifically notes that magic affinity is extremely rare in life. Apparently that's even the case with humans, with only about 5% possessing the gift to signal.]

The Wisp transmitted a snort. In the time it had been active, it had come to increasingly distrust the templates as a complete source of knowledge about the physical world. It was just missing too much: region maps, political knowledge, folklore and other tidbits that would obviously help them complete their jobs.

[This is more empirical truth that the templates are misleading then. They also didn’t have any mention of whatever aberrant human variant our refugee is.] The Wisp blinked for emphasis. [We live in the dark now.]

[Then why we do some investigating when this current mess is over?] Hazel spurred. [Numi’s young, but she might know why everything’s so different around here.]

[Perhaps.]

[And who knows?] Hazel continued. [Maybe we were activated on a different continent or some sort of island separate from our creators.]

[Maybe she can explain this ‘Hafel’ thing the hunter mentioned as well.] The Wisp theorized.

[Exactly! Let's hurry up and finish this so we can start!]

The Wisp cast another forlorn glance at the small mana flow it had created as it rapidly collapsed, and couldn’t help but sigh.

[That might be easier said than done.]

[With light and luck then.]

…

The hunter hurled itself at the stone bulkhead, cursing the Wisp. Just how many doors had it created?

Still, the hunter was privately happy at how the assault was going so far. Sure, just about all of the wild wolves had died, but with their sacrifice Boeth was able to disable the accursed mana flow that had nearly done him in last time. In all probability, the rest of this nest would quickly crumble once he broke through the last of the gates.

The hunter was still glad he had been able to detect the place as early as he had, too. While the stories described Wisps as almost entirely uncreative and stubborn, they also painted a pretty grim figure for assaulting hunters. To take one down, even one as young as it was, would earn Boeth no end of prestige among his kind. It might even cause the Hafel to notice him.

He still wasn’t sure he wanted that.

Hunting the western wastes was a perfectly fine task in his mind, a region that even now should be almost entirely dead, only the occasional giant creatures to sate his lust for the hunt. It was certainly a better post than leading his fellows to death against the thick walls the humans in the area loved so much. And Boeth definitely didn’t want to be near the horde when it decided to assault the southern kingdoms.

Now that was a death sentence.

So while earning what were sure to become huge bruises by slamming oneself against a door made of granite was irritating, the hunter couldn’t really say it was unhappy. After finishing this up it would be quite set, and if it didn’t report the event it might even get to stay that way.

And Boeth had heard great things about the taste of keystones.

“Hunter.”

Boeth snapped around to affix its most chilling glare at the surviving elder. He almost felt sorry for the creature, such was the number of abrasion burns littering its body, but the look in the creature’s eyes earned a bit of respect from the vetern hunter.

The hunter jerked his head to tell him to continue.

“Beg mission. Revenge needed.” The Elder growled in mourning. “Wisp-spawn must die.”

The Hunter pondered for a second and decided to spare the thing a pointless death, judging that it had earned at least that much.

“No. Leave.” The Hunter grunted. “Spawn another pack. Fill pla...”

“Hunter.” The hunter bristled with anger at the interruption, but the elder ignored it and shook his head. “Partner dead. Sons dead. Too old, too weak to spawn. I die regardless.”

The hunter stared at him for a while, gauging his resolve, but the elder didn’t flinch or look away. Finally, after a minute of eye contact, the hunter broke gaze and sighed. He didn’t really want to throw away such an old and wizened emberwolf, but if it insisted Boeth couldn’t really complain too much. Especially not after he’d used the elder’s pack as cannon fodder.

“It’ll be painful.”

“Suffered painful already.”

“Fine.” Boeth backed away from the door and nodded for the elder to follow him. “Then stand over here…”

…

[Stow along the sides, then launch the spirit orbs on command. Just as Bartholomew taught you.]

The golems nodded and dispersed, climbing up the walls and into the small alcoves they had dug earlier. Each one was just large enough for a single stone fox to hide inside, and looked no more suspicious than a strange wall carving.

Wiggles sighed as they disappeared inside. He’d never been coded to command such a large amount of subordinates, and the task was keeping him busier than he would’ve imagined. Even with Chip, Onyx, and ol’ Barth to distribute the workload between, the act of an officer was a draining one. Resolving to rest a little before the door collapsed, he made way for a quiet looking corner in the engine room.

[Captain?] Wiggles glanced beside him as the chip-eared fox trotted up behind him. He looked entirely too cheery for the situation, but then again that was normal for the fox.

[Yes? What’s wrong?] He reluctantly slowed to a stop to let the lieutenant catch up.

[The beast has stopped attacking the gate.] Chip declared proudly. [Personally, I think we scared him off.]

[Or he’s resting.] The captain yawned to accentuate the point. [Have the guard rotate every couple hours. I don’t want the lightsworn thing to catch us off guard.]

Wiggles sped up in his walk towards the corner, hoping against everything that was all Chip had to report.

[Wait, that's not all!] Chip leapt in front of him, forcing him to stop. [I don’t know why, but Bartholomew seemed to think it suspicious.]

Wiggles twitched and cast another glance at the warm looking corner behind Chip. In the middle of the room, the ‘wisp’ seemed to finally notice them and was staring towards the duo.

[And?]

[Well, he’s called a meeting with all the leaders. Everyone else is already there.]

The captain closed his eyes in frustration. Bartholomew was paranoid and long winded on the best of days, but now?

Wiggles sighed as he resigned himself to another hour of somewhat pointless speculation.

[Lead the way then...]

Chip stamped in place for a second in satisfaction before turning back towards the entrance hall. Wiggles’ back leg spasmed as he debated the merits of just walking away anyway, but eventually he followed down the hall.

Every room in the fortress was huge for some reason, as if it were built for a populace the size of a town, and the hallways between them felt even longer to a construct as small as the stone foxes. It reminded Wiggles of those stories of giants and their castles in the mountains which the master used to tell to Numi back in Boscus before they moved. So much so that every other room he almost expected to come across a gold spawning goat or a riddle spewing griffin.

[Our host’s a tad strange, don’tcha think?] Chip suddenly said. [The way he set those traps near the outer gate almost make me believe he’s telling the truth.]

[Strange? Yes. But a wisp?] The captain shook his head. [I don’t think so. All he’s done is make simple shapes for the rooms and traps. According to the legends a wisp is capable of much more. A wisp wouldn’t have trouble with a stormhunter.]

[Aye, but a legend’s a legend, you know?] Chip practically bounced with every step. [They’re always embellished.]

[That’s true enough. But still...]

Chip glanced back. [You remember that old legend about that huge star?]

Wiggles nodded. The master had only told it a few times, about a giant stellar star that lit up the world in ancient times. Though personally the fox would attribute that one more to myth than legend.

[Same thing, really. The big star’s just a bright moon, the godly wisp is just a force golem, though admittedly an especially skilled force golem.]

[Doesn’t it seem too strange to be a golem though?] Wiggles asked.

[Why’d you think that?]

[It’s personality seems to…]

The captain didn’t get to finish, interrupted by a massive crackling rumble through the complex. Shifting rocks rained down around them, accompanied by frightened yips and barks from the golems in the walls. A distant whine from the direction of the interior gate broke the stifled atmosphere, reminding the captain of whirring mana tools and causing foxes to poke their heads out of their cubbies. After a couple seconds, the sound and rumbling died out.

[What in the pitched heavens was that?] The captain cursed.

[I’m not su…]

The interior gate at the end of the hallway exploded before he finished, sending stone shrapnel whizzing through the hall. A thunderous explosion accompanied the burst, and every golem in sight took cover. Wiggles instinctively leapt in front of Chip, taking a hard blow to one of his front legs, while a few of the more unfortunate golems near the gate were obliterated completely.

The most alarming development however, had to be the flaming wolf that shot through the air, glowing with white-hot flames all over its coat. It was launched through the air like a cannon, right through the gate and straight towards the engine room where their host was. Almost too fast for Wiggles to process it, the ‘wisp’ knocked it to the side with a condensed pulse of mana, severing one of its legs and causing the remainder to slap into the opposite wall with an audible crack. The flames seemed to smoulder out on landing, leaving the carcass crumbled in the thaumaturgic circle on the floor. A girly shriek echoed from the back of the room as Numi caught sight of it.

Then, without more than a second of delay the room fell into a flimsy silence broken only by trickling pebbles as another shadow darkened the threshold. This shadow had six legs and a massive maw, and height unparalleled among those in attendance.

The dust in the air made it hard to see, but its eyes glowed brightly, rooting the captain to the spot as they rolled over him and judged him insignificant.

The beast didn’t speak, it didn’t laugh. It simply strut forward into the gloom towards their host and the malfunctioning engine.

After a second, the captain regained his senses, stood on his hind legs, and issued the first bark.

[Attack!]

…

Numi stared in shock as the room fell into pandemonium.

Green orbs shot from the walls by the dozens as the wisp worked fervently to coax the great machine into action. Magic-infused howls of surprise and malice sounded through the air, causing each golem they hit to violently burn up in green fire before exploding. The barks of the golems' spellcoding and the skittering from the wolf’s dodging resulted in a cacophony of animalistic shouting.

For Numi however, the most horrifying thing was in front of her.

The wolf was burned and bruised, bleeding and dying, but alive. Pain struck down its face, but so much so that it could do little more than spasm, only a faint whimper escaping its scoured skin.

Numi immediately threw up upon seeing it, its fate too gruesome to handle. The fried chunks of mushroom which had been so difficult to force down came up at double the speed, but Numi couldn’t tear her eyes away. Despite the pain, the wolf stared back, its eyes pleading for her to do something she couldn’t force herself to do.

She desperately looked towards the wisp, hoping that it could help her make a decision, but found it predisposed. Then, after catching a glimpse of the severed leg lying near the wall, her stomach decided to remove last night’s dinner for good measure.

“Lantern’s light…” She said once she recovered. Numi ran up to the creature, ignoring her brain screams of ‘danger’, and kneeled by its side.

Numi knew intellectually that the most humane thing to do was to kill it, but she hesitated. It was stupid- the thing was an enemy that probably wouldn’ve hesitated to eat her alive if it had the chance, but she ignored that.

She wasn’t prepared to make that decision, not as young as she was, but she was also old enough to know that just leaving it there was a much more callous fate. All she knew is that she had the potential to save it from suffering, one way or another.

And though Numi’s dad had raised her to be many things, a killer was not one of them.

Quickly, she ran through the small list of spells she knew she could perform adequately, and threw them all out. Then she ran through the spells she’d never tried before, selecting one that her father had taught her for emergencies. She had been told it was a dangerous one.

Closing her eyes in an attempt to ignore the chaos, Numi began to chant.

…

Nothing was going according to plan.

The monster had gotten in too quickly to fathom, far quicker than any of their plans had accounted for. The most unforgiving projections had given them at least four hours of peace before it gave in, and that had been the time table upon which their plan was made. Not even all of the stone foxes had been able to get ready, and a good half dozen or so were even destroyed in the opening breach.

Even worse, the engine was nowhere near ready to fire up, so the Wisp hadn’t been able to create any traps or additional walls. There was now nothing between the beast and the engine, and nowhere left for them to run.

[Do or die, Azu.]

[It's too late for the engine.] The Wisp warned. [The startup process would take too long.]

After overcoming the brief half minute of shock from the initial attack, the hunter had worked himself into a frenzy, and the foxes stood little chance. The hunter jumped from wall to wall, snapping the heads off of the canines with a crushing bite while stomping them to dust beneath its legs and body. Even those that attempted to stay at arms length weren’t safe, as it simply roared them into nonexistence, their bodies overloading and collapsing in green flame. Slowly but surely, the panicked yips of foxes being slaughtered overcame the sound of spell casting.

To add insult to injury to the plucky defenders, their spells didn’t even seem to have an effect on the wolf-spider, the little green orbs only sizzling and bruising where they hit. Only those that landed attacks with their fangs and claws drew blood, and even then the size difference meant it was of limited effectiveness. Even as the Wisp watched, the twitchy fox was batted away into the wall, only leaving a small scratch near the eye in return.

As it judged the probabilities, the shield holding in its stress gained a hairline crack. There was only one option left.

[Handle the casting, Hazel.]

[Affirmative.]

The Wisp shot itself straight towards the monster’s chest as it crunched another stone fox, fanning the core flames as it did so. Thankfully, it seemed to catch it off guard, and soon the two of them were tumbling back down the hallway, the coreflames singing the hunter’s skin. As they rolled, Hazel took the opportunity to unleash an ignited mana wave directly into its flank, blowing it away with a pained howl.

It quickly righted itself, its legs scraping against the floor as it stopped. Wasting no time, it fired back with a mana wave, which the Wisp wasn’t quite able to completely dodge in time, the very edge of the front colliding with the Wisp.

The core flames burst to four times their normal radius, scattering two of the surviving stone foxes around it, but the Wisp kept it under control, even attempting to absorb some of the energy into its own stores to limited success.

[Huh.] Hazel remarked. [Think you can do that again?]

The hunter took a step back, bewildered. Had it not heard of the Wisp’s excellent mana control? That surprised the Wisp a little, given that it seemed to know what it was. Though the Wisp had only scratched the wave.

It recovered quickly and charged right away, covering the ground between them in seconds.

They spared for a long couple minutes, only that Hazel remained extremely particular with when she launched flame waves due to the ever present risk of running dry, only firing off when it was required to gain some room to dodge. Despite the size difference between the Wisp and the hunter, the hunter was still much faster.

Despite the wound they had managed to inflict on the hunter earlier however, the tide steadily turned. Soon every other attack came close to consuming the corestone, the hunter seemingly immune to the flames licking its face when it did so, and the Wisp grew more desperate. Suicidally dashing at the lower body of the beast, the hunter eventually struck true, and the Wisp was thrown into the wall with a loud crack. Several spellcoding lines flaked off like bark from a tree, and alarm bells went off in the Wisp’s mind as mana began to leak into the environment from the corrupted code.

Seeing its victory, the hunter slowed down as it approached them for the final time, its eyes savoring the moment. It walked with a heavy limp, the results of their cumulative defense.

[Hazel.] The Wisp’s telepathy appeared perfect, despite the damage. [Help me form a blade. Like you did to that tree.]

[T...That took minutes though!] Hazel panicked.

The Wisp started to work as fast as it could in patching together every last scrap of mana it contained. After a moment of hesitation, Hazel joined in.

With a hunter’s grace, the beast stalked closer, the gloating in its eyes almost audible. When it opened its mouth, the sneering growl that came out lacked any such human imitation as it had contained earlier in the day.

“A great hunt.” It snarled. “Painful, but necessary.”

The Wisp worked as fast as it could, knitting together a spell it knew it could never finish in time. They didn’t mean they wouldn’t try though.

“You wisps. Harbouring traitors.” The hunter jerked its head over towards Numi in the back. “Even now you defend those who stole the Purelight.”

The monster roared. “Detestable!”

The Wisp was slightly distracted for a second as it saw Numi signalling something, but snapped back at the sound of Hazel’s voice.

[Distract.] Hazel muttered. [We need more time.]

“The Purelight?” The Wisp asked. “I know not what that is.”

The monster continued to limp towards them, unaffected.

“Maybe if you explained, I could help you.” The Wisp said. “What is it?”

It didn’t respond, having covered the majority of the distance between them. Behind the engine, the Wisp could see Numi rapidly losing control of her cast, the flow collapsing. A shame.

“Maybe you could change my mind.” The Wisp tried. “I might not be as stubborn as you believe.”

The hunter was upon them now, staring down. As it gazed once more at the wisp, the Wisp began to feel a new emotion slip the reins of its shield: fear.

“There is no time left for that mana blade, wisp.”

Then, with considerable coding left to do, the hunter lunged.

…

Wiggles’s head spun with alarms as he regained consciousness.

The back left leg was shattered beyond repair, the internal spirit flow was collapsing, and the left side of his face had been smashed off like a thrown pot. Each of these injuries brought more aggressive signals that told him his time was up, and while the golem couldn’t actually feel pain the signals still distracted him to distress.

[Bested by a lightsworn stormspider, eh?] He broadcast to no one in particular. [A pitched shame.]

The bodies of his newly met family lay in destroyed heaps around him, and spirit mana saturated the air, smelled to him like death. Even Onyx, one of the older golems and one of his trusted friends, lay already dead across the hall, his head seemingly bitten straight off. If Wiggles had a stomach, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep it stable.

The cause of this misery still stood in the middle of the engine room, slowly limping towards a small flame leaking more force mana than the captain had thought possible. Only now did he truly believe the wisp’s claims. Nothing less than the old legends could lose that much mana and continue to cast.

Wiggles made a decision and stood back up, his internal flows speeding up in their collapse.

[Sir…] A voice croaked from beside him. [What’re you doing?]

Wiggles looked at the voice and saw Chip, though the name was somewhat misplaced now that the entire ear was ripped off. He lay on the ground near the wall, disabled but very much alive. Wiggles allowed himself a smile at the discovery. Maybe someone would be left to care for Numi after all.

[I’m finishing this fight.]

Wiggles leapt into action, spending the remainder of his life force sprinting towards the hunter as it slowly limped toward the wisp. It wouldn’t make it in time to save the wisp, but Wiggles was sure as the tempest going to avenge everyone before he died.

…

The hunter never even made contact with the coreflames.

Numi’s signal imploded in a gold and green glow, a huge wave of light drowning out everything else in the room, and blinding everyone. The hunter was blown back with the force, howling in frustration as the wave front buffeted it. Even as it blinked away the effect and looked around, the Wisp could see the remnants of the magical explosion seeping into everything around the room.

Even, it would appear, into the engine.

The engine immediately roared to life, somehow quick-started by the wave of mana flowing over its tubes and flows. The room groaned in response as the engine whirred to order, even if only for a second, and the mana flows controlling the complex were restored.

Immediately the Wisp sprung into action, siphoning the remaining stores in the engine at a horrible conversion rate into its spell code while trying to fashion it into a blade as quickly as it could.

The hunter recovered quickly as well, and sprang back as soon as it could, knowing that it shouldn’t let the wisp finish. It was upon them again in a second, but the Wisp didn’t despair, having a view of an approaching shape that the hunter wasn’t privy to.

The twitchy stone fox dashed under the legs and off the wall behind the wisp, leaping right onto the snout of the spider. That seemed to surprise the hunter, and it slowed down as it jerked its head too and fro in an attempt to shake it, and then clawing at it with its legs when that failed.

The fox held on for dear life despite missing a leg, and it clawed and snapped at the hunter’s eyes and face, lacerating the left eye.

This small window was enough for the Wisp, and it and Hazel finished the signal just as the hunter threw off the fox again.

Taking haphazard aim at the monster as it lunged one final time, a single corelength from their stone, the Wisps fired off the hastily crafted spell.