“Stop.”

Numi pulled on the drawstrings of her hood as the sled jerked to yet another stop, something that had become increasingly common in the last day of travel. Despite the blue sky above her, heavy raindrops slammed into her, splashing into her face despite her attempts to shield it.

Having been born in Boscus, thunder had been a constant background noise for as long as she could remember, but her brief stay in the wisp’s refuge had brought with it a silence unlike any other she had experienced. The end result being that traveling out in the storm had made her realize just how loud and prevalent it actually was.

“No.” The gravelly voice of the wolf said. “I live-hunted these lands. This is River Stoe.”

“Whitepaw thinks it the River Toma.” The Wisp replied. “She says we’re too far north for it to be the Stoe.”

Numi sighed as they argued. Though she could understand the reasoning, Whitepaw’s constant arguing with the emberwolf gave her a headache, exacerbated by the growing uneasiness she was feeling from the mana poisoning.

“Chip.” She whispered. “Who do you think’s right this time? A Loren on the wolf.”

Chip had thankfully walked beside the sled whenever he wasn’t helping pull it, keeping her entertained with descriptions of the land around them, and then stories when it turned out they were walking through the erosion scarred western plains of the country.

[Absolutely not.] He responded. [You’d just be robbing me.]

Numi gave him a grin. “You never know.”

[He’s six for six now, I’m pretty sure I know.]

From up ahead, Numi could hear the Wisp and the elder discussing the river, eventually deciding that yes, it was in fact the Stoe, though from Chip’s descriptions Numi didn’t think Whitepaw was too happy about that.

[If we’ve already touched the Stoe we can’t be too terribly far from Kicno.] Chip added. [I can’t say you or I’ve ever been this far west, but I would say we could be there before a week even.]

“I hope Irena’s still making those biscuits.”

Chip chittered. [That’s all you can think about? Food?]

“Easy for you to say. You don’t eat.”

Numi listened absentmindedly as the rest of the party discussed their plans for crossing it, and even through the calm retelling from the wisp interpreter she could tell it was getting heated again.

Numi laid her head down and tuned them out, choosing to gaze at the blue horizon instead. It was still incredibly disorienting to see one thing and feel another, but she felt as if she was finally getting the hang of it whenever they stopped. It felt counterintuitive the first few times, but closing her eyes whenever she decided to walk had been the best method so far.

Still, Numi missed the sight of the rain sheets flying across the landscape and the spider web of lightning that crisscrossed the sky. The bright blue sky was novel of course, there was no doubt there, but after growing up with the original all her life the illusion didn’t hold the same charm.

The shed jerked forwards again, slamming her head against the wooden side.

“Hey!”

[Sorry!]

Numi kept one hand on the staff as they started to tumble through the plains again. With all the constantly swirling mud and gravel, the ride wasn’t exactly smooth at the best of times, and today had been no exception thus far.

[It seems we’re going to hole up in a cave the wolf found for the night.] Chip said after a few minutes. [Should be just up ahead.]

“I hope it's a dry cave.” Numi muttered.

Her only reply was another chitter from the left.

…

[Hazel, do you notice something wrong with this cave?]

The others had already set up camp away from the entrance, with Numi and the giant wolf claiming spaces near the back where it was dry while the foxes tended to stand guard near the door, not needing sleep.

It wasn’t a large cave, but something about it felt off to the Wisp. It felt oppressive, as if the air itself was trying to push them out, and the low ceiling seemed to hold sharper stalactites than usual. It seemed… evil to the Wisp, though it couldn’t light a candle on why.

[We have some personal mana stores if you want to renovate it a little.] Hazel offered. [We could smooth out some of the ceiling, wall off the door, maybe even… add a fountain.]

The Wisp flickered as it considered boobytrapping the door, eventually coming to the decision that it would be a mistake in case they needed to run. The ceiling as well, though threatening, seemed stable enough for now.

[Negative.] The Wisp said. [It has more to do with the mana flow in any case.]

It wasn’t any extreme amount, just a few more points than usual, but it still set the Wisp on edge, as it gave the room an uncanny feel in mana-vision. The stranger part was the type of those few extra points. They appeared to be Force flavoured, which was definitely not a common type, however useful it might be. There was a reason they had engines to generate it after all.

[We could just be near a ley line.] Hazel replied.

[Perhaps.]

The Wisp pushed the thoughts from its mind, seeking other distractions to pass the time while Numi and the wolf slept. Finding nothing of utmost importance, it drifted over to where Chip and Bartholomew had settled near the entrance and opened up his shield to both of them.

[The emberwolf seems to think we’re close, with just the river and a forest to go.] It said. [Do either of you have much experience with the area?]

The canines shook their heads.

[The master didn’t often leave Kicno, but especially not as far west as that forest.]

[Yes, Lotenth Forest is seen as incredibly remote compared to the main cities, not helped by its tremendous size.]

[Understandable. The emberwolf has spoken much on that.] The Wisp spun its flames around for a second before continuing. [But your testimonies bring another question.]

[Oh? What could that be, my great Wisp.]

[Why do you call this area the west?] It asked. [I’ve been coded with a compass that always points to the same spot on the planet. My north is your south, your east my west. It wouldn’t particularly matter normally, but the fact that mine is always exactly opposite your conventions confuses me.]

[We use the magnetic north of course. It's been the standard for eons.]

[That is specifically what confuses me.] The Wisp said. [The point chosen for my compass spell used the magnetic north as well, if I were to believe the template.]

Bartholomew rested his head on his paws, interested, while Chip didn’t seem to grasp the problem completely. After a second, Bartholomew launched into a long-winded theory, and the Wisp sat back to listen.

[You chose quite possibly the most boring way imaginable to pass time, Azu.]

…

Hours crept through in the cave with only Chip’s growing distress to mark its passage.

Jumping from theory to theory based in increasingly more esoteric fields of study, Bartholomew still showed no sign of slowing down, not that the Wisp could think of stopping him. While the problem itself was not of great importance the Wisp was grateful to update its templates with the various fields of study, and every few minutes it would stop the fox to inquire into terms and properties it didn’t have recorded.

Most interesting to the Wisp was just how uncomplex the Boscan understanding of spell coding actually was. While everything else seemed to have greatly improved or innovated in its time unactivated, knowledge of spell coding had somehow become more mystical and inefficient. Even with the enhanced, or perhaps even because of those enhancements, most spell casting knowledge in the modern age centered around phonic bindings, or tethering simple spell codes to chants and phrases. This, while unknown and new to the Wisp, paled in comparison to the mathematically minded battlemage templates he had stored. So inefficient it was, that the Wisp couldn’t even imagine that the people of its time could even cast them, excepting for the great golems and their mighty mana stores.

Descended from spell coding, golemancy was even farther decayed than the Wisp could imagine. Even Bartholomew, encyclopedic as he was, could not tell the Wisp of the most basic principles of the art, even while also claiming to be an advanced golem himself, which amused both Hazel and the Wisp to no end.

Being one of the few areas the Wisp had some degree of coded knowledge in, it was obvious to the Wisp that the stone foxes were no golems. Their mana structure was completely wrong, running on soul mana instead of force, which was simply the only way to get materials to animate. As well, the coding on their bodies was much too simple to hold the level of consciousness they displayed, and was more focused on keeping their mana inside for some reason than animation. For them to say otherwise was like a toddler claiming to a botanist that they were a griffin.

Fantastical and filled with riddles, to say the least.

[You know, it would probably be a good idea to set a patrol outside, right?] Chip pleaded. [Don’t worry, I volunteer.]

Bartholomew stopped talking to click his tongue, which sounded more horrifically like a grindstone than what it was meant to.

[So impatient the new generation iis.] He said, shaking his head. [Can’t even sit through a short debate. Why in all my time...]

[I am older than you.] Chip reminded him. [And you’ve been talking for 3 hours now.]

The Wisp flared its flames in a small chuckle.

[You may leave. Exercise caution however. Take two others just in case.]

Chip nodded, and quickly roused another two and left shortly after with Whitepaw and one of the darker stone foxes.

After another hour of conversation, Bartholomew finally withdrew, claiming with a sigh that it’d do him some good to relax before they set off again. Then, finally left with no one it could conceivably bother without irritation, the Wisp floated near the doorway to stare into the tempest, watching the cloud walls dash through the sky.

[Hazel.]

Rain continued to pound at the stone, and the Wisp wondered again at how such a storm could be possible. Even with magic, where could all this water go?

[Hmm?]

[Have you made any progress on the engine through the connection?]

She didn’t respond for a good minute as she ran another diagnosis.

[No.] She said finally. [I’ve kept it limping, that's all.]

[Start reviewing all the spell code we have then.] The Wisp said. [The prior goal of enlisting an expert is diminishing in feasibility.]

[We are the experts now, I guess.] She chuckled. [I’ll look into it, but I wouldn’t give it a very high chance of success. The engine was a miracle even in our time.]

[Noted. If it comes to it, we’ll go south.] The Wisp said. [The foxes have mentioned their magic prowess repeatedly.]

The engine was far more damaged than the Wisp had originally let on to the others, with only enough power to grow enough food for a hundred, maybe less if they had too many doors or mana forges. It would in no way be adequate for the original directive of storing a small country, which the Wisp still intended to fulfill. It didn’t know what else it would do if it didn’t.

Though with the knowledge the foxes and Numi had let out, along with the admission from the wolf that his pack had been a far fringe ancillaries of the Hafel, the Wisp still felt some measure of hope that there was plenty of time. If the Hafel were truly as far off as the rumors would imply then the Wisp still had a score of years to get everything ready before its vault would be necessary.

If the vault did end up being necessary of course. With how little knowledge the Wisp had of the world, it still wasn’t entirely clear if the Hafel were the kind of species ending threat the Wisp would even be needed for. If they were just another conquering kingdom the Wisp would doubt it would even bother opening its doors. Civilizations would rise and fall after all.

If the Wisp had been awoken two decades ago of course, the tempest itself might’ve counted. But seeing as not only was the storm localized to Boscus, but the local humans also survived, it still wasn’t the kind of magical calamity the Wisp had been created for.

Lightning cracked through the sky, splitting it open like a shard of glass, and before the Wisp could even blink one of those bolt spiralled out of the sky towards the cave mouth.

The bolt struck the rock several corelengths away, the massive burst of energy and heat blinding the Wisp as it was tossed to the side. Cacophonous noise overwhelmed the Wisp as the percussive force of the lightning bolt cracked the atmosphere in two.

Its fire diminished and twitching, the Wisp lay on the ground with its hearing ringing. Flashes of light washed over its vision as it slowly rolled around. In the corner of its reeling mind, the Wisp could feel Hazel quickly patching code leaks and dousing fires. It felt drained, as if someone had used him as a ritual battery and left him on the side of the road.

As its vision and hearing began to recover, the Wisp could hear muted fighting breaking out in the cave around it. Scrapping rock and furious snarls cascaded around the myriad surfaces of the cave, bringing to the Wisp a confusing wash of noise.

Suddenly a new noise drifted into the Wisp’s mind, of the screams of a familiar child, and the instincts of a Wisp kicked in. Rising to a drunken and unstable float, the Wisp forced a small flare into its coreflames, bringing the cave to a lantern lit glow, just in time for the Wisp to see the swish of a small stone tail disappearing down a passage the Wisp hadn’t known was even there. Stone foxes were scattered around the opening, some sporting new wounds or tending others. Bartholomew, Numi, and the emberwolf were nowhere to be seen.

The Wisp limped over to the assembly and mentally jabbed at the nearest fox, one speckled with golden flecks.

[Report.] Its internal flows protested at the effort, and the Wisp almost fell out of the air.

It jumped. [It took Numi! They’d been right in front of the door!] It turned its snout towards the Wisp and barked, panic flying through its irises. [Save her! Please! It overpowered all of us!]

As if to respond, the Wisp violently sparked and fizzled, the coreflames almost dying out as it dropped to the ground with a small wispy thud. [Regrettable, but I cannot. Take the rest of you and follow them.]

[But it almost killed us!]

[Don’t engage, just track them.] The Wisp blinked its flames for emphasis. [Go now. I’ll give chase when I finish repairs. And be careful with your telepathy.]

The fox looked conflicted and scared, but ultimately conceded. With a small bark and some quick telepathy, the others gathered behind it as it thundered down the dark corridor after its master.

With that gone, the Wisp withdrew its flames to the barest hairlength and delved into the minute of repair. It wasn’t going to let a little lightning bring everything apart.