Pyr drifted in idle circles around me while I stood outside the stables, encased in my Faux-possessed fur cloak. The sun rising above the horizon in a blaze of pink and orange, painting the sky with the hues of predawn. The air was still and chill, a gentle reminder that winter was holding the land in its frigid embrace.

I took a deep breath, feeling the chill air fill my lungs, and watched as Pia and Victoria worked together to lead the horses over to the sleds. I felt sorry for Arion; having to spend most of his time cooped up in the stables, only given a few hours each day to run around the plateau. I hadn't had the chance to take him for a proper ride in days.

Kip, Pia, and Victoria had decided to head down to Bovia alongside Darius and the five orc brothers. Only Rainy chose to remain at the temple, where she was working on improving her druidic magic by helping cultivate the courtyards and underground garden.

"Looks like we're ready to set off," Darius said, following my gaze to the two horses and their sleds.

I nodded and followed the dark-haired Ōkami over to where everyone was gathered, waiting to leave. Smiling at my three teammates, all bundled up in their heavy cloaks, I ran a hand over Arion's neck.

"Please don't get my horse killed by doing something stupid," I pleaded, looking at where Pia was climbing into the sled.

"He'll be fine, Foxy," Kip said before his brows rose with curiosity. "But have you given thought to our conversation about him?"

I exhaled a deep sigh. “You mean about the stable master in Bovia wanting to use him for stud? I'm still not certain if that's the best idea."

“Foxy is right!” Pia chimed in. “He is a high priestess's horse, a noble equine! What if people find out and try to come after the temple for foal support?”

"Foal support? Is that even a thing?" The snickers and laughter that filled the air in response to Pia's comment made me think it wasn't, but I knew from experience that people would do anything if they thought it might net them some money.

"I would prefer that Arion not be used for stud," I told Kip. "If you feel the stable in Bovia is not going to abide by that and breed him without permission, I want him brought back to me."

Pia was correct that Arion was a noble equine, and as such, he needed noble mare-friends. I decided, giving the horse one final pat. No simple mare would do for my Arion; I'd have to acquire him a proper companion.

“I will make it clear that Arion is not to be taken advantage of,” the dwarf replied with a chuckle as he climbed into the sled, joining Pia and Ethan, the youngest of Victoria's siblings.

The remainder of the departing guild members sat on the sled being pulled by Victoria's large gray mare, Horse. Darius was in his wolf form, having opted to travel on his own four feet down the mountain to lessen the burden on the horses.

With a final wave, I watched as the sleds and their passengers disappeared into the trees at the far end of the plateau. Once they were out of sight, I made my way back towards the temple, my thoughts turning to the day's upcoming projects.

I cradled Pyr in my hands as I walked through the ankle deep snow towards the main entrance, tossing the wisp from palm to palm. The wisp's gelatinous form wobbled and jiggled in my hands, making a delightful glooping sound as it hit my palm. My teammates had jokingly called Pyr my fiery stress ball, and it was true - whenever I was lost in thought, I often found myself absentmindedly squishing Pyr between my fingers.

My thoughts were interrupted as my ears pricked up at the sound of a rustling in the snow. Looking up, I spotted a small white bunny bounding across the plateau, its little nose twitching as it surveyed the white landscape.

A grin swept across my face as I gazed upon the tiny bunny. In order to properly test the process of core augmentation, many specimens would be needed - and this little bunny had just volunteered itself for the job.

Quickly, I tossed Pyr back into the air and shifted into my fox form. My lithe vulpine body was perfect for stalking the rabbit, and I took off after it with a burst of speed. The white snow had masked the bunny's retreat, but my fox ears were sharp enough to pick up on its movements as it burrowed into the snow. I crept forward slowly, listening intently with erect ears until I had pinpointed its location.

In one swift motion, I leapt into the air and made my strike from above. My teeth closed around one of its hind legs as it struggled to escape, but it was no use - I had caught my prey. I shook my head a few times, stunning it, before dropping it onto the snow.

Taking advantage of its stunned state, I shifted back into my human form and carefully scooped the rabbit up, feeling its beating heart within its chest. It was a fragile creature that fit perfectly in the palm of my hand, and as I absentmindedly caressed its velvety fur with my thumb, I felt a sharp prick of pain.

Letting out an involuntary yelp of surprise, I shook the bunny off my finger and examined it. It had drawn blood, but fortunately it was nothing serious - a few drops of red on my fingertip and a small puncture wound was all that remained.

"Well, that's one way to earn yourself a painful death," I muttered, before letting out an ear-piercing whistle. Immediately, my discarded fur cloak stirred in the snow and flew towards me, settling around my frame once more.

Turning on my heel, I made my way up across the snow-covered grounds, and into the temple. The interior was warm and inviting, despite the chill of winter that seemed to pervade everything else. Taking gentle strides up the winding stairs, I kept a firm hold on my new charge.

The door opened with a slight creak as I stepped into my alchemy lab. The familiar smell of drying plants tickled my nose, bringing a smile to my face.

Moving over to a shelf, I grabbed an empty woven basket and placed the bunny inside, securing the lid. With one more glance in its direction, I returned to my workbench- grabbing my book on core augmentation and opening it to the page where I had left off.

"What should I do first? Two fire wisp cores to make stronger wisp or see if Mr. Bunny can be given the gift of fire?" I mused to myself as I looked over the details. The book described how using a fire wisp core could imbue a person with the power to naturally use fire- so surely this would work for the rabbit too?

I decided to begin with the fire wisp cores. Moving over to the shelf, I grabbed the jar and examined its contents. The jar was filled with a clear liquid, which contained six small fire wisp cores. Fire wisps could regenerate quicker than ice wisps, so it was essential that they remain under water in order to prevent them from reforming.

Swirling the jar around, I could see the cores glowing a faint orange-red color. Taking off the lid of the jar, I grabbed a pair of tongs, carefully plucking a fire wisp core from its jar. These cores hadn't been imbued with the undying fire array, so they didn't burst into flames the moment I withdrew them from the water.

After retrieving a second fire wisp core, I set them aside to dry before replacing the jar on the shelf.

"The book only talks about how to augment a person's own mana core, not about two external ones," I said to myself, "but the process should be similar in theory.”

In the book, it said that a person should swallow the desired core and enter a meditative state, directing their mana through the core and allowing it to meld with their own. I knew that the same process should work with two external cores, but instead of entering a meditative state, I would need to focus my mana directly onto the two cores- making them one in order to create a stronger wisp.

This wouldn't be the same process as described in the book, as neither of these cores were mine to control, but I hoped that with my transmutation amulet I would be able to make them into one.

Drawing in a deep breath, I lifted the two cores with my left hand, where my transmutation amulet was affixed. As I closed my eyes and concentrated on the cores, I let my mana stream through the amulet into them.

I could feel the cores getting warmer in my hand, almost too hot to touch. As the energy coursed through them, the heat intensified as I continued pushing my mana into the cores, and I could feel them fighting against it - trying to remain separate entities. Gritting my teeth with determination, redoubled my efforts, pouring a mixture of raw power and fire aligned mana into the cores.

Finally, after what felt like hours, I could feel the resistance between them weaken as they slowly began to fuse together. Within my closed fist I could feel them transforming, melding into a single core.

Opening my eyes, I released the new core from my grasp and watched as it slowly began to float up in the air before flashing brightly. Looking away, I shielded my eyes from the sudden burst of light and when I looked back I was met with a sight that brought me a momentary pause.

The core had reformed into an elemental fire wisp - the golden-orange flames danced around its tiny body, centered around the brilliant red core that was now at its center. It glowed softly in the air.

I almost expected it to attack me, as had been the case when I let previously left a fire wisp core out of water long enough for it to reform, but the fire wisp hovered peacefully in the air, seemingly happy to obey my will.

It was then I realized what I had done - the two cores had not just been fused together, but I had also subjugated this fire wisp through the process of fusing them together with my own mana.

"That might be useful," I murmured as I examined the wisp.

Pyr, my other fire wisp, came to examine the new one and I could clearly see the differences between them. Where his form was a rounded gelatinous ball of flames, this new wisp had taken on a more traditional appearance - its body thin and long with dancing flames surrounding its core.

My alchemic fire wisp didn't seem too pleased with the newcomer, and blew a fiery raspberry in its direction before zooming away. The new wisp seemed oblivious to it all, seemingly lacking any personality or intellect.

"Don't be jealous, Pyr,” I said with a chuckle as I shoved my hand through the wisp’s body, closing my fingers around its core.

Fire harmlessly coated my arms as I took the wisp over to a barrel filled with water and lowered my arm inside, dousing the wisp. After a few minutes, I pulled out my hand, now holding an inert core.

I decided that this time, I would be trying something a bit different - I wanted to see if I could create a stronger fire wisp by fusing this new core and third core together.

Using the same process as before, I carefully placed the two fire wisp cores into my palm and began pouring my mana over them. This time however, it felt different - there was less resistance between the two cores as they tried to fuse together and I could feel the energy between them begin to shift. Suddenly, one of the cores seemed to give way and submit itself to the other core's power, allowing the two of them to become one single entity.

I opened my eyes and saw that instead of just light emanating from within my hands, like before there was now a wisp that glowed with both light and heat - its golden-orange flames swirled around its red core in an almost hypnotic dance.

The elemental fire wisp hovered near me, seemingly content with its newfound state of being. It felt much more powerful now than it did before - though its outward appearance hadn't changed much aside from a slightly brighter glow around its body.

"I wonder what else I can do with this," I mused to myself as I observed the new and improved fire wisp. How many cores could I fuse together? What sort of effects would they have?

Should I continue merging the wisp cores together or- my gaze drifted over to where Pyr sulked in the furnace. Did I dare? What if something went wrong? Technically, Pyr wasn't a pure fire wisp, and I didn't know how its core would interact with the others.

"I need to see what happens when I mix cores from different creatures and elements together," I said out loud, my gaze drifting to the basket which held the rabbit I'd caught earlier. "That should be a safe enough place to start."

"Caw."

Startled, I jumped slightly at the loud caw from above. Glancing upwards, I saw Zosimos perched on the herb rack hanging from the roof. The crow flew down and landed on a shelf, tapping its beak on a glass jar filled with dark crystals.

"The crystals?" I asked, eyebrows raised. Zosimos cawed in response before taking off again, heading for the workbench. "Merge or necromantic taint?" Is it even possible to merge the dark mana crystals into a mana core?

I pondered this as Zosimos let out another low, croaking caw. Hadn't the book said something about swallowing mana crystals and using a similar method to core augmentation to absorb mana from the crystals? It had - though, as with augmentation, the book cautioned that it came with the risk of permanent damage to one's core. However as I was using a fire wisp core and not my personal core, it was of no risk to me.

Taking Zosimos' advice, I carefully removed one of the dark mana crystals, picking one that was a bit smaller than the wisp core and using the same technique as before, I focused my energy on the crystal and the core.

This time however, I felt a strange pull from the crystal as if it was trying to resist me and my mana.

I gritted my teeth and pushed through though, forcing the power to merge with that of the fire wisp core. The two clashed for a moment before finally fusing together in an explosion of energy - when the power flow settled, I opened my eyes to stare at the wisp hovering above my palm.

The elemental fire wisp was now made of both fire and dark energies, swirled together in a wicked dance. Its core was still a bright red but the flames that surrounded it were now a deep, hypnotic purple instead of its original golden-orange.

"Interesting." I muttered, watching it slowly float in the air before me.

"Caw." Zosimos said from his perch on the back of a chair, nodding his head approvingly.

"I wonder if it possesses the ability to infect a creature with necromantic taint?" I mused out loud, looking over at the basket.

"Caw." Zosimos said again, this time with a slightly more mischievous tone.

With a slight smirk, I approached the basket. It was time to see what kind of power this dark elemental fire wisp had.

Opening the lid of the basket, I smiled down at the trembling white rabbit that I had caught earlier. It stared up at me with fear in its eyes as it cowered in the corner of the basket.

"You shouldn't have bitten me," I said softly, reaching out to stroke its fur in an almost affectionate gesture.

The rabbit cowered and quivered but remained still as I lifted it out of the basket and held it gently in my hands. It trembled as I carried it over to the workbench and set it down on top of the wooden surface.

I gestured to the fire wisp hovering in the air and, though it was difficult to tell, I think the rabbit understood death was imminent. It lay still as the wisp slowly descended, enveloping it in its purple flames. The second that it touched the white rabbit, the wisp seemed to seep into its body, disappearing from sight as it penetrated its fur.

The rabbit's body began to writhe and contort, high pitched screams echoing through the room before it went completely still. Its eyes were wide open and stared lifelessly up at me before suddenly, its body began to twitch. I watched as the creature stood up on shaky legs, a deep purple glow coming from within its trembling body. It was alive - but it seemed to be under the control of something else.

The wisp! I inhaled sharply as realization struck me. What was once a harmless, scared creature now stood before me a puppet of dark magic, swaying slightly in its deadened state. I could feel the wisp inside it, clinging to its core and pulsing with necromantic energy.

"Well- that's..." I trialed off, my mind whirring with questions and possibilities.

Zosimos let out a low caw, his eyes never leaving the puppet as he watched it intently.

"I think I'm going to find a lot of use for this," I murmured, reaching out to gently stroke the rabbit's head. “You might be my new favorite wisp.”

A bright flare of light momentarily blinded me as Pyr came blazing towards the rabbit with a fierce intensity. The flames surrounding Pyr crackled and roared as they engulfed the puppet, its form quickly consumed by a blinding inferno.

"Pyr! No!" I yelled, diving forward to try and stop the wisp, though it was no use.

The heat intensified as Pyr continued to burn the rabbit relentlessly, until nothing remained but charred remains and ashes.

I looked over at Pyr, who was hovering above the ashes and within the flames, I could see two wisp cores engaged in a swirling battle, both vying for dominance.

The heat of Pyr's flames was searing, and I could feel it licking my skin even from where I stood. My fears grew as I watched the two cores fight against each other, their individual magics clashing together with such intensity that I feared they'd destroy each other before I had a chance to act.

The fire wisp core seemed to be winning out, its bright fiery power quickly choking out the deeper red core. But then suddenly, with an ear-splitting crackle, a bolt of dark light shot from the red core and collided with Pyr's lighter orange core.

I gasped in horror as sparks flew everywhere and both cores continued to spin rapidly around each other - if this continued for much longer, there would be nothing left of either core.

Desperate to put an end to this destructive dance, I summoned my own power and directed it towards Pyr's core, empowering it and driving back the dark energy.

The dark energy shuddered for a moment before finally fading away, its swirling purple light slowly dissipating as the fire wisp core emerged as the sole victor and the two cores swirled around each other one last time before merging as one- a new entity born of both fire and dark magic.