Alistair looked at Callum for a moment. What in the grand heavens was he talking about?! “Callum, I feel like I am missing part of the conversation. If you can cast the summoning spell, then why did I need to do it? And set the amount of Fire Wisps? What are you talking about it?” Alistair was starting to pace in the Summoning Circle. “And further more we talked about how the Fire Wisps will help define the mana in my dungeon but where in the world did this 300 feet come from? Don’t I control this whole Volcano? Callum, can you understand that this is all a little frustrating?! I feel like every time I complete an action, two more questions come up.” Alistair kicked an obsidian pebble into the magma.

Alistair started to take deep breathes and for the first time in a long time, and he began to wonder where all this anger was coming from. As Thorian all he had to do was come up with a plan and people just followed it. Set up base camp here! Go map the terrain here! He was beginning to miss the simple life as an Adventurer. After all, if he needed to get stronger for a dungeon boss, he would just slaughter a bunch of mana monsters that kept regenerating from the Summoning Circle. Gain five to ten levels and then face the boss killing it. By the Gods and Goddesses, all he had to do as an Adventurer was kill stuff… Alistair grew quiet for a moment. He remembered his Reincarntation trial and reason he was here. Yes, Alistair was good at killing, but that didn’t mean he was good at being a leader.

Slowly Alistair’s thoughts turned dark. There were times he had set up a base camp too close to wandering mana monster’s trails. There were times when mapping a territory had caused a ranger’s death and he would send someone right out afterwards in the same direction. Clearing his throat, Alistair knew he should apologize for his outburst to the Spell Construct, but he was ashamed that he had fallen on his anger because he was a fear to ask for help.

Alistair took a deep breath and summon the little natural courage he had in him. “Callum, I am… my outburst…” Words escaped him as he tried to grope for some way to explain the shame and confusion that plagued him. Stopping himself from walking, Alistair closed his fist and felt his nails puncture his hand. The pain cleared his mind and he tried to summon the words one more time. “Callum, I am afraid of all of this. I don’t know what I am doing and I have already sent a Mana Monster free. Perhaps we can go over the plan again and you tell me some more details… and I am sorry about the outburst.” The last little bit was spoken softly, he wasn’t even sure if Callum heard him, but it appeared someone else had.

Event!Better to be thought a Fool, then open one’s mouth and remove all Doubt!The Universe has heard your foolish cry of ego and arrogance! You removed all doubt that you maybe knew what you were doing. Yet in the lowest of moments, you choose to accept your fear of your ignorance and even apologized for your childlike behavior. This act of courage and understanding has demonstrated wisdom. Perhaps not all is lost. Grow and learn about yourself and you may still find happiness.Reward: +1 to Wisdom

Callum slowly floated up to Alistair as the Demon dismissed the prompt. “I am afraid to, My Lord. I can’t explain it but everything I do is new and it terrifies me. All I want to do is give you all the information I can, but I know that I am missing critical information. It terrifies me that you may decide to change my aspect and everything that I have done becomes erased. Your words scared me, because I had kept information about the Summoning Circle functions away from you till you needed it. I was afraid that you were going to erase me… I don’t want to forget.”

Alistair grew cold from what Callum had said. He had made the Spell Construct fear for its own safety, and the Spell Construct wasn’t complete wrong. There was a moment that Alistair thought about changing aspects and getting the needed information. It was a dark moment, when he wanted to blame someone else for his lack of knowledge. “Callum, I am sorry. I can’t take away that fear, because I will always have that power, but right now you are my only friend and I won’t give that up for something we can figure out. So the plan…. We have caught a Fire Wisp!” Alistair laughed lightly trying to break the mood. It was ill timed and didn’t express the depth of pain either one of them had acknowledged, all it did was cover it up waiting for it to burst forth again. Yet it was all Alistair had to offer, and it was just enough for Callum to continue.

The Fire ball bobbed, “Yes, My Lord. We have caught the Fire Wisp.” Callum voice still held a great deal of emotion, but this was business and the pain, fear, and hurt needed to wait for another time. “When you summoned our first Fire Wisp, we set its loot table and let it follow its natural instincts. I know you were confused about our discussion on the amount of Mana Monsters one floor should have. Thinking it over, I can understand that it is a complex topic. Basically, I want to try and keep our dungeon floor balanced and most of the monsters following their natural instincts. Why?.... I can’t really tell you. I know that if attempt to manage every aspect of our Monsters, many will die and we might accomplish some goals too quickly, while not having the setup right for it.”

The fire ball shook for a moment and then seemed to brighten its light, “Sorry, I realize I got off topic. Anyway, once a demon summons a Mana Monster under their control in a Summoning Circle, the Circle can learn its matrix and automatically summon them. What we would need to do is the following: You cast Summon Fire Wisp again. When the spell gets to the point of materialization, you slow down how much mana you are feeding it. When doing that I can activate the Circles Mana and inscribe runes in the circle to summon the creature automatically and up to a certain number of them to follow their own instincts. Once done, we should wait till Fire Lichen is grown in the dungeon. If we are lucky it should start growing here in a week, maybe two. If we aren’t lucky, then we will need to hunt for it in the pocket dimension. I know something else that is new. Right now, we just need to focus on the next step.”

“So I set that Circle to summon five total Fire Wisps and we wait. While we wait we can summon the other two Mana Monsters to battle and gain them as well. Additionally, we can improve the Dungeon’s range, surrounds, or numerous other items if I can figure out a way to pull you back into the pocket dimension.” Callum said.

Alistair’s mind started to pound in what was quickly forming as a headache. Once again, one action led to two or three more questions that he really needed answers to. Taking a deep breath Alistair spoke again, “Ok summon the Fire Wisp. When the spell is ready to activate, slowly feed it mana instead of all in one go. You will do your stuff and we will have the Circle automatically summon Wisps. Two, might as well fight the other two Mana Monsters as we will need them to kill the Elemental. However, instead of summoning them right away, we need to wait till Fire Lichen starts to grow. So while we are waiting, there is the possibility of us doing something else. Is that pretty much the next steps, Callum?”

Callum bobbed up and down and then spoke, “Yes, My Lord.” His voice was flat and Alistair knew that something had changed but he didn’t know what or what he could do to find out. Instead he made his way to the center of the summoning circle. Once again, he went through the motions of summoning a Fire Wisp. When he almost completed the spell, he started slowing down, feeling the tug that the spell had on his mana. Slowly, like only ringing a drop of water from a cloth, Alistair fed mana into the spell. It was like standing on a ledge of a cliff feeling the wind rush around you while you tried to keep your balance from falling over.

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Then Alistair felt the change in the spell, the needed mana to fill the spell void started coming from the all around it. Opening his eyes, as the danger of failing to complete the spell was over, Alistair saw Summoning Circle alive with golden light. Callum hovered in his usual circle, while the other three had Golden runes hovering in them. Wondering, what Callum was doing Alistair summon mana and looked at each rune. Just like when he looked at his spells he began to gain a sense of the position of his hands and hooves, along with the sound of each rune. He wanted to take more time to study them, but the Circle began to glow brightly. More Runes began to appear surrounding the main circle. They began to rotate and with each rotation spin slightly faster. The first rune moved into the circle of light and became part of the whirlwind of color, and then the next one until finally all three were integrated into the rotating pattern. Alistair felt the Mana of the Circle flare to life and on the outside of the circle golden runes of arcane script burned themselves into a second ring. Callum’s fiery body sagged to the ground for a moment and then slowly floated back up.

Alistair stepped away from the circle and went over to Callum. Concern showed on his face as he realized that he couldn’t even comfort the lad with a physical touch. As Alistair step out of the big circle a flash of light occurred and a Fire Wisp appeared behind him. The Summoning Circle was creating Mana Monsters without any thought by Callum or himself. “Callum?” Alistair said in a whisper. “Callum are you all right?”

Callum slowly bobbed his body up and down for a moment prior to him speaking, “Channeling the Mana in the Circle was overtaxing, My Lord. I don’t suppose I could rest before we continue?” Alistair simply nodded at Callum and the ball disappeared.

For what he could only assume was a full day Alistair waited for Callum to appear. At first he was able to watch the Fire Wisps appear and disappear about the dungeon. Even one particular Wisp seemed to stay stationary glazing at its reflection in a bit of Volcanic Glass. The Glass itself slowly started to sweat from the Fire Wisps aura, and when wisp finally wondered off, Alistair saw that it had created something close to a black glass mirror from the rock.

Yet, you could only look at flashing lights so long. Alistair’s thoughts kept coming back to him. What he should have said to Callum? Why he was so angry at the Elemental? Why had he caused Adventurers to die so carelessly? The thoughts haunted him, so he turned to magic. Alistair practiced his new Spell over and over again. He slowed down the incantation so that he could feel the exact placement of his hands and hooves. Yet no matter how slow he made the incantation, he would still deplete his mana and have to wait for it to recover, and in that stillness watching the Elemental slowly getting stronger, the thoughts that he tried to keep at bay came to him.

It was at one of these periods of self-reflection that Callum returned. Alistair was quiet for a moment as he thought it was nothing more than a flash of light from a Wisp, and then he spoke, “Callum, are you ok?”

Callum bobbed up and down, “Yes, my spell matrix has recovered from the strain of channeling the mana, My Lord. Would you like to summon the Fire Beetle next?”

Alistair let out the breath that he was holding. In his own mind he let Callum’s answer absolve him of how he acted yesterday, and not just how he was physically doing. “Callum, I am glad to hear you are well. I know the Fire Beetle is next, but we can’t summon him yet. So I would like to try and battle the Fire Salamander today. That way we can finish its loot table and summon a few for the dungeon while you rest again. Could you give me a few more moments before I cast my Damage Spell?”

Callum’s answer was simply to bob up and down, then move over to his usual circle. Alistair quietly thanked the Gods and Goddesses that Callum was back, and even though he had spent a whole day in silent thought, Callum stood right next to him and he wasn’t worried so much about unbidden thoughts that he had been fighting. When it was time Alistair took his time and performed the Damage Spell almost flawlessly, but there was enough mana and tolerance in the spell for it to work perfectly. With Claws glittering, Alistair nodded to Callum and the prompt asking him if he wanted to summon a Fire Salamander came up. He pressed yes, and felt himself began to shrink to half his size. Blue mana began to condense into a lizard like form. The salamander had a flat head and bulging eyes, slowly red, orange and black stripes and spotting began to appear on the creature. In a flash, it moved with small legs charging Alistair. Surprised, Alistair dropped to a crouch ready to dodge to the left or right as soon as he could. The Salamander opened up his mouth and a lava tongue came out towards Alistair. Throwing himself to the right, the fiery tongue began to drip flames.

Hot drops of Lava hit Alistair about the legs, and he was grateful he had thrown his body out of the way. The Fire Salamander had black teeth that looked a lot like the Volcanic Glass that surrounded them. Rolling as fast as he could to the Salamander’s side Alistair was hoping to try a flank it. It was then the Salamander’s tail, slapped into his side and sent him flying against the Summoning Circle’s barrier. Pain exploded from the burns he had received from the tail, and the broken ribs that came from the crushing blow. As he fall to the ground he remembered from Callum that the creature could use its tail as a weapon. Alistair got back up quickly, fighting through the pain of the ribs and waiting. The Salamander quickly turned itself around and its bulging eyes fell back on Alistair. Once again it charge, and opened its mouth for an attack. Alistair unable to move as quickly, was struck on his right arm with the burning tongue. Screaming through the pain, Alistair swiped his left hand out at the tongue and tore an inch off of it.

Alistair’s skin was smoldering as the salamander rushed forward and used its skull to slam him into the barrier. It opened it mouth and clamped down on Alistair’s leg. The sharp dagger like teeth punctured through Alistair’s hide and the flaming tongue began to pour fire into his veins. Alistair was screaming in pain, swiping his claws across the Salamanders face and leaving long bloody trails across it. There comes a moment in every battle when the two combatants stare at each other in the eyes and know that the fight is over. For the Salamander, it had won. Meat was in its mouth and as its reward would be to grow bigger and stronger. For Alistair, he knew that he had lost, and so he did the only thing he could think of.

Reaching down Alistair sunk his claws deeply into the Salamanders throat. Boiling blood spurted out onto the floor, as Alistair pulled with all his might making the holes turn into deep furrows in its flesh. The Salamander’s response was to bite down even harder severing Alistair’s leg in the process. However, Alistair had a death grip of his own and the claws finally found the major vein it was looking for. Blood came pouring out, instead of just spurting, scalding his hands as he was dragged across the circle by the Salamander. Finally, the Salamander collapsed pinning Alistair’s arm under its weight. The blood had finally turned cold and the blue mist began swirling about the Summoning Circle. Alistair old instincts kicked in keeping conscious till the mana was absorbed back into his body, but as soon as it was he took one look at his missing leg and passed out.