Malik walked with Aisha away from the busy dwarves to the other side of the water. It was time to see if she could manage to fly. She was thinner than he was, so perhaps she could accomplish it with her reduced Strength and Dexterity. The beetle armor didn’t appear to be too cumbersome, but that would also add to the challenge.

“Alright, show me what you can do,” Malik said, crossing his arms.

Aisha gave a nod, “I haven’t had much time to practice.”

Malik waved a clawed hand, “Shush, just go.”

Tightening her full lips in determination, Aisha began to pump her pointed wings. She kind of just skittered along the ground.

“Stop, stop, stop,” Malik said as she floundered to a halt. “It helps if you crouch, then push yourself off the ground with your wings to your sides. As the momentum fades, bring your wings up, and then bring them down forcefully to push you up further. The harder you press the air from beneath your wings towards the ground, the more distance you can create between you and the ground. Before you try that, let’s teach you how to glide.”

“Is that what you do when you’re flying without moving your wings?”

“Yes, now come with me,” Malik said and started to climb the mountain. In truth, he hoped this would help him gain a Strength or Dexterity point as well. “I don’t know if this works for everyone, but you can gain a boost to your stat points through practice. It’s just slow and gets progressively harder.”

“Oh, I like that. I’ll be stronger than you soon if that’s the case,” she teased.

Malik scoffed as he scaled the mountain. Aisha was quickly huffing and puffing. “Oh, you might get one soon if it’s this difficult for you,” he laughed.

Aisha had to pause and appeared to be struggling to hold on. Malik took the opportunity to practice his acrobatics. With a push of his legs, he sprang off the side of the peak and let himself drop below Aisha. With a quick pump of his wings, he got directly next to her.

She was shaking slightly, but smiled, “Show off.”

“You just need to push through it. If you gain a stat point, you’ll know. It’s worth the pain.”

Aisha’s smile wore off as she clenched her jaw. Her sharp fang drew a drop of blood as it poked into her lip. Turning her attention back to the mountain in front of her, she pulled herself up one clawed hand at a time.

Just before reaching the top, she nearly fell off in surprise. She had gained a point in both Strength and Dexterity, just as Malik had hoped. He watched her as her eyes glazed over, feeling the power of Strength coursing through her and the freeness of Dexterity.

“Oh, Malik. You weren’t lying. I need more,” She trailed into a whisper.

“Then keep going,” he winked and raced to the top.

She made it up not long after and looked over the valley, “It is beautiful up here.”

Malik nodded, “The world looks smaller. But with those,” he gestured at her wings, “with those, there is no obstacle too high. We can do anything. Go anywhere.”

Aisha grinned and closed her eyes, “I like the sound of that.”

“Good, now stretch your wings,” Malik said, positioning himself behind her. “And keep them like that and keep your belly toward the ground.” She did as instructed, spreading them out.

“Wha—?” She began to say when Malik’s hands shoved her in the back. She yelped and fell forward, nearly in a dive.

She heard Malik yell, “Lean back!” She reacted and arched her back and threw her feet forward. She laughed as the air pushed her up. Like she was born for it, she got the hang of gliding after a few short minutes.

Finally, they both landed, “Race you to the top?” She asked Malik and began scrambling to the mountain. Malik smiled and chased after her. They repeated this over the next couple of hours. Some of the dwarves, Elle and Milly saw their antics and watched happily. Malik showed off for the crowd, practicing different aerial maneuvers, garnering himself another point in Dexterity — Aisha claimed to have gained some as well.

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It felt nice to gain the point, but his heart raced a little at the thought of the beetles. They were likely gaining levels, leaving him further behind and he needed to get stronger quickly.

“There is much to do, Aisha. I’ll be hunting with Charles, but I want you to follow Naveck. I need you to learn as much as you can. I’m going to need to lean on you.”

Aisha nodded in understanding, “I’ll do my best.”

“Good, now go get something to eat before you float away,” he joked while making his way to Themo.

“I’m already starting to know that look… What do ya need? I’m just taking a break from the traps, but I made good progress and mapped ‘em like you said,” Themo said as Malik approached.

“Lovely, I’m excited to see them in action. I agree, I do need something else. I see those little containers you and the dwarves use to fill with water and drink from. I want one. But, I would like to keep something warm inside, not cold. Is there a rune for that?”

Thermo stroked his beard, “Hmm, yes, but it’s hard to get the temperature right. I’ve seen stew melt a canteen.”

“Nothing so hot as to melt it.”

Themo narrowed his eyes, “What exactly do ya need it for?”

“My blood, of course.”

“Ah, uhm. Yes, of course,” Thermo said, raising his eyebrows, “I’ll see what I can do. Give me an hour.”

“Thank you,” Malik said, about to leave. “On second thought, I would like two. One for blood, one for water.”

“I believe we have some extras. Shouldn’t be too difficult to snatch one from one of the lads.”

“Good,” Malik said mentally checking it off his running list. He was on his way to check the guard tower's progress when the smell of beetle meat cooking wafted to his nose. He approached the fire and found a smiling dwarf twirling the sticks of meat over the fire.

“Werander Grimgrip. I’d shake yer hand, but they’re a bit full now,” the dwarf said. “There’re some finished ones on that log there, help yerself, Lord Malik.”

Lord Malik? That was new. “Thanks,” Malik said as he took a bite. Between chews, something occurred to him, “Say, Werander? What did you do to the beast cores?”

“Oh, Mr. Naveck asked for ‘em. Says they needed ‘em for the burrow. Helps power the runes.”

Malik’s eyes narrowed. They hadn’t offered him the beast cores for his other buildings. Perhaps it was just a misunderstanding.

“So, do you all take shifts on cooking duty?” Malik asked, sparing Werander of the beast core interrogation he planned on having with Naveck.

“Aye, but I quite enjoy it. Might try to get some skills in it.”

“You can do that? I thought skills only related to your race or class.”

“Ha! Hardly. If ya practice anything hard enough, ya have a chance at gaining a skill from it.”

“Very interesting. Thanks again Werander,” Malik said, wondering why Zahid or Naveck hadn’t told him. He wondered what kind of skills would be useful to him or what was worth the time and effort to gain a secondary skill like cooking. He had too much on his plate already to think about adding a new secondary skill. He ultimately decided to pass the knowledge on to Aisha and any future gargoyles.

Frustrated that he had so much to learn and so little time, he flew up to where he battled the Beetle Scouts. Thankfully, their bodies were still there, beast cores still inside. Up here, they didn’t decay or get swarmed by smaller bugs as quickly, making it easy work to retrieve the cores.

He held up another Junk Tier Beast Core. What else can these do? He wondered. He thought back to the squirrel that popped it in its mouth. He hadn’t seen it in a while, so maybe the core killed it.

With a tentative poke of his tongue, Malik tasted the beast core and was surprised to find that it was sweet. He waited a moment. No tingling sensation or burning. Nothing seemed to be dangerous.

Malik shrugged and popped it into his mouth to fully taste the sweet flavor. For a second nothing happened. Then, it felt like Energy erupted from the middle of his brain and began to pull at the beast core in his mouth. He quickly tried to spit it out but had no such luck. The Energy had its grasp on it. He started choking, unable to gulp any air down. He panicked and bent over, trying to make himself heave. There was a large pressure building up behind his eyes. The beast core shot up to the roof of his mouth, embedding itself within.

Fearing that the crystal-like object would cut through him, he opened his mouth and tried to claw it out. The roof of his mouth became a bloody mess, but the beast core vanished before he could pull it out.

Suddenly, his brain rocked with images. There were thousands and thousands of beetles in a large chamber crawling all over each other. Malik could even smell the acrid air, not needing to force a heave this time, he emptied his stomach.

Realizing that the images were from the Beetle Scout’s perspective he steadied himself to keep rapt attention on what he was seeing. It was hard to make out the details of the various forms in the chamber as the Scout darted its eyes and made its way to a small hole in the ceiling of the Chamber, just big enough for it to crawl through, ending its flight.

More of the Scouts filed in behind it, making their way to the surface. Malik couldn’t guess how long it took for the Scout to emerge as the images of the memory flashed in his mind. Finally, sunlight invaded Malik’s vision and the Scout took flight once more. It buzzed and peered at the mountain. The hole was at the base of the mountain and Malik didn’t recognize it.

Before Malik could figure out the location, the vision went black. The kickback of Energy in his mind rocked him once more and he fell unconscious atop the mountain.