"Hello?"
It could talk. What the fuck.
"Of course I can talk. Who said that?"
Lasair took a moment to shake off her stunned stupor, and then flashed the light within her core.
Over here little guy. Little gal? Little non-binary pal?
The wisp left its ring around the room to float towards the core in the center.
"Little guy works."
OK, so the wisp could talk. That was certainly unexpected. Just to be sure, Lasair peered at the mana inside the other wisps. They lacked the structure required for a mind, and didn't even seem to possess emotion. She did however, notice that a small, almost unnoticeable stream of mana was still feeding into her new lieutenant. The magic screen again decided to take her attention as a cue.
[PROMOTION FINISHING...]
[{UNNAMED} IS NOW A [LIEUTENANT]...]
[PLEASE PICK SKILL PATH.]:
[HELL'S WILL]: YOUR [WILL-O-WISP] BECOMES FAR STRONGER AT THE COST OF EMPATHY AND INTELLIGENCE. EXTRA STRENGTH AGAINST HOLY TARGETS.
[ALLURING SONG]: YOUR [WILL-O-WISP] LOSES MOST OF ITS SIZE AND SPEED IN EXCHANGE FOR MAGICAL PROFICIENCY AND A SONIC AFFINITY.
[NOVA FIREBALL]: YOUR [WILL-O-WISP] PERISHES AND IS REPLACED WITH THE ABILITY [NOVA]. CAN BE CAST ONCE PER DAY FOR MASSIVE DAMAGE.
A skill path? How complex are you little guy?
Said little guy had wandered over to hover above the core, and seemed to be facing the magic screen. Kinda hard to tell though, considering the lack of eyes, limbs, or a face. It would make sense if he could see the screen, it was about him.
"You're not going to pick the last one... right?"
The last word was almost a whisper, and the wisp looked about as nervous as a sentient ball of fire could.
Now why would I do that? You're the first voice I've heard in days! Maybe weeks at this point...
The orb let out the closest thing to a sigh of relief as it could. It sounded more like someone tossing a new log on a bonfire if Lasair was being honest. Both of the other options sounded slightly better, although the first was definitely straining the slightly. It was the little guy's skill choice, maybe he would want to pick?
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Which do you want then? I'm leaning towards [ALLURING SONG], but it's up to you.
"[ALLURING SONG] does seem to be the best option... Let's go with that one!"
[[ALLURING SONG] CHOSEN. FINISHING PROMOTION...]
Both occupants of the room felt the mana shift under the screen's control once again, although only Lasair could see it. Instead of pouring new mana in, the mana that already made up my new friend seemed to twist. His form began to condense, going from a three inch diameter back down to one and a half. The orange light emanating from him turned into an austere white, with a crimson center the exact same shade as her core. The flames that encircled the main orb seemed to grow more purposeful in their flickering, as if being conducted. And finally, the pulsing of the fire went from a flickering mess to a constant, rhythmic pulse that almost seemed to call her closer, like the beckoning of a siren. A sound that was similar to the crackling of fire entered the room, somehow just as alluring despite its harsh and chaotic nature.
"This feels amazing! I can hear so much clearer! Everything sounds so beautiful!"
Watching the wisp ramble on about all the sounds of the cave reminded her of a child telling you about a cool rock they found. A certain nostalgia filled Lasair. She hadn't exactly been obsessed with music before she died, but she still had an appreciation for the beauty that sound could accomplish. If the crackling of fire and the chirping of bugs was blowing the little guy's mind, imagine what a good song from back home would do!
I miss home.
A gout of flame nipped that train of thought in the bud.
"Wow, I can control so much more fire now!"
Never fucking mind.
"What does 'fucking' mean?"
Nothing kid, forget I said that.
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It had been a few days since Lasair had promoted the wisp, and she had finally decided on a name. After the little guy's obvious love of sound was added to the fact that he looked like a miniature sun, the name Apollo seemed quite fitting. Now she was focused on giving him his own little area. After a bit of experimenting, she had found that [EXPAND] could be used to weave the mana in the room into the walls of the cave, allowing her to manipulate them with [SHAPE SELF]. Expanding into her main room had, like the first wisp, been completely free. Which was good, considering Lasair got the sense that this was normally a very expensive ability. To help light up the room, she had also spawned six more wisps and brought all of them up to level three, leaving her ten level three wisps and Apollo. The room she had carved for her lieutenant was little more than a box in the wall, with a five inch wide hole serving as a door. Inside, the room was a square with slightly rounded corners, each face being about eighteen inches long. All of the spawning and work with [SHAPE SELF] had also upgraded her from [LESSER MANA DIRECTION] to [MINOR MANA DIRECTION]. A small increase, but still enough to let Lasair give Apollo a sixth level. Instead of growing his size or speed, the upgrade seemed to only affect his control of fire and sound. After much time explaining the science of sound waves and a few mental projections of music, the wisp could now fairly accurately mimic the sound of a guitar. The sound was just slightly off, like it was being played through an almost-dead speaker, but it helped to both discourage Lasair's homesickness and encourage Apollo's interest in sound. The sound of him practicing his mimicry was almost a constant in the small cave that she was earning to call home.
This is nice.