The tent flap lifted away from the tent. For a moment, Ike caught sight of its contents.

A young boy laid in a steel cave. Heavy chains bound his neck and limbs. Only a short length of chain spanned between the cage and the boy’s manacles. He didn’t have enough slack to stand, not that he was trying to. He laid lifelessly on the barred floor, his eyes half-open. A dazed expression stretched across his slack face.

Ike stared. What the fuck?

There was no way that boy was an ordinary child. No matter how wild a child got, to mages, they were nothing. He probably wasn’t a human. A beast, then? But what beast could take human form while still a young child, and survive in such a riotous mana flow? He was struggling over here, taking in little bits of mana and barely breathing it. The child was in the heart of the flow, and didn’t appear to be having any kind of trouble with the mana.

Ike extended his aether toward the kid. He vaguely felt some kind of pressure, but he couldn’t be sure if it was the kid’s or not. The mana flows around the kid were too fierce, too strong for him to pierce.

Not only that, but they dragged the mana vein over here to put him in it. To put him in it, or to use him to hide the flow? I have no idea.

There’s no way I’m leaving him here, but there’s no way I can fight off this many mages at once with no plan. Ike retreated. Even as he left, he looked back over his shoulder. I’ll be back. Hang in there, kid.

He made it back through the mages and out of the barrier. Wisp was waiting at Mont’s side when he returned. Frustrated, she rounded on him. “You didn’t make it in, either, did you?”

“I did,” Ike said.

Wisp studied his face. Her frustration vanished, expression going grave instead. “What did you see?”

Ike explained the circle of tents and the cage to them. Mont nodded along until he described the child. At that, he looked up slowly. “A child, chained in the mana vein?”

Ike nodded. “Yeah. Do you know what he is, that he’s held that way? I was thinking some kind of powerful beast.”

“A dragon, maybe?” Wisp asked.

"Sure, why not?" Dragons were powerful, after all. Made sense they'd need to tie one down like that.

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Mont’s hands clenched the whole time they spoke. Quietly, he interrupted them. “That child… could you sense his aura?”

“Uh… a little.” At that, Ike paused. I could sense his aura, his pressure. I couldn’t sense any of the other mages’ pressure. How strong is that boy?

“I know what he is,” Mont murmured. A vein throbbed in his forehead. His eyes narrowed. Very little changed, but somehow, Ike sensed intense hatred radiating off Mont.

“Oh…?” Ike asked, almost afraid to speak.

“I need the two of you to take the boy and leave this mountain. Immediately,” Mont said. He managed to speak in a normal tone, but his whole body was tense, all his veins standing out on his hands and arms. Everything about him said that he was only barely restraining himself from utter violence. He looked Ike and Wisp in the eyes. “Can you do that?”

Ike nodded.

“What about the foxes?” Wisp asked.

“They’ve lived here a long time. They will know,” Mont said simply.

Wisp nodded. She looked at Ike. “You have a way through the barrier?”

Ike showed her the dark metal clasp. “Yep. Not sure if it works for two, but…”

“We’ll find out.” Wisp jumped at him. In midair, she transformed. A tiny black-and-white spider landed on Ike’s chest and scuttled up to his shoulder.

Ike quickly looked away. Spiders are still super creepy. Even if I know Wisp isn’t going to bite me. He nodded at Mont. “Will we give you a signal?”

“I’ll give you ten minutes. After that, I’ll assume that you’ve either recovered the boy, or that he cannot be recovered. I will destroy the camp and rain down hell on the mountain. If you want to survive, you need to leave the mountain.”

“Can’t you go grab him?” Wisp asked.

Mont snorted. “I would love to, but there’s no nuance in my power. The tiniest amount of my strength is enough to crush the camp. If I act, nothing will remain.”

Ike nodded. “Understood.”

On his shoulder, Wisp gasped. “Mont—you’re the—”

He lifted his finger to his lips and smiled. “Quickly. I can only restrain myself so long.”

Wrapping his wolf pelt around himself, Ike ran back toward the camp. As he ran, he explained the layout of the camp to Wisp. She listened, occasionally grunting in acknowledgement.

“So, here’s what I think we do,” Ike said. Speaking quickly, he explained his plan.

Wisp snorted. “I can’t help but notice that this puts me in danger.”

“You’re more powerful than me. I’d be a fool to take the brunt of the aggression,” Ike said. “Besides, my skills are more suited to breaking open the cage.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Can you do it?” Ike asked.

Wisp thought for a moment. She jumped on his shoulder. “I can. I wasn’t considered the Death of the Depths for nothing.”

“The—what?” Ike asked, startled.

“Oh, just an old nickname. Doesn’t matter.”

Ike shot a look at her. “It sounds like something that matters.”

Wisp pshawed. “You humans, always so obsessed over nicknames. You’re the ones who gave me this nickname!”

“That’s exactly what I was afraid of,” Ike muttered, chuckling under his breath.

They drew close to the barrier. Ike looked at Wisp. “I’m going in. Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Ike charged at the barrier, sprinting at his full un-Lightning Dash speed. Wisp tensed against his shoulder. The black metal tabs in the ground rushed up at them. Ike held his breath and leaped, watching Wisp closely. If she gets pulled off me, I’ll have to reconsider this strategy.