Tension fills the air. All three of us are currently huddled together around the hole into the Energy tunnel. There’s no doubt going to be an explosion of Pure Energy, and none of us want to be caught in it at full blast. I haven’t managed to get a straight answer out of the alcaoris in terms of what would happen to him if part of him was submerged in Pure Energy, but just the fact that he’s trying to avoid it indicates that it’s nothing good. Or, at least, for him, the good doesn’t outweigh the bad.

I have to admit that my more reckless side is urging me to touch the Pure Energy again. It might have done a significant amount of damage to me, but I was able to fix all that and it did propel me up eight levels in a few minutes. On the other hand, unable to use magic and possibly breaking my Core is probably not what I should be doing right now. Perhaps I could dilute it? Kalanthia talked about the lake at the base of the valley containing diluted Pure Energy.

But that’s a later consideration. Now, I need to focus.

Lowering his head back through the hole, I hear the alcaoris doing something. Unable to see through his neck and with too much mana confusing my non-physical sight when I close my eyes and focus, I just have to be patient.

Abruptly, he starts backing up quickly. As his head emerges from the hole, I see a long, black cord hanging from his teeth.

I am about to pull my eggs free, he warns. Bastet and I prepare to flee – we don’t know how violent the Pure Energy is going to be here.

Without another word, the alcaoris keeps backing up quickly, tugging at the cord. I see it stretch, then catch. And then, with an odd sucking sound, he’s abruptly moving backwards faster than ever.

Under my feet, I feel a slight rumble, and a wall of Pure Energy is visible an instant before it starts flooding through the hole in the floor.

Bastet and I turn tail and start running up the tunnel, though we’re blocked by the bulk of the alcaoris.

“What are you doing?” I scream at him. “Move!”

He doesn’t. Turning around to fearfully check where the Pure Energy has got to, I suddenly understand why.

The hole joining the Energy tunnel with the alcaoris’ melted one is blocked. Apparently the plug holding the alcaoris’ eggs is bigger than the hole is and it’s being held tightly to the hole by the cord that the alcaoris is holding. The Pure Energy which had flooded out before is still there, shimmering and flickering almost as enticingly as before, but no more is coming out.

I’m terribly tempted to move forwards and once more touch the rippling Energy, but the memory of the awful pain that went through me when I did that, and the damage which almost killed me several times is enough to prevent my feet from moving.

Oddly enough, the memories are clearer with the Pure Energy in front of me than when I recalled them before releasing the plug. I don’t know if it’s a traumatic trigger, to see and smell the almost acrid scent of the condensed Energy, or if Pure Energy is somehow connected to memories in an incomprehensible way, but I’m abruptly almost trapped back in that moment.

A phantom pain envelops my hand, my channels aching inside. I can practically feel my Core crack again. The same pleasure-pain caused by levelling up far too many times in a far too short time wracks my form once more.

And then I feel feather fur brushing my leg and I’m jolted back into the present.

Bastet’s creeping towards the pool, her movements an odd mixture of reluctant and eager. Her eyes are fixed on the Pure Energy pool, still moving and rippling before us.

“Bastet, don’t,” I tell her. She pays no attention, doesn’t even seem to have heard me. “Bastet?” No response. “Bastet, stop.” This time, alarm going through me, I make it an order, enforced by the Bond between us.

The raptorcat immediately stops, her body no longer obeying her. There are times when I regret using the Bond against my companions, feeling like a puppet master in how much control I have over them. This isn’t one of those times.

Jogged out of my own memories, the Pure Energy has less of an allure. As I hurry forwards, I manage to tear my eyes away from it after only a moment. Crouching down in front of Bastet, I cup my hands around her face, directing her to look straight at me.

It’s a bit hard to do at first, but once I manage to arrange myself so I’m blocking her view of the pool, I slowly see awareness coming back into them. The worryingly glassy sheen to them disappears little by little until I see my Bastet staring back at me.

Packleader? she asks, sounding confused. I thought…I felt…. She shakes her head as if to clear it of something grasping at her feather-fur.

“You were creeping towards the Pure Energy pool,” I tell her, trying not to let the remnants of my worry and my relief come through. Given our emotional connection through the Bond, I doubt I’m doing well with it, but she still seems a bit out of sorts.

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I saw my pack. My birth pack. They were waiting for me in the liquid. I felt…that everything would be better if I touched it. She shudders. But it wouldn’t have, would it?

The longing and pain in her mental voice makes my heart clench within me. I can’t help but lean forward to sit on my knees, wrapping my arms around her shoulders as I do my best to console her.

She leans into the touch, sighing deeply, pain splintering through her. I remember seeing my parents in the liquid just before I touched it – apparently tantalising onlookers with visions of the beloved dead is par for the course for Pure Energy. Whether it’s an intentional trap or a side-effect of that much Energy concentrated in one place, I don’t know.

All I know is that my friend, my family member, is hurting.

We stay there for a few moments. Fortunately, the alcaoris doesn’t seem to care as he doesn’t interrupt us. Finally, Bastet pulls away slightly, so I release my hold.

“Are you going to be OK if I stop blocking the Pure Energy from your sight?” I ask her intently. Bastet sends a feeling of ambivalence across the Bond.

I could already see it from over your shoulder, she points out. Ah, yes. I hadn’t thought of that. I still feel a pull, but it has lost the edge with which it pulled me forwards last time. I think I should be fine.

“Alright,” I answer, pushing myself slowly to my feet, keeping a sharp eye on Bastet in case she starts walking towards the pool again. She doesn’t, but she does fix me with a somewhat exasperated look. I cock my head questioningly at her.

May I move again? she asks with an even stronger sense of exasperation. I flush.

“Of course,” I tell her, mentally releasing the hold I had on the Bond to keep her in place. “Sorry,” I apologise a moment afterwards, still embarrassed about forgetting. She nudges my thigh with her head.

Forgiven. What now?

I look around at the alcaoris, still holding the string tightly, at the dark plug filling the hole, at the pool of Pure Energy sitting above it.

“Is there still a lot of Pure Energy rushing through the tunnel below?” I ask the alcaoris. I would check for myself, but the density of the earth magic which suffices the stone below my feet rather blocks my vision of anything beyond that.

It is beginning to reduce, he answers shortly. I send a brief flick of gratitude his way for responding.

“We wait,” I tell Bastet in answer to her question.

And that’s exactly what we do. After a few minutes, I start walking towards the Pure Energy pool.

Packleader? Bastet asks, half in question, half in warning.

“It’s OK, I’m aware of my actions,” I reassure her. “I just want to test something.”

Ever since making it back to the cave and managing to heal all of the things the Pure Energy damaged, I’ve been cursing myself for not bringing some with me. Now is my chance.

I know that materials dissolve quickly in Pure Energy, but if it’s sitting in my Inventory, any disintegration should be held in stasis. As long as it follows the rules I’ve learned about my extra-dimensional storage space, anyway. It’s worth a shot, I figure.

Taking one of my bone-formed bowls out of my Inventory, I dip the far edge of it into the Pure Energy.

Immediately, I see the bone starting to blur at the edges. It’s not going to hold its integrity for long, perhaps only a few minutes, but that’s enough for a test.

Despite the time pressure, I don’t slop the liquid anywhere, but just tilt the bowl up carefully so that the Pure Energy sits in the bottom of it. It really is an odd sort of liquid. Although it follows the laws of gravity, the liquid continues rolling and shifting even when I’m holding the bowl completely still.

Putting it in my Inventory, I pull it out a moment later.

To my strong disappointment, the bowl is completely empty. It’s clear that it is the same bowl as before: the melted and pockmarked design makes that evident.

I sigh. I suppose that it’s not all that surprising: Pure Energy doesn’t exactly strike me as stable. I’d better feel lucky that Energy Hearts do count as stable – though I don’t know if there will be any left in the other cavern, considering how flooded it has been with Energy. I figure it could have gone both ways: either more Energy Hearts because of the quantity of Pure Energy, or fewer because they’ve dissolved in the Pure Energy liquid. Obviously, I’m hoping for the former but time will tell.

“How do you feel about making our home here?” I ask Bastet idly. Before she can answer, the alcaoris interrupts.

You’re not making your home here, he says strongly, fixing me with a fierce eye. Even if I decide to continue this alliance, I will not tolerate you around my eggs when there is no need for it.

The original Tame Bond we had fell away at the end of the three days, but we established another temporary Bond, though this one is without a time limit, just to get us through this time. I don’t know exactly what the alcaoris will want to do at the end of all this, but I’m open to a proper alliance.

Although killing him would definitely offer benefits, it’s clear from our previous fight that there would be several casualties on my side too. Besides, Kalanthia has shown that an alliance with a Tier three beast is not a small thing. Frankly, given everything, I would prefer not to have to fight.

“I wasn’t thinking about making it here,” I tell the alcaoris calmly. “I intended to make it near the other tunnel entrance. The one caused by the explosion.”

He eyes me suspiciously.

That is still too close to my eggs, he insists. You could creep underground to reach them.

“True,” I admit, “but if we have an alliance that stipulates the protection of your eggs, then you’d have someone guarding both sides. Otherwise, that entrance will be wide open to other threats.”

Not if I block it off, insists the alcaoris, but he seems thoughtful. Perhaps convincing him to continue the relationship won’t be too hard.