“Master, what are you asking of me?” Anthony looked at the jar in her gloved hands smeared with glistening translucent liquid.

In the glass bottle Anthony stared at the elemental water gem embedded in the strange Myrrh Ant Queen organ. Although the queen was dead, the organ seemed to still be beating a vibrant nature as if it was stagnant water turning to the beat of the upcoming stampede. It was a reminder that with each passing second the swarm of myrrh ants was being drawn to this area with rapid speed.

“Bios, this is not different from purifying all those mushrooms.” She cautioned him. “While you were practicing I was taking notes, the liquid wasn’t being drawn to you, it was being drawn to your amulet. You were using your dagger to control it in the same manner. You could use them both to control the elements.”

“They’re getting closer!” Jason called as he began to hear the sound of gnashing feet against the cave.

“You could use the same method to control the elemental gems in the area. A myrrh ant skeleton is practically saturated with them. Use it on the Queen you can use it to create a barrier that will protect against the stampede.”

“Master, I haven’t trained for this, I don’t even know if I can accomplish such a feat.” She placed one of her translucent stained hands upon his shoulders tucking the jar in her arm.

“Bios, if you don’t believe in miracles, then you need only look at yourself. You’re a hunter, a son of the warrior, and a mage not unlike any that has come before you. In other words, a living miracle who’s faced death before, believe that you can do it again.” Then she looked into his eyes through her mask and said words that burned deep in his heart. “A healer faces death, knowing that it is the ultimate victor should not prevent you from facing it through your chosen course, that’s the second principle of Asclepius.”

“They’re coming, they’re coming!” Jason got his makeshift mandible daggers together in a defensive stance.

By now he could see the light glimmer of a thousand compound eyes glimmering in the darkness, while Anthony held out his hand and grabbed the jar that Master Zoe was holding. He placed it down on the ground and held his crystalline dagger against the glass, while grasping the amulet on his chest.

“Everyone gather around me, quick!”

Jason walked behind Master Zoe with his daggers shaking in his fists. With only a scalpel and pair of crude daggers between them they could only watch and wait as the angry swarm began to approach. Anthony took a deep breath and began to concentrate, staring at the living gem inside the jar with fervent focus.

It was vibrating and still resonating like a ripple of water in the jar. Staring at this object he imagined tiny pieces of Xiangorite vibrating all at once like a choir of bells in the darkness. Slowly the bells began to ring in his head louder than the sound of the approaching swarm. He pulled his dagger forward while gripping the amulet in his hand tightly and forming an imaginary link in his body.

By now Jason and Zoe saw the glistening of black and white exoskeletons moving in the dark. The gnawing of large mandibles the size of swords and claws the size of sabers approaching at the speeds of wild horses. While Master Zoe was not afraid to go down fighting, Jason was practically shaking at the same frequency of the vibrating caltrops on the floor.

Deep in concentration, Anthony imagined the circles of magic once more, drawing a line in his head from the force of his spirit connected by the two items in his possession. It started with a swirl of spirit force inside his stomach that moved toward his heart where his amulet resides. The amulet began to glow under his hand as it connected his body to his mind in a lightning bolt pattern. Beneath his gas mask, Master Zoe could see the faint glow atop his forehead as if the Ion was finally being conjured at will. That is when Anthony’s eyes looked at the walls conjuring an unforeseen event. The shards from the exploding caltrop started springing to life again. This time they headed toward Anthony like a magnetic force.

“Holy Flames!” Jason covered himself with the daggers to block the shards.

Master Zoe watched without fear as if expecting what would happen next. The shards crashed against an invisible wall in front of her, turning them into liquid metal that flooded onto the ground and circled the trio like a protective ring. In that ring Anthony raised his dagger in the air and gave out a cry that matched the intensity of the ant swarm that was trampling toward them.

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“Yaaah!” He yelled a primal screech that seemed to vibrate into every corner of the cavern.

The once lifeless dead Myrrh Queen broke from the sound. It was like the shatter of glass, but not just for its exoskeleton but for every part of its body. The head, the thorax, the abdomen, even mandibles that Jason had in his hands turned into fine grains of sand. Jason could feel the bandages in his hands grow limp as the sand poured through his gloved fingers. He witnessed Master Zoe as the grains joined the circle along with the remnants of the queen, leaving only a puddle of translucent goo and Angel Mushrooms in its place.

The only thing that remained was the elemental core and the organ in the glass that seemed to vibrate with a new life as every muscle began to glow with the same blue aura. Anthony pointed his dagger to the jar and started imagining a circle that was under their feet. Then remembered the same image he had seen many times before, that one that appeared every time his life was at risk. The circle then gathered the particles of Queen’s elemental matter into the circle and began to build around them like a sphere. The blue particles of sand built up quickly like a dome big enough to hold all three of them. From a glance it seemed to wave like a giant wall of water.

Inside the blueish dome around them Master Zoe examined it to find tiny particles of Water Gems embedded in the sphere. Jason with his bandage covered, gloved hands, tapped the surface of the dome and saw it vibrate like a puddle all around him. It was sturdy but seemed to make the sound of crystal begin flicking by a finger.

“What is this thing made of?” Jason asked.

“Xiangorite!” Master Zoe said. “The Queen’s body had traces of Xiangorite in its skeleton and flesh. Bios made a shield from it.”

“Will that shield hold up to an ant swarm?!”

“Have you ever been around a battlefield?” Master Zoe put down her scalpel and covered her ears.

A scared Jason did the same, using the bandages of makeshift ear pulls to cover up the sound.

As if on cue, the next sound she heard was the crashing of teeth and claws against the globe ringing like a bull ramming into a wall. The sphere began to vibrate furiously like water in turbulent tides. Jason began to scream from the sound of so many barrages of claws hitting metal. Zoe hadn't felt this feeling in so long that she almost laughed at the familiar sound. Anthony tried to tune it out, knowing that his concentration was the only thing keeping the shield together.

If memory served him correctly the shield would disintegrate the moment he let his guard down. Anthony didn’t know how long it would take, it could be hours before the Myrrh Ants returned to their inner den. Meanwhile all anyone could do was wait and listen to the inhuman sound of thousands of Myrrh Ants rummaging through the cave. A screech of scratching and fighting from an invisible enemy trying to get inside.

Meanwhile outside the cavern, a young mage had finished setting up the tent outside the mine. With the power of Wind and Water Mage, a powerful sanitizer could be sprayed on the suits completely eliminating any foreign spores that had escaped outside the mines. Currently it was being managed by a woman and young man that were helping their leader decontaminate before exiting. Already the others had gone through this procedure having removed their faces masks after stepping inside. The woman was a Water Mage with blue eyes and brown hair, the man was a Wind Mage with short brown hair and green eyes. Their leader pulled off her mask as she exited the tent revealing her face. She rubbed her short brown hair against her brown skin, while her brown eyes burned with fury.

“Jupiter’s beard, what the heavens went on in there?” She turned her head to the blue-eyed woman. “Alcyclone, why didn’t you sense intruders before we went in?”

The water mage didn’t speak, but simply turned her eyes toward the brown skinned woman. Using a series of simple hand gestures she began to describe a series of events that the woman quickly interpreted and repeated.

“You’re right, there must have been another entrance in those caverns.” His eyes got even more furious. “We might just have to interrogate the foremen about these mystery intruders.” She clutched her fist ready for a brawl.

“Circe that might not be such a wise decision.” The young wind mange stood his ground.

“What did I tell you about speaking out of turn? That tunnel rat lied to us, and we’re going to get some straight answers one way or another.”

“This isn’t the Slums, to work your archaic acts in this district could garner unwanted attention.” He called in a commanding voice. “If the Clotho Mining Company finds out their son is involved in some savage beating they’ll demand an investigation. This would delay company operations for some time and the damage of which would turn to you. Do you want to end up like Castor and Oceanus?”

Circe was angry enough to have the dirt around her levitate in such fury. It took the cold stare and nodding of Alcyclone’s head to calm her down enough to let the dirt settle. The Earth Mage took a deep breath knowing that man was incompetent, but also that Mage also had some connections to the company that couldn’t be ignored.

“You’re lucky your father’s a company partner or I’d have beaten you to dust, Notus!” She stared at him before walking away. His only hope was that the ants would tear them to pieces leaving no evidence, but if they survive she would be waiting for them to emerge.