Aric had longed for a companion to alleviate the desolate reality of dungeon life, but this was not the relationship he had envisioned.

“Release me. I demand you release me,” Sera, or at least her semblance, glared at him with piercing eyes, her face mere inches from his own.

“Could you please stop that?” Aric's voice, with its childlike pitch, came across as petulant.

Aric had managed to silence the Siren's voice and break free from her illusions, but lingering remnants remained. He understood little of her magic, but it appeared that once it took root, it was reluctant to fade. She still retained a foothold in his mind, and had been using it to pester him relentlessly for the past few days.

“I will cease when I am liberated, Wellspring,” the ghostly girl asserted. Aric let out a weary sigh. He had never known the real girl, yet the Siren had taken a liking to projecting her likeness. Now he found himself weary of her heart-shaped visage, as captivating as it may have been. He wanted to ignore her, but had to reserve that tactic for when the Siren decided to torment him with visions of Velt.

“I should pluck your feathers and make a meal of you,” Aric retorted, gesturing as if he were dispersing smoke as he waved his hand through the illusion. The projection wavered, then promptly reappeared at his side, complete with curly blonde hair and now sporting an impressive scowl.

At least now Aric could maintain a clear view of his work. Half a dozen runes lay before him, etched into the ground with his knife. Since capturing the monster, he had been diligently attempting to decipher the spell pattern within the Siren's core. Progress was painstakingly slow without direct access to the core, to say the least.

“Your mouth is too small,” the Siren replied with a delayed retort, “I would disperse before you even had a chance to consume a sliver of my essence.”

The Siren's actual form was confined within a stone cage nestled in the corner of the cave that Aric had come to regard as his home base. He turned his attention to her now, intrigued.

"Is that really possible? Monsters consuming one another?"

"I've witnessed it. Perhaps you should consider it since you seem unwilling to evolve through more civilized means."

Aric averted his gaze. There was little point in studying the illusory bird. Any cues the glamour revealed would be contrived, and trying to interpret the subtle expressions of a bird was beyond him.

"I can't trust anything you say. There must be something you're not telling me."

"There is. I'll share more when you release me."

Aric groaned.

Feeling fatigued by the creature’s obstinance, Aric rose, sheathed his knife, and exited the cave. Naturally, the illusory girl trailed behind him, rendering the action futile.

"I'm not trapped in here with you—"

"'You're trapped in here with me,' yeah, yeah, I know," Aric finished the illusion's sentence resignedly. "You don't have to keep saying it."

"It's important that you don't forget your place," the bird's projection replied.

"Ren, you've said that like a hundred times already. How could I forget?"

The girl stopped. Since she wasn't actually a person, she didn't just abruptly halt but froze like a figure in a painting, mid-stride, perfectly still. Aric furrowed his brow inquisitively. "What?"

"Nothing," the projection said, resuming its imitation of life. "Where are we going?"

Aric studied the illusory being, which was pretending to inspect its fingernails with an air of nonchalance. His mouth parted slightly with a sudden realization.

"I'm going hunting for more spells, of course," Aric replied casually, then smirked. "Do you have a better idea, Ren?"

Aric was met with a pair of baleful blue eyes. "So you're going to keep that up?"

"Since it seems to bother you, I have no choice. I can't be the only one being driven slowly mad."

The illusion huffed. "As if I care. I was merely taken by surprise. I've never had a name before."

"That's sad. Now I feel bad for just shortening your monster category. I should have put more thought into it. Want me to come up with something better?"

"Spare me," the illusion responded dismissively.

With a shrug, Aric resumed his journey, and the newly dubbed Ren followed along quietly, seemingly rendered speechless for one blessed moment.

After climbing a few levels and navigating tunnels that Aric knew like the back of his hand by now, they arrived at a lake with black water. Frolicking within the dark water's depths and occasionally wading in and out of its shores were peculiar salamanders with pale orange skin. Aric had never read about these monsters, but he'd watched them in battle with Arren's band of adventurers, and thus knew their name and, more importantly, the precious spell that resided within them.

Being creatures of magic rather than flesh and blood, most monsters could not heal even minor wounds on their own. The Zolet was an exception. They were fearless, aggressive creatures, even by the dungeon's standards.

Before getting close enough to be noticed, Aric drew his morrow card and summoned the shadows. Fading into the gloom, Aric carefully climbed an outcropping of rock that stretched out above the lake. When he was sure he couldn't be seen, he let the magic fade.

Surveying the Zolets below, Aric began planning his attack strategy. He only needed one core, but dealing with a Zolet would take longer than the other monsters he'd faced. If he didn't plan this well, he would be neck-deep in angry amphibians.

Aric ran his fingers over his slim deck of spell cards. Before forging his first spell card, he had used cores to shape earth, manipulate heat and shadows, and teleport. Now he'd replaced all of them with cards, enhancing his mastery over the spells. He'd once been limited to teleporting himself a fixed distance within his line of sight; now he could vary the distance, move objects beyond himself, and only needed a good understanding of the space. His skill with the other spells had also made significant progress.

In addition to those four, Aric had managed to collect, study, and finally harness two more spell patterns. The more destructive of the two, which he'd taken from an Orcupine, allowed him to shape aether into sharp shards and propel them toward his enemies. Given the chaotic nature of aether, the constructs were fleeting, but they served their purpose in battle.

The other, perhaps less impressive ability, had come from a frog-like monster. He could use the monster's gift to momentarily strengthen his legs, allowing him to jump much farther and faster than his small form would suggest. Of course, jumping was inferior to teleportation, but it took much less focus and energy, making it better suited for use in a prolonged fight. Besides, there were other advantages and uses to strengthening his lower body. Probably.

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Aric's mind buzzed with potential combinations of spells and tactics as he observed the flock of Zolets below with shrewd eyes. Then, he turned to his illusory companion with an inquiring look and whispered, "I don't suppose you’d like to make yourself useful? I want you to distract them."

Sera's wide, round eyes blinked as her head tilted slightly to the side. "Why would I do that?"

"If you help me, I could start trusting you. If I grow strong enough, I could grant you the freedom and mana you desire without fear of what you might do with it. If not friends, we could at least be allies."

The specter's pink lips contorted into a mocking smile. "I will not reinforce the bars of my own cage. When the Regenerators tear you limb from limb, your magic will crumble, and I will be free."

Aric shuddered slightly at the weight of the arcane name, then shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Not wasting any more time on the specter, Aric closed his eyes and focused his mind. He had not needed the Siren's aid before, and he would not need it now. He'd take the core by his own strength. His consciousness sank into his mana as his hand drew Earth Shaping from his deck.

Aric's focus intensified as he flooded the card’s runes with mana in a convoluted pattern. As he wove the spell, the ground beneath him trembled. When Aric completed the delicate pattern, panting slightly from the exertion, he opened his eyes and watched with satisfaction as jagged walls and karsts erupted from the earth, fragmenting the landscape and isolating the Zolets.

With the stone constructs in place, he replaced Earth Shaping with Umbra, drawing forth the Morrow Eel’s shadow magic to conceal himself from sight and, as he pushed further into the magic, even the pull of gravity. The world dimmed around him, and he stepped off the ledge. His descent was slow and stealthy, invisible to the confused and disturbed Zolets milling about below in their altered environment.

Aric landed gracefully on the closest of his artificial monoliths, then leaped down to the next, his focus trained on a solitary Zolet he'd isolated within the rock formation. As he closed the distance, he let the shadow magic fade and pulled another spellcard from his deck. He didn’t have time to waste. Activating Shard, Aric pulled the ambient aether to his palm and concentrated it into a long, sharp crystal. He formed a few more, casting as fast as he was able, and then changed the activation pattern.

In the next instant, the shards of crystalized aether pelted the creature with impressive force. The salamander roared in pain as the shards struck, sinking into its orange flesh and pinning it to the wall. Aric jumped forward, intent on reaching the creature while it was immobilized. However, to Aric's dismay, he saw that cracks were already forming in his summoned spikes. He pushed himself faster still, reaching his hand out toward the Salamanders exposed chest, urgently calling heat into his palm.

Feeling the burning heat burrowing its way into its chest, the Zolet roared, and it redoubled its struggles. Suddenly, the aether constructs shattered back into motes of incorporeal essence, and free of its restraints, the enraged creature was on Aric in a flash. Aric grimaced and teleported out of reach of the creature's swinging claws. As he created some distance, Aric saw that the wounds he’d inflicted were healing at a visible rate.

Realizing the creature's strength and regenerative abilities were even greater than he’d imagined, Aric wanted some space to think. He leaped back with mana-enhanced speed and sent another round of aether spikes into the salamander's hide. The creature moved with surprising agility and avoided being pinned again as it pursued him.

“Oh, look at that,” A voice said, causing Aric to nearly fail to dodge the enraged salamander’s lunge. Out of the corner of his eye, Aric saw that a blonde girl had seemingly materialized beside him with an enthusiastic look on her face.

“Not now, Ren!”

“You’re right, better not to look. Death should come as a surprise.”

Feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, Aric leapt again to avoid the charging salamander, and then risked taking a glance where the illusion had indicated. His heart rose into his throat at the sight of a swarm of Zolets pouring toward him through an opening in his stone defenses.

His hand went to his deck, ready to seal the breach with more earth, but in the next moment he switched to the strengthening spelland dodged out of the way of a gaping maw. As he rocketed through the air thanks to his mana-enhanced jump, he took the opportunity to look around and saw that there were more weak-points, with more Zolets rushing in on all sides. Had they dug their way through?

As he landed on a stone outcropping, Aric shook his head. It didn’t matter. He didn’t have time to seal off all the tunnels before the Zolets charged through. Especially not while fighting one. His eyes flickered up, toward the series of pillars he’d created—his escape route.

His fist clenched. No. He wasn’t going to be beaten by a mindless hoard of salamanders. He’d never be a great aethermeister if just this little trouble was too much for him.

Gritting his teeth, Aric turned back to his opponent. He was barely keeping up with just one, he couldn’t fight dozens. But his goal wasn’t to fight them. He just had to get what he came for, and fast. His serious gaze tracked the raging Zolets charge for a moment, and his hand went to his deck. Aric’s eye’s crackled with energy as his mana moved.

Teleporting with precision, Aric appeared beneath the Zolet’s orange belly. In the same instant, he summoned shards of aether and propelled them into the creature's joints, causing it to crash to the ground. Before he could be crushed beneath the hulking creature, Aric teleported onto it’s back, panting with the exertion of casting so many spells back to back.

Despite his exhaustion, he didn’t hesitate to cast two more in quick succession. He held Haze and Shard between the fingers of his right hand, and held his left palm out over the creature’s back. Though it felt like breaking his mind in two, and would leave him with a splitting migraine for days, he activated the two spells simultaneously.

In front of his palm, wind swirled as magic rushed to answer Aric’s call, and a ruby shard of aether materialized. As soon as it appeared, it started glowing, increasing in luminosity until it was filled with a searing white light. The scorchingly hot crystal was ejected into the salamander’s back with as much force as Aric could muster, causing a deafening boom and nearly knocking it’s caster off his feet.

Regaining his balance, Aric infused another shard with heat and sent it off again, and again. He could hear the creature’s brethren stampeding, growing dangerously close, but he paid that no mind. The creature writhed in agony as he single mindedly attacked, the speed and brutality of his spells overwhelming its regenerative abilities.

Finally, the Zolet collapsed, and Aric seized the opportunity, ignoring his fatigue. His hand reached into the smoking hole he’d blown in the salamander’s back—carefully continuing to feed mana into Haze to keep himself from being burned—and snatched the creature's core. He felt the faint hum of its essence within his grasp, more alive than any spell he’d stolen yet. The salamander disintegrated into motes of light as he withdrew its core, leaving him to fall to the ground.

As he fell, he finally saw the other Zolets, their frills extended in outrage at his audacious theft. They were close now, mere meters away, and would be upon him in seconds if he did nothing.

Aric smiled tiredly, prize clutched in one hand, as he brought the other to his deck.

He disappeared.

— — —

Back in his cave workshop, Aric ran a finger over a round, orange gem about the size of an eyeball. With the others on the table in front of him, and given his diminutive frame, it looked like a boy playing marbles. However, this was in truth an aethermeister in his study, entirely consumed by the noble, unending pursuit of knowledge. Once he’d come to understand the spell patterns in this little treasure, he would be able to heal the wounds he’d received in his adventures thus far.

Monsters were a sturdy lot regardless of type, but he’d been burned, struck by falling stones, nearly impaled by an Orcupine needle … he was looking forward to being completely whole again. More importantly, this spell could someday let him heal others, if he could fully grasp the mysteries contained within.

“I’m surprised you’re not dead already, Wellspring. That was quite a spectacular attempt at self-extinction. Pity you failed, but I’m sure you’ll get there someday if you keep at it.”

Somehow, hearing the magical name was less unpleasant now, as if he’d grown accustomed to it. Aric, head still resting on his work table, turned slightly to regard the figure languishing on his bed. He did not actually have a bed anymore, of course, but he had a memory of one, and that was enough for the Siren. He smiled at the illusion.

“You helped me. Pointed out the threat before I’d noticed it.”

The phantom rolled her pale eyes.

“I was trying to distract you. Make sure you slipped up at a vital moment. You should have been swallowed by that overgrown water bear.”

Aric’s smile widened.

“Good bird.”