The First Hunt: Some Patience

Prompt: Finding wisps are hard enough, but now you must catch one.  If you try to lunge at it, they tend to disappear!  You must learn to slowly follow a wisp to lure it into trusting you before you can capture it.

Word Count: 712

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Over the course of a month, Dirge had explored the cave system that the eel-wisp called home. It was massive, but he had found his way around the important areas. The way back out, the way to where he first found the eel-wisp, and the way to a chamber that wasn’t filled all the way with water. With the creatures that made the cave network their home, Dirge was able to remain within the caves for as long as he needed.

During his stay, Dirge’s senses adapted to the low light of this environment. His clicks became less frequent and he began to trust the information the song gave him. He found which sounds were the cave settling or something actually moving in the dark. Somehow, he had learned how to sense the presence of creatures. Something that came in handy for knowing when his target wisp was active.

Dirge kept his distance. First, he learned the eel-wisp’s boundaries. How close he could approach and how active he could be without making the wisp on edge. Then he began to push his boundaries. Increasing his activities from a quick swim to active hunts. Going from only lurking in the tunnel that led to the same room as the wisp to occupying the same half of a room.

Then he kept an eye on the behaviors of the eel-wisp. His turtle-wisp companion hardly acted or appeared any different than a normal sea turtle. The same could not be said for this eel. It exhibited a personality far more similar to an aqrion hatchling. Playing games with rules made up on the spot, stalking the small crabs that scurried on the floor, and hiding at the first sign of danger. 

It didn’t take long for Dirge to notice that the eel-wisp didn’t stray too far away from the room with all of the dug out holes in the mud. This is often where the eel would first be seen when it reappeared and where it would run before disappearing. At times, he would see the wisp go to the furthest room it would and stare down a tunnel for a long amount of time. When it was done, it would usually return slowly back to a hole in the mud and fade for a couple of days before returning.

Dirge felt as though the eel-wisp had gotten used to his presence. It used to stare Dirge down for several moments whenever the aqrion made any sort of movement near it. Now it only seemed to move its head to acknowledge that Dirge was near it and then resume whatever it was doing. He could have approached it earlier if he was honest, but he had already messed up with this wisp once and was worried the next time would be the last.

With a deep inhale to hype himself up, Dirge moved in on the eel-wisp. It was playing in the mud holes, knocking some poor tiny crab around and not letting the creature hit the floor again. Dirge watched the wisp play its game. After a few minutes, the wisp bounced the crab too far away and the crab landed in the mud. The crab made some cranky gestures with its claws before burrowing.

“You got quite a few bounces in that time.” Dirge complimented. The eel-wisp whipped around, flailing its fins out. For a brief moment, it looked like it displayed lights running down its spine. It relaxed when its eyes rested on Dirge.

“Thanks. I think it was, uh, twenty or something.”

Dirge was taken aback. He wasn’t even sure if the wisp would understand him, much less be able to communicate back.

“You wanna play with me next time?” the wisp asked.

“How do you play?” Dirge smiled. 

“Oh, that’s easy. So you get a crab or a clam and then you toss it into the air.” The eel-wisp found a poor clam to demonstrate on “Then you hit it back up before it hits the floor.”

The wisp bounced the clam a few times before letting it fall to the floor.

“It’s pretty fun!” it reassured, as if saying the rules of the game out loud made it realize how boring the game sounded.

“I’ll give it a go.”