The First Hunt: A Little Compassion

Prompt: Now that the wisp has your trust, capturing it will be much easier.  Often it's as simple as asking the wisp to come home with you!  Often they wish to make a trade with you, often for a tasty treat.  Sometimes they wish for you to continue chasing for a short while, before allowing you to capture them.

Word Count: 1533

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“Would you like to travel with me?” Dirge asked the eel-wisp. He had been spending several hours a day playing with it for the past week. By this point, the aqrion didn’t need to seek it out as it actively would come to him.

The eel-wisp lit up. For a moment, Dirge swore that could be taken literally as he saw a line of lights travel down its spine. But as quickly as the positive expression came, it left, leaving a limp looking eel in its place.

“I’ve tried to leave before.” it began to tell Dirge, “But no matter how far I manage to go, I’ll just end up back here.”

Dirge would be the last dragon to ever claim he understood the nature of wisps. Not only were wisps as a whole a mystery, it seemed like each one was so unique in its own way. The only thing that appeared to be the same between them is their ghostly appearance and their aptitude for taking on the form of animals. 

“There’s no harm in trying again, right?” Dirge offered. Any number of things could have kept the wisp here and maybe simply having an aqrion companion would be enough for it to leave. It might have been a silly theory anywhere else, but with how little is known about them, anything is worth a shot.

“If I disappear, would you come back?” the eel-wisp asked after a moment of weighing its options. It was sad to see how hesitant it was to let its hopes up.

“Of course.” Dirge nodded. Even though he started this journey just to try and collect another wisp, he had grown attached to the eel-wisp as an individual. Even if the wisp had decided to leave his side as soon as it was able to leave the cave, Dirge would be happy to have helped.

At first, the eel-wisp playfully swam around Dirge, snapping at drifting particles and playing little games with itself. But the closer they got to the exit, the less it played and the closer it swam alongside the toothed singer. Eventually, it found its way under Dirge’s flipper. Despite the cold that emanated from the wisp, Dirge felt a familial warmth in his chest.

“Are you scared?” Dirge asked when the wisp refused to go any further. They were right at the exit and it would be easy for both of them to go through.

“I don’t want to disappear again.” the wisp tucked itself into Dirge’s armpit.

“We can go back if you want.”

“No. No, I want to go.” the eel shook its head firmly. “I’ll be brave.”

“We’ll go together.”

The eel-wisp took a deep breath, or at least performed the motion of it and swam with Dirge. They were in open waters. It was deep into the night. At first the wisp stayed under Dirge’s flipper. But slowly, fear made way for curiosity. It left to explore, going between coral structures and bothering the living sea creatures that made their home on the reef. Dirge watched it, smiling as the wisp expressed so much childlike wonder at the world beyond his cave.

“Do you think you’re unbound?” Dirge inquired after the eel-wisp chased a small fish in a place it couldn’t follow. Or perhaps it could and chose not to- his turtle-wisp would often pass through objects that got in its way. 

“I don’t know.” the eel-wisp shook its head, “I always disappeared when it got bright.”

“We have a couple hours until that happens.”

“You want to play while we still have time? In case… you know.”

“Sure. What do you want to play?”

 

The hours passed and dawn broke. The reef awoke and burst with life as prey that hid from night predators left their caves. But the eel-wisp was not there to see this. As the sun rose, it faded with the night. Dirge returned to the cave. It was three days before he saw the eel-wisp again. 

It arose from one of the holes in the mud. Immediately, it rushed to Dirge, and hid in his armpit. It was upset, but it wouldn’t talk about it. Dirge didn’t press it any further. It had been through enough.

“Maybe I can’t leave.” the eel-wisp sobbed.

“No, that can’t be. We just need to figure out why you’re stuck here.” Dirge refused to accept that the wisp was forever bound to this dark and lonely cave. “We’ll get you out. I promise.”

The eel-wisp turned to Dirge, mouth open and ready to say something. It froze, eyes wide. It darted for one of its mudholes and left the aqrion alone and confused. The wisp hadn’t acted that way since Dirge first spotted it. 

The cave walls began to flicker, a slow display of threatening colors. Dirge felt panic hit his chest. His eyes darted around the cave walls, terrified at the strange phenomena. Finally his eyes settled on the source, an abyssal aqrion. She must have been ancient for she easily could have wrapped herself twice around him.

Her spines were fully erect and her mouth was open, her jaw split four ways. The pattern began to change, it was far faster and brighter. It took all of Dirge’s efforts to not swim away in a panic. If he tried to run, he would be chased. And in this environment, the abyssal had the advantage.

“Why are you here?” the abyssal demanded.

“There was a wis-”

“Was it you?” she cut him off.

“What-”

“I know your type! You toothed singers kill your own kind!” she shrieked, her body beginning to coil and rear.

“I’ve never killed any aqrion!”

“Lies! Three hundred years ago you came to this very nest and killed one of my children! You left the other disabled! You’re a monster! And I’ll put you down like one.”

“I’m not that old!” Dirge pleaded as the abyssal was fully poised to lunge at him. “I’m only fifty. We can’t even live that long.”

“You-” the abyssal stopped herself mid lunge, her jaws fully gaping. Her flickering lights slowed to a halt and turned a mournful blue. “I- I’m sorry.”

There was silence. The cave was filled with the melancholy of the abyssal mother and Dirge’s dying panic. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he looked through all of the dug mud-holes, trying to find the eel-wisp. As he did so, the revelation dawned on him. This was an abyssal nest. And it had been raided well before he was ever born.

“I’ve been mourning our lost egg for so long. I wanted to know what monster could have done this to them.” the abyssal mother spoke. “I wanted so desperately to get revenge so my child could rest. I wanted so badly for you to have been their murderer so I could finally have peace. I-”

“It’s okay.” Dirge said. 

“No, it’s not. I was ready to kill you. And you had nothing to do with this.” she shook her head, refusing to be comforted for her actions. 

“You said the other one made it?” Dirge prompted.

“Yes, he had a rough start. His limbs were malformed. But he’s not only surviving now- he’s thriving. He’s done so well for himself and-” the aqrion began to flash pleasant pink colors for a moment. Then they stopped and her expression dropped. “-And I’ve been so obsessed over a child that never hatched to have been there for him. Oh Lua, I hope he could ever forgive me.”

Dirge was at a loss for words. There was nothing he could think to say. The situation was far beyond his scope and he didn’t want to say something stupid. He felt a cold presence under his flipper and saw the eel-wisp had rejoined his side.

The abyssal raised her head, her colors flashing to something slow and curious, but bright and hopeful. She looked toward the wisp, who tucked itself into Dirge’s arm pit. 

“It can’t be-” she began. “You… feel just like him.”

The wisp looked between Dirge and the abyssal before slowly swimming out. With them both there, it was undeniable that they had a similar aura about them. 

“But you’re not them, are you?” the abyssal asked, knowing the answer already. “You’re just mine and my partner’s grief. And you’ve been here alone for all these years. You poor thing.”

“He’s been taking care of me lately.” the eel-wisp made a gesture to Dirge. “I haven’t been completely alone.”

“That’s good.” the abyssal pulled an expression that Dirge thinks was a smile.

“What were you going to name me?” the wisp asked. “I never got one.”

“I… I don’t think I should name you. I lost that right.” the abyssal shook her head. “Maybe he has something for you.”

Dirge thought for a moment. 

“Giocoso.” he settled.

 

That night Dirge took Giocoso out of the cave again. They played in the full moon’s light and waited for the sun to rise. When dawn broke, the eel-wisp stayed by Dirge’s side. Finally, after centuries of isolation, the wisp had been unbound and was free to see the world beyond its cave.