The team drove for another hour, going deeper into the phosphorescent forest. Leanna, Speet, Srell and Prism were all amazed by the colorful glowing sights all around them, each for a different reason. Leanna, who'd read about the Sguvan phenomenon since she was a child, wondered how the biology of nearly every plant in the jungle had gained the photoluminescent quality.

  "It's probably because of the massive amounts of mana flowing through this section of the Viga rainforest. When there's this much mana constantly interacting with an environment, it has a visible effect on it." Prism explained to her, though she didn't believe that it was simple as he said.

  "How could something that our science and technology can't detect have such a profound effect on the world around us?" Leanna argued. She knew that mana existed; she was speaking to the evidence of it. What she didn't accept was that it was some mystical energy that was beyond scientific comprehension. "Higher-dimensional energies...exotic particles of some kind...it has to be something that exists within our highly-predictive theory of physics. The Queen may restrict what we can build, but she hasn't stopped us from further understanding how our world works, even on a quantum level."

  "I can't argue against any of that. I'm not completely sure mana isn't what you said it could be. I just know that it’s an intrinsic part of every world I've been to, even when there is nothing living on that world." Prism stroked the patch of coarse hair on his chin.

  "There will always be things that science can't explain. I don't believe we live in a purely empirical universe." Wadaw said.

  “We may not know how it works now, but that doesn’t mean we won’t in the future.” Ursun chimed in.

  “How is that any different from magical thinking?” Wadaw asked.

  Prism marveled at the many types of mana that streamed around him as the others began to argue. Mana born of the complex interactions of living things blended with mana born of purely mechanical processes. It was a delight to his senses and a panacea to his ills. Being within the energetic soup made his body feel strong and his mind fill with excitement. He had to be careful not to let it all overwhelm his senses.

  “If it’s going to be like this all the way to Zazi…” he thought with a bite of his thumb, “No, it’s probably going to get stronger and stronger…”

  Prism’s worries were soon disturbed by Speet and Srell speaking over the team’s shared telepathic link.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so beautiful,” shared Speet, “It’s even more spectacular than what I saw when Prism allowed our eyes to see mana.”

  Speet sat on the back of the truck, exposed to the elements as he kept his hands on the minihowitzer before him. Even the pollen of the various plants shimmered around him in the humid night air. It tickled his big nose and his big lips, though it never made him sneeze. He reached his left hand out to catch some of it. He barely felt a thing through his gloved hand as it flew through a thick cloud of the pollen, creating a short-lived trail of prismatic specks.

  “Yeah, it’s something…” Srell shared with a smidgen of condescension. His hawkish eyes pored over the shadows that still existed between the broad-leafed foliage for even a glimpse of an enemy. “A bumpkin like you hasn’t even scratched the surface of what this world has to offer,” he shared along with a mocking gesture.

  “I’ve been to plenty of places, just not here,” shared Speet while his droopy, hazel eyes drooped even further as he took Srell’s bait, “even before I joined RED-2.”

  “I don’t know how a big dumb guy like you has survived this long. You can use that BIGPAW well enough, I guess.”

  There was venom in Srell’s words.

  “He’s about the same size as me and I’ve lived about twice as long.” Ursun shared in an attempt to defuse the situation.

  “Don’t talk to him like that, you beady-eyed worm. The number of lives Speet’s saved is higher than you can even count to.” Leanna snapped back.

  “It’s alright, Lea,” Speet shared, calm and dignified. “We’ve all been through a lot recently. He’s just blowing off some steam.”

  “Oh fuck you, you smug meathead.” Srell shared with an audible yell that earned him a solid punch in the face from Lorias, who was still driving beside him. “Hey, what was that for!?” Srell whined.

  “Turn up here,” Wadaw said to Ursun while leaning forward between the front seats and pointing to the right so that Ursun could see.

  Everyone within the vehicles bounced as they turned onto a secluded path with an especially low dip. Speet would’ve been thrown from the truck if he hadn’t strapped himself into his rotating seat. The path was on a decline that became steeper and steeper as they drove along. Walls of soil and glowing plant life grew higher and higher as they drove deeper inside.

  “Are we headed underground?” Leanna twisted in her seat to ask Wadaw.

  “Partially,” he smiled.

  Ursun and Lorias’ stopped their vehicles in a round, darkened area half-covered by large colorful plants that draped over them like a roof. What ordinarily would have been a dark pit was made a roomy, if not mossy, low-light hideout. Small glowing mushrooms grew from some of the walls.

  "Prism, scan the area for hostiles. I'm tired and don't want to get woken up by another ambush when I can finally get to sleep," Ursun shared telepathically.

  "Sure thing," Prism replied as his irises became a bright blue.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  He made himself comfortable in his seat before he sent out a wave of magic like a radar pulse. He gritted his teeth at the effort it took him to move the wave across the complicated terrain. The invisible burst traveled a kilometer before retracting back into Prism, all in the span of a minute. He huffed and started rubbing his forehead when he received the massive amount of information that his magical analysis yielded.

  "Anything we need to worry about?" Ursun leaned over and asked after noticing the signs of strain on Prism's face.

  "No, I didn't detect anything dangerous to us. No other humans and no machines within a kilometer of us," Prism shared along with a simplified model of their surroundings.

  "Not many know about this place. I'm not surprised that it’s empty, especially since our forces are all headed to Zazi," Wadaw explained.

  "It’s still weird. We're not that far from the mountains. You'd think there'd be a stronger military presence here," Leanna shared.

  "It’s probably pretty clear to Gusa and his advisors that the True Twins are amassing around Zazi. He's probably pulled back a lot of his forces to the city in anticipation of a siege," Lorias reasoned through their link.

  "They’re a bunch of morons. You'd think with all their fancy tech that they'd be able to wipe out all their opposition in one fell swoop," Srell shared.

  "Would you like it if they just wiped us all out?" Wadaw teased.

  "Come on! I didn't mean it like that!" Srell shared with an angry slam of his fist of the dashboard in front of him.

  "It is strange that the Sguvan military hasn't decisively rooted out the True Twins and their collaborators. There is definitely a technological chasm between the two forces, and the military even has the means to extract information directly from people's brains. I'm not sure why they haven't used that method to figure out every enemy and spy hiding in their midst," Speet shared.

  "Whoa, that's more than you've said the whole time I've known you, meathead," Srell shared, smiling at the man's strengthening of his own point. "Speet said exactly what I meant to say."

  "Let's set up camp. We can continue this conversation later," Ursun psychically ordered.

  They found large tents in each of their stolen vehicles along with plenty of rations and other survival supplies. In under twenty minutes, they'd set up comfortable accommodations for everyone beneath the phosphorescent foliage above them. A rounded wall of clay and rock surrounded them, with a muddy slope offering them only one way out. The area was thick with a moldy, earthy smell that took some getting used to.

  "I'm not the biggest fan of that," Lorias pointed at the slope and said. He and Ursun stood side by side outside of the flap entrance to the larger of the two inflatable black tents.

  "It's one-way-in for our enemies, too. It's cramped enough in here that we shouldn't have too much issue dealing with attacks," Ursun said.

  "And if they shoot at us from up there?" Lorias looked up at the opening several meters above them.

  "Prism's making a barrier enchant that'll shield us from that." Ursun pointed over at the truck. It took Lorias a moment to see the dark-skinned elementeitan standing in the shadows. Prism had his hands out above him and his eyes closed as a few white spell circles strobed on the sides of the vehicle. "He says that he can put them on the truck and then simply project the barrier above it to encompass the whole area."

  "Like he did in that sand cave back in Disdüt, when we were hemmed in by those crazy scientists." Lorias closed his eyes and smirked.

  Ursun turned to him and chuckled at the memory. "I'd forgotten about that. He enchanted a rock to maintain a barrier that blocked the tunnel we were running down."

  "Those nuts ran headfirst into the barrier. It was a real delight to see." Lorias continued to smirk.

  "Hah, it sure was," said Ursun through another chuckle. "Man, we sure do a lot of our fighting underground and in caves, don't we?"

  "Mhmm," Lorias said with a nod. He placed his hand on the silverine hilt of his sword. "It certainly limits this thing's usefulness. I was lucky that the corridors in that mountain base were so wide."

  "That place..." Ursun placed his calloused fingers on his chin before he continued speaking, "It's crazy how close we all were to dying. Leanna and I had our brains plugged into whatever-the-hell tech the Royalists are using." He rubbed the section of his head that had a tube running out of it hours earlier. "And now I'm just standing here talking to you like nothing happened."

  "Like it's just a normal day for us."

  Lorias lowered his chin and looked up into Ursun's eyes. Only the smallest trace of a smile formed at the corner of Lorias' thin, pink lips. Ursun looked away from Lorias and smiled while shaking his head. There was nothing to do but laugh in the face of such absurdity, both of them thought.

  Prism continued to hold his right hand toward the enchanted truck while slowly raising his left hand up towards the sky. He watched the golden barrier of magical energy extend from the truck towards the donut hole ceiling of the semi-cave. It looked like he was using a large ring to make a large yellow soap bubble in the air. With a bit of effort, he created an invisible dome above them that would protect them through the night.

  "That's handy," said a voice so low that Prism felt it rumble in his ears.

  Prism turned around to see Speet standing behind him. He was surprised how quietly the large man had approached him. It helped that Speet wasn't wearing his bulky BIGPAW equipment. "Sure is. I wish I could send you off with one, but an enchant this powerful needs me nearby to feed it a steady supply of mana.” Prism lowered his head for a moment and scratched his chin. “Actually, can I see your comm-clasp?”

  “Sure,” Speet said before taking off the dark red earring and handing it to Prism. Prism grabbed it from the merc’s massive palm before clamping it in his own two hands. “Figure out a way to give me my own personal shield?” Speet leaned over and said low and sweet.

  “Not exactly,” said Prism as he cupped the clasp in hands that began to glow with a warm, bluish light. “I'm adding a new feature that'll help keep you hidden without expending as much mana as the invisibility enchant does. Just give me a few minutes, "big guy"," he echoed the nickname he'd heard Leanna call him.

  Speet nodded and walked off to the smaller tent. He found Leanna making up her cot within. "You get to be the first of us to sleep. Lucky you." Speet said after stepping into the well-lit tent.

  "It's only thanks to Prism's abilities that we're not all stumbling around haggard. I can feel whatever he did to us starting to fade away, though. I'll be knocked out in no time," She said as she leaned over and smoothed out the creases in a dark-gray sheet she'd placed on her inflatable cot. The plump, twin-sized bed jutted out of the tent's inflated walls.

  "I'm glad I didn't find you snoring away in here," he said with a straight face, earning him an angry glance from Leanna. "I'm out of here once Prism's done upgrading my comm-clasp, or whatever he's doing to it."

  "That so? Is it really wise to trek through unknown terrain all by yourself in the middle of the night?"

  "Nothing I haven't done before."

  "That's right; you're the guy that loves carrying his injured buddies across the battlefield on his shoulders like some sort of action star." Leanna shook her head and raised her eyebrows while she spoke. "I really don't like that you're doing this, Speet."

  "I'll be okay," he lowered his head and said in an even deeper voice than he usually spoke.

  Leanna walked over to him and reached up to touch his long, blockish face. She stroked his scruffy cheek with the gentleness and care of an old friend, despite them having only known each other for a few years. "You better be, you big oaf."

  Speet's thick lips curled up into a dumb smile as he nodded down at her.

  "It's ready!" he heard Prism's voice in his head. Speet nudged his head towards the tent's exit, getting a knowing nod from Leanna.

  "I'll see you when I see you," said Speet to Leanna before leaving her alone in the tent.