The transition from leafy green bushes to fireflowers as they entered the Hollow was abrupt. It signified the change from spring-like weather to the full summer's heat that was as cool as the Hollow ever got.

Sophia hated the heat. It was just too hot, especially in armor, and she didn't have an Ability to help with it. She scooted closer to Dav; his Eldritch Adaptation Ability meant that the air near him was cooler than anywhere else.

The fire flowers were pretty, even if they were far hotter than she wanted to get next to. The shrubs' lower leaves were green and cool, but the top third or so were red and gave off the heat that made the Hollow so unpleasant. On the older plants, the very top often glowed yellow with the heat it gave off, a lot like the fire it was named after.

It turned out that that was the difference between a Hollow and the other places monsters gathered: Hollows were created by magical vegetation, not the monsters. They often attracted or maybe even bred monsters, but it was the plant life that made the Hollow what it was. Unfortunately, killing the magical plants wouldn't make the area stop being a Hollow; new plants would grow. They might or might not be the same as the ones that were there before, but the area rarely became less dangerous to its surroundings. It was obvious that the Hollows really formed around areas with naturally higher mana densities; everything else came from that.

Clearing the plant life out of a Hollow didn't grant any Wisps. That made them worth clearing of monsters, which did give Wisps, out but not worth clear-cutting unless the particular monsters the Hollow's plant life attracted were dangerous enough to make taking the chance that it would start to draw something else justified.

The plants were sometimes worth something; they were magical, so it only made sense. Sophia sighed to herself and started to gather some of the fiery tops in Firewater Plumes. She had to bring her own water, but the Ability was by far the best way they had to collect the most valuable part of a fireflower.

Firewater Plume

Create a plume of crystallized Water that holds Fire in its heart. Requires ambient Water and the Fire that is to be captured. The crystalline prison can be disturbed by a sharp shock, returning to its constituent water and releasing the captive Fire. The crystal will slowly evaporate if kept in a dry environment.

A Firewater Plume can be used like any other Plume. Composition of the Firewater Plume may affect some uses.

It was weird to be using an Ability to easily capture things to sell instead of planning to use them as miniature bombs or something, but it was what it was. They needed to have something to sell when they officially arrived in Mazehold and the fireflower Hollow was both well known and commonly harvested by people headed towards the city near the Maze. Most people could only gather the cooler portions of the flower, the way Jax, Dav, and Ci'an were; people like Sophia and Xin'ri who could manage the full fire of the flower were rare.

So she had to do it, no matter how much she despised the heat.

Sophia tucked the third Firewater Plume created from her waterskin and one of the fireflowers away in her pack and sat where she was for a moment. Dav was close and the next fireflower wasn't, so she took the moment of respite in an area that was only a bit too warm instead of scorching.

After a moment, it started to feel like there were eyes on Sophia's back. Hostile eyes, staring at her in anger. Sophia recognized the feeling; something was watching her, something that was close enough for its aura to interact with hers without the aura control to prevent its aura from pushing at hers. It felt warm, like their surroundings, and Sophia probably wouldn't have noticed without the resentment that made her neck hairs rise.

Rather than speak out loud and possibly warn whatever was watching, Sophia reached out across the psychic mesh that they were all connected to, even Jax. "There's something watching us, something hostile. It feels warm, adapted to this Hollow. Did anyone see anything?"

"No. And I still don't," Taika answered swiftly. He couldn't help with the collection of fireflower leaves, so he was stuck serving as their eyes while everyone else paid attention to the task. Sophia didn't even have to ask him to know that he was looking forward to the "tribute" of fireflower leaves he'd get when they left to make up for the fact that he didn't get to eat them straight off the plants. "I don't hear anything, either, just the fireflowers' fires crackling."

That was all Sophia heard, too, but she knew something was out there. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her aura; it ought to be able to tell her something, the same way she'd found the spirits in the Spirits of the Woods Challenge.

It was far weaker to Sophia's senses when she found it, but that was probably because it wasn't dead. Instead, what she felt was a buzzing source of the disturbances that made her feel like she was being watched about fifteen feet to their left.

A surreptitious glance in that direction told Sophia there was nothing there. Well, nothing other than another fireflower. It was larger than the others, but other than that and a larger, brighter fire, Sophia didn't see anything notable in the quick moment she allowed herself to look at the source of her worries. She frowned, then directed her attention towards Jax. "Do fireflowers become aware when they're bigger?"

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"No." Jax's answer was simple, but his mental voice carried a note of concern. "There's a monster that's been seen here a couple of times that can hide in the fireflowers, though, some sort of fire sprite. They're only ever seen by people who harvest the fireflower … flowers …"

"You mean, like Sophia and me?" Xin'ri closed the lid of the wooden box she held, then set it down beside where she sat. "Sounds like you three should be taking care of the fire sprites instead of picking leaves. If it'll get Dav the Wisps he needs without us visiting the Underloam Hollow and hunting for bugs again, I'm in favor of it."

Right now, Sophia wouldn't mind a trip to that particular Hollow again. It was mucky and filled with unpleasant smells, but at least it was cool. Too cool, sometimes, if you were coated in mud or foul water, but Down Coat helped with that. It didn't help against the heat.

You never knew what to expect from the monsters, either. That was unfortunate because it didn't let them plan ahead or use Domain Knowledge, but it was more interesting than the ones where they'd killed essentially the same monsters four times for a decreasing number of Wisps each time.

"I can't even see the fire sprite." Dav sounded grumpy. It was no wonder; he was incredibly close to being ready to join everyone else at the second upgrade. He'd been grumpy ever since Sophia moved up; she wasn't sure if it was because he felt left behind or because he was afraid of what would change when he picked up his Signature. Very little changed for Taika and Ci'an, but Sophia couldn't blame Dav. Not when his Signature was likely to be something to do with the chaotic eldritch power he used. "I'm going to try something. Be ready in case I have to run."

Dav grabbed one of the crystals on the Cord of Spirit Ice he wore and seemed to shimmer, insubstantial. Sophia blinked; she'd completely forgotten that the reward they'd gotten from the ghost guide in the Spirits of the Woods Challenge could allow someone to step into the spirit world. They'd never used it that way.

The area around Sophia immediately started to get hotter without Dav's influence to keep things cool.

Dav took two steps towards the larger flower Sophia indicated before the fire at its peak seemed to lift up and form into a small manlike shape. It dove towards Dav, but he lifted his blade and set it in the way of the spirit as if he meant to block it.

The spirit kept going. It clearly believed that it could pass right through the sword.

It was wrong.

Fire erupted where the spirit met the sword, blossoming in the spirit world but bleeding over into the real world as well. Sophia could feel the blast of heat. It wasn't dangerous at this distance; instead, it felt like the hot breeze of a motor on a hot day. It was unpleasant and something she'd want to get away from if she could, but it didn't hurt.

If it hurt Dav, he ignored it. His blade licked forward and nicked the fiery tail the fire sprite had instead of legs, triggering another smaller fireball, before the sprite decided it had had enough and ran the other way.

Dav frowned and took a single step forward. He seemed to flicker as he moved. Somehow that single step ended with him in front of the fire sprite. Sophia grinned; she recognized that move. He'd used a spell that he was trying to make more use of, Quickstep. It was very annoying to fight against, but was apparently nearly as hard to use, since he had to know exactly where he was going before he made the step and deal with the disorientation of not being in the same place afterwards.

A slow, almost lazy slash at the surprised sprite let him cut deeply into it with another outflowing of flame. The sprite didn't look hurt afterwards, but it did look both smaller and dimmer, like a fire that was slowly being extinguished.

It slipped back, away from Dav, then seemed to turn into a puff of flame that shot towards him. This time, it didn't stop when it hit his sword; it kept going and even seemed to split at the blade. It weakened as it got closer, but there was still enough left of it when it reached Dav that Sophia could see it sheet off his Shield.

The fire sprite was gone.

Three other fireflowers seemed to have their fires split into two and streak towards Dav.

"Behind you!" Taika called out. Sophia spun and found that what Taika meant wasn't where they'd come from; instead, it was in the direction opposite the one the sprite started in, off to the right of their original path. A fourth sprite was headed towards Dav and it was going to run right past Sophia.

Sophia growled to herself and used the only weapon she had immediately to hand: her waterskin. She splashed water at the fire sprite and pushed on her Firewater Plume Ability. She didn't expect much, so she was completely surprised when the water rushed towards the fire sprite and surrounded it. Much of the water immediately exploded into steam, but when Sophia could see the spot again, there was a single red and blue feather floating in the air where the fire sprite once was.

Sophia blinked at it. Dav probably didn't need her help, now that he'd figured out how to fight the sprites. Not if they were weak enough that she could simply capture them in a feather. For that to work, they had to be far weaker than Sophia. Her guess was the very bottom of the first upgrade, but it was possible they were even lower than that. Sure, she was past the second upgrade, but her Firewater Plume was still only level seven. She hadn't seen the point in taking it higher.

She'd only taken it that high because Jax insisted that everything ought to be level seven before she went to level eight and took her second upgrade. He said it made getting the third upgrade easier.

Sophia shook off her surprise and turned back to the battle. While she was distracted, Dav managed to kill two of the fire sprites attacking him, but several more had risen farther away. This was going to be annoying, but it seemed like it probably wouldn't be difficult.

Just how many of the sprites could she capture in firewater plumes? If the top of a fireflower was valuable, surely a fire sprite was, too?

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