After the initial shock our crew tried to fix the problem. Hans grabbed a toolkit and Adva began opening panels. Arianne and Herbert got involved as well, discussing what runes could cause a problem.

Meanwhile I pondered just grabbing everyone and flying them to safety, then storing the train. My rather simple plan encountered a small flaw though. I noticed that the active engine prevented me from using my storage device on it. Somehow the magic interfered.

Well, we could still fly everyone to safety, if needed. How would we stop the engine though? I guess Lucy could stop the train in her fox form but the engine would still be running.

"Can't you simply disconnect the engine from the storage crystal? Cut off the power?" I asked.

"You can't just cut off the power from an active ritual! The magic formation would explode! It needs to be shut off from within the ritual!" Herbert answered.

I scratched my head. Was that true?

"We should go full speed to deplete the mana faster!" Lucy suggested with a grin.

"I don't think that is the best solution…" I replied.

"I shall have a look at those runes." Kira announced and climbed down into the carriage. I decided to follow.

"This is the control mechanism." Herbert explained. "This storage crystal is part of the ritual that powers the engine and those runes here control the energy flow."

"This lever changes the runic formation." Adva added. "They are all engraved into metal but the lever connects different runes. So it alters the ritual and the energy flow."

It looked impressive and was not a part I had inspected earlier. I had only checked the runes on the engine itself. Having a lever cycle through runes in a spell circle was fascinating.

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"And that just works? How can you change the runes in an ongoing ritual?" I asked.

"Ah, technically they are all part of the ritual. There is just a part of the ritual without mana flow…" Adva explained.

"Aha!" I replied. "You have added a dead part into the ritual and you just switch the runes which are powered. But they are all part of the entire spell so you can shift them. This is amazing! I wonder what I can do with that…"

"It does not seem to work though." Kira mused.

"The technique works! It's used in other dwarven engineering." Hans assured us.

"Oh, I think you got a mana leak there." I noticed something with my Eyes of the Fey. I could see mana flowing into runes that were supposed to be dead.

Adva peered closer at the section. Then she removed another panel. We stared at a bug the size of a fist. It was softly glowing in a blue light.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Is it edible?" I heard Lucy's voice as she was peeking over my shoulder.

"That is a mana bug. It has connected itself to the ritual and is feeding off the magic. It disrupts the mana flow." Arianne said.

"They are dangerous. If you touch it it will electrocute you." Herbert warned.

I felt Lucy's head changing. I turned my head to see my girlfriend become a fox. Then she licked her lips. I raised an eyebrow.

"It looks tasty." She replied.

"If it is part of the ritual, eating it could have some consequences, like an explosion." I observed. "We should evacuate the civilians first."

"I will deal with them." Kira replied and collected the civilians with her magic. Arianne yelped as she was levitated. Adva tried to protest but Kira acted fast, and jumped off the train with all of them.

I looked after them. "Hopefully she has taken our speed into consideration… Oh well, they had protective magic on them."

I was still looking outside when I heard the crunch behind me. I turned around and saw Lucy chewing the bug. Electricity arced everywhere. I saw the magic going wild and had an idea. I unleashed my aura. I was the storm, after all. Lightning was my domain.

I focused on the ritual. The mana inside was filled with air and lightning. And I commanded it to obey. I commanded it to rest. It resisted. I focused my will and poured all of my power into it…

The mana calmed, as instructed. The runes stopped glowing. The ritual ended and the engine shut off.

"I think all the mana made it more juicy. Sorry, I should have shared." Lucy commented.

"I just stopped the ritual from exploding!" I pointed out.

"Yeah yeah, you did Amaya things. But you missed out on good food. Think we can order more of those bugs somewhere?" Lucy wondered.

"Well, we should certainly find out how it got into the prototype. Maybe it leads us to more." I replied, now being curious about the taste myself. I might have missed a great snack.

Soon Kira and the train team arrived.

"It did not explode?" Kira asked.

"No, I told the mana to behave." I replied.

"What?" Arianne asked.

"I am the Storm." I replied. "More importantly, how did the bug get in there? And where can we find more?"

Somehow they all looked shocked and confused.

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