Oliver sighed lightly into the silence and relative darkness of the bellow, once again glancing longingly at his goal. When he was making his way to the surface of the Fallen Sea, a name he would try his very best to establish as the official moniker of the leaf sea, he had managed to fool himself. Mainly, he had managed to fool himself into thinking that he was travelling with any sort of speed, possibly due to a combination of the very slight speed he did move with, and the leaves flooding to fill the void he left behind. So, when he breached the surface, he was greeted with two surprises. First and foremost, his own speed, because as his surfboard made of pants trundled along the surface, he quickly realised that the leaves were moving behind him significantly more slowly than he would have liked.

His second surprise was when he came to the startling conclusion that he could see, and with that, the awareness that there was a dim light, even down here in the below. He had then noticed where the light was coming from, and, with no swiftness whatsoever, he turned to look at its source.

And what met his eyes then was amazing. A monument to life’s infinite ability and desire to adapt and thrive wherever it might find itself, and a wonder he could have only just imagined in the old world. It stretched out into infinity, as far as he could see, the soft glow of life upon it fading into the vanishing point of his vision from where he viewed the fallen spire. He could just barely see its stump, standing solitary in the distance, a jagged mountain, broken in a way that it could almost be mistaken for a distorted hand. It was the last remnant of a colossus, twisted into sharp jagged claws as it reached for the sun it once felt upon its leaves before something struck it down.

But even as it grasped his attention like the hand it so resembled, the stump quickly lost it once more as his eyes fell upon the fallen body of the tree. Near him, it emerged from the depths of the fallen sea as though it was Atlantis, slowly sinking into the depths of a sea. But as opposed to Atlantis, the trunk slowly rose further and further upwards until the entirety of the trunk was visible, a streak of soft blue fairy light disappearing into the darkness above like a path to brighter lands.

But the gigantic form of the toppled spire was nothing compared to the life which grew and thrived upon it, as the life upon it glowed with vitality. And that statement was no exaggeration, as the many mushrooms growing upon its surface glowed with a soft blue light, weak on their own, but when united their glow reached even him.

Oliver’s lips had been drawn into a face-splitting grin as he looked upon what he was sure would be his next grand adventure. Would it be moderately more difficult with his left side inoperational? Of course. But wouldn’t that just make it more fun when he explored even with his slight handicap?

That was, at least, his thoughts two hours before the point in time he currently found himself in. For at his current time, he had spent a far larger share of his life than he had ever wanted to lying still and watching the log slowly pass. After all, while something interesting did happen quite often as he made his way to where the trunk emerged from the fallen sea, he had neither the time nor the mental acuity to steer himself and think of other things. So instead of watching the wonders of the fallen spire, he got the supremely joyous experience of noticing whenever something interesting did happen, but not being able to think and theorize about it.

Of course, something truly interesting did happen eventually, namely when Oliver spotted a rounded silhouette hurtle down from the above, before landing in the fallen sea with an explosion of leaves. The dancing silhouettes of the leaves were entrancing against the backdrop of turquoise light, ruined only slightly by the commentary of rampant profanities from just before the impact.

“Would you look at that! here I was hoping for some company to adventure with, and a perfect companion comes streaking down from above” Oliver said with a wide smile “I cannot wait to see the looks on their faces when I tell them that a friend fell from the sky the moment I hoped for one to adventure with”

Oliver awkwardly turned his neck in a distinctly uncomfortable manner to look up into the darkness above “Did you hear that, Aelin? The power of hope totally works!” He glanced to the spot where only a few dark silhouettes were visible now as the leaves settled back onto the fallen sea “I should probably looking for whomever they are before I lose track of them completely” he glanced out at the dunes of leaves “it could also be a somewhat decent idea for me to stop shouting, because, well, there probably aren’t any, but there could theoretically speaking be the leaf equivalent of sea serpents” Oliver mumbled, looking at the sea with a hint of yearning in his eyes before he started the arduous journey of two hundred meters, at the comfortable speed of half a meter per second.

Eventually, he reached the point where he thought whoever they were had disappeared, from which he slowly made his way downwards through the carefully constructed method of going in circles at a slight angle, to avoid sliding off or pressing against his broken leg.

“Hello? Is there anyone down here who might require the help of a horribly inept surfer with two broken limbs?” Oliver called out as he attempted to locate them.

“I would prefer a highly skilled seafarer with a magic boat that is perfect for leaf sailing, but I suppose your offer is better than no offer” Someone, clearly a woman, if her deep and melodious voice was a proper indication, called back.

“Well, then you must be quite lucky, for while I have none of the things you actually desire, I do possess a small raft made of pants. And while I make no attempt at claiming that it is magical in and of itself, it is held together on a basis of magic and hopeful thinking, if that is any sort of consolation” Oliver said, smiling widely for a moment before he was swiftly reminded of the leaves he was moving through.

The woman paused for a moment as Oliver spat the leaves out, silent for a reason Oliver couldn’t explain “Are you saying that you have somehow managed to use magic already?” she asked, surprise in her voice.

“Well, in the spirit of fairness I feel it necessary to inform you that it was quite a recent development, but indeed I did finally figure it out. I only did it after attempting to do so over and over again for two weeks, of course, but eventually even I could manage it” Oliver explained “But, that is of lesser interest when compared to other questions of more immediate, and quite honestly greater, concern” Oliver said, even as he tried to find her voice.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Like what?”

“Well, for example, do you have two layers of clothing on your lower half, if so I would appreciate it if I could borrow one of them”

The woman, whoever she might be, paused, and Oliver couldn’t help the slight laugh he released as he thought of the face of utter confusion she was presumably wearing. He knew he should probably also mention the fallen spire or explain how he wielded magic or even ask her about who she was, but he couldn’t help himself when presented with such an opportunity.

And clearly, the woman had heard his laughter, for a moment later she spoke with a smile in her voice “Fine, I have to admit that I could have expected that when you said your surfboard was made of pants, and I will give you my gym shorts, but what is it we actually need to focus on?”

“Well, firstly, I think I may have finally discovered your location, and I will be positioning myself right above you in a moment. Now, when I do so, I would appreciate it if you could hold onto the bottom of my board, after which I will drag us to the surface, where you will let go so that we can reposition with our sense of sight” Oliver explained as he gesticulated with his unbroken right hand.

“Sounds like a functional plan, even if I am tempted to ask you about the light you mentioned right now, but I suppose discussion is always better with the mysterious light to see by” She said, a note of amusement in her voice which was possibly from the fact that she could hear the shifting of the leaves from Oliver’s gestures “but before any of that, I would like to know what the name of my mysterious wizard friend is, and where he was before the system”

Oliver started to move above her as he sighed forlornly “I actually quite enjoyed being the mysterious stranger, but, if it pleases you, I suppose I have no choice but to introduce myself. I am Oliver Antonova of Denmark, wizard and adventurer extraordinaire, now grab hold and I shall drag you to freedom” Oliver waited for a moment for her affirmation that she was indeed ready, but none came.

“Is there any reason in particular you aren’t grabbing hold?” Oliver asked.

“Indeed there is. You see, I am Swedish, and as such, I would prefer dying of thirst rather than to live through the shame of being saved by a Dane” She said flatly, in Swedish, of course.

“Well, I suppose you’ve just proved me wrong, after all, I once said that a swede would never do anything good for me, and yet, here you are, sparing me the embarrassment of saving a swede,” Oliver said with a grin, even as he thought over the coincidence that the two humans he had met were both of Scandinavian origin.

When they finally made their way to the surface, they were both met with quite the surprise at the other’s appearance. Oliver was surprised at how tall Camilla was, estimating that she stood almost as tall as he did, which was impressive given his height of around two meters. He also supposed that she was quite beautiful. With Her eyes which looked like two shards of amber with unknown relics and secrets beneath the surface, and her raven black hair standing out against her fair skin. That, combined with the rest of her facial structure being quite symmetrical and sharp, was fairly aesthetically pleasing.

Camilla, meanwhile, was surprised both at the state of his body and the degree to which he had no clothes. She had expected him to be wearing a ragged shirt, some underwear, and shoes. Instead, she found saw a skinny seventeen-year-old with only scratches covering the entirety of his upper half, nothing on his lower half except a single ratty and worn shoe, and alarmingly swollen limbs. And all the while he smiled at her like she was the person he wanted to see most in the world, even after all the things which had clearly gone horrifically wrong to bring him to that point.

The two of them eventually found themselves standing at the edge of the fallen spire, a name which Camilla had repeatedly refused to use, after a significant trip. Not in length, not truly, at least, but more so in time due to the… relaxed, nature of Oliver’s Fallen Sea transportation. As far as Oliver could tell, their journey lasted for somewhere near six hours at a relaxed pace of a third of a meter every second, meaning they travelled somewhere near seven kilometres.

But luckily, the journey had been quite pleasant due to the company with which it happened. Because while Camilla did hold the significant advantage of Aelin ‘no talking’ Alethnor being her adventuring predecessor, her fellowship was also enjoyable on its own merit. After a delightful start filled mostly with insulting everything about the other’s culture and country, especially the many aspects of their cultures which were almost identical, the ice was broken and the atmosphere uplifting.

And so there they stood, side by side in the very literal sense as Oliver leaned against Camilla for support, almost ready to venture into new territories.

“So, are you ready to go in there and starve to death in a few days?” Camilla asked with a grim face.

“No, and do you know why?” Oliver said as he leaned on a stick to hobble in front of her, grinning wildly as he placed the stick in the crook of his left arm “Because we won’t die in there. And I know that’s not something I can prove; I know all the probability calculations in the world say that we will die in there. But honestly, Look around us! We are standing at the precipice of a mushroom forest filled with bizarre and breathtaking creatures desperately trying their hardest to survive the square-cube law, all of which is situated on a monolithic fallen tree!” Oliver gestured out at the path ahead as he grinned.

“It’s wonderful, magnificent, awe-inspiring, strange, and undeniably an adventure. It’s illogical to the point that I can say with full confidence everyone in the world who tried to predict the future is wrong even without hearing their guess, and that’s amazing!” Oliver said, almost laughing with joy “Could you ever imagine going on an adventure with a highly damaged wizard dressed only in your sports shorts just two weeks ago? All of this may only be a string of incredible and inexplicable events, but we’ll be with friends for every one of them, and we’ll make them fun” Oliver smiled as he reached out his right hand to her.

“Now help me set and splint my bones with the remnants of my pants before we tie this stick to my upper arm so we can have an improvised crutch. There is a grand adventure we need to be on, and I will be honest with you, it involves consuming startling amounts of dubious mushrooms and mushroom-infested water”

Camilla shook her head with a sigh Oliver hoped to be fond before she spoke “Oliver, did you really think that I would survive for two weeks in the above without the will necessary to push through bad situations?” she asked with a slight smile as she gestured for Oliver to lie down “and by the way, is there anything more to the strategy than eating strange mushrooms?”

“Well, I planned for us to observe the animals, and consume what they deem edible. I, of course, expect their physiology and eating habits to have acclimated, but if they only eat a little of one and a lot of the other? Well, I would still hazard to guess that there is some indication of safeness in such an observation” Oliver said smiling at her for a moment, before she twisted his tibia and fibula back into their proper place, causing him to scream.