The avianoid flying over the wasteland that was Aughal had to give it some credit. Having actual land go on for as far as the eye could see was a novel experience, though if she wanted a pleasant one she’d go to Kallical. That wasn’t considering how flying felt harder because of the absence of Threst’s Spoke. The one bright spot was that her powers were ever slightly more efficient in the heat-attuned region, and the dryness would make anything organic catch fire faster. Several monsters had already been struck from the sand as she experimented, though the red Arcanist didn’t spend too much time hunting. She had a mission.
Fortunately for the flier, she’d chosen to mostly follow the main road between Aughal and Threst in case she saw anyone in trouble on the road. She wasn’t a Hero, but it always paid to show how superior Threst’s Blessed were over other regions. You’d never see anyone from Aughal stepping in when a rippermaw falcon caught sight of travelers.
If she had just taken the straight path, she would have entirely missed her targets and possibly have run afoul of the new Tyrant. Instead, she made two passes as she confirmed there were at least some of those she was looking for on the road and then gave the standard landing call for the flighted of Threst. It was unnecessary because of all the open ground, but then again, branding. Tounaki Splitswift was a loyal denizen of her home region.
The seven mortals and two monsters traveling together took defensive positions as she landed. Tounaki wasn’t too worried about most of them since she could fly and they couldn’t. The lightning wyvern variant was potential trouble, but solitary monsters, empowered by a Beastmaster or not, couldn’t beat one of Threst’s elites without a significant level advantage.
She reassessed her confidence as the bug person traveling with the group pulled out what looked like part of a ballista and put an arrow on the string. Even if her endurance would allow her to survive being hit by that, it would hurt. “Tounaki Splitswift, mage flight of Threst,” she introduced herself, keeping her Fire Feathers on her person so no one would get any ideas. “Thanks for meeting me out here. If you can contact your friends I’ll buy you lunch, ‘cause you’ll be saving me a week of flying.”
“You’re looking for us?” the one she recognized as Daniel by the descriptions asked. His beast wasn’t with him, an odd discrepancy given how much it had been stressed not to harm it.
“Who sent you?” the Cleric asked, keener on the uptake.
“A certain scaly bastard worried about his friends. There’s one I’ve been dying to meet because of what people keep saying.” She looked around but didn’t see anyone tall or scarred enough to be Lograve. “It’s not too much to hope they’re nearby, is it?” The reception quickly turned frosty despite the day’s heat.
…
“So I was sent out after we heard Rikendia fell. Murdon and the Regent were hoping to have your whole team help with something classified and wanted to get you out before things got too hot here,” the Arcanist explained with a sideways glance toward those in the group she didn’t recognize. Daniel, currently in his human form due to the lingering damage to his hybrid one, was strangely comforted by her presence. Not because of Tounaki personally, but the fact that Murdon had sent her here with the expectation that she’d find Lograve. He’d have felt the loss of his bond, so the draconoid would have known if his friend had died too. “Guess you had the same idea.”
“Is everyone alright over there?” Daniel asked, knowing that the Collapse would be making things just as difficult in Threst as Aughal. Both only bordered two other regions now that the Thormundz was gone, as the mountain ridge that was the region’s namesake had stopped progress elsewhere.
“Yeah, we’re cool. The Regent’s considering a general recall back to Aurus after getting the vision from the gods, but we’re maintaining altitude for now.” His eyes were drawn to a feather that floated off her neck from a slight breeze only to combust a moment later. He’d gotten the clear impression of a fire mage from her, though it sounded like she didn’t have the specialized Pyromancer class yet. “So, you have no idea where they are?”
“No. I was hoping Murdon would have a better chance of finding them because of his bond. It’s the only thing I could think of.”
“We also have Silora…” Thomas hesitantly offered, causing the shavi to grimace. She hadn’t had the best of times over the past week of travel, especially since Rait had steadily grown a spine. The moment it was clear she had been exaggerating some of her discomfort she lost all the benefit of the doubt. “Does Threst have any Fates? We could see if they could help.”
Revealing they had a pocket Fate was risky, but there’d been something to how Tounaki had told the story of how she’d gotten involved with Murdon that had settled the group’s nerves. Her patriotism could be off-putting though. “Of course we do. Threst isn’t some backwater like this wasteland with only one shoddy diviner.”
The slightly cracked skin of Silora’s face scrunched as she took offense.”Oh? And how far has the best the mighty flights of Threst can produce gotten in their class. Level 3? I heard you had a 4 a decade ago but they left after one too many remarks about how far they’d gotten ‘despite being flightless’.”
That was another reason the group wasn’t trying too hard to hide Silora’s identity. There was only one notable shavi in Aughal, and Tounaki was informed enough to put the pieces together. “Hmm. I’m surprised that neck of yours didn’t scar from being collared so long, Fate. Maybe you’ll warm up to my home more once you realize no one’s going to make you a slave again.”
“This isn’t the time to fight! Please, too many people have died for us to be divided now.” Willow shouted over from where she was standing near Spinner. Despite the monster belonging to Tlara, she’d stuck by the sister more once the bond had been developed. Daniel found it hard to see the fostered spirit in the silk shocker, and yet if people had done it for Hunter he could do it for Spinner. Tlara, for her part, had been in the sky as much as possible, occasionally splitting off to feed the body she was hijacking.
Tounaki put a few more pieces together as she assessed the group as a whole. “Wait, which one of you’s the Beastmaster? She doesn’t feel like she has a class.” With a bit of communal mischievousness, most turned and pointed to the young skyshock wyvern, which gave the red-feathered avianoid a wide smile.
…
It was later that day that Daniel and the rest arrived at the border between Aughal and Threst. His previous experience of crossing a regional boundary couldn’t compare at all to what he saw now. Like before, there was a clean-cut line separating the desert and the terrain of Threst. Or, rather, the lack of it. “How is this possible?” Daniel asked rather pointlessly, already knowing the answer.
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“Heh, welcome to Threst,” Tounaki beamed, stretching slightly as she stepped over the border. The crossing was like a daily reset, just without the mana refill. Daniel’s Map function had allowed them to know they’d hit the border today causing most to hold back on heightening anything. “Watch your step, but don’t worry if you fall.”
Daniel got as close to the border as he could and looked down the divide. He could see the side of the desert as it met open air. While the very top layer sometimes misted over from the wind, the majority of sand and earth underneath kept to its side. Then he looked further down, stunned the sky impossibly continued. “It just goes on forever.”
Tounaki gave him a knowing smile and shook her head. “No, fall about… 24 kilometers and you’ll hit the ground limit. We’re a bit below the median altitude mark here.”
“What happens then?” Khiat asked, coming beside Daniel only to shy away from the edge. She would fall far faster than any of them and even the Tlara-possessed wyvern would struggle to safely catch her if needed. They were the only ones who weren’t in the know about the region, it seemed, as both Thomas and Willow crossed over without as much fear.
“You’ll go to the sky limit.” All of Daniel’s apprehension drained away as his understanding of what he saw radically changed.
“It loops!?” He felt a pang of loss in the next second and resolved to remake a set of lightning wings as soon as he found someone to process all the wolf bodies. “Do you get reset at the bottom?”
“Nope, it’s just a brief weird feeling and you’re on top of the world,” Tounaki replied, enjoying Daniel’s wonder. “Better than a desert, right?”
“Yeah.” He could see why duskers didn’t come here normally since the only land in the immediate area was a floating island that connected to the road. It wasn’t too wide, maybe half a kilometer at the widest, but stretched into the horizon. A species that needed constant cover from the sun wouldn’t find it here, making the need to improve Khiat’s armor all the more pressing despite her Sun Resistance.
Something interesting yet alarming happened as Tlara, as overjoyed as he was to have an extended flight playground, barreled through the divide. The wyvern stopped moving and entered an uncontrolled fall. Willow exclaimed at the same time, a sharp bird cry rather than any word, and dove after it. Daniel had charged after her without thinking and didn’t notice as the border reset him, though he stopped himself from going over the edge as he saw a red streak descend towards the falling pair.
Willow reached the wyvern first and placed a hand on it before spreading her arms out to slow her fall. It was all she could do to reach the monster during its tumultuous tumble, getting on to ride it was out of the question. Daniel tagged it at the same time Tounaki caught Willow and saw that Tlara had possessed it again after assumedly being kicked out by the border reset. That left him to wonder where her soul had gone in the interim and suspected Willow’s urgency had been a part of that.
“Everything alright, Guy?” Thomas asked as he ran over to the edge. He saw it play out before Daniel could answer. “Oh, good. You know, I remember Evalyn saying something about her sister falling off an island here. Now that I’ve been here I get how that can mess someone up. Just, nothing to catch you.”
“There are other islands,” Daniel commented, pointing out to the north where one was floating a far distance away. It was also below the ground level of Threst. “Honestly, this place is amazing. Hunter would hate it though.”
“Yeah. You think that’s why his soul split off?”
Daniel’s face fell slightly. “Who knows? I’m just glad he’s out there.” He turned around and watched the rest of the group cross over. Khare was forced to drop their Chimeric Form but quickly assumed it on the other side. “Khare, how are you feeling about this region? I want to make wings for everyone that’ll be hunting but I might have to be creative for you.”
The gestalt crawled over the side of the sky island they were on and was able to secure themselves there without slipping off. The tone of their one word reply was a little hesitant, though. “Ground.”
“Yeah. Looks like we’re both out of our element.” Daniel tried not to think too hard about their bond as he said that. Lograve’s initial lesson on them was right, it was hard to improve them when you were trying since a part of the interaction felt fake. He hoped that keeping Cloak’s advice secret from Khare would help. If not, it would at least stop them from having false hope.
Tounaki landed at that point, touching down gently as opposed to her dramatic descent in the desert since she was carrying Willow. “Don’t do that! I know it looks safe but there are all kinds of monsters out there that’ll smoke you in an instant if they catch you. Your sister won’t mind losing a monster if it means you live, right?” She asked, having bought the lie that Willow’s bond allowed her to control Tlara’s monsters when she outright refused to believe the Beastmaster had possessed them after death.
The uncertainty in Willow’s eyes made the Arcanist cock her head, though she eventually nodded. “I’m sorry, there’s just no way to replace the wyvern. It came from the Thormundz.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” Tounaki’s eyes went from the lightning spines in the wyvern to those in Spinner. “I heard there was a bidding war over the handful of special ones the Beastmasters from the first group of refugees brought. Someone in the apex flight got involved and that heated things right up.”
“How much did the most expensive one go for?” Thomas asked, fishing for gossip now that everyone was back on firm ground.
“Couple lapis and change.”
“Pricey.”
“Yeah,” Tounaki chuckled a little breathlessly, some of the adrenaline from her dive still floating around. “I’d say some people get all the luck, but here you are with an Artificer. You know,” she added, turning to Daniel, “Threst has a few but there’s always demand. I’d give a lot of thought to staying if I were you.”
“What about the Collapse?” Daniel asked, a little wary of the direction Tounaki was going the moment they’d stepped foot in Threst. “This region’s on the edge of the world. Aren’t you worried about it falling?”
“Don’t worry about it. If that Tyrant came here we’d send them packing before they laid eyes on Aurus. Even Rikendia had its flaws, but we’ve got a solid army, strong economy, and devout following of the gods. If they need a region to hold against the Crest for eternity, well, here we are.” Tounaki didn’t seem at all aware of how shamelessly she was selling her region.
Daniel was less confident, and he feared this Regent had only gotten limited information like Ashier did about the realities they were facing. The gods weren’t here, not really, and a true terror was waiting in what was once the Thormundz to start pushing from the edges. Cloak kept encouraging him to go here, though, and the god hadn’t given up on the world. He wouldn’t either. “I’ll think about it,” Daniel replied noncommittally. “You should know I hunt as much as I enchant, and I’m looking to keep developing both independently. I’m not signing any kind of contract.”
“Jeez, who do you think we are, the sand bastards? No offense,” she quickly assured the natives of Aughal. “They have to stoop to slavery because no one wants to live there. Just get one look at the Shattered Falls and tell me this isn’t the perfect place to live. You’d like it there, at least,” she nodded to Silora with that and the Fate visibly brightened. The higher moisture in the air was already soothing her and Daniel had noticed how longingly she looked at the clouds. If there were an actual pool nearby she’d be sprinting towards it.
Thomas was the last of the group to move on after Willow caught her breath and Tlara flew back to the group. You couldn’t see Aughal from this far, but somehow Daniel knew the Cleric was looking there. “There isn’t anyone you want to go back for, right?” Tounaki asked. “We’re pretty much shutting down our border patrols so you’re going to get more heat if you go back later.”
“Quala has a sister,” Thomas mused but ultimately turned around. “They need her more.”
“Alecia,” Willow said in a similar, conflicted way. “She survived, but she didn’t try to find me. The last I heard she’d joined Arpan. I think they were… seeing each other before the siege.”
“What happened to him?” Daniel asked, not trying to hide his distaste for the other Artificer.
“Tyrant got him and everything in his store,” Thomas answered to Daniel’s slight satisfaction. “Sorry to hear that, Willow. Sounds like she’s latching onto anything to save herself.”
“So we going back?” Tounaki asked, a little impatient but respecting the moment. The mortals, and the mortal possessing a wyvern, shared a look before coming to a decision. Khiat was the one who gave it.
“My family’s still there. I want to go back for them, someday, but it’s not where I need to be now. Let’s keep going.”