Iris, Autumn and Adan were traveling back the way they came and heading towards the chamber where Eli and the other crew would be making camp. The passageway to get there was a relatively easy one compared to many others in the mountain, but it was a steep decline for much of the journey. When the natural crack in the marble ran out, the passageway transitioned to a narrow, winding stairway crudely carved into the raw marble beneath the constructed floor of the artificial mountain. The passage continued down an indiscernible distance before leveling out into a short tunnel that soon opened up into a natural cave.

The cave was brightly lit by long, writhing tendrils of natural glow stone exposed in a raw marble ceiling worn into tall, waving ridges by eons of flowing water. The warm light of the glow stones sparkled off the river that calmly flowed around columns of rough marble of wildly varying widths and shapes. The reflected light then bounced up and off the white marble ceiling, giving the whole cave a brilliant gold glow.

A wide shore of solid marble bordered the river, and already very much looked like a pirate camp. Though large crates and barrels were impossible to carry through the narrow passageway, that hadn't stopped a few pirates with dimensional storage items or abilities from bringing some down anyway. The rest carried supplies in their packs and hands, and already there were gambling pits, a well-stocked drinking tent, and a sparring circle. There were some personal tents set up as well, though most of the crew simply laid their mats out on the stone.

"Whoa," Iris and Autumn said together.

"Please excuse me, chef," Adan said, "I should find my father."

"Yeah, of course," Autumn said, her attention still lingering on the beautiful cave, "find me later for dinner prep."

After they finished gawking, Iris and Autumn find Eli sitting on a chunk of marble sketching runes in a notebook. To their surprise, there was no camp set up around him, not even his own bedroll.

"Where's camp?" Autumn asked.

Eli looked up from his notebook with an annoyed glare, "waiting for you to unpack it."

Iris and Autumn exchanged guilty looks.

"Sorry," Iris said, "there was this thing with a bomb--"

"We were really needed," Autumn jumped in, "it was a really good thing we were there, because--"

"Camp now and explanations later, please," Eli sighed.

Iris got to work unloading their camping supplies from her bottomless bag. With the help of Abby's tentacles, the process went remarkably fast. Autumn considered leveling out a flat space of marble for the tent, but decided in favor of preserving the natural beauty of the cave. Instead they found the flattest space that was still available, situated near the far wall of the cave but pleasantly close to the river. They wouldn't need shelter from the elements, of course, but it would be a nice option to escape the light of the cave while trying to sleep. While they worked, Titus arrived and joined in on the efforts, and a short while later Victoria joined Eli in supervising.

After their camp was built, the party spent a few hours relaxing and catching up. Autumn and Iris told the whole story of their brief adventure, slowly convincing Eli it was true and not just an excuse for taking so long at the market. At the end, Iris showed off her new sword, earning respectful nods from Eli and Titus.

"That's a pretty sword," Victoria observed, "but it looks heavy."

"That's the best part," Iris said, leaning back for balance as she hefted the sword up with both hands, "it's absolutely not balanced properly at all, but it's a big chunk of marble and silver. It'll be like hitting someone with a sword and hammer at the same time."

"I guess if you can't cut through something, might as well crush it," Eli said.

"I don't know if I like that," Titus said, rubbing his chin, "I'm no purist, but the lopsided weight is going to ruin your form."

"I'll just make a new form, then," Iris shrugged, "one 'specially designed for obnoxiously heavy swords."

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

After their rest and storytelling, Autumn recruited Iris to help her and Adan set up a cooking site using the large pot Autumn had insisted on bringing. Getting it into the void had been a significant test of the bottomless bag's capabilities, and Iris had confirmed that the bag did in fact have a limit on the size of objects it could accommodate. In the end, they had managed to get it in with a combination of the bag stretching as wide it could, and Autumn jumping up and down on top of the pot to jam it in.

In order to get it back out, Iris first had Abby wrap her tentacles around one of the natural columns of the cave, and then she and Autumn both reached in and grabbed the rim of the pot and pulled. The bag stretched wide, but the pot still stuck stubbornly with most of its mass still inside the void.

Autumn relaxed her pull, giving slack to the previously taut tentacles that held the bag in place as they tried to remove the pot, "this isn't working."

Iris relaxed as well, and they lowered the pot -- and by extension, the bottomless bag -- onto the cave floor.

"I have an idea," Iris said, "I haven't tried it yet, but-- here, just hang on a second."

Iris stepped away from the bottomless bag, took a deep breath and reached out towards it with her hands. She focused not on the bag itself, but the exposed rim of the pot still sticking out of the void, particularly on the space within reality that its matter occupied. She then closed her eyes and envisioned the portion of the pot that was still inside the void, imagining pulling it out of the void in much the same way she had done by hand while inside the bag. Her Send and Retrieve ability pushed back against her efforts, as if complaining that it wasn't meant to be used this way, but she continued trying to use it until something gave way, and the pot appeared in her arms.

Iris could handle the weight, but its size was far too awkward to hold up with outstretched arms on her own. She began to tip forward, and the bottom of the pot raced towards the marble floor. Autumn dove and slid under it, stretching out her hands to catch it just before it hit the ground. She was joined by Adan, who appeared in a flash and added his hands to support the pot.

"How'd you do that?" Autumn asked after gently lowering the pot to the floor and climbing onto her feet.

"I don't know," Iris shrugged, "it just felt like something I could probably do."

"Maybe I should start experimenting with my abilities, too," Autumn said.

After unpacking the rest of the supplies they would need, Iris wandered off to explore the cave while Autumn and Adan worked on setting up an awning and a series of pipes to carry the smoke up from a fire up into the cracks of the ceiling, well above camp.

Iris found a nice place to sit by the river. It flowed slowly, meandering its way through the cave with an almost imperceptible current. The water itself was pristine, appearing completely clear aside from the sparkling flakes that drifted through it. If Iris didn't know any better, she would assume they were flakes of gold.

She opened up her adventure journal and briefly looked over her stats. In addition to a decent experience gain, presumably from her accomplishment in resolving the boomrock problem, she also saw a new discovered trait had been added to her Send and Retrieve ability.

Experience Points: 2172 / 11,340

Progress to next level: 19.15%

Send and Retrieve

Source : Thread of Power (Void)

Cooldown : N/A

Mana cost : Low, varies

Discovered trait : can be used to withdraw items directly from your Void Pocket, or return items directly to it. Mana usage is increased when used in this way.

After taking a moment to enjoy satisfaction in her progress, Iris flipped to a blank page and began to write a journal entry. She had been working on developing a habit of weekly entries since leaving Giantrock City, but hadn't written one since the battle in the cove.

Dear Mom,

I'm in a place called Gellorn Keep. It may be hard to believe without seeing it for yourself, but actual giants carried our ship across the plains to their mountain. This place is like nothing I've ever seen, even looking at the ceiling of the giants' chambers makes me dizzy. We'll be here for a while, at least until the gargoyles finish work on the ship. Oh -- there's a whole society of gargoyles here, too, they live in the cracks of the marble. I wish you could see it, it's the most fascinating place I've ever been.

I got mistaken for a wizard today! They thought the stick you gave me (thanks again, by the way) was a wizard staff, and asked me to help them with a problem that needed a wizard. I don't really feel like I did much, but we did end up solving the problem, so I guess that makes me an actual wizard now? I feel like I don't really get to call myself that until I've actually done more wizard stuff, but I guess everyone has to start somewhere, right? I hope you won't be too disappointed in me for it, I promise I'll be a better wizard than any you've ever met.

I almost died again. I also did really a good of making sure I didn't die, though. I'm not really sure how to feel about it. Maybe I'll write more about this later, but I wish you were here to talk to about it instead.

I can't wait to read your next entry, and I hope I see you again soon.

Iris Orion, 997