Instead of allowing his entire roof to get swallowed up by nature, Lamius had kept a corner of the building free of ‘plant’ life. A small dock-like structure had been built, with a wooden platform extending off of the roof and several rope anchors bolted to the roof.
A creature the size of a cargo ship floated in place next to the dock, dwarfing the five-storey building it was tied to. It was big enough that its head and tail couldn’t be properly seen from the roof. A dozen building-esque formations seemingly grew out of the onyx-black plates on the creature’s back, around which three or four Joeys milled around. A wooden plank had been extended from the creature’s back onto the roof, and a single Joey was walking down to greet the building’s residents.
Omet gaped as they arrived back on the roof. “...This wasn’t here last time.”
The Joey stepping onto the roof seemed to be mostly human in build, size and number of limbs, but appeared to have dozens of brown quills protruding from her forearms, back and shoulder blades, which were mostly visible due to poking out of her tan duster coat. Closer examination revealed an elongated, horse-shaped head from which more quills replaced any hair.
Once the Joey was off the plank, she noticed Lamius walking towards her and waved. “How’s it goin’? Lamius, right?”
Lamius approached the Joey while the others maintained a distance, raising his prosthetic arm once he was at a respectable distance for conversation. “In the flesh, or lack thereof.”
The Joey opted to shake his other hand. “I’d heard of you bein’ out in these parts, but I thought you were just a really boring folk tale. You find out all sorts of weird things when you’re out flyin’.”
Lamius nodded. “Well, I certainly am real. You and your crew up there just here for a pit stop, or are you looking to unload anything you’re carrying?”
“Nah, we’re just stretchin’ our legs and seeing the…” She chanced a glance at Lamius’ prosthetic side. “...sights. We’re just tryin’ to get to Tragnil soon’s we can manage.”
“Well, you’re welcome to take a break on my roof, as long as you don’t disturb the wildlife.” Lamius nodded towards the overgrown side of the roof and chuckled. “Say, if you’re headed that way, would you mind picking up some hitchhikers?” He gestured at the three behind him. “Wait, weren’t there…”
The Joey nodded. “Sure, no skin off my back, ‘s long as they don’t take up too much space and don’t cause us no trouble.”
“Great. And if you could do me a favour, they could probably do to get a bit of a lowdown on this place. Because if the eyes and the height aren’t a giveaway, they’re pretty new to these parts.”
“Primoi, huh? And two humans… Things really are changin’ nowadays... Well, you don’t worry about ‘em, sir. ‘S long as they’re on my Potirangi, they’re safe as any member of my crew. And I’ll assume they won’t eat nothing, so that’s a plus too.” She waved at Mark, Horan and Waia. “Hey, you three! I’m offerin’ y’all a ride! Might wanna hop on board Millie here, we’ll be leavin’ real soon.”
She noticed Quet and Omet on the far side of the roof, trying to see the Potirangi’s distant head. She turned back to Lamius and pointed at the two Aztecs. “I’m assumin’ you also want them aboard?”
“Oh, yes, I almost forgot those two. Yes, they’re with the others.”
The Joey raised her arm in the air and flexed. One of the quills on her forearm shot into the air like an arrow. Near the peak of its hundred-foot arc, the quill exploded in midair.
Lamius flinched from the sudden detonation. “Couldn’t you just whistle?”
The Joey shrugged. “Never learned how.”
Startled by the gunshot-like noise of the explosion, Omet and Quet whipped around. The Joey gave the two a quick wave and pointed at the plank leading up to the Potirangi. Omet squealed and ran up the plank before anyone else even reached it, followed hesitantly by Quet.
Horan stepped onto the back of the creature. As it turned out, the top was surprisingly level compared to the rest of its back, which was seemingly not meant for people to walk on. If anything, the section of its back with buildings formed out of its carapace was slightly concave, with a small rim guarding against anyone accidentally falling off the side.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
The Joey followed the group up the ramp and waved at another Joey standing nearby. “Hey, Ryan, you got us oriented?”
The (presumably) first mate nodded. “Yes, Ma’am. Still on a straight course for Tragnil.”
“Good to hear. Get Millie moving, everyone, we’re on a timer.”
As the small crew unhooked the ropes keeping the floating creature tethered to Lamius’ home, Horan leaned over the side of the ‘deck’ and looked at his father, still watching them leave. Horan gave Lamius a wave and, figuring he was too far away to be easily heard, decided to wind-speak him a message. “I’ll be back soon, Dad. And I mean it this time.”
Lamius tilted his head to the side as he heard a disembodied voice speaking next to him, then turned back to Horan and nodded, indicating that he had received the message.
The Joey who appeared to be the captain ducked into a smaller building closer to the head of the Potirangi. A second later, the creature emitted a low hum and unfurled six fins on each side. The fins began to slowly beat back and forth like oars and the creature started moving forward through the air, quickly picking up speed as it sailed over the foggy lowlands and between the mountains peeking through the thinner haze higher up. The vessel seemed to be on a direct course for the Pillar, shining like a pole star in the distance.
The captain stepped out of the building at the front and approached the five new passengers. “Afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Millie, the name’s Captain Salamin. I hope y’all can make yourselves comfortable in the bunkhouse over there, we should make it to Tragnil in about a day’s time, four Whalons Pillarwise. ‘S long as none-a y’all make no trouble aboard my Potirangi, we’ll drop y’all off free of charge. Fair?”
Everyone nodded. “Plenty of words out here. That’s… cool,” noted Waia.
“Right, Y’all’re new down here. Well, we ain’t fixing to stop off anywhere else ‘til Tragnil, so y’all may as well-” Salamin cleared her throat. “Sorry, sorry, shouldn’t dial up the accent. It’s a Ka-Sala thing, we like to do it to spook people. Not even really on purpose anymore, it’s pretty much just how I was raised.”
“Y-you put on a thick Southeastern accent to mess with people?” asked Mark.
Quet raised her hand. “I think there’s a little Appalachian in there too.”
Salamin shrugged, an oddly stiff gesture made to avoid firing any of her quills. “I think it’s meant to be a community signifier, or something. Is this weird? Am I being weird? Someone change the subject.”
Omet immediately pointed at the floor. “So, what exactly is this? It looks like a… Wait, gimme a sec... Cuttlefish! It looks like one of those, but it’s got… houses on its back? What’s the deal with that? Because this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Oh, thanks, you.” Salamin scuffed her boot on the floor. “This is Millie, my own personal Potirangi. Plenty of monsters up north use ‘em for long-distance travel, it’s way faster and safer than any way involvin’ the ground. Millie here’s been bred from Festin’ to be used like this, shaped chitin and everythin’. She’s been mine for a good twenty-five years.”
She turned around. “But that’s enough yammerin’. You five make yourselves at home here, we’ve got plenty of space in the bunkhouse for y’all. Just don’t bother with that big buildin’ at the back, that’s the storehouse. Only way in there’s with my key.” She grasped at her collar, then quickly patted herself down for a moment before pulling a key on a string from her pocket. “Okay, still got it. Don’t remember putting it there, though.” She waved the five off. “I’ve been talkin’ for too long, though. Y’all need anythin’, I’ll be in the command room at the front.” She walked back into the building at the front.
Seemingly independently of each other, all five people headed to the side of the deck and leaned over, gazing down at the shrouded abyss below them. Horan got the first word in. “...And I thought a lot could happen in two days. This is already the furthest I’ve ever been from my dad’s house down here. How’re you all feeling? Mark?”
Mark raised one hand before letting it limply fall back onto the rim of the deck. “Well, seeing as you people have zero sense of self-preservation, I guess it might be interesting to see what other kinds of bonkers details are hiding out here. Life and lemons and all that.”
Horan nudged him. “And look at that! If it’s that easy to get you out of the permanent doom-and-gloom that represents your overall default state of existence, we should have gone on a cross-dimensional hike months ago.”
“I hate you.”
“I’d judge you if you didn’t.”
Waia pulled Omet and Quet away from the ledge. “Well, how about we leave those two lovebirds to it?” She pointed at Quet. “That’s a face I know all too well, buddy. That there is the ‘I have not had a healthy sleep schedule for the past several days and I am going to conk out the second I sit down on a padded surface’ face.”
Quet blinked and rubbed her eyelids. “You can tell all that from my face?”
Omet leaned in. “You’re swaying a little, it really isn’t hard to tell, even for us. Plus, it’s, like 8 PM back in Hawaii, so you’ve gotten four hours of sleep in the past who-knows-how-many hours. You’re going to bed.”
“But there’s so much stuff going on! How can you say that we’re hitting the hay when this sky-whale-thing made you more excited for something than I’ve ever seen you?”
“Correct. And it’ll be there tomorrow. Now we are both going to sleep before one of us passes out near the side and falls to our death.”
“…Valid.”