Ray

The two of them emerged in another forest, not very surprising given how much of the Human continent was forest, but still, Ray would like to see something else.

"What way now?" Nora asked, looking around. Ray paused, suddenly remembering that this forest was dangerous. The mana looked normal, but there could be beasts hiding about that he hadn't detected. A quick glance told him that there weren't any, but keeping a lookout was necessary.

Ray compared their location to the map in his head…and found himself lost. The forest did not look much different than most forests in the Empire, but he could hear a few waves.

" I think we should head towards the sea, we might be able to spot a landmark there" Ray said, walking towards the sounds of waves crashing, trying to keep his attention on both the forest and the waves.

"So you don't know." Nora said, as if judging him with her eyes.

"Well, you were there when the Dean told us where we were going…he didn't say anything about directions." Ray said, looking away as he tried to act like he didn’t just embarrass himself and put the two of them in danger.

"Did you get a compass, though?" Nora asked. Wait, a compass…

"No…did you?" Ray said, wondering if he could teleport back. The trip was sadly one way, the Dean wasn't around to teleport them back home.

"I can read the stars." Nora assured him, looking up at the sun with an awkward expression on her face.

"Well, at least we have that." Ray said, walking forward. Just a few minutes in and they'd already messed up.

The shore wasn't very far, but it was also not the most pleasant beach. A sheer cliff would have been a better descriptor.

"So…see any identifying factors?" Nora asked, looking around. Ray followed suit, but even he couldn't find anything, just see and what might be a strip of land far away. But it could as well be the horizon playing tricks on his eyes., Ray had no way to tell.

"I think we should wait for the night." Ray said, turning back.

"Yes, I suppose so. Do you think we should just set up here? The cliff looks like a good place to settle down." Nora asked, looking at the clear space around them.

Ray looked at her and then at the forest behind her. The cliff face wasn't high enough to give him a view of the island, but he could fix that by flying a bit higher. Just a little push and he was off the ground, propelled by his own feet and the relative formlessness of his new Species.

The island was small, and largely green. Ray could indeed see that landmass in the horizon from here, but it was too far to make out clearly. But it was likely where they wanted to be. The problem, however, was that just flying there would attract too much attention, their cover would be blown the second someone saw them.

An islander would not have enough power to fly this distance. Ray looked at the other side of the island, looking for something that could help him. The island was a decreasing gradient, as if it was a part of a mountain that had been cut off. But he couldn't find any settlement.

Ray crept closer, trying to look at the area more closely, before finding himself attacked. The attack was fast, mostly invisible something creeping through space. Ray reacted, conjuring brown glitter, the glitter was stoic, like little beasts forming a wall between him and the attack. The 'attack’ collided with the wall, bursting through, but appearing in front of Ray. A seagull, no, not one. Ray rapidly descended back, conjuring more walls as he felt more seagulls flying towards him.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Nora fought back too, daggers flying through shadow trying to pierce the seagulls. The seagulls retreated back, making seagull noises as they looked at the two of them. Ray feinted at them with yellow glitter, making them disperse.

"What was that?" Nora asked.

"A flock of space affinity seagulls from the look of it. The bloody things nearly got me." Ray replied.

"Yes, but why did they attack like that?" Nora asked, looking at the sky inquisitively.

Ray just shrugged, he didn't really care why the seagulls attacked him. What did worry him was how they were going to deal with them? The seagulls were a bit too much of a threat out in the open, they might not catch them if they had attacked at night. The two of them needed to sleep, fatigue would just lower their ability to detect these sneaky beasts.

"How likely is it that the seagulls held a grudge?" Ray asked, looking down the cliff.

"I can't say, I don’t know much about seagulls. And a beast doesn't necessarily keep the nature of its base animal. The Crosia bears are surprisingly gentle." Nora answered.

"Well then, I guess I'm going down to look for a cave." Ray said, getting ready to jump off the cliff.

"What about the seagulls? What are you going to do if they attack you while you’re looking?" Nora shouted as Ray jumped off.

"Just kill them as you see them!" Ray shouted back, dropping slowly like a piece of paper. Hmm, why wasn't gravity so weak on land? Why did it become so weak the second he took to the air?

"Can't we do it later? Jumping off just minutes after we sent the seagulls away sounds like a bad idea." Nora shouted down.

"Do you want to be the one that looks around in the evening? The cliff will start getting dark once the sun is on the other side. And we just sent the seagulls away, they aren't coming back for a while." Ray replied as he looked out for any caves and such that they could find shelter in.

The cliff was sandstone, a material that was easy enough to work with. Ray might not be able to shape earth, but fire worked quite well. Ray reached a part of the cliff face he thought would suit a shelter, and unleashed his glitter. The sandstone glowed for a second before caving in as fire carved a cylindrical space inside, Ray willing it to make a straight under part too. A cylinder wasn't exactly comfortable to sleep or stay in. The process took a few seconds, but at the end of it, he had a space for them to spend the night.

"Are you done?" Nora said, her unamused voice echoing down the cliff. Ray looked up to see the sun directly behind her.

"Yes, the cave is ready!" he said, trying to make her out. But even his enhanced vision had trouble.

"Why are you squinting?" Nora hollered down to his dismay.

"Don't shout, I can hear you just fine! The sun is in my eyes!" Ray replied back, trying to curb his tendency to shout as he floated a bit higher to change his angle. A lucky move considering a projectile flew right past his crotch a few seconds later. Ray rotated in the air, more projectiles flying past his body.

Now panicking, Ray levitated himself up as fast as he could, using his Fae sight to get an idea of where the attacks were coming from. But he could barely even see them, they were small, large, and didn't seem to have a definite signature at all.

Ray conjured violet glitter, letting it flow towards the cliff, just to see if the projectiles were affected. The attacks continued, the cliff face wasn't as happy about it. Ray had underestimated his power, and the sheer amount of power his attack had.

The entire cliff shook as a huge gust drilled into it, causing a minor avalanche as rocks began to fall down. Ray barely had any time to attack as the attacks began to flow faster, the projectiles coming faster and faster, as Ray dodged them. Earth walls barely stopped them. Fire made them faster. Air and had little effect.

Ray was panicking, barely having any time to react as the attack continued. But he wasn't alone. A streak of black mana tore down the cliff as Nora shadow traveled to a spot on the cliff. The attacks suddenly stopped, followed by a blast of black mana before a whole appeared in the cliff. Ray flew close to it, looking at the insides warily.

The depth of the cave was dark, not the normal dark, but the darkness of a large shadow spell that hadn’t dissipated. Ray conjured black glitter, letting it spin around him as he stepped through the shadow barrier.

The journey was short, a short time that made Ray feel like he was traveling at high speeds while just standing there. At least, he thought he was standing there. The darkness cleared to reveal a large metal room lit by several glowing spheres.

A few cylinders moved to point at Ray the second he stepped in, likely protecting the boy standing below them, pointing another cylinder at Nora.

"Aaya shu karocho tame?" the boy said, still pointing his cylinder at Nora, rapidly glancing between them as Ray conjured more yellow glitter/

A frightening enemy stood before him, the language barrier. An enemy that Ray hadn’t encountered before, at least, he didn’t remember encountering it.