The hazy eastern sky was dimly lit by the approaching dawn. A thin film of dust still hung on the horizon from the explosion that had occurred the previous afternoon. However, the more striking change was the metal continent which stared down upon Apolaphia with countless glinting red eyes. Kari was quite unsure what to compare the size of that landmass to; it seemed larger than a mountain range all put together.
Kari quickly packed up his makeshift camp at the base of Joruz’s Rest. Throughout the rest of the day, and under the guidance of the full moon at night, Kari had used his water affinity to rapidly progress along the freezing mountain path. When traversing uphill, he held the snow beneath his feet rigid, allowing him to walk across it without sinking. When going downhill, he was able to fashion icy skis beneath his feet. Though his skiing skills were not great, the use of his Gift helped to keep his balance and cushion his falls. As such, Kari had made the crossing from Kajesh to the Ellenian forest in record time.
The Apolaphian felt rested enough despite only a few hours of sleep. He had made an effort to distance himself as quickly as he could from the scene of the murder. It was very likely that merely possessing the small book put his life at risk, yet even so, Kari did not let it go. Such was his resolve to reach the truth. Kari had taken a look inside it when he was sure no one else was around, and yet its contents had only yielded confusion: The book appeared to be written in some kind of code or cypher, so Kari could not understand the words themselves. Furthermore, the scrawlings on the pages changed from moment to moment. From this facet of information, Kari surmised that it must have been enchanted. Despite this, he could figure out one thing from the formatting; the book described some kind of list, with each item being at least a sentence long.
Kari pressed onwards, hurrying along the rocky path down the mountainside.
Since crossing through the snowline, the traveller found that the air was suddenly much warmer.
It was this that made Kari finally feel that spring had arrived, after so long trekking across the wintery mountains. He began to sweat beneath the long, dark blue robes he wore.
Kari disabled the stasis that he had applied to the innermost layers of his clothing with his enchanted bracelet. His robes were thin, with only the most basic enchantments to keep them together after years of strenuous travel across the northern continent. But by applying magical stasis on parts of his clothes, he could make them as insulating as layers of vacuum, ideal for journeying across a frigid landscape.
But now that he was in a warmer clime, he had no more use for this technique.
Coming to the foot of the mountains, Kari found his way along the path which slowly gave way from rock to packed dirt. A gigantic oaken moontree stood over three hundred meters above the rest of the forest to the east, where the path was leading him. Moontrees were deeply valued by elves and mystic practitioners; they were descendants of trees that had once grown on Apolaphia’s now barren moon, valued for their inherent magical properties. They could be told apart from their regular counterparts by the size to which they grew, for the gravitational forces on Apolaphia’s moon were much weaker. If Kari remembered correctly, the elven city of Ellenia had been founded on the planting of the very tree that was guiding him.
As Kari watched, the gorgeous scenery of the elven forest was ruined, inch by inch; The Intercessor on the eastern horizon was blocking the morning sun, casting a gigantic shadow over the entire landscape, driving the forest into a strange twilight. Confused birds ceased their morning songs, and every living creature, from the smallest squirrel to the largest boar, looked to the sky.
Kari paused for a moment to take in the unsettling, but beautiful vista before trudging on. He could see the traveller’s path leading to a gap in the trees.
Throughout winter, weeds had started to reclaim the edges of the stone path beneath Kari’s feet. Around him, sporadic shrubs and wispy trees soon gave way to a forest of strong, healthy moontrees of every kind, trees both deciduous and evergreen. There were oaks, pines, birches, willows, and more, all growing together in harmony, undoubtedly guided by the careful wisdom of the Ellenian wood-elves.
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Kari stuck to the path, where the trees were not too dense, and one could see in front and behind themselves without having their view obstructed for a fairly large distance. Straying off the path would mean having to deal with a dense and cumbersome network of branches, bushes and weeds, for the forest was quite dense in this stretch of wilderness.
Stray strands of sunlight shone off the dew-lined leaves as Kari made his way deeper and deeper into the forest. Strong waves of early spring air blew past him. Each breath rushing through the trees truly made it feel like the forest was alive. The scenery that was sorely needed after Kari’s cold, miserable, sooty journey up and over the snowy peaks of Joruz’s Rest.
After some time progressing through the woods, Kari almost failed to notice that he had reached the outskirts of the elven city of Ellenia. Coming out of his trance-like walking, Kari suddenly noticed the trees ahead of him were strangely shaped. In fact, they were shaped like… parapets and gates. Taking a better look, the trees further beyond were also shaped like houses, or rather, they were houses. Under certain conditions, a less observant individual may have even gone so far as to enter the town before coming to the same realisation.
As he drew closer, Kari felt the canopy of the forest give way above him as he entered the shelter of the Prime Moontree. It was a strange feeling; the air under the Ellenian’s sacred tree seemed to have a different quality about it, a feeling of peace and security.
The gates to the Ellenia were wide open. Kari gave a polite downward nod to the guards-elves as he walked in. They stared back with steely golden eyes, their pointed ears perked right to attention. It was a little unusual to see a traveller from Kajesh so early into spring. Given the strange goings-on in the eastern skies, they seemed a little on edge in contrast to their almost sleepy environment, which had barely woken from its winter hibernation.
Like most contemporary elven cities, Ellenia welcomed outsiders. Of course, the greatest threat to ageless elves were those that might seek to bring them bodily harm, but the trade of wealth and information were necessities too valuable for a society to forego.
As Kari walked the city’s grassy streets, he was searching for four things. Firstly, someone to decipher the enchanted book he had found. Secondly, someone to repair his stasis bracelet. He suspected the same person might be able to help with both tasks. Thirdly, Kari needed more supplies for his journey east. And of course, Kari hoped to find information about the flying metal mountain to the east, much the same as every other Apolaphian on this side of Senstra.
Indeed, as the human walked through the streets lined by orange, white, blue and purple anemones and geraniums, he could overhear the conversations of elves sitting on their porches. Many of them were sipping some steaming liquid from dainty cups of glassy, hardened tree sap. As always, their craftsmanship was impressive.
“I hear that it’s the arrival of EVE. It’s the beginning of the end!” said one. An elvish man. Kari was not used to seeing elves, but the fact remained that it was impossible to tell the elf’s age from his appearance, ageless as the elves were.
“No no no, they’re invaders from another world, here to plunder our beautiful planet. We should be amassing an army to defend our homeland.” Said another. A woman.
“Are you two daft? This is nothing to be knotting your ears about. You don’t remember Rensa’s Confluence? It was only 4400 years ago.” said a third. Another woman.
“Astral what now?” The second asked.
“Not Astral, I said Rensa! Rensa’s Confluence! Remember how all the leylines were moved by the Elder? Half of everything was floating for weeks!” The third said.
“Ohhhhhhhhh…… Sorry darling, I still don’t remember.” The second answered.
“Oh come on, you can't be a day older than Myria Bridge. Do you need to get your memory checked?” The first jutted in.
“Be quiet you!”
Kari continued on. Due to their long lifespan, elves had a great knowledge of all magicks and Gifts. Kari was confident that he would be able to learn about the mystery book here.
Kari made his way across a long, arched bridge of living wood to the Ellenian city centre. The streets of the central district itself were formed of the reshaped bark of the Prime Moontree’s roots, which were so large that an entire fleet of warships could be carved from them. Some of the oldest buildings in the central district had the privilege of being built into the colossal roots themselves. The traveller’s guide Kari had ‘found’ in the port of Drujen a few months prior had suggested a visit to the enchanting district, as Ellenia was well known for its talented craftselves.