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The Fourteenth World - The Floating Islands - Terras
The land of the floating islands immediately evoked a sense of wonder when both Stella and Lumoof arrived. It was a world where it was a set of massive floating islands, and the land below was an infinitely dense and thick layer of white fluffy clouds.
“You know, when I was a child, I used to imagine worlds like this where everything is a floating island, and it’s just a sea of white clouds. Each of us have our own islands, and we’d visit each other on flying ships.” Stella said.
Lumoof didn’t relate. His childhood wasn’t that vibrant. As a native of Treehome, his childhood was mainly trying to be useful to his parents. When they still lived. “I can’t say I understand, but it is quite beautiful.”
The sun was bright, and somehow floated overhead, and they noticed a strange contraption around the sun. It was always visible, a large gigantic screen that orbited around the sun. Strangely, there was a gigantic steel like structure that connected the screen to the sun. When I saw it, my first thoughts were those planetary models commonly found in schools.
Stella stared at it, as if trying to make sense of it. “In a way that’s somewhat similar to the Three-Ringed World, this world’s day-night cycle is controlled by that screen thing. It moves to block the sun.
Lumoof found it funny. “As if this world is a toy.”
“I mean- I suppose you could say that.” Stella looked around and found bridges made of clouds that linked the island to other islands. Magical clouds. “Man, this world is a fairytale.”
I felt my avatar’s sense expand, but because as a tree, our senses mostly propagate through the ground, and so it ends where the island itself ends. I tried to grapple with what I felt, and studied how the large islands floated, only to discover they were not exactly floating.
They were suspended. I felt a strange, divine-law type of string, and they bound each at every single island. They were commanded to float where they are, so they did. In short, [divine] power commanded the islands to float in the sky, and the world obeyed.
“Could you do something like that someday?” Stella asked, once she realized the presence of divine power.
“I think it’s not that simple. Such a command must have been woven into the world when it was created.” The idea of commanding the islands to do so now seemed silly, and wasteful. It’s likely that there was some kind of ‘foundational law’ that made it happen, which is why it persists even when these worlds theoretically drifted away from the range of gods.
“So, that sounds like there’s a god-commanded divine laws, such as those commanded by Hawa, and a set of ‘neutral’ or ‘core-bound’ divine laws, that are specific to each world’s creation. Right?”
“That’s my guess.”
Stella nodded. “And I found living folk.”
***
Humans. Regular, normal humans living almost idyllic, peaceful lives. They were farmers, farming on incredibly fertile lands. The crops they planted were familiar, though it was more of a mixed farm, with small patches of everything.
There was magic in the land itself, it almost seemed as if the plants were growing before our very eyes, as if they were spurred on by the blessings of a level 70 to 80 druid.
“Oh hey there, it’s been a while since we had visitors, but how did you arrive? I didn’t see any flying ships or balloons.”
“We walked.” Stella answered.
“Oh, through the cloud bridges? I’m surprised people still do that.” The farmer said. “So, what’s up?”
“We’re lost. Could you help us out?”
There were thousands, or even tens of thousands of floating islands, some larger, some much smaller. There were a set of larger floating islands known as the ‘Main Islands’, and these housed most of the humans in this world.
The main islands were rich in all sorts of magical resources and metals, while lands further away lacked most natural resources and metals.
Humans were the only population, but there were monsters on some of the islands, and these islands became known as the magic islands or dungeon islands, because these islands were the locations that spawned monsters. Monsters generally stuck to their own islands, though occasionally, flying monsters did attack their surrounding islands.
The main islands were home to a series of kingdoms and empires, and wars were frequently fought between them. The further islands, like the one that they visited, were generally those that escaped the constant warfare of the main islands.
Farming was somehow easy in all the islands, and each island usually had a series of naturally occurring springs that created lakes and rivers.
“Some of these worlds just absolutely defy understanding. How does the water cycle work in a world where everything’s on floating islands?” Stella rubbed her hair in her guestroom. The farmers were friendly, and were more than happy to let them use the guestroom once it was clear they were not hostile.
Lumoof didn’t answer her. He knew her long enough to know that she just needed to vent when things just didn’t match how she understood reality.
Stella slapped herself gently. “Alright, alright, I know, each world has their own rules. Each world, own magic. Got it. Quirks of their reality. This is just how this world works.”
My avatar nodded. “I do foresee all these different rules of different worlds will make it hard for the Valthorns to swiftly adapt to each world. They will have to spend some time to acclimatize themselves to how each world behaved. I might forget, if I’m suddenly sent back to say Landas, or say Gigantadragon. Or that hex-grid world where everything is controlled by divine laws.”
“So, cultural familiarity is going to be a big issue?”
“Not just that, I could easily imagine representatives from each of these worlds are unfamiliar with the quirks of other worlds, and their well-meaning suggestions thus come off as weird or unhelpful to others.”
Stella paused. “Oh. So you’re talking about the Order’s structure across all these peripheral worlds.”
“Yeah. It’s been on my mind. Knowing Aeon, the structure of how the Order will function is highly likely to be delegated to a person that will be based long term in that world. That warps our preferences, our understanding, especially non-domainholders who are not protected from the divine laws of each world. I imagine that anyone who spends a few years full time at any of these peripheral worlds will get used to the local laws, that they lose touch with how things work elsewhere.”
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“So the Order expansion is dead underwater.”
“Not exactly. I mean, not all of these changes are that dramatic. The system and our powers still work on them. Just- I suppose there will be some expectation and cultural differences that will emerge.”
“We already have those differences.” Stella said. “That’s why Branchhold recruits and Treehome recruits have slightly different attitudes.”
“It’ll be worse with these peripheral worlds.”
“Eh. It’s just the urban-rural gap with even more skin. I’m sure it can be solved. We’ll just need our own internal diplomats.”
Lumoof gave Stella a look of disapproval, and she eventually sighed. She rolled on her own little bed. “I know, we’re building even more bureaucracy into the system. We’ll use Aeon’s [dream academy] and work around it. Frequent trips to Treehome to soak up our culture. That’s what large guilds, corporations and governments do. I think it’s too early to tell. Branchhold seems to integrate well, so far.”
“So far.” Lumoof said as he looked out the window of the guestroom. The gigantic screen was starting to cover a part of the sun, creating a strange dimming of the world. “Which is why I fear for worlds that won’t be linked via a node or a clone. They will stray from Treehome’s supervision. Even with us present, we can’t hope to match Aeon’s trees.”
Stella decided to hop off the bed and walked to the window. “Huh, that’s quite a view.”
“It is. It’s like an eclipse.” The seemingly white clouds now glowed, as if the world around us turned into darkness. Yet, it wasn’t total darkness. The clouds themselves glowed.
“Imagine it happening every day.” Stella said in a rare moment of wonder. “Must feel pretty normal to the people here. The clouds are pretty.”
“A sea of clouds that glowed.” My avatar also took the time to bask in the beauty. “I think I’d like to see it from the edge.”
***
The farmers didn’t stop them, but the two walked uninterrupted to the edge.
Demon kings, at least in the past, used to land in special islands. It seemed that every time the demon king was about to arrive, a new island would appear. That island was known as the ‘demon’s island’, and it was a magical creation. A dark red glowing island that floated above all the other islands.
Then, when the hero arrived, a chain of smaller islands would appear that allowed the hero to go and meet the demons.
The demons were unable to use the cloud bridges, so they were often trapped on their own islands. It is only when flying demons appeared that they could expand to the other islands. When that happened, it was a huge disaster that caused a lot of deaths.
“These islands protect them.”
“In the same way the oceans protected us.” Stella said. “Look at these clouds. They feel like they are partly magic.”
“They probably are.” Lumoof nodded, as he observed the clouds floating from place to place. Some of them were fluffy, some took the shape of streaks.
“The winds are pretty constant. They have a defined direction.” Stella suddenly noticed. “They all move in the same direction, at the same speed.”
“Worldly magic.” Lumoof said. “I wonder what the last world would be like.”
Stella decided to just sit down at the edge. She wasn’t afraid of heights, and somehow, she knew she wouldn’t fall. There was a fundamental divine law that operated in this world, a kind of specific force unique to this world. “I never thought I’d actually see a sight like this.”
“There was the stormworld with a floating island, remember?” Lumoof said.
“That one- that one wasn’t this beautiful.”
“Is it? I thought the turbulent storms were quite beautiful. They had so much energy, the flashes of lightning, the seemingly gigantic rivers of magic that turned into a cloud river.”
“This is peaceful. Calm.” Stella said. “I can see myself retiring somewhere like this. Some day, when all of this is over, I’d like a farmhouse too. I’d probably need a bit more necessities and stuff from Freshka, but one of these faraway islands would be nice. I’ll plant some fruits and stuff.”
“You could pick an island. The islands along the Eastern Oceans are still beautiful and untouched.”
“It doesn’t have this view.” Stella smiled, and Lumoof stretched. He too decided to sit along the edge. It was a sensation I didn’t enjoy. I didn’t like my feet dangling midair. I very much preferred to be rooted down on something solid. Even these floating islands were a little too much for my liking.
Lumoof took a deep breath. The air was clean.
The two domain holders sat quietly, and both enjoyed the beauty. There were other islands in the distance, but the clouds obscured most of them from view. “Let’s go to the main islands tomorrow.”
***
Airships were everywhere, and they were armed to the teeth. The peace of the distant islands were soon replaced by the constant threat of war.
Human kingdoms hated each other.
Lumoof and Stella found the main islands of this world to be in a state of constant warfare. Large airships were built out of unique floating materials, and weapons mounted on them. Then they fought each other.
There were five main islands, split into three main empires. The three human empires all maintained large fleets of airships of their own. War in these main islands were brutal, because the main islands were incredibly resource rich. The islands itself were magical, divine and seemed to produce resources indefinitely.
All that potential used to fuel a war against each other.
“A sickening testament to humanity.” Stella cursed.
“It is in our nature.” Lumoof said as we arrived in the capital of one of these large empires. Fleets of airships floated overhead, each of them filled with magical weapons. Their array of magical weapons were slightly more advanced than those found on the other worlds, though still quite behind those of the dwarves of Delvegard.
The capital was fairly advanced, in the larger scale of things. Only the dwarven cities of Delvegard and the dragonling cities of Gigantadragon could compare.
But of all things, it was the islands themselves that truly got my attention.
Just walking on the main islands I felt our souls, both mine and Lumoof, resonate with the ground below. The touch of divinity was woven into the ground, and it was similar to how a [druid] encouraged trees to grow. Here, some force caused the ground itself to ‘spawn’ metals and crystals.
Control of these main islands could significantly alleviate our resource problems.
“You can’t be-” Stella said. “Wait. You’re thinking about it.”
“They use a lot of crystals and metals for their airships. They fight a lot of wars with each other. I see value here, just like Delvegard. Though, it would be similarly hard to get them to bend the knee. They already hate each other, and unlike the dwarves of Delvegard that generally respect and obey technical superiority, these humans would not be so cooperative.”
Stella and Lumoof were seen as travelers, farmers from afar that came to see the big city. So, it wasn’t entirely problematic. Most of their gear were also hidden elsewhere, so they passed through security fairly easily, though some of their items failed in their presence.
“So much for peace.” Stella said, as we walked through the city. The city was heavily militarised and there were constant recruitments for soldiers, and a massive industrial system built around supporting the war. It was like a more advanced version of Mountainworld. “I can see why the humans moved to the outer islands.”
Three empires of humans, Aire, Argin and Taufang, each with their airships, and there were frequent wars between them. Even now there were smaller skirmishes where their empires met. All three of the human empires worshiped Hawa, yet somehow, the church itself splintered into three sub-branches of Hawa.
The demon king wasn’t here yet. The last demon king came 15 years ago and after that, there was a brutal war that saw the demon king defeated. The stories spoke of how the demon king died when the hero ascended into the demon’s floating island and slew them. The island was destroyed, together with the demon king.
It’ll be at least five or six years before the demons start appearing again. And so, the Empires descended into war.
“I’m putting this world under the good for resources pile.” Lumoof said. “Just like Delvegard.”
“Got it. I wonder what Edna sees in the fifteenth world.” Stella said. “We’re finally done exploring, and we can then move on to the next stage.”
The void mage looked at the world at war.
“Do you think we can convince these three empires to lay down their arms?”
Lumoof laughed. “If they do not listen to words, they’ll have to listen to a very big swarm of beetles.”