Thank God Kael and Erik got here before I did. They have defeated the majority of the opponents. A few enemies survived but he took care of them easily before he arrived at their starting point. Erik arrived together with Kael five minutes later. They spent the next twenty minutes extinguishing the fire to prevent more damage to the forest and leveled the whole settlement after burning all corpses.

Aric joined them halfway through the process and clapped his hands as the last flames died out. “Let’s get off the island now.”

Chapter begin

Elijah threw a last look at the destroyed camp before he turned around. There’s nothing to loot here anymore.

“I can’t wait to get off this island.” Erik stretched his arms as their group made their way to the south of the island.

Elijah thought about his short time at this place while they were walking through the thick forest. He looked at the trees around him as he listened to the other three chatting about what they were going to do next once they were back in Whisperwind.

For the first time since coming here, Elijah had nothing to do. His life wasn’t in any danger anymore. He didn’t have to look out for enemies. And while he was surrounded by people he barely knew, they seemed to be nice. He enjoyed their presence.

Still, he felt lonely.

The others stopped talking a few minutes into their trip and everyone simply enjoyed the silence as they approached the island's edge. Elijah wondered what kind of ship they had. He had only been out on the open sea once before and was a little nervous. It had been years ago.

When they arrived at the island's edge, Elijah stumbled back a few steps, his body instinctively seeking solid ground beneath him. A gasp escaped him as his heart began racing. “Where’s the sea?” Elijah asked.

Aric turned to him as if nothing was wrong. “What sea?” He raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you know that we are on an island?”

“Where I come from, islands are surrounded by water,” Elijah answered with a trembling voice.

“Where you come from?” Erik questioned. “I already thought that you aren’t from around here. Your accent is weird.” Elijah decided to ignore the comment as he cautiously crawled near the edge and stared down.

“There are no oceans near Eldrid,” Kael explained before he pointed down. “We are going to jump down.”

Aric laughed as the shock was written all over Elijah’s face. “How did you even get here if you didn’t know that we are on a floating island? Didn’t the Cloud Raiders tell you anything?”

Does he think I was a member of the Cloud Raiders guild? Elijah thought.

“What did you expect?” Kael said to Aric as he put his hand on Elijah’s shoulder. “I am sure he was only told that he had to find a rift and would be paid well for it.”

Erik folded his arms. “What do we do if it turns out that he is a criminal?”

“I’m no criminal!” Elijah glared at Erik before the man laughed and slapped his back. “I’m only joking.”

“And I want to have as little to do with them as you do.” Elijah got up and distanced himself from the edge. “I won’t jump down there.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“There’s no other way,” Aric spoke up and continued before Elijah could interrupt him. “The spatial formation is destroyed and none of us is able to create a new one.” He gestured to Erik and Kael before he raised an open palm towards Elijah. “Jumping is the only way.”

Elijah didn’t answer, his eyes scanning the horizon as he searched for any signs of support or explanation for the floating island. How is that possible?

“I know it looks scary but you saw Kael floating before,” Aric explained.

Erik was still standing next to Elijah and put his hand on his back. Elijah felt the difference before Erik told him. “I’ve extended the skill to you. While I can’t turn you weightless on my own, it should be possible with the two or three of us.”

While that still didn’t convince Elijah to jump off a height of several miles, he knew he had to get off the island somehow. And it looked like jumping down was the only way to do so.

“Let’s test it first.” He gulped. On his insistence, they climbed up a tree before Erik and Kael hooked their arms into Elijah’s. Elijah felt his weight decrease almost entirely after a moment and together the three jumped off the lowest branch of the tree they stood on.

While they fell, Elijah slowly opened his eyes again. Their descent was slow and steady and they landed soft on their feet. He looked up to the branch they were at moments ago. I can’t believe it. It could really work.

“I’ll also try to control our descent with blasts,” Kael said before he walked to Aric who waited for them at the edge. Erik and Elijah followed him.

“You have to unsummon Root, though. We won’t be able to carry him with us. Nothing will go wrong. Probably.” Erik told Elijah as the minion joined them. The wooden construction lost its life at a thought and fell to the ground. It looked like someone stopped keeping all the roots and leaves together and its body lost its form.

Elijah didn’t mind unsummoning Root as he still had Timber around his arm. He also questioned the logic behind keeping Root around against possible attacks when he would put his life in the hands of the trio anyway.

Aric and Kael stood at the edge and hooked their arms into each other as Erik and Elijah joined them.

“Everyone ready?” Erik and Kael nodded. Elijah gulped when he felt his weight vanishing and with closed eyes, he jumped. The feeling of tumbling to the ground didn’t come and the only thing Elijah felt was the wind hitting against the four of them.

He strengthened the grip around Kael and Erik’s arms and threw a glance down before closing his eyes. While the first few seconds were calm and steady, the feeling of standing on nothing felt wrong. Elijah discarded that thought when the wind started throwing them around.

He looked up and his eyes widened when he saw the island in its entirety. How is that even possible? Nothing was supporting the floating island. It just hovered in midair, defying the laws of nature.

Aric’s voice tore him out of his astonishment. “We should increase our weight, the wind is too strong.” Another gust of wind took them several feet away from the island and Elijah desperately held onto the other’s arms.

“On three!” Erik shouted before he began counting down. Elijah felt how their weight increased before their fall accelerated. Air rushed against them and Elijah heard Aric and Erik shout and laugh in excitement. They had the time of their lives.

After Elijah got used to the feeling of falling, he started to pay attention to his surroundings. The view was breathtaking. In the distance on the horizon, one could already see the first rays of light of the rising sun and the two moons disappeared more and more with every minute. Below them, an endless landscape stretched as far as his gaze could reach.

In the distance, birds flew along the horizon. Elijah tracked them with his gaze before his eyes widened. He looked at the chain of islands that had been hidden before and now appeared behind the island they were on. Incredible. The sight was like something out of a fairy tale and captivated his gaze.

"These are the other islands we've been searching," Erik explained as Kael began to use his skills to control their flight.

The ground grew closer with each passing moment until their group was only a few dozen feet away from landing. Their speed was much slower than Elijah would have expected for a landing, but he still closed his eyes briefly before deciding he would rather see when and where his feet hit the ground when they landed.

Elijah dropped to his knees immediately after they landed and was close to kissing the ground. The other three were also relieved to have solid ground under their feet again, but their reactions were not as obvious as Elijah's.

He looked up. I can't believe we jumped from there. Now that he was past the jump, it didn't seem so bad to him after all. Still, he wouldn't do it again in the near future.

The group took a short break before heading to their next destination.

The town of Whisperwind. And Elijah's first social venture in a new world.