An unstable vortex broke out inside of an empty space, then a portal appeared at the center of the vortex. After around half a minute, the portal stabilized, and a beam of pale energy shot out from the portal, not directly at the land below, but towards somewhere up in the sky.
The pale energy beam seemed to have encountered some obstacles in space, and was forced to charge course like a bouncy ball several times. Eventually it was directed at the floating land beneath. Then, after a loud boom, the energy beam dissipated, and from the dust walked out Professor Atkinson and Dolores.
Their clothes were clearly ruffled and dirty from the travel, and both of them could not help but start coughing as they walked away from their landing site. Aside from the rough landing, travel was not as smooth as they hoped either - Professor Atkinson felt that the muscles in his whole body were sore and weak, Dolores was even not able to walk properly for a while.
“Holy crap, when was the last time someone maintained the portal?” Dolores sat on the ground and started rubbing her legs and feet: “It could’ve killed us!”
“Okay, let me take a look at where we are.” Professor Atkinson finished his latest round of coughs, then he took out a folded piece of parchment - it was a map, hand drawn and blessed by Paulo Chang, the latest Elemental Lord.
When they first laid their eyes on the map, they found that Paulo Chang’s drawings were somewhat rough and nowhere near detailed, but when they were actually here at their destination, they found that the map was in fact more descriptive than they gave it credit for. For example, right now, the empty land they were standing on matched exactly what was described on the map - an incredibly flat plain, with a thin layer of fine grain sand on top of hardened rock. There were barely any bumps and cracks on the rock beneath, it was as if they were walking on a piece of giant one-piece stone tablet.
As Professor Atkinson and Doloers walked towards the little town ahead of them called “Lint Town”, they found that the sand below their feet seemed to be gently pushing them towards the direction as well. And at the same time, the footprints they left were being quickly filled up by the sand and thus were disappearing without a trace.
“Lint Town, the very town where non-voidborns used to visit at first when they landed in the edgelands. That is, according to Paulo Chang.” Professor Atkinson sighed: “But Xyn did not speak of anything like this to me.”
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“And neither did he to me.” Dolores picked up some sand from the ground, and found that no matter how hard she tried, she could not even keep one grain of sand on her palm without using magic, the fine grains of sand seemed to be drawn to the ground and to a certain state of equilibrium: “I think Mr. Yu is right again - Xyn’s information is very very dated. I mean - I could already see the edge of the land from here. I’d wanna try if I can walk on the other side upside down when I get the chance. But still, the almost infinite land in the vision? This is pretty far from that!”
“Yes, but at least we are at the edgelands now - somewhere of which I think almost no one’s mentioned for quite a while.” Professor Atkinson took a sip from his water bag and said.
“Let’s hope the other hints he gave us would hold up.” Dolores scoffed then sighed.
After just about ten minutes of walking, and less than a third of a mile to the walls that were made of non reflective crystals and some kind of slowly moving and color changing clay surrounding the village, a creature made of blue flames and lightning with the lower body of a deer and the upper body of a beautiful four-armed human female leapt from behind the walls and trotted towards them.
“Mortals in the edgelands.” the creature also had a pleasant voice: “It’s been too long.”
“Greetings, my name is Professor James Atkinson, and this is my assistant Dolores Brooke.” Professor Atkinson did not know which gesture to use, and he eventually chose to bow. And the creature bowed back. “We are from the Grant Academy, and we are here for ...”
“Research, yes.” the creature said: “Lord Chang informed me thus, and told me to be your guide. It would be my pleasure to be of service to you. My name is Lin’Er, I am Lord Chang’s keeper of one of his many realms. I will be your guide while you are here.”
“That’s very kind of you.” Dolores also bowed, she was not used to doing it and therefore her move was a bit awkward: “Now, can you take us somewhere we can stay?”
“There was a very old inn in Lint Town.” Lin’Er answered: “It could use a little tidy up, but it should still be empty. Follow me.”
Following the burning and shining footsteps of Lin’Er, Professor Atkinson and Dolores came into the town. It was somewhat similar to a normal human town, except for the fact that there were floating pathways made of clay, crystals and some kind of wood in the air with small shops and stands on both sides, making it effectively more spacious and easier to get lost in.
“There is still a lot of trade going on here.” Dolores looked around and said: “Is this one of your commercial towns?”
“Yes. Contrary to what might be told and lied about us, we elementals also have desires and needs, therefore commerce and trade.” Lin’Er led them on an old pathway on the ground: “When the humans stopped coming a few decades back, many of us made use of the space and continued to trade. You’ll meet some of our vendors here, some mortals from other realms just like you. I trust that you’ve brought your own money or similar means of exchange?”
“Yes.” Professor Atkinson looked around smiling and frequently stopping like a kid on a trip: “But - but we’re here to do research, we’ll only trade when we absolutely have to.”
“A wise choice.” Lin’Er stopped at a roofless and broken down building made of the same kind of clay on the walls and stacked up rocks that gave off warm and comforting auras: “Here, this is the inn, built by the old traders from your realms to ours.”