Chapter 478 - The Sky Isles

Hey guys. I have noted and will make some changes to the last two chapters to give Nisha a role. Completely agree that she was missing from those scenes. I was meaning to get to it sooner but I'm currently working through the edits for Book 6 too so it's been a bit manic staying on top of B7 at the same time and I haven't been able to get back yet. Will probably do so this week.

The Altari were an interesting people. Hump and the others had learned what they could here and there. In many ways, they were similar to humans, though it seemed they possessed a more powerful physiology beyond simply being taller and larger. They seemed intrinsically connected to essence, capable of sensing its winds and nature in a similar way to Nisha. And he had solved the question of why they had such colourful hair—it was their affinity. Yet despite their innate connection to it, not a single one of Acalin’s party were wizards or even this world’s equivalent.

They had set up camp beneath the sweeping canopy of a twisted tree. The floating island above them glowed with veins of various colours running through the rocky underside, blotting out the moon and stars. Acalin had brought out a grill large enough to roast a griffin leg, and skewers of meat now sizzled atop it, powdered with unfamiliar spices. Judging from the sheer quantity, Hump thought the Altari must eat like dragon blooded. As they talked, Karo, the injured man, slept. He’d been awake briefly, but it didn’t last long.

With a low chuff, Nisha stared hungrily at them, her eyes widening as Acalin lifted one off and handed it to her. She snatched it and padded away, slumping to the ground nearby where she manoeuvred the pieces off the wooden stick.

“She’s intelligent,” Acalin said.

“Even more than you know,” Hump said, watching her with a smile.

“What do you mean that none of you can use magic?” Dylan asked nearby, brow furrowed. “We saw you wielding essence during the battle.”

Meli, the healer, sat cross-legged near the fire, chewing thoughtfully on a skewer. “We do you what you describe. It is just different for us. We must channel it through artifacts crafted by the Holy Ones. The power is built into the item, and our essence activates it.”

She pulled a small silver needle and thread from her belt and held it up, both gleaming faintly with intricate runes so tiny it was only the darkness that made them visible. “These aid healing, stop blood loss, and ward off infection when imbued with essence.”

“Is all your magic bound to items?” Dylan asked. “Do you not have techniques to channel your essence?”

Tamira, sitting beside Acalin, shook her head. “We do not need such things. Our bodies are strength. Our essence fuels it. Makes us stronger.”

“Sounds like martials,” Dylan offered. “Don’t you think, Emilia?”

Emilia nodded. “I can’t think of anything else. In our world, some practitioners focus their essence inward—enhancing speed, strength, senses, perhaps their weapon and armour. We call them martials, like me. While wizards like Hump focus on shaping essence externally to produce spells.”

Tamira gave a slow nod. “Then yes. Martials are closer to our way.”

“And what about Chosen?” Bud asked, leaning forward. “People blessed by the gods to wield their divine power.”

“The Holy Ones wield the Mkaer’s power,” Acalin said.  “And they are few and far between. And we are certainly not them. These give us our power.” The man lofted his shield, gesturing at the runes on its surface. “They are all we need. The Holy Ones can draw upon the Maker’s power, of course, and they use it to create our artifacts.” Acalin pulled down his colour, revealing a mark on his chest above his heart. “And to wield them, we are marked by the Maker. It allows us to commune with the relics of his Holy Ones.”

“Are there many in your world?” Meli asked curiously.

“Yes,” Bud said. “Myself, Dylan, and Celaine are all Chosen.”

“That explains your power,” Acalin said with a smile. “Never have I see griffins taken down with such ease. Your world must be powerful then.”

Hump frowned at that. Those griffins were powerful monsters, but he could think of many adventurers that could bring them down with similar speed. And on top of that, the mark on Acalin’s chest seemed… strange. There was no reason for it to be necessary. None at all, at least not that he could think of. His staff was crafted with Loften’s runes, and he used it without problems. There was only one reason he could think of to mark his people, and it wasn’t good.

In that moment, things fell into place. It was said that Loften had created warlocks, turning people into weapons. What if he had also created the chains that bound Chosen? And what if now that he was exiled and without much of his power, he needed new servants and a new source of power.

“I do not know if we’re powerful in the grand scheme of things,” Bud said. “Until recently, I didn’t even know there were other worlds. Do you know of our gods here? Lord Loften—the Maker as you call him—is a member of the Pantheon. Are you familiar with them?” At their bewildered looks, he continued. “Lady Light, Kelisia, Ordana, Rathlar.”

“You speak of the old gods,” Acalin said. “They have no Chosen here. No priests. There is only the Maker—he who holds the world together.”

Bud frowned deeply.

“What about practitioners that have reached the higher ranks?” Hump said, trying to gather a little more information. “Do you have many people here that have achieved soul manifestation?”

“I’m not familiar with that term,” Acalin said.

“It is when one imposes their soul upon the world,” Hump said. “Manifesting their presence and intent as a physical force or imparting it into the weapon or body of a martial. For us, it is the mark of progress from bronze to silver ranked adventurers.”

 The five members of Acalin’s party all looked at Hump curiously.

“You speak of aura projection,” Meli said with a frown. “But that is something only High Priests and Divine Sovereigns are capable of.”

Tamira scoffed. “I told you he schemed. What is this foolishness?”

Hump’s lips formed a tight frown. If Loften’s own power was sealed off in his exile, where better to get more than to siphon it from his followers, preventing them from advancing their souls.

“You really need to stop doubting Hump,” Celaine said. “If you push him too much, he may just show you.”

Tamira smirked, her gaze roaming from Celaine to Hump. “Then show me, little wizard.”

Hump waved a hand at her. “There’s no need for that. Stick around us long enough and perhaps you’ll see. It is not something to use upon friends.”

Tamira rolled her eyes, but Hump didn’t pay her any more attention. He still didn’t know how much he could trust this group. If they were little more than a power source for Loften, the High Priests and Divine Sovereigns mentioned might not be too happy to find out what he had to show the Altari. For now, they were their guides to Urandel and nothing more. His true strength was best reserved for when it was needed.

“The magic you wielded, Wizard Humphrey,” Yoltza started, the quiet woman speaking for the first time, “I do not understand it. you wield an artifact of Loften, but the abilities you showed were not part of it. I would recognise such runecraft.”

“Spells,” Hump said. “My method of casting is a combination of essence manipulation and intent.” He demonstrated by forming some rocks over his hand and spinned them around, slowly turning them back to sand and then stone again as they cycled around. “This is the external essence manipulation that Emilia spoke of.”

Tamira’s distrust turned to intrigue. “What else can you do?” she asked.

Hump snorted and sent Dancing Light through the air, six orbs spinning up into the night. Her eyes followed them excitedly. As she stared after them, Hump raised an eyebrow, surprised that this was what had broken through her… spikey exterior.

He’d take what he could get.

While the others spoke, Nisha crept closer to the grill.

Acalin noticed her first. “Can I give her a skewer?”

Hump chuckled. “Probably best. If she helps herself there won’t be any left.”

***

Hump gripped the cold metal rim of the windrunner, staring down over the edge at the dizzying drop beneath. It was a long was down, and even if he managed to cast Embrace the Wind in time, that would only slow his descent into the molten inferno that waited for him at the bottom of this world.

Beside him, Bud exhaled slowly.

“It’ll be fine,” Hump said. “It hasn’t failed yet.”

Bud gripped the windrunner with white knuckles, looking straight ahead, his back stiff as a rod. “That doesn’t help.”

“Surely you would trust an artifact of Loften more than anyone,” Celaine said. “It’s fine! Look.” She started leaning from side to side, gently tipping the windrunner.

“Stop it Celaine,” Bud snapped.

“There really is nothing to worry about,” Acalin said. He was driving the vessel across the gap, his own party waiting on the next island on the far side. “There’s nothing to fail. The runes keeping it aloft follow the winds of essence. Only if the winds vanished entirely would we lose control, and even then, it would be a slow descent down fuelled by the left-over essence.”

The windrunner’s undercarriage glowed with a soft bronze light, lined with runes that pulsed steadily with earth essence. Curious, considering its name. Hump would expect wind to do the heavy lifting. Instead, earth essence acted as the primary floating mechanism, while wind essence, focused through an array of spinning fans at the rear, drove the vessel forward. It was something related to the magnetism that kept the floating islands aloft apparently, though even with Hump’s affinity with the earth, he had been unable to detect the intent behind its workings.

Like much of the altari artifacts, it defied easy understanding. Hump wasn’t a stranger to arcane machinery such as the carriageways going up and down Sheercliff, but this was a level of complexity that was far more advanced. And that only made him more curious.

“Look, Bud,” Dylan said. “Have you seen how the fans shift as we move, adjusting to the stability of the windrunner. Its reactive. The whole vessel adapts to what’s around us in real time.”

“You say that like I should find it comforting,” Bud muttered, craning his neck to look without turning the rest of his body.

It was only minutes until they were on the next island. Above, the sky was clear once more, the island above them finally ending. And there, floating overhead, was a massive skyship cruising through the air, its hull as wide as any ship Hump had seen in Elenvine port, its underside aglow with the same earth essence as the windrunner. Hundreds of glowing runes spirally along its belly in complex patterns, weaving a lattice of power.

Hump instructed Nisha to stay closer. The last thing he needed was to panic the people onboard with the sudden arrival of a dragon.

“That’s enormous,” Emilia said. “I can’t believe such a thing can fly.”

“We are nearing the Sapphire Isles,” Acalin said. “The sky port there is quite significant. It is a major crossroads for a number of towns and more distant cities. That there is a merchant vessel.”

“You really do not have such things from your world?” Karo asked.

“On our world, ships float on water,” Bud said with a little more certainty than necessary. “The sky is not for them.”

“It should be. Floating on water doesn’t sound very efficient. Does that not take a long time to get anywhere?”

“When the alternative is to swim, we make do,” Emilia said dryly.

“The Sky Isles are sort of like a collection of towns that all work together,” Acalin said. “There is no exact number of people, especially with so many moving in and out of the city every day, but somewhere around twenty thousand. It is quite a considerable sky port. It was far more once.”

“What happened?” Emilia asked.

“The first Pathfinders chose this location for its abundant supply of echoiron—does your world have echoiron?”

“I haven’t heard of it,” Emilia said. She glanced at Hump and Dylan.

Hump shrugged. “We would likely have another name for it anyway.”

“It’s a vital component for creating essence steel,” Acalin said. “The Sky Isles once had it in abundance, but no longer. Now, the pathfinders must delve deeper to the islands far below. Go far enough, and there are dungeons still rich in it, but the essence there is so powerful that monsters manifest.”

Hump stored the name away in case he decided to purchase some echoiron for his own attempts at enchanting. The runes carved into the windrunner’s hull, the structure of their weapons and armor… they all seemed to revolve around essence steel as a conduit. It made him wonder what else he might be able to produce with it. Now that he had a little more time, it seemed like a good opportunity to put his enchanting table to more use.

“It’s amazing that so many people can live across islands like these,” Emilia said. “Do you all travel by windrunners?”

Acalin shook his head. “Such a thing is too expensive for most. But there are systems in place like the… it’s best you see for yourself.”

“We’ll show you around once we’ve docked.” Meli added, walking alongside the windrunner now that they were on the island. “With so many travellers, the food her is diverse. You’ll love it, I’m sure. There are cuisines from across the world. Speaking of which, your appearance will certainly stir some questions.”

“I have considered that,” Acalin said. “There is no hiding that you are not from Var. My plan is to position this as an escort quest from the pathfinders to bring you to the High Priests in Urandel. It will not stop questions, but it will help to speed things along.”

“Thank you, Acalin,” Bud said. “This would have been a challenge without you all. It was our good fortune to have met you.”

“The fortune is ours,” Acalin said.

“Especially Karo’s,” Yoltza added.

“Yeah,” Karo said. “I do appreciate not dying.”

“Did you your world was called Var?” Emilia asked.

Acalin nodded. “That’s correct.”

“Interesting,” Emilia said, looking at Hump with a smile. “Do you like that more or less than Humphrey’s Floating Islands.”

As Acalin’s party glanced at him, Hump quickly shook his head. “No idea what she’s talking about.”