Wandering Agent
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Elevation of Mana Chapter 138 Off the Ice
🕑 Added 2024-07-29 20:14:57 +0000 UTCAfter weeks of travel we discovered a few things. One, that riding on the sled was far, far, faster than any other method of travel, and two, I really needed to work on doing more magic. There was never enough, and the only way to get better at it was to do more. Using the sled was tiring, exhausting even, but with the speed it was so worth it that none of us wanted to stop.
Even Chien got in on the sledding action, but we found that he was much weaker than I something I'd expected, but never had full confirmation on. I wondered if it had something to do with my otherworldly origin, or if I just practiced that much more. Even though admittedly I still needed to do more.
Weeks passed, and as with everything we improved. The spells got worked out, the tricks of the trade to smooth things were cleaned up. We ate the snowy ground over a dozen times, only for Isha to fix us up. As we moved we ate through our supplies, literally and figuratively, and if not for Isha's ability to magic food into existence we might have been struggling a bit.
“Good shot,” I told Chien as he sniped a hare with a small kinetic bolt.
“Thanks, keep an eye out while I clean it?”
“Sure.” We were now keeping watch whenever we stopped for even a moment, though we'd not had any experiences with more magical fauna.
His cuts were exacting, quick and practiced. All of us knew how to do it now, but that didn't mean that we were all good at it. Ironically I was probably the worst of us when it came to cleaning animals and all other manner of outdoors skills. I just did it via magic, skipping all the hard parts of it.
“How far you think we are?”
“Dunno Chien, probably something we should have asked before heading out, but I can't imagine it's much further. Still think it's a minor miracle we found the others when we did, we could have wandered out on the ice for years if we'd not stumbled upon them.”
“I'm not staying out here for years,” Isha chimed in.
“I doubt we'll take that long.” I didn't say it, but we must have traveled over a thousand miles, so there was no way it could be that much further until we made it to the far side of the continent, I hoped.
Hopeful thoughts aside there really was only one way to get through this, and that was simply to get through this. That said I was seeing some more rocks and scrub, which could only be a good sign so far as I was concerned.
The next morning the horizon looked odd to me, and as we got closer and closer it became apparent that there was a large change, on the horizon. The edge of the world, which had been flat with only the smallest of bumps began to rise on one side, while falling away on the other.
“Is that what I think it is?” Chien shouted.
“Don't jinx it,” both Isha and I yelled at him.
It was though, as as we approached we found the edge of the plateau. The world below us spread out, clouds parting until below us a strip of green was revealed. To one side rose a line of high mountains, to the other the pristine blue of the ocean. Between the two lay a line, perhaps only a few miles wide, or verdant land, small trees and lush grasses spreading out, with the occasional ribbon of silver sliding down the mountains to water the coast.
“Well, how do we get down?” Isha asked, looking about for the answer.
We'd managed to find a perfect spot on our way in, hidden behind a waterfall, but there were no such features nearby, nor were there any spots that stood out from the sheer drop. We went up and down the plateau for a bit, but with the small area that we actually wanted to be in there was a very finite number of places to look. Could we have found something eventually, probably, but after long enough, it was enough.
“I have an idea,” I finally said.
“Okay,” my companions agreed.
“Get in the sled.” The obliged and I hopped on the back, before catapulting us over the edge.
Chien let off a very imaginative series of oaths, curses, and obscenities. Isha mostly screamed. Mostly that was just distracting as I wrapped my magic around us and tried to pull upwards. The sensation was still odd and uncomfortable, but with the practice it worked, slowing us significantly.
The landing was... a landing. The runners from the sled shattered when we hit, but with the layers of stuff packed in they were the only thing, and it wasn't like they were that thick anyway. I went flying, jarred by the impact and sent on a mad tumble out of the sled, though the other two managed to stay with our things.
“Elian what were you thinking!?” Isha screamed, grabbing a fur from the pile and advancing upon me. It was always easy to tell when she was really angry because she started using my childhood name again.
“That we'd probably be fine,” I answered my displeased significant other.
“Probably!?”
I covered my ears, people in this world always went for the ears. Isha didn't disappoint, slapping me with the little rabbit fur vigorously, mostly upon the head. As all things though she eventually ran out of steam, huffing and puffing as she tired herself out.
“Were you not going to help?” I asked Chien as she stalked away; his response was to throw a stick at me, which was fair I supposed.
As soon as I was back up and going we had things to sort through. The sled was mostly a bust, which was fine, as there were now a few trees in easy enough reach, none were huge, but they'd serve for remaking little woodworking projects. We were also all well versed in the making of such things, so it wasn't too much of a chore to rebuild.
Interestingly much of the wood here was some form of either ironwood or birch. I tried to remember if the leaves and such matched what I'd known from my previous world, but honestly I'd never really known what they were supposed to look like, mostly looking at the bark. They looked to match as far as I could tell, but my knowledge, while perfect for what I could remember, didn't tell me about things I'd never looked at.
I considered making wheels, but wheels did best with roads, and roads we did not have. I wasn't even sure if anyone lived on this side of the mountains. That could be something to bring into Atal when I finally returned. Wheels and balloons maybe, I liked balloons, didn't need nearly as much complex math as a plane and I was pretty sure that with magic we could make them far better than anyone had on Earth.
Soon enough I had the sled rebuilt, the stuff repacked, and my significant other mollified enough that we could begin moving south once more. We all shed our coats and the layers, going back to the leafy clothing provided to us before we'd gone to find Neera. The temperature was at least nice now, the quick drop having rapidly brought us out of the ice and into a far more reasonable climate.
“Let's go,” Isha grumped, beginning to walk and leaving me to pull the sled.
