A Hand-Woven Universe 19 19. Danger in the Clouds

After falling for close to half a day Noone's body had relaxed quite a bit. He was no longer as tense as he had been and instead just let his body conform to whatever shape was most natural to fight against the wind.

He had realized a few hours ago that fighting to maintain balance was just wasting his energy. It wasn't as though he needed to stay upright the whole time. So, he resigned himself to gravity.

Which is how he ended up in the state that he is in now - falling headfirst towards the cloud layer below.

Although from the outside he looked relaxed, his mind stayed at peak awareness. It was hard for it not to, given the situation. He watched as the clouds below continued to approach.

…

A few more hours passed and Noone was able to see where the clouds met the side of the cliff. He knew he would be enveloped in the clouds soon.

When he had studied the records left behind by others during their ceremonies, he realized that there was more to this than just climbing up from the bottom of the cliffs. There were actual dangers to him that he would have to fight his way through.

To those with attunements, these dangers were mild at best. As long as one remained aware of their surroundings and spread their energy out to encompass themselves, they wouldn't have to worry too much. But to Noone...

Noone adjusted his pack and slipped the pike he had fashioned from a mining pole into his hands. In reality it was merely an eight-foot-long steel rod with a point at both ends. However - with Noone's massive strength - he had no problem brandishing it as a weapon.

In the records it was written that the cloud layer below tapestry was home to a large amount of white-feathered man-eating birds. These birds were large enough to bite a human in half, and were such a nuisance that many of the elders had taken it upon themselves to cull their numbers every few decades.

Not only were they extremely fast in the air, but their white feathers and beak made them almost completely invisible as long as they remained in the clouds.

Without attunement energy to sense his surroundings, Noone was aware that to these birds he was basically a sitting duck.

Even to those with elemental energy, no one bothered to fight these birds off. They were way too difficult to kill in their own element. And even if they did manage to kill one, another would quickly take its place.

So the common practice was just to focus on falling through as quickly as possible - breaking past the bottom of the clouds - and avoiding the birds whenever they came too close.

Noone held the pike in front of him across his body, waiting. He knew as soon as he dropped into the cloud layer he would be attacked.

…

At the same time Noone was falling down from above, many hungry inhuman gazes looked on from below.

It had been a while since the elders had come down to cut down the numbers of these birds. As such their population was at its peak.

A few hundred birds circled around, fighting for dominance and seniority.

The elders in Tapestry had been confused for a long time as to why these birds gathered here. The food availability around the ends of the world were scarce. Especially for carnivores.

The small fish in the ocean could only sustain so many of these large creatures. And the other things in the ocean… they wouldn't dare mess with.

An especially large and vicious bird approached from further out, flapping its wide wings lazily as it soared through the clouds. After many generations, some birds managed to have lucky encounters with the strong creatures of the sea and experienced a strengthening of their bodies. These tended to be especially cunning creatures.

The circle split apart at the arrival of the large bird, none of the others chose to fight it for dominance. In the animal kingdom, strength was something that could be sensed instinctively.

Although the rest of the birds made way for the large one, they remained in the nearby. Silently communicating their frustrations. The hierarchy was brutal and always shifting. If anything happened to the large bird, the rest would want to be there to take advantage of it.
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The large bird eyed the falling human, waiting for him to disappear into the clouds.

The reason these birds have been here for as long as Tapestry was really rather simple. The people of Tapestry were very beneficial to their strength. If they managed to eat one of these humans, they would experience an explosive boost to their powers, and immediately evolve into a higher strength life form.

Thus, they waited for their chance.

Chapter end