A Hand-Woven Universe 25 25. Incohate

Noone continued to let his thoughts wander. In the darkness there was nothing else he could do. Eventually his body entirely relaxed and he stopped straining his senses to pay attention to the world around him.

In all of the records he had read, nothing dangerous occurs between the clouds and the ocean. Once you land in the ocean though, you must beware of the tides. Especially if you land in it at night.

With attunements, there was almost nothing in the ceremony that wasn't manageable. Without an attunement though, Noone felt that he couldn't be too careful.

As time passed Noone stopped bothering entirely and dozed off, thinking about how he was planning to tackle the cliff. Slowly he started to notice the silhouette of his own body and the bird above him. The clouds began to brighten first, going from black to gray as the sun shine dripped through from the other side.

Noone smiled and scaled the body of the bird. The last thing Noone wanted to do was plunge into the ocean once the sun had set again. If he landed in the dark, he would have no way to orient himself towards the cliff.

By the time the sun rose again, there was no telling how far away he would have drifted.

Thus he grabbed onto the chest of the bird's body and enfolded the wings around him. In the clouds he had been grateful for the warmth provided by feathers, in this humidity though Noone could only grit his teeth. Sweat quickly beaded up on his forehead, and his clothes stuck to him.

The bird had begun nose-diving as soon as Noone folded the wings around himself. His descent speed immediately doubled. Now that he could see the cliff and the ocean to compare himself to, he realized just how fast his descent was.

It scared the wits out of him!

If the bird wasn't taking the brunt of the wind, Noone would not have been able to keep his eyes open at this speed.

Eventually he managed to relax, quickly compared to when he had first begun the fall. His natural adaption speed was quite high, maybe due to his young age, or the life he had been exposed to up to this point. But he felt that perhaps he was becoming a bit too comfortable with being in the air, he wasn't a bird after all.

Noone put all thoughts out of mind and focused on the ocean below. He could tell it would only be a few hours until he would hit water.

"This will give me plenty of time and sunlight to set up camp on the cliff…" Noone focused his attention on the stone wall beside him. Although he was still high up, Noone used his time to start scouting out locations that would be good for him to rest at once he began climbing.

Grey and black stone shifted under his sight as he dropped through the sky. Lines of mineral outcroppings snaked throughout the cracks looking like the veins of a protean god. The light reflected off these minerals, creating a cacophony of shifting colors.

Underneath the clouds were a completely untapped resource of minerals and gems. There have been people in the history of tapestry who dedicated their lives to repeatedly scaling the sides of the cliffs and bringing back the rarer earth that was harder to find around Tapestry. However, such an endeavor was not sustainable, so these people are few and far between. There has not been another person to take up this mantle in centuries, since the last one passed away while on an expedition.

Noone looked at his own pack, trying to estimate how much mineral he would be able to bring back once he started depleting food and other rations. Eventually though, he just smiled bitterly to himself. Let's just focus on getting back alive for now.
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He shook his head and continued scanning the face of the cliff and the ocean below. It would only be a few hours until he touched down.

…

A fiery orange glow contested with soft blue lighting as Adria stepped into Elder Azelle's quarters. The elder was sat on the ground - in front of him, a pond of crystal water.

The elder's back was turned to the door and he did not respond to Adria entering. She waited for a moment in quiet thought, the elder seemed… solemn? She stared at his silhouette and let her mind wander.

Ever since she found out about the opportunity to leave for the desolate world, she had been manically focusing on everything she could do to prepare for the world above. Many of the elders assumed that the young girl was just overly enthusiastic of the new experience and that she did not understand the full repercussions of what her voyage would mean for her.

"How nice it is to be young and think you are invincible." They would say amongst themselves.

Only a few knew that the reason she was so manic was to try and ignore the feelings of impending… death.

Adria was not a dumb person. She knew that she would probably end up dying alone in an unmarked grave. Far away from anyone she knew and everything she was familiar. But she was willing to accept it.

Especially if it meant giving a chance to the rest of Tapestry to finally reclaim and rebuild on the surface.

Eventually she chose to not say anything to the elder. She simply suppressed her own energies and embraced the calming liquid energy surrounding the pond. When she walked up, the water inside stilled and she could see fish swimming around.

She sat across from the elder and stared into the water with him.

Perhaps only he truly could understand everything she was feeling. While sitting there together, for just a moment, it seemed the world stilled, and they were able to deeply sense a perfect solidarity with one another.

The air around them became softer. The aura that had originally been present, they could now feel even more clearly.

And thus, they sat there,

in solidarity,

And silence.

Chapter end