by Max Jager
"Alright, well brace yourselves because this is gonna be REALLY bumpy." Pex smirked widely and focused on the land ahead of them. The boat was speeding towards the beach with no sign of slowing down, in fact Pex was still blasting wind into the sail to speed it up.
"Uh, we are not slowing down?" Mendelen asked unsurely.
"No. Why would we do that?" Pex replied.
As the boat neared the shore Pex sent a powerful gust of wind upwards into the sail launching the little boat into the air. "NOW!" Pex shouted out as she flew off the boat and onto the island. The boat flew over the beach and landed in the dirt, it was sent skidding across the ground as the wood on the bottom of the boat got torn up and it finally stopped when it crashed into a big rock.
Pex flew over to the crashed boat. "That was awesome! You didn't say you could drive the boat on land! I was expecting you to jump off when I said now, but that was cool."
Mendelen crawled out of the wreckage and took his helmet off. "If you wanted us to jump off, you probably should've said that."
"I didn't?" Pex asked.
"No." Kaden groaned as he crawled out of the wreckage covered in splinters
"Oh, oops. You may not have noticed but I tend to be a teensy bit air headed and forgetful. But we're all here safe and alive, so that's good." Pex chirped.
Estellese and Zanath climbed out of the boat, both covered in scrapes and cuts but they were otherwise okay.
Mendelen turned to Pex. "Alright, so what's the plan for the elementals? Can we just blow them out of the way."
"The elementals?" Pex asked. "Oh! The elementals! Um, no, we can't blow all of them away. Only some of them."
Mendelen pressed a couple fingers against his temple and took a deep breath.
Estellese finished picking up the fruit basket and rejoined the group "Is everyone okay? That was a rough landing."
"It would seem so." Mendelen replied. "Shockingly." He added.
"The boat was slowed down by the sand and dirt enough to not kill us when it hit the rock." Zanath stated.
Mendelen nodded and turned to Pex "Lead the way to wherever we are going. Blow away any elementals you can and tell us if you see one you can't so we can figure out a plan to sneak past it." He said.
"That works," Pex chirped, although despite her energetic and bubbly demeanor she was starting to look winded and exhausted again. It would seem like the energy on the island re-energized her a little but not enough. "let's go!"
Pex flew off in a north-western direction, flying only a few feet above the ground so that the humans could follow. Despite some minor injuries the four alphas ran behind Pex and kept up with her. The area they were in was a hilly, grassy area not too different from the mainland, only there were more trees here. As they ran west the shore to the south of them became blocked by mountains but they could still see the shore to the north way off in the distance when they were atop the tall hills. Far off to the north west there was what looked like a huge bridge of light connecting this island to the little island in the middle. There was also a smaller wooden bridge connecting this island to another neighboring island to the west that looked more mountainous and seemed to have a volcano on it.
As they ran, suddenly the ground burst open a few feet in front of them causing everyone to stop. The stones that burst out of the ground all flew into each other and merged to form a five foot tall stone wolf that roared at the group and lunged at Mendelen and Pex.
Pex pushed the stone wolf back with a powerful gust of wind, slamming it into the ground so hard the rocks forming the wolf broke apart. Although the earth elemental was far from dead, it didn't need to remain in a solid connected form to survive. As the stone wolf broke apart the pieces of stone all fired themselves at the Alphas like bullets from a gun.
Pex focused and a big dome-like barrier appeared around herself and the Alphas. The dome was made up of powerful winds moving nonstop in a circular motion around the group, and as the rocks hit the dome they were thrown off to the side and away from the group by the winds. The rocks immediately turned around mid-flight and flew back at the group, but this time instead of trying to fire into the group once they got near the wind barrier they all merged together like clay to form a stone giant that stood 10 feet tall. The giant slammed it's massive fist down through the top of the barrier forcing everyone to dive out of the way to avoid being crushed.
As they got up onto their feet they could see what looked like electricity surging nonstop around the shape of an elf. There was no solid body, just electricity surging around seemingly nothing. As soon as the Lightning elemental saw them it hissed loudly and in a flash it shifted into the shape of a giant lightning snake.
"That is exactly the one elemental I did NOT want to run into!" Pex called out as she noticed the Lightning elemental.
"How do we fight it?" Kaden called back.
"You either have magic, or you don't fight an elemental." Pex answered. "You can't kill them without magic. I'm sorry, but we need to go."
"What do you mean by that?" Mendelen questioned. But before he got an answer Pex suddenly hit herself and the four Alphas with a massive gust of wind that lifted everyone off the ground and threw them high in the air and in a general northern direction.
Pex caught herself in mid-air over the water and watched as the four Alphas all plummeted down into the ocean. Everyone except Kaden resurfaced and started coughing and choking.
Mendelen did a quick head count and waited a moment, then cussed quietly "I don't see Kaden" he said breathlessly before diving back into the water.
"Damnit Kaden" Estellese hissed before she also dove back under the water. A few seconds passed and it felt like an eternity, but Mendelen, Kaden and Estellese all resurfaced. Mendelen had Kaden's left arm over his shoulders, and Estellese had Kaden's right arm over her shoulders. Kaden was not moving.
"Kaden was knocked out on impact. He's out cold" Mendelen stated.
"At least he's not dead" Zanath said. The four of them started swimming towards the shore while Pex hovered overhead.
Pex could feel the weight of the silence and lack of any acknowledgment. "I'm sorry." She said quietly. "I panicked, I can't fight these things. I don't know what else I could have done to get away."
"It's fine. Just don't do that again" Mendelen stated. "Things like that can kill humans"
"I know, it would've killed an elf too. I panicked, I'm not a fighter." Pex said quietly.
"It is okay. You did your best" Mendelen said.
"Yes, we are still alive so no hard feelings." Estellese answered.
"In the future." Zanath started. "Make an upwards gust of wind under the people as they fall. Not enough to push them up but enough to slow their fall. If you did that we could have landed without injury, or at least without major injury."
"I'll keep that in mind" Pex said quietly. "At least I aimed for the water and not the ground, right?" She said awkwardly.
"Yes. That would've been bad." Mendelen answered.
The group reached the shore and laid Kaden down on the beach. As they looked around they noticed that there seemed to be what looked like a bridge of light not far from them reaching all the way out to the center island. The bridge looked like it was coming out of these massive pillars made of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other gems.
"We just need to cross the bridge." Pex said. "I'm sorry, but I can't heal you right now. I may not look it, but I am very, very exhausted. The magic on the island and in my gemstones are helping me stay energized, but the gemstones are running out and the energy in the air can only do so much. Plus just being on the mainland for a while is draining, never mind crossing the ocean twice and spending time on the mainland."
"Why is the mainland draining?" Estellese asked.
"I don't really know. It doesn't seem to bother fairies who are born there. But any fairies who are born here or live here find it very tiring to just be on the mainland." Pex answered.
"The fairies born here are ac
climated to the excess energy in the air around here." Zanath said. "Just a theory, but I would attribute that to the feeling of exhaustion on the mainland."
"That makes sense, I think" Pex answered.
"Can you at least heal the major breaks?" Mendelen asked "Or mend them so we can walk? If it exhausts you too much we can carry you the rest of the way."
Pex backed up a little and hesitated, giving the four of them a distrusting look. She did not like the idea of being left in such a vulnerable state, in the hands of a giant she didn't know. But at the same time, she needed their help. "Only if that one carries me." She replied pointing to Estellese. "She looks the least scary. She has normal colored hair, and reminds me of a fairy."
Mendelen looked at Estellese, 'the least scary? Normal colored hair?' he thought and almost laughed at the thought. "That's fine, right Estell?"
Estellese nodded "Yeah, I don't mind."
Pex hesitated, but nodded. "Alright, but remember I am not skilled in healing magic like your elven friends, and my healing magic comes from the Aether element, so it works differently."
"That is okay, just do your best." Mendelen answered.
Pex flew over to the group and placed a hand on each person's forehead for a brief moment. As she touched them they felt a pins and needles-ish feeling throughout their bodies and felt a little numb. Similar to the way drinking a potion felt but the numbness was not nearly as strong.
"What is the difference between Aether and Nature healing magic?" Estellese asked.
"Huh?" Pex asked. "It's really basic. Your body heals naturally from wounds, for example if you get a scrape or a bruise it will heal in a few weeks. The Aether element has healing spells, much like the potions made to heal wounds these spells drastically speed up your body's natural regeneration, so those scrapes and bruises will heal in a few minutes or seconds. The glaring flaw with this is that it can't fix anything your body wouldn't have naturally recovered from. Like if you lose an arm, or shatter your bones beyond repair." She explained. "Nature magic, on the other hand, doesn't technically have healing spells or abilities. That is like saying an earth elementalist has spells that heal stone golems. A stone golem is made of earth, they control earth, of course they put it back together if it breaks. Same for nature elementalists, your body is nature, they control nature, of course they can put it back together. Just like mending a stone golem would be for an earth elementalist. So nature magic isn't technically healing, but most people count it as such. It can fix just about anything though, even things Aether healing can't fix. Nature magic can even make you grow extra limbs or change your natural body" She explained. As she used the spell on each of them she was slowly but surely getting worn down, her speech was slowing and becoming a little slurred.
By the end of her explanation her healing spell was coming to an end. "Naturally, learning Aether healing is much easier than learning to patch people up with Nature magic. Just gotta give their body's regeneration processes a jump start, unlike nature magic where you have to worry about connecting all the veins, arteries, muscle tissue, bones and all that correctly. It really sucks when you try to regrow someone's arm and forget to connect an artery and they internally bleed to death shortly after."
"I assume you get this story from past experience?" Zanath asked.
Pex scratched her head "Um, yeah. I once tried to learn nature magic, quickly decided it was not for me and went with air instead." She said breathlessly. She flew over to Estellese and as soon as Estellese held out her hands Pex collapsed onto them.
Kaden groggily sat up and stumbled onto his feet, hissing in pain as he stood. "What happened?" He mumbled.
"Pex threw us away from the elementals. You got knocked out on impact." Mendelen answered.
"I figured out that much." Kaden said. "What happened while I was out?"
"Oh, well not much. Pex healed some of our injuries, and we talked. We are almost at the central island." Mendelen answered.
"Got it." Kaden said. "Well I'm up, let's go before more show up. One lesson in flying is more than enough for me." He started limping towards the light bridge assuming that was where they were going. Everyone else began walking along behind him as best as they could with their injuries. Thanks to Pex's healing they were able to walk without too much difficulty.
"The rest of the walk shouldn't be hard." Pex spoke up. Her energetic and cheerful demeanor seemed to be gone and replaced with a very quiet and weak one. "The bridge and the central island are free of elementals. The fairies keep them off those areas."
The group nodded as they approached the light bridge "Why do you have light bridges when you can fly?" Estellese asked.
"For the elves and dwarves who want to visit." Pex replied. "Or any other non-flying races really. Too dangerous to take a ship there."
"The land seems more dangerous than the sea, if you have a good ship." Kaden pointed out.
Pex laughed lightly, but then immediately began coughing. Once she caught her breath she shook her head. "Not really. I'm not a fighter so the land is dangerous to us. But to a group of people with combat experience the elementals aren't that bad. There's far worse things out there like a lich, a greater demon, a shapeshifter or dragon or something. The elementals are tough, but not as bad as many of the other things travelers often face."
"I'll take note of that." Kaden mused as he limped across the bridge. He watched the water beneath them as they walked, it was a little unsettling to be walking over a bridge that appeared to be made of light, especially when it was see through. But it was solid enough to stand on, so it must not have actually been light. The path to the central island was clear, and the island itself was small. They could see the other side of the island and nobody could see any sort of city here, but Pex insisted that it was here so they continued traveling towards the center. The grass seemed to be getting taller and taller as they walked.
Zanath started looking around as they walked, and he looked a little uneasy. Estellese glanced at him "What is wrong Zanath?" She asked.
"Everything around us is slowly growing." Zanath pointed out.
Estellese looked around, and he was right. The grass in front of them was no taller than the grass behind them, yet it seemed with every step they took it became taller and taller. It almost reached Estellese's waist. Pex also seemed to be getting heavier and heavier and when she glanced down at the little fairy in her hands, Pex was also growing bigger.
"Things are not getting bigger." Pex spoke up. "You are getting smaller. We don't want you giants squishing our city, so it is charmed to make everything that comes near it fairy sized. Once you reach the gates we'll be the same size, pretty much."
"We will change back, right? To our normal size?" Mendelen asked.
"Well of course not, you'll crush the city." Pex stated sharply, as if that was obvious.
"You mean we'll be stuck tiny forever?" Kaden asked as they all stopped walking.
"Well, no of course not. You go back to normal when you leave the city. A charm like that can't possibly work forever." Pex stated, again as if it was obvious. "Oh wait, you never saw magic before. Right, I keep forgetting you people are so strange."
Everyone let out a sigh of relief, they silently opted not to respond to Pex's comment, and instead just kept walking. It was a few more minutes of walking before the grass was far taller than they were, the humans were all roughly between 5 and 6 inches tall and by that time Estellese needed to stop and adjust the way she carried Pex since the fairy had become taller than herself. She now carried Pex in a bridal carry. The city wasn't much further.
When they finally pushed through the last giant blades of grass and reached the city they were shocked. The buildings looked similar to the medieval elven homes but there was one massive difference, the homes were covered in huge valuable gemstones. It was like a city made of gems, and a little wood. The gems didn't seem to be just for looks either, most of these houses floated high above the ground. It looked like the gemst
ones were some sort of magical power source to keep the houses afloat. The city was massive and beautiful, with all the gemstones sparkling in the moonlight, the colored lights reflecting off the gemstones leaving a rainbow of colors all over the ground and structures. The view was breathtaking to the humans, who had never seen anything like it. Fairies could be seen all over the place hurriedly flying from one building to the next as they went about their lives.
"Well, this is Evean. I do apologize in advance, it was made for fairies not other races. We put some of the important buildings on the ground for the occasional traveler, but most of the buildings are going to be hard for someone without wings to reach. Not impossible though! We made ropes to climb up." Pex said happily.
The group was stunned by the city and didn't have anything to say at the moment, they just looked around to take it all in.