299.

  The Fourteenth World - The Floating Isnds - Terras

  The nd of the floating isnds immediately evoked a sense of wonder when both Stel and Lumoof arrived. It was a world where it was a set of massive floating isnds, and the nd below was an infinitely dense and thick yer of white fluffy clouds.

  “You know, when I was a child, I used to imagine worlds like this where everything is a floating isnd, and it’s just a sea of white clouds. Each of us have our own isnds, and we’d visit each other on flying ships.” Stel said.

  Lumoof didn’t rete. His childhood wasn’t that vibrant. As a native of Treehome, his childhood was mainly trying to be useful to his parents. When they still lived. “I can’t say I understand, but it is quite beautiful.”

  The sun was bright, and somehow floated overhead, and they noticed a strange contraption around the sun. It was always visible, a rge gigantic screen that orbited around the sun. Strangely, there was a gigantic steel like structure that connected the screen to the sun. When I saw it, my first thoughts were those pnetary models commonly found in schools.

  Stel stared at it, as if trying to make sense of it. “In a way that’s somewhat simir to the Three-Ringed World, this world’s day-night cycle is controlled by that screen thing. It moves to block the sun.

  Lumoof found it funny. “As if this world is a toy.”

  “I mean- I suppose you could say that.” Stel looked around and found bridges made of clouds that linked the isnd to other isnds. Magical clouds. “Man, this world is a fairytale.”

  I felt my avatar’s sense expand, but because as a tree, our senses mostly propagate through the ground, and so it ends where the isnd itself ends. I tried to grapple with what I felt, and studied how the rge isnds floated, only to discover they were not exactly floating.

  They were suspended. I felt a strange, divine-w type of string, and they bound each at every single isnd. They were commanded to float where they are, so they did. In short, [divine] power commanded the isnds to float in the sky, and the world obeyed.

  “Could you do something like that someday?” Stel asked, once she realized the presence of divine power.

  “I think it’s not that simple. Such a command must have been woven into the world when it was created.” The idea of commanding the isnds to do so now seemed silly, and wasteful. It’s likely that there was some kind of ‘foundational w’ that made it happen, which is why it persists even when these worlds theoretically drifted away from the range of gods.

  “So, that sounds like there’s a god-commanded divine ws, such as those commanded by Hawa, and a set of ‘neutral’ or ‘core-bound’ divine ws, that are specific to each world’s creation. Right?”

  “That’s my guess.”

  Stel nodded. “And I found living folk.”

  ***

  Humans. Regur, normal humans living almost idyllic, peaceful lives. They were farmers, farming on incredibly fertile nds. The crops they pnted were familiar, though it was more of a mixed farm, with small patches of everything.

  There was magic in the nd itself, it almost seemed as if the pnts were growing before our very eyes, as if they were spurred on by the blessings of a level 70 to 80 druid.

  “Oh hey there, it’s been a while since we had visitors, but how did you arrive? I didn’t see any flying ships or balloons.”

  “We walked.” Stel answered.

  “Oh, through the cloud bridges? I’m surprised people still do that.” The farmer said. “So, what’s up?”

  “We’re lost. Could you help us out?”

  There were thousands, or even tens of thousands of floating isnds, some rger, some much smaller. There were a set of rger floating isnds known as the ‘Main Isnds’, and these housed most of the humans in this world.

  The main isnds were rich in all sorts of magical resources and metals, while nds further away cked most natural resources and metals.

  Humans were the only popution, but there were monsters on some of the isnds, and these isnds became known as the magic isnds or dungeon isnds, because these isnds were the locations that spawned monsters. Monsters generally stuck to their own isnds, though occasionally, flying monsters did attack their surrounding isnds.

  The main isnds were home to a series of kingdoms and empires, and wars were frequently fought between them. The further isnds, like the one that they visited, were generally those that escaped the constant warfare of the main isnds.

  Farming was somehow easy in all the isnds, and each isnd usually had a series of naturally occurring springs that created kes and rivers.

  “Some of these worlds just absolutely defy understanding. How does the water cycle work in a world where everything’s on floating isnds?” Stel rubbed her hair in her guestroom. The farmers were friendly, and were more than happy to let them use the guestroom once it was clear they were not hostile.

  Lumoof didn’t answer her. He knew her long enough to know that she just needed to vent when things just didn’t match how she understood reality.

  Stel spped herself gently. “Alright, alright, I know, each world has their own rules. Each world, own magic. Got it. Quirks of their reality. This is just how this world works.”

  My avatar nodded. “I do foresee all these different rules of different worlds will make it hard for the Valthorns to swiftly adapt to each world. They will have to spend some time to acclimatize themselves to how each world behaved. I might forget, if I’m suddenly sent back to say Landas, or say Gigantadragon. Or that hex-grid world where everything is controlled by divine ws.”

  “So, cultural familiarity is going to be a big issue?”

  “Not just that, I could easily imagine representatives from each of these worlds are unfamiliar with the quirks of other worlds, and their well-meaning suggestions thus come off as weird or unhelpful to others.”

  Stel paused. “Oh. So you’re talking about the Order’s structure across all these peripheral worlds.”

  “Yeah. It’s been on my mind. Knowing Aeon, the structure of how the Order will function is highly likely to be delegated to a person that will be based long term in that world. That warps our preferences, our understanding, especially non-domainholders who are not protected from the divine ws of each world. I imagine that anyone who spends a few years full time at any of these peripheral worlds will get used to the local ws, that they lose touch with how things work elsewhere.”

  “So the Order expansion is dead underwater.”

  “Not exactly. I mean, not all of these changes are that dramatic. The system and our powers still work on them. Just- I suppose there will be some expectation and cultural differences that will emerge.”

  “We already have those differences.” Stel said. “That’s why Branchhold recruits and Treehome recruits have slightly different attitudes.”

  “It’ll be worse with these peripheral worlds.”

  “Eh. It’s just the urban-rural gap with even more skin. I’m sure it can be solved. We’ll just need our own internal diplomats.”

  Lumoof gave Stel a look of disapproval, and she eventually sighed. She rolled on her own little bed. “I know, we’re building even more bureaucracy into the system. We’ll use Aeon’s [dream academy] and work around it. Frequent trips to Treehome to soak up our culture. That’s what rge guilds, corporations and governments do. I think it’s too early to tell. Branchhold seems to integrate well, so far.”

  “So far.” Lumoof said as he looked out the window of the guestroom. The gigantic screen was starting to cover a part of the sun, creating a strange dimming of the world. “Which is why I fear for worlds that won’t be linked via a node or a clone. They will stray from Treehome’s supervision. Even with us present, we can’t hope to match Aeon’s trees.”

  Stel decided to hop off the bed and walked to the window. “Huh, that’s quite a view.”

  “It is. It’s like an eclipse.” The seemingly white clouds now glowed, as if the world around us turned into darkness. Yet, it wasn’t total darkness. The clouds themselves glowed.

  “Imagine it happening every day.” Stel said in a rare moment of wonder. “Must feel pretty normal to the people here. The clouds are pretty.”

  “A sea of clouds that glowed.” My avatar also took the time to bask in the beauty. “I think I’d like to see it from the edge.”

  ***

  The farmers didn’t stop them, but the two walked uninterrupted to the edge.

  Demon kings, at least in the past, used to nd in special isnds. It seemed that every time the demon king was about to arrive, a new isnd would appear. That isnd was known as the ‘demon’s isnd’, and it was a magical creation. A dark red glowing isnd that floated above all the other isnds.

  Then, when the hero arrived, a chain of smaller isnds would appear that allowed the hero to go and meet the demons.

  The demons were unable to use the cloud bridges, so they were often trapped on their own isnds. It is only when flying demons appeared that they could expand to the other isnds. When that happened, it was a huge disaster that caused a lot of deaths.

  “These isnds protect them.”

  “In the same way the oceans protected us.” Stel said. “Look at these clouds. They feel like they are partly magic.”

  “They probably are.” Lumoof nodded, as he observed the clouds floating from pce to pce. Some of them were fluffy, some took the shape of streaks.

  “The winds are pretty constant. They have a defined direction.” Stel suddenly noticed. “They all move in the same direction, at the same speed.”

  “Worldly magic.” Lumoof said. “I wonder what the st world would be like.”

  Stel decided to just sit down at the edge. She wasn’t afraid of heights, and somehow, she knew she wouldn’t fall. There was a fundamental divine w that operated in this world, a kind of specific force unique to this world. “I never thought I’d actually see a sight like this.”

  “There was the stormworld with a floating isnd, remember?” Lumoof said.

  “That one- that one wasn’t this beautiful.”

  “Is it? I thought the turbulent storms were quite beautiful. They had so much energy, the fshes of lightning, the seemingly gigantic rivers of magic that turned into a cloud river.”

  “This is peaceful. Calm.” Stel said. “I can see myself retiring somewhere like this. Some day, when all of this is over, I’d like a farmhouse too. I’d probably need a bit more necessities and stuff from Freshka, but one of these faraway isnds would be nice. I’ll pnt some fruits and stuff.”

  “You could pick an isnd. The isnds along the Eastern Oceans are still beautiful and untouched.”

  “It doesn’t have this view.” Stel smiled, and Lumoof stretched. He too decided to sit along the edge. It was a sensation I didn’t enjoy. I didn’t like my feet dangling midair. I very much preferred to be rooted down on something solid. Even these floating isnds were a little too much for my liking.

  Lumoof took a deep breath. The air was clean.

  The two domain holders sat quietly, and both enjoyed the beauty. There were other isnds in the distance, but the clouds obscured most of them from view. “Let’s go to the main isnds tomorrow.”

  ***

  Airships were everywhere, and they were armed to the teeth. The peace of the distant isnds were soon repced by the constant threat of war.

  Human kingdoms hated each other.

  Lumoof and Stel found the main isnds of this world to be in a state of constant warfare. Large airships were built out of unique floating materials, and weapons mounted on them. Then they fought each other.

  There were five main isnds, split into three main empires. The three human empires all maintained rge fleets of airships of their own. War in these main isnds were brutal, because the main isnds were incredibly resource rich. The isnds itself were magical, divine and seemed to produce resources indefinitely.

  All that potential used to fuel a war against each other.

  “A sickening testament to humanity.” Stel cursed.

  “It is in our nature.” Lumoof said as we arrived in the capital of one of these rge empires. Fleets of airships floated overhead, each of them filled with magical weapons. Their array of magical weapons were slightly more advanced than those found on the other worlds, though still quite behind those of the dwarves of Delvegard.

  The capital was fairly advanced, in the rger scale of things. Only the dwarven cities of Delvegard and the dragonling cities of Gigantadragon could compare.

  But of all things, it was the isnds themselves that truly got my attention.

  Just walking on the main isnds I felt our souls, both mine and Lumoof, resonate with the ground below. The touch of divinity was woven into the ground, and it was simir to how a [druid] encouraged trees to grow. Here, some force caused the ground itself to ‘spawn’ metals and crystals.

  Control of these main isnds could significantly alleviate our resource problems.

  “You can’t be-” Stel said. “Wait. You’re thinking about it.”

  “They use a lot of crystals and metals for their airships. They fight a lot of wars with each other. I see value here, just like Delvegard. Though, it would be simirly hard to get them to bend the knee. They already hate each other, and unlike the dwarves of Delvegard that generally respect and obey technical superiority, these humans would not be so cooperative.”

  Stel and Lumoof were seen as travelers, farmers from afar that came to see the big city. So, it wasn’t entirely problematic. Most of their gear were also hidden elsewhere, so they passed through security fairly easily, though some of their items failed in their presence.

  “So much for peace.” Stel said, as we walked through the city. The city was heavily militarised and there were constant recruitments for soldiers, and a massive industrial system built around supporting the war. It was like a more advanced version of Mountainworld. “I can see why the humans moved to the outer isnds.”

  Three empires of humans, Aire, Argin and Taufang, each with their airships, and there were frequent wars between them. Even now there were smaller skirmishes where their empires met. All three of the human empires worshiped Hawa, yet somehow, the church itself splintered into three sub-branches of Hawa.

  The demon king wasn’t here yet. The st demon king came 15 years ago and after that, there was a brutal war that saw the demon king defeated. The stories spoke of how the demon king died when the hero ascended into the demon’s floating isnd and slew them. The isnd was destroyed, together with the demon king.

  It’ll be at least five or six years before the demons start appearing again. And so, the Empires descended into war.

  “I’m putting this world under the good for resources pile.” Lumoof said. “Just like Delvegard.”

  “Got it. I wonder what Edna sees in the fifteenth world.” Stel said. “We’re finally done exploring, and we can then move on to the next stage.”

  The void mage looked at the world at war.

  “Do you think we can convince these three empires to y down their arms?”

  Lumoof ughed. “If they do not listen to words, they’ll have to listen to a very big swarm of beetles.”

  Spaizzer