Chương 81: Chapter 80 - Beginning of a New Era.

Rowen let out a deep sigh.

"Have you ever considered that maybe, not all of your directives are as seamlessly implemented as you see? Who do you think greases the wheels?"

"I never even knew" she whispered to herself.

"Just how bad is it?" she tried to pull herself all the way to her feet, but found balance to be a tricky affair.

"Some of your directives are quite popular, some are not as popular as you think. Those migrants and the flying ship, those have made things very easy for me. Before that however…"

"And what? In return you get to travel the seas with me?" Nythera pushed.

"I spent years Nythera, my father spent decades, searching for those fucking cores. You come in, and in under a year, have two cores and open a half dozen ruins. Flying ships? I could not believe it when we found them. What else hides in these isles? I want to know. I need to know. And I want whatever we find to benefit the people here." Rowen said. He turned to look her in the eye "These are my people too and I have a duty to them."

"I am sorry, I never even realized. I was told bits, but never the whole story" Nythera stared out into the open water.

"I still don't know what you really are, why can you open the ruins? And what is going on with your primary skill, a flux cannon? Never heard of that before. But I don't care. You haven't betrayed the trust of the people yet. I will follow you until you do" Rowen reduced the thruster speed. Nythera hobbled over to the control console "Rowen, we need to finish what we started. Don't lie, you want answers just as much as I do. We'll just take a peak, ok?"

He nodded "Just a peak, after all it would be irresponsible to not know what is on the other side of that wakepath." With a huge grin, Nythera forced the ship into a turn, without the drift fins it took five times as long to pivot.

"By the way, since when can you dual cast? Were those rings some new artifact?" Rowen asked without looking, keeping his eyes on the underside of the slowly sinking Obros-Ka. She smirked ominously "A girl has her secrets." I am going to need to deal with these rings, Xyrk now has three of them stuck to my only hand, I can't even equip more than one per finger which means… I am out of ring slots. And two are consumed by a possession-obsessed sentient artifact. Lovely.

"Besides, does it even matter? I'm sure plenty of people can dualcast" Nythera shrugged.

"Nythera" Rowen turned to face her "I do not know a single person who can dualcast, my father included. Dualcasting is the realm of high strata wizards. You can cast two skills in the time it takes someone to cast one. I would say you are well on your path to becoming an Arch-Wizard." The corpse drew both their attention as their ship coursed far over it. Rolling green hills of flesh all around them, some bubbled with the activity of spawn feasting. An arch-wizard? Just how powerful am I really becoming?

Perhaps revenge is not as far out as I fear.

"These filth, I hope they do not spread, may the krakens take them all" Rowen made a quick prayer to Kronan.

"You're religious?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"Not especially, but I really hope someone kills all these spawn, god or not. Last thing we need is another Obros-Ka blocking off some river" Rowen said. Shame I couldn't turn the teeth into houses like I said, if we could clear out the smell I bet it would have worked.

"Hey, Rowen, do you want dualcasting too?" she asked with a smile.

"What? Are you serious? You can teach me dualcasting?" childish glee and excitement radiated through him.

"Yup, you just have to do one thing" Nythera nodded.

"What? I would gladly pay nearly any price for such a formidable skill. I don't know of any classes that offer it." She waved the stump in front of his face "just feed your arm to a monster" she chuckled. A deep frown ran across his face.

"Haha, very funny." A glint of silver shone into her eye from the mast. No, no way, I am going to skewer that bastard and see what he tastes like. Talvik just watched as my arm was consumed? Talvik flew down and clung to her shoulder "That fight was well fought. Despite your lost arm and the ring problem, you won in a way that would make your ancestors proud" Talvik decreed, strutting. Rowen made his way to the lower deck to begin clearing off the corpses.

"You left me to die you bastard, you're lucky I don't have wood because if I did I would be cooking you right now" Nythera hissed.

"It is your journey, and you were never in too much real peril. You're alive, are you not?" Talvik's voice carried a hint of doubt. Nythera waved her one good hand in front of him angrily, ensuring he got a view of her two new rings. He turned away "That is a problem, yes. I am not sure how to resolve that. Xyrk is more powerful than you realize, even I cannot rid you of his presence now" Talvik admitted.

Clearing his throat, he continued "But you almost certainly just gained dualcasting with it, that is not a skill many of your predecessors ever managed to acquire, and none so early as strata one" Talvik's voice carried songs of praise. Does a bird communicating directly into my mind really need to cough to clear his voice? Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Nythera brought her good arm down the shoulder he clung to, sending him flapping off.

"Yeah that's right, you useless avian, some good you are." Talvik flew to the lower deck and landed on the corpse of one of the spawn. Ah no way, he's not about to- He dug into the flesh with his beak, pulling out a strip of meat and gulping it down. I think he's doing that just to disgust me. Oh I do not feel so good. She clutched her roiling stomach. The ship rapidly approached the wakepath, the wrecked old tower, now emptied of tentacles, sat nearly entirely collapsed on its tiny island.

Why did they need a tower here? It's so wrecked I can't even tell who built it, Aurendor right? Nythera pulled them into the wakepath very slowly, without drift fins, control was weak. Rowen pulled a barrel out of the lower deck and started shoving spawn corpses into it, one after another.

"Rowen, what the fuck are you doing?"

"Maybe some alchemists can make use of them, you had a whole speech about eating this thing, if we don't bring back anything people are going to be pissed. Though I really don't think you should eat this stuff, you'll probably get sick" Rowen pushed down on the barrel cap with all of his weight, trying to stuff far more than its capacity into the limited space. Who wants a bunch of green slimy corpses? I suppose Rowen will always be Rowen.

Nythera piloted them with practiced ease through the wakepath, which lay far straighter than the path on the western side of the isles. Gliding too and fro, she kept the ship at a far lower jet force, not willing to risk sliding into the lethal mists. Why did the fucking buggers have to take out my drift fins, we can't check the one under the keel but both the flank ones and the sail are destroyed… Ok the sail was half my fault. There was a familiar crash of water beneath them, indicating that the river had fallen.

A mere minute from that, her vessel approached the shores of the world, regular mists still obscuring everything from sight. Nythera scanned across the Edge with Flux-sight. And quickly found what she had never expected to see. Dozens of people moving, mechanisms and artifacts brimming with flux.

"Nythera, why are there lights through the mist?" Rowen hissed from the lower deck. SHIT. She cranked the ship to the side, slowing their momentum and trying to pull them away from the city. A city on the Edge? Who would be so insane. I am pretty sure every single person has heard the tale of the Edge people and their fate. Building a city on the Edge is simply asking to be pushed off it. This isn't possible, there is no city on the Edge, not on any part of the world I know.

Shouts sounded through the fog, she cranked up the jet force in response, sending them far to the right. As they passed she observed more and more people, sometimes catching glimpses into places where dozens of people walked. This continued for nearly an hour, people slowly petering out. Ok so those must be stone houses, if I can't see through them. This isn't just a city, it's a God's damned metropolis.

"Nythera, by the stars, what are you doing? Why can I hear voices through the fog sometimes?" Rowen hissed, his eyes had been locked on the city for the last hour, even though he couldn't see through the mist.

"Don't worry about this, I have it all under control" she hissed back. The Sea Empress glided gracefully beyond the throngs of people until she could see no more signs of life. She continued gliding forward for another hour.

"Ok, let's stop here and check it out, something is off about this place. There shouldn't be a city on the Edge, anywhere. But maybe we came out in the far west, the Tianshiang Empire is huge and I am not sure what they do on their part of the Edge" Nythera brought the ship in closer. Mists cleared just enough to reveal a densely wooded forest with no signs of human inhabitation. Without the drift fins, getting snug to the Edge was a task even Synchronized-Thunder struggled with. Clack The ship hit stone.

"Alright, lets just take a quick look and then we'll head back, I am not sure what part of Vathrial we landed in, but it's best to find out fast" Nythera jumped the gap, Rowen in tow.

"What about the ship? If anyone finds it here we could be in trouble. We have nothing to moor it to the Edge with either, if it drifts off, we are stranded" Rowen looked as if he would jump back over at any moment.

"It's fine, Talvik will watch the ship" She leaned and squinted. A silvery flash caught her eye, flying down to the control panel. Talvik's voice came to her a moment later "I will watch the ship this once, I will not ruin the surprise for you, venture forth and find your answers" his talons hit buttons and the ship moved off the Edge. How can he move it without a control pass? Whatever.

"I guess if Talvik is watching it, we'll be fine" Rowen chuckled nervously as the ship drifted back into the fogs. Cutting through the woods turned out to be significantly harder with a missing arm. Rowen forged a path ahead, searing plants with lightning.

"Using my family techniques for cutting a path through the jungle? Ridiculous" he turned his head back, took one look at her stump, and continued "Suppose it can't be helped, I have a helpless straggler behind me." He tried to dodge her boot, but the thick undergrowth made it impossible. Rowen was sent sprawling forward, catching himself on the ground. Nythera watched smugly from above.

"Did you have to?" he grumbled as he pulled himself up with a tree.

"Well at least your little kick found something" Rowen gestured at the game trail before them, brushing the dirt off his fine clothes.

"Animal trail?" she asked.

"I think so, but wait a second here" Rowen leaned down and brushed away a fallen leaf from where his face had kissed the ground, his fingers digging into the soil. He pulled out a half-rotted wooden stick. Did my kick make him daft in the head? Fuck, I didn't realize he was this stupid.

"Rowen, I don't think a rotten stick changes what this path is much" She tried to console him. He caressed the edges along either end "This was not a stick, it was a tool handle. Based on the notches here, I would say for an axe."

"A nearby village then? If we find some people we should be able to pinpoint our location in Vathrial. I am familiar with most languages, well I can't speak them all, I've run into nearly all of them at one point or another" Nythera said.

"Lead the way, all I know from Vathrial is stories from Father and the men." Rowen said. Rowen and Nythera followed the trail, picking the direction at random with the flip of a spark. Trees gave way to small fields of crops and a cluster of thatched-roofed houses. Nythera gestured for Rowen to stay back in the trees. The noble finery and… air of aloofness might cause issues, best I go alone. She strode directly for the center of the hamlet, waiting for someone to approach.

She didn't have to wait long, an old lady with a woven hat bobbled up to her.

"Hello, nice to meet you, I am Nythera, might I inquire as to where we are?" she repeated this in all three languages she knew and bowed with every repetition. The old lady opened her mouth.

"Aodjiowajd djoaiwghgosh toriptire? Poggpoko pds opkcspokpoawadi, adposkpofkpgks znkxasjs asdj lkjgdslkgjdskgjlksd?" she waited expectantly for an answer. By the blazes, where the fuck are we?