Chapter 13-358: That Hollow Feeling (2/2)

The, ah, polar opposite of what the North Pole should be. They smirked despite themselves, spinning slowly as they gained altitude to paint the whole view into The Map and give the Action Cartographers something to salivate over.

They rose to five thousand meters above the canopy, and there was a ripple in the air. They blinked as there was another shift to their view, and slowly stopped their ascent.

Cloud islands.

Layers and layers of cloud islands!

Whatever magical effect had wiped them from view from below was not effective up here, and suddenly the different cloud layers that spilled off into the rising horizon were no longer unseen, guarded by some mass illusion, but as plain as layers upon layers of onions, rising up at least a hundred miles in nearly as many layers towards the baleful, sullen eye of the molten sun overhead.

Clouds the size of small countries rolled by in the distance, leaving no shadows upon the ground below as they did so. They weren’t all that large, of course, but they did grow smaller on average as they rose in altitude.

Not only were there wild habitats upon them, there were also civilizations. They could see ships sailing between the various clouds, some of those far off in the distance even larger than aircraft carriers, literal palaces atop great wooden hulls floating through the sky, while fleeter, nimbler craft tacked through the manifold winds about their larger compatriots.

It was a wondrous and fantastic sight to behold, and even Queen Rayetiz had to admit she was impressed by it, instantly starting to assess and categorize the various civilizations and sky-nations that were within visible range, her interest in this place sparking visibly.

It was perhaps notable that none of the orbital paths of the clouds seemed to come within fifty miles of the Pyramid, and there was a great empty path punching right through all the clouds towards the sullen sun above.

The force of the magnetic pole?, they wondered, feeling about for some sort of Stillflight Field, and finding nothing that would account for such a thing. Still, that seemed the most logical explanation, and the trees were indeed shorter the closer they got to the Pyramid... which, although it stood in a clearing and was clearly visible there, when they looked down, it had somehow vanished into the greenery as well.

Indeed, many of the details of the land below that they should have still been able to discern clearly had now blended into one another. For instance, they could not see any birds flying about below the five-thousand-meter level anymore.

It was like being in a completely separate world.

Had the niogriz even known about this place? It was too high up for True Seeing to see past, a grand and bold illusory barrier that effectively multiplied the living space of the interior of the world here... and made for a potential visible hierarchy of sorts, which no doubt some uninspired wankers had thought to impose on those literally ‘below’ them.

All the potential explorers up top were now going out of their minds. Hyperborea had been awesome, but this was just a realm swimming in magic of some sort or another.

Dragons...

They had resumed their ascent, and naturally a great serpentine form, with long and slender wings totally unable to support a body that had to be at least a hundred meters in length, drew the eye even from this far away.

It was also flying at least twenty levels above them, and far, far above the sailing ships below.

They began their ascent again, not quite as fast as before, wondering about complications and what might actually be going on here.

They passed the first and second levels of cloud islands, which seemed to hold the biggest islands and the vast majority of aerial shipping. At this range, they couldn’t see who or what was crewing those ships, even.

A tingle on their finger drew their attention.

Their nascent Ring of Air Elemental Command was gleaming slightly, and with only a touch of will, they could feel a powerful interaction of Air and Earth power going on here. It wasn’t a Stillflight Field, but there was a powerful flow of Air Elemental power being canceled out by an equally powerful Earth Elemental flow, which effectively brought the bias back to neutrality.

If these creatures and ships were flying around with some power based on Elemental Air, entering this place might just drop them right out of the sky as it was neutralized. It wasn’t having any effect on them, since they weren’t relying on background power or passive ability, but active use of magic and Wrath.

Something for the eggheads to discern, but they were 90% sure of the fact as they felt the interacting magic around them. The interplay also seemed to be preventing any form of Place Spirit from developing here, because they couldn’t sense the presence of one above or below them...

They continued ascending, but after a moment of thought, did so at an angle, veering directly away from the Shroudzone they could still see around the molten edge of the sun, aiming to get a better look at things.

Their speed wasn’t hindered at all, and the fifty miles of distance was covered quickly. This would give them a fairly decent view of the island they chose to fly over, making sure to turn invisible as they did, and ascertain the creatures and people there.