Luca

I flew for the whole day not taking a break and landing far enough away from the sand river to feel somewhat at peace with my surroundings.

It rained but it came along with heavy winds which kicked the sand up, making it hard for me to distinguish water from sand in my sense.

But that wasn't a problem for Ava, she seemed to have a much deeper connection to the world with her mana.

I exchanged the same image with her multiple times and she would always tell me it's wrong.

'Imagine those purple clouds in the image changing color, the more colors you show me the more I can describe it'.

It made sense since she had no idea what colors are out in the world, she had no idea how to describe certain ones.

'So your saying it changes into a neon gray color also'? I asked after she explained the clouds and streaks in my vision.

'Yep, kind of like a drug in your old life you called it pot'.

'But pot is green' I grew more frustrated with each word she uttered not understanding her references at all.

'I just don't understand...' I muttered while enjoying another sunrise.

Floating in the air I fly as high as I can without running the risk of passing out and running out of energy.

I could fly for two days at a time but I noticed that after an altitude fifty thousand feet my energy would run out at double the rate.

The odd thing was I felt it long after it lingered away like a ghost arm.

As usual Ava didn't have that issue but she didn't have a lot of mana in the first place, limiting her height to twenty thousand feet.

The view from up high showed me just how wide the sand river was and it even had different currents.

I decided to travel on the safe side without the large bones, luckily I wasn't accosted and spotted a large settlement far off into the distance.

I wondered how these people lived without a water source around.

Once I reached it and inspected it from above I realized this wasn't a settlement at all.

It resembled stone hedge but much wider and with multiple rings.

A giant outer ring was broken and left in debris and the flowing sand rolled in, decimating the rest of the constructs.

I couldn't tell how large it was as most of it was underneath the sand.

I moved on quickly, the whole scene screamed dystopia.

Three days later I was at a cross road, either follow the rivers edge north or head west towards the mountains.

I didn't hesitate to go north, at the very least needed to resupply and a good blade is hard to come by so I doubted I would find that but a forge would be amazing.

My broken Kodachi needed to be replaced and the style of fighting I was accustomed to was becoming obsolete.

Even the Kodachi I was using now was showing signs of rust and chipping, all the exposure to my energy I assumed.

'This is pretty bad, how come you didn't stay at home'? Ava asked as I watched the sun set.

'Because I have goals'.

'I have goals too' she said sending me a a tendril of understanding.

'Like what'?

'A strawberry caeser salad' she said with the utmost seriousness.

I ate those religiously when I was Otis when I realized I was putting on weight and I didn't want to end up with a heart attack like dear old dad.

I had to spend five days explaining to her the differences in both lives, and how unlikely that would be even if she happened to get a body.

'I don't want a body, that sounds too complicated I'm happy like this' she said when I tried to tell her about taste buds.

'I'll find a way, besides we have time' I used that phrase often and it was funny hearing it coming from her.

On the fifth day I spotted the same construct pattern as before but this had a black wall twice as large preventing any of the rolling sand from going in.

The whole thing looked like a it formed, I saw small ant size figures moving slowly.

Dry rocky terrain surrounded it except towards the south and east along with a part of the north which was flowing sand.

I saw something further off in the horizen, a green color that tinted the sky a certain way, 'I bet that's vegetation' I thought.

'I don't think so I can tell, mana is attracted to vegetation we are still a ways away' Ava said.

We compared notes and I laughed at the thought of science in a new world.

'You missed a few variables like the velocity of the planet...' but then I remembered I didn't even know if these things applied here.

They sure as hell applied at the human scale, I thought about the times Isla slammed my head to the ground.

It was heinous but it proved relativity applied here, the sloppy generator I made ran on the electro-magnetitic theory.

All rational thoughts lead to this being a planet but from what I am hearing and seeing it seems to be much bigger.

'Why is it being bigger an issue'?

'Think about it, when something becomes so large it is unable to house life because of the gravitational pull'.

'It just becomes a either a cold giant or a miniature star or as a friend of mine called it a 'hot mess''.

'I don't understand why can't a planet just be big and have a heavier gravitational pull'.

'It would take a very rare kind of planet to be large and house life, I'm not saying it's impossible, just very unlikely'.

What else was unlikely was me finding water or a forge as the settlement below had no trade routes, no merchants or carriages can be seen only riders on what looked like large furry hyenas travelling west in different directions.

I watched until I began to see the packs of twelve come back as the last sun flickered it's last light.

I flew away quickly, heading west and doubling back.

It seemed like a close knit community if they gave me troubles it would be easy to flee towards the west if I knew where I was going.

'Your take all these precautions throughout your travels but you never end up needing a single one' Ava said almost sounding like she was giggling in my voice.

I ignored her, not wanting to add any more weight to my full sack of shitty luck.

I landed for the night on a big boulder in a field of boulders and slept with one eye open.

The next morning I looked around and checked my surroundings finding that there was a cactus looking plant growing out a couple of miles west making me wonder if there is an underground source of water here.

I checked and found nothing, I wanted to ask Ava to confirm but she was fast asleep and was most likely to stay that way for a couple of days.

I noticed her bouts get longer the more we converse and we have been doing that more and more lately.

I begin my walk to the settlement wondering why I haven't seen any riders yet.

I saw them leaving in shifts but all returning at the same time I assumed they had the same shifts in the morning as well.

Once I reached the edge of the constructs I got a good look at them and wondered how can this settlement was made.

There where no streets and each of the constructs was a huge black rock with white flakes on them looking like they where naturally grown, but the placement said otherwise as they are all perfectly placed forty yards away from each other.

Holes in the walls could be seen some small enough for a child some so large I could fit a herd of sheep in between.

I didn't step further into the settlement than a few feet making sure to wait in the direction the riders came out of.

A group of riders could be seen coming from the center, I gripped my lone Kodachi under my tattered cloak and began to count them down.

My weapons are not created for reach but for maneuverability and in this situation where the opponents are mounted this fighting style might have it's advantageous.

Especially since I would run, I couldn't beat them all but I'll be damned if I couldn't fly away.

As they got closer I was less and less anxious about what I had to.

I got a look at the riders for the first time and I was reminded of another mage I met in the desert, one with very dark skin and yellow eyes.

They didn't have any armor wearing white robes reminding me of the Sylph.

'Are they all mages' I began to reassess ready to use fast thinking at a moments notice, only refraining because it will make my eyes glow and probably scare them off or provoke them to attack.

But what came next surprised me more than any attack.

The lead rider came close and opened his mouth, "Greetings, welcome to Luca'.