The Chained Watcher

Across the Ocean

Today, Grian was preparing to set out for the ocean.

One of the other scouts had discovered an ocean in a northwest-ish direction, so he was planning to head out and see what's on the other side. The waves are too high for most easily crafted boats, so his plan was to stock up on food and supplies before traveling by air. It would be faster than normal sea travel, plus he had managed to prove to the entire camp that a bored Grian was a bad idea so they shouldn't object.

A communication tower was being worked on to boost signal range, but with the distances he would be traveling there was almost zero chance of him connecting while out and about. Somehow he'd managed to convince people that he'd be fine going alone, so no tagalongs this time.

Waving to the guard towers, he took to the air and started circling the base. This past week, it had been refined into a much prettier build, with decorative lights arching over the streets keeping everything properly illuminated. Thinking about it, the main planes didn't really do monster spawning like their servers did, so was this even necessary? Eh, looks pretty so why not?

Soon enough, the scenery returns to different combinations of forests, plains, and light hills. Grian amused himself by flying through the scattered clouds, trying to make funny shapes out of them. Who knows, maybe some random kid will see a roughly deer-shaped cloud and think "Behold! The prophecy calls me!" or something. Wouldn't that be interesting?

Either way, he eventually reached the coast, discovering a bustling port town there. It was definitely bigger than the inland town he'd seen, looking quite defensible as far as ground/water based combat was concerned. It didn't seem to take into account air-based invasion, but considering this was a low-magic world, that probably wasn't much of a concern.

At some point he should try to find a mystical mountain range, see if there are any dragons lurking. They're highly magical in nature, so the amount of them lairing is bound to be extremely low, even if he manages to find a proper lair area. 

But still, he doesn't feel the need to check out the port right now, with the current top priority being to find a hybrid-ruled area for the kid Philza brought home to go live in. After all, as much as he'd like to, their place was here in their world, not the hub. 

Turning away from the port, he set out to cross the ocean.

~~~

Okay, so this ocean has turned out to be quite a bit bigger than he had first thought. It was to the point where he had been using magic to boost his speed a bit just so he could end the monotonous travel. Not too much, since that would mess with the transformation, but just a bit. There wasn't even any interesting scenery, with water, clouds, and guess what, water. No islands, no coral reefs, just deep, deep ocean.

An entire day had come and gone before the horizon finally changed. Was this it? Had he reached the end of the ocean? Was this even the right ocean in the first place? Well, his questions should be answered as soon as he can find a town.

No luck on finding a port town this time, so now he gets to wander aimlessly until he can find a proper settlement. That takes up another hour of boosted flying, but he finally managed to find a settlement hidden in a jungle. They had built their homes up in the trees, connected through vine bridges like some sort of fancy treehouse conglomeration.

The style is different enough from the other continent's buildings, so could he have found the hybrids? None of them are visible from his current view point, so he'd have to go closer to get a better look. The transformation limited his senses a fair bit, so scanning through the entire thing with magic wasn't the best idea.

Well, no time like the present. He started spiraling down towards one of the more important looking buildings, hoping that it wasn't just a storehouse or something. Luck was on his side this time, as he found several hybrids of various types staring at him in confusion. One of them spoke. Time for translation again.

"Sorry, could you repeat that?"

"As I said, who are you? I don't recognize you from any of the nearby villages, and I think I'd remember someone with such an unusual shade to their wings."

"Ah, that would be because I just got here! Took a dreadfully long time flying to cross an entire ocean, but I'd heard there was a hybrid ruled area so I figured I'd check it out."

A guard-looking person spoke next, "You're saying you've crossed the ocean? From one of the human empires? How can we know you are not a spy, here to scout our defenses?"

Hmm. "Valid question, but I don't really have anything I can do to prove my allegiance. If it means anything, I was planning to bring an orphaned kid over if this actually turned out to be a safe place for them. A friend of mine couldn't leave them in the situation they were in, but we can't bring a kid with us when we go home so we need a place where they can live safely." 

"You plan to bring a child across the vast ocean? What kind of flier are they?"

"Oh, I don't think they can fly. They're some type of ghast hybrid I think, but with a bit more complex heritage than that. I'm a pretty fast flier myself so I was just gonna carry them."

Now they were looking at him like he was crazy. "That is multiple days of flying with no rest points along the way, how do you plan to rest? Let alone how tired a child's arms would be at that point."

Oh, that distance would usually take a long time to cross, wouldn't it? Uhhh... Intentional vagueness, go! "I have my ways. Do you know where they would be most welcomed?"

"Well, judging by their ancestor they would be best placed near the volcanic region. While ghastkin are quite rare, I think one or two might live there. It's off to the east about half a day's flight from what the other birdkin have told me."

"Great! I'll check it out then go back to where my friend is. See you sometime!"

With that, he took off into the sky and set off towards this volcanic region. Depending on how lucky he was, there might even be a fire dragon lair inside a volcano. That would be a cool encounter, and he might even get to hear some cool stories since they live so long.

The volcanic region was just about what he'd expected it to be. Sweltering heat covering ash-coated terrain with stunted trees scattered around the periphery. Closer to the center, there was a blackened stone settlement which was probably what he had been told about. There was a truly impressive volcano in the middle of the volcanic area, towering into the sky and emitting waves of scorching heat.

Now the question, does he go check for dragons now, or when he returns? Sigh... Probably on the return trip. If there does turn out to be a dragon, he could spend several days straight pestering it for old stories that he couldn't hear from any living people. Guess that'll have to wait for next time.

And now for his favorite pastime, ocean flying!

~~~