Essentia Animus

49-Unspoken Truths

Riyxia continued her flight, searching diligently for anything which she could consider familiar. At one point in her search, she discovered she didn't even know in which direction she had come from, making locating the fortress all too impossible.

She was subtly compelled to pull out her cell in order to help provide directions, but in addition to worries if it would even have a connection, she was already occupied trying to just get the thing flying the way she wanted it to. She wasn't even inclined to set free her spectre, her circumstances were demanding that much of her attention. However, it wasn't missed on her how irrational that actually was. Her spectre was actually fairly independent, especially at this point, but most of her advantage would only remain if she commanded her spectre to help achieve her current activity. For example, she could probably let go of the controls, leave her body to focus on keeping the gift supplied, and instead possess the controls to steer in turn. If she needed more than two hands to work this thing, that might have even been a smart idea, but fortunately it really was rather simple. She was certain the whole thing was set up for her usage, it even had helpful tips sitting around for first-time usage, making everything really simple. At first, she had even really felt at home in the atmosphere, gliding above the clouds, feeling even closer to the stars above her, but by now the sun had risen with the wake of morning.

Considering the passage of time, it was actually surprising how little time had actually passed. Even getting her chance to rest unwillingly, the others would have only made it home somewhere around dawn at best, and that's only if they weren't already searching for her. That left her very concerned, even she herself was uncertain where she might have originally suspected she might have been held captive. However, at the very least, the most rational location to start would have been the city itself, as Liyuzhe had been reported to have been hiding in the city somewhere the whole time. But that then implied that her friends would have returned home and then set about beginning their search in all urgency. There was thus no telling what problems could be waiting for them in the city as they searched. Knowing this, she herself built up her own feeling of urgency in trying to figure out how to find her way home for herself. Off in the distance, she found a point where an expanse of trees ended at a stretch of mountains, but there was still no city in sight. There was a decent chance that the city could be along this edge between mountains and forests, but in which direction? She thought back to her first memories leaving the forest, passing near the hills of the mountains through a valley as they circled in for their approach. So the highest chance was that she would find the city if she followed the same style of approach from a much greater expanse. It was thus fortunate that she had spent much of that trip taking in the scenery.

After giving morning some more opportunities to progress, Riyxia finally spotted the familiar towers of the city off in the distance. It seemed her circumstances had fallen into her consideration, she would be left fortunate to have made a few correct turns near the end there. Even so, for the fortress to be that far off.. clearly the goal was to remain hidden. She continued her approach, realizing that her next obstacle would be in her landing. She knew she could always abandon her transportation, but there was a risk of it then crashing into something innocent. Her rage would always keep her safe, but it would impair her ability to control the course of the windcraft, which in turn would make any crash even more dramatic. She would have to then be careful, leaving her rage as a last moment resort only, and try to land somewhere in the mountains. As she continued her approach, she saw a cascade of lights surge upwards from a rocky plateau of the mountains, and the collection of people below. The lights almost appeared to provide a clear definitive approach for a landing on the plateau. However, she watched as the lights gradually repositioned themselves, correcting errors in its own design to build upon clarity. A magnificent display of this intensity, it would have only been possible had Sryine augmented her gift in preparation, and the corrections implied someone with some flight skills was helping her out. The plateau.. she couldn't remember something like that sitting around that location, it could have only been designed artificially, and there was only one person she knew capable of such a dramatic feat. Riyxia flew around waiting for the lights in the air to stabilize, to ensure that all of the required corrections had been made, and then turned to follow the provided path in her approach. Keeping to the path even required her to slowly decrease the speed of the craft, until the bed of the craft was going too slow to keep in the air, leaving it to flutter softly to the ground not even a Uyn below it.