Somehow, I've ended up in a strange spot. I am currently standing on a cliff in a hypercane. Overlooking a very large ocean that is currently in an absolute chaos of storm systems. Ray stands to my left, watching over the horizon.
What are we watching for? Apparently a boat of sorts is coming to deliver our equipment for the first stage of the Castil altar. The storms are so chaotic that our landing from the orbital cannons couldn't be 100% predicted. So they have to deliver our equipment to us.
Ray:”I wonder what this stage is going to be? They are delivering something to us. Perhaps we are going to go hunting for storm dragons or something.”
“That would be cool. But I bet it'll be something unique. Maybe we get to tame a storm or something.”
“I don't think they would trust us with that level of technology for just an altar.”
“Fair enough. I guess all we can do is wait to find out.”
After about fifteen minutes of waiting, a large boat appears on the horizon. In its tow seems to be a small sailboat type vehicle. Though it is definitely not a normal sailboat. It is extremely long and narrow with a sail made out of a strange material.
Ray:”Oh no. Don't tell me we are going to surf the waves in that thing.” Ray’s face goes completely pale. She starts shaking out of fear. Let me explain, back when we were twelve. We may (we did) have run away to Venus and ended up trying to surf the Venusian seas. It didn't go very well and left her a bit traumatized.
“Itll be fine. I'm sure nothing can possibly go wrong. I mean, they have crazy technology. It must be filled with safety features.” I grab hold of her hand and then confidently state, “Remember, luce lunae per aspera ad astra et ultra.”
This seems to calm her down a little bit, and she stops shaking. But her face still remains quite pale. “Right, together it won't be an issue. We can do anything.”
“But really, the one thing you are afraid of is surfing? Of all things to be afraid of.”
“Im also deathly afraid of failing exams. So it's not like it's just surfing.”
“Well, I've never heard of you failing an exam, even in university. And I have never failed to surf. So it'll definitely be fine.”
This statement earns me a nice hard punch to the shoulder. “Great job, Mr. Worthless Jerk, you always somehow ruin everything.”
“What did I ruin this time? I thought I was doing a good job.”
“Thus is why you are a big worthless jerk, Mr. Jerk.”
“Well, I will admit I am a jerk. But I don't see what qualifies the invocation of that title in this particular scenario.”
“The inability for you to identify that is one of the reasons that you do qualify as a jerk in this scenario.”
“Ah, screw it then. Let's have some fun at this stage. Don't worry, I can anchor you to the boat if you're too scared to help.”
This time, I earn a punch to both shoulders, yipee! But she doesn't outright reject my offer.
The boat gets closer and over a very loud speaker comes the voice of the Velz in charge of this altar. “Greetings Contestants, sorry for the short delay. This stage of the altar consists of you using this here Skimboard to traverse this very calm ocean, and into the clouds beyond. I'm sure you can figure it out, a map to your destination is included within the skimboard. Good luck, may the currents be ever in your favor.”
With that, the Skimboard is detached and floats over near the cliff. It is a realistically safe jump. But just to be sure I lower us down with a bit of telekinesis. Don't want us to get injured right before our last altar fully starts.
Ray immediately works on figuring out how the craft works. I shall spare the technical jargon. It basically glides upon the wind itself, its special sail is also able to control altitude and direction very well.
”Hmm, what is this for?” she says as she holds up a pair of strange discs. They seem to have a strap for attachment onto our arms.
“Im not sure, but there are also these trident things over here. Perhaps they work together for something?” I point to a pair of tridents that are about three meters long. The points look fairly lightning bolt shaped. Strange.
“Well, let's each equip one in case we need it.”
About fifteen minutes later, we successfully start up the vessel and find out what the disc and trident are for.
Once we drift a bit out onto the water, Ray says something strange.
“Ko, all my hairs are standing up. This is sooo weird!”
“Quick! Put the disc above your head!”
Both of us quickly put the discs above our heads. A moment later it feels as though everything around is set on fire. I can feel that the disc in my hand has somehow absorbed energy.
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“Holy kek. We were just struck by lightning! This shield thingy is glowing so brightly, it's hard to look at. Ko! What do we do now?”
“I have a hunch, touch the tip of the trident to your shield.”
We both do so, after a few moments of contact, the shields stop glowing and the tips of our tridents feel as though they are overflowing with energy. I can sense that I have some control over it by manipulating the trident.
“Woah! That's soooo cool. We just caught lightning and are holding it in our tridents. Now what do we do?”
“I somehow feel as though I can use the trident to move the Skimboard. Almost like it is urging me to do so. What the klack is this technology!”
“Ive got no clue. But this rocks!”
“Ima give it a try. Hopefully I don't kill us.”
“Please don't."
I make a kind of upwards thrusting motion with the trident. Surely enough, I feel as though energy courses through the trident. An instant later, a massive arc of lighting appears out of the end.
The sail of the board seems to attach itself to the arc and we go flying into the sky in the same direction. We soar through the sky, casually gliding over the vast oceans as though we are just surfing through the air.
“Woah! We are gliding along the lighting itself. I wanna give it a try!”
“Try giving us some more altitude. We probably need to harness more lightning strikes and the higher we go the more lightning there is!”
She casts her own trident almost directly vertically. Instantly we go soaring several hundred meters into the air and continue gliding forwards.
“This is so cool. Definitely ending this trial in a very stylish manner.”
“Yeah right. Ooo, I'm feeling that tingling again. Let's get ready to catch some more!”
We managed to catch some lightning. It feels like we were able to contain a lot more of it this time. Perhaps because we are higher up.
“Ko! Let's go up into the clouds. I bet we could surf above them if we tried. It would be so stylish!”
“Sure thing, let's give it a go!”
This time we both direct our tridents upwards. It seems that we did absorb more energy this high up. We managed to get two ‘throws’ each this time. We are now only a few hundred meters from the bottom of the hypercane. The winds have clearly picked up a lot. But thankfully it seems there is a slight repulsor field around the board that protects us from the rain and wind. Essential since they seem to expect us to just brave these massive storms.
“Once more! Then we can probably break the clouds!”
We get hit with another lightning strike. It feels as though everything around me is searing with pure energy. The shield is so bright with its captured energy that it is practically a star.
Once I transfer it into the trident it feels as though my hand is about to burn off with the sheer quantity of energy that must be contained. We each get five throws of the trident. Which easily takes us well over the storm.
“It's so calm, and beautiful. It's like we are gods just floating amongst the heavens. Casually challenging catastrophic natural forces to guide our travels.”
“Yeah, this is definitely worth the view.”
We are flying above the clouds, barely skirting their tops. The air is very calm above the storm and it feels like we are in a paradise. A complete opposite from the world of chaos below.
“Its almost as though the planet contains both chaos and order. Up here it feels as though everything is perfectly at peace.”
“Yeah, now that you mention it. It's a very stark contrast to the chaotic environment below. Maybe this is what some of the cloud cities on Sol’s gas giants feel like. Just casually floating above the beautiful storms.”
We sit and float above the clouds for what must be around an hour. Since we are kinda out of the race there isn't much reason for us to hurry. So we just stand side by side and enjoy the beautiful view. We watch as the star sets over the horizon, casting beautiful colors across the all encompassing storms. I bet this would make a great place for a marriage proposal, should anyone ever need such an occasion.
The world descends into darkness as the star fully sets. Casting the clouds in a great shadow.
“Woah, it's almost like we are gliding over a sea of shadows. I wish I could reach out and touch it. It would be sooo cool!”
“I don't think that'd be a good idea. It still is a massive hypercane, it may even suck you right in.”
“Geez, Mr. Jerk strikes again! Always bringing the mood down.”
“Aww cmon, im just being realistic. I don't think that quite qualifies as Jerkhood.”
“Anyways, let's get back on this stage. You've now ruined the pleasant mood we had going.”
“Sure thing. According to this map, we have accidentally drifted about three thousand kilometers off course. Our destination is a temple residing somewhere in the middle of the storm itself.”
“Oh great. I guess we better get going. Hopefully they aren't too mad at our dilly dallying.”
We then descend back into the storm and proceed to collect a lot of lighting. We accelerate quite quickly in the direction we need to go. It's quite precarious because we have to constantly defend against lighting strikes that try to hit us. But with every successful defense, we only get faster.
It ends up taking us about an hour to get near where the temple is supposed to be. Man, advanced alien technology sure is cool.
“So, whereabouts is this temple intended to be?”
“The map simply says that once we are near enough we will know of its location.”
“Thats very cryptic. I guess we just gotta fly around for a bit until we get some sort of direction?”
“Guess so.”
We glide around searching the area for about fifteen minutes, when suddenly I feel as though every fiber of my being stands on edge. I can feel a very strong energy coming from just off our port side.
“So, I'm guessing that's our destination then, Ko?”
“I would suppose so. Let's head over that way then.”
We redirect to head in the direction of the strong energy.
After a few minutes of gliding, the entire storm seems to disappear as we enter a bubble. Inside is something absolutely breathtaking.
It's a large floating island with a gorgeous temple on it. Not nearly as large as the Earthen Goddesses’, but the design is far more intricate. The swoops and arches just somehow give it this immense sense of beauty.
We notice there is a large landing space so we take the board down and are greeted by the Velz. Looking very bored. Perhaps at how long we took to reach the destination due to our little vacation, mid-altar.
“Took ya long enough. Did you really have to enjoy the scenery that much?”
Ko:”Enjoying beautiful vistas is important. We find that it is a balm for the soul. Anyways, what's up next? Gonna make us tame the hypercane?”
“I shall take you to meet with his gloriousness. The holy wind emperor. He will give you instructions as to the next stages of this altar.”
Ray and I step off the board and are led inside the grand temple.
Whatever is awaiting us with this so-called holy wind emperor, so long as we are together we shall conquer it. So, bring it on.
End of Chapter 40
A/N: Hiya dear reader. It's the author once again rambling a bit. I sure hope that the lightning storm surfing helped to reduce Ray’s surfing-based trauma. They seemed to have quite a lot of fun, and Ko had a curious revelation. You'll have to stay tuned to know what happens next.
As always, if you are enjoying this webserial straight from the imagination of an insane author, be sure to follow/favourite/comment/share with a friend, it is always appreciated! See ya in the next one, dear reader.
- Cathrix
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