...sheila is neither a dragon nor a dragonkin...

Oh well it should be okay it's only for two days and there won't be problems unless you need to evacuate a room in a hurry;):whistle:

Oh hey did you see that Murphy over there? No than it must have been a trick of the light:D
 
42
"Well then," I said and shifted my wings, "I think we are just about ready."

Sheila nodded and strapped her bag to my armour, "I think so too. Cael and the rest seem to have a handle on things."

I nodded in agreement and nuzzled at her side quickly. We spent three days in the ruin exploring with them.

It was slow work, we were only six rooms in so far and had run into a single automaton, one of those spider things.

But that was because this was a full expedition. Everything was documented, studied and gathered, basically a full arcaneological dig, not just… rampaging through and looting everything not nailed down.

…Okay, we did that too, but everything was documented properly first.

"Ready?" Ren asked and walked up to put her hand against my neck before she frowned at Sheila, "…Are you going to be wearing that as we walk?"

Sheila rolled her eyes, "It's thirty below freezing! No way I'm getting undressed here. I have my robes and backup warm clothes already packed."

"Hang on and we'll get going. Let's see what we find this time around."

Both of them put their arms around my neck and I closed my eyes, channeling my magic into my golden Spark.

Reality wobbled around me, before I opened my eyes and the world shattered into howling uncreation. It buffeted and tore at me as I looked around with my not eyes, ignoring the strong sound of mint that glowed in the wind. It disappeared after half an eternity anyway like anything here.

Solid ideas, landscapes and creatures blowing away like nothing but bad dreams as the sun went up.

Where to…

How about this way?

Shifting closer/further away, I reached for a random dot that filled the entire universe. Reaching out with a not claw, I touched it and reality collapsed down around me like a wave of water.

Actually, not like a wave of water.

Gak!

Struggling against the water, I slowly made my way towards the surface, shifting my wings as I climbed, pawing at the water to swim.

Gasping, I broke the surface and blinked, looking around. Son of a…

Blue skies, salty water. I couldn't see anything else.

…Well, at least it's not a desert. Diving beneath the surface again, I dove before pulling back up, working up my speed with my wings.

Blue dragons may not strictly be amphibious, but we were the best swimmers of the bunch and we held our breaths well.

As I broke the surface, I spread my wings and beat them hard, throwing the water off myself as I climbed into the air, tearing myself free from the grip of the ocean.

Rising into the air, I beat my wings. No real thermals above the ocean even if the water was warm. Where the fuck…

Ocean in all directions.

This was a problem. One I had actually not considered before. It might not be a warm desert but this might actually be worse.

Unless there was land somewhere around here, we were in serious trouble. I would need to Walk again and then I would be pretty much down for the count on the other side.

So, I climbed higher, scanning the horizon.

Nothing… nothing but sky and water. Blue sky, blue ocean. Shining sun straight above.

A plane with nothing but ocean? Or did I simply land in the middle of this world's pacific ocean?

Circling higher and higher, I scanned the horizon. Then I sent a scrying viewpoint straight up as far as I could to look around.

Nothing at all. Nothing but water and skies.

Fuck. Can't leave Sheila and Ren in their soulstones forever either, they have to wonder what's going on.

Working my way higher and higher, it revealed nothing but water.

…Well, shit.

I started to circle back down. I had to Walk while 'landed' as well. Sure, Walking while flying sounded like a good idea… but it was even risker than doing it on the ground. What if the other side was full of tall trees or floating stones? I might run into it at the other side.

Besides, this time will be even worse. Walking again this soon is more likely than not to knock me out. Makes it difficult to keep flying.

Beating my wings hard, I touched down on the water before tumbling into the warm water, floating and keeping my nose above the surface, I started to channel what remained of my magic into my spark.

This is going to suck so bad.

Reality shattered and once again I was surrounded by howling unreality. I reached for the first infinitely large dot of reality I smelled and touched it.

Reality crashed down around me, and I slammed into a thick brush. I just kind of laid there without moving for a while feeling like struggles against the impending darkness creeping in through my vision. All I wanted to just stay here and go to sleep for the next… forever.

Plants. Water.

Air.

Nothing tried to eat me instantly.

Good enough.

Not that I had an option anyway.

With the last of my energy I sent a pulse of magic to the soul stones to let them know it was safe. As Sheila and Ren reformed from smoke and fire, I closed my eyes and everything went black.




AN// Many thanks to Crembo for betaing this section.
 
wonder if theres a way to give him permanant water breathing enchantments?
i mean, the Naga used to be Elves, and they grew gills...
 
Oh dear.
I foresee an incoming lecture on, "Don't just pick a random plane to recover on! Go back to one you actually know is reasonably safe!"
Atregos did, at least, go for the nearest universe to minimize the strain, so it's not like his idea was actually bad - I think at least 50% of the incoming lecture is going to be a bunch of words to express, "That sounds terrifying and we wish we had a way to keep you safe."

... Some more environmental protections might be appropriate, though. As with all other protections, immediately-after-Walking is a seriously unpleasant and vulnerable time for Atregos.
 
I'm guessing the ocean plane was One Piece? Not much there apart from the devil fruits and messing around with the locals.
 
... is there anything to stop you showing up on an infinite plane of lava? Or the middle of space?

Getting yourself a Spelljammer is sounding pretty good right now...
 
... is there anything to stop you showing up on an infinite plane of lava? Or the middle of space?

Getting yourself a Spelljammer is sounding pretty good right now...
If showing up in the middle of space was a thing that could happen, it would have happened the first time he randomly walked. The universe is almost entirely empty space; atmosphere isn't even a rounding error. Most likely the sheer dead emptiness of space (and also airless moons and such) makes it metaphysically unimportant and prevents random planeswalking from landing there. Oceans probably have a similar-but-lesser effect, actually.
 
Maybe I've forgotten something, but couldn't he have frozen an icerberg out of the water, let the girls out, and rested on that for a few days first?
 
Maybe I've forgotten something, but couldn't he have frozen an icerberg out of the water, let the girls out, and rested on that for a few days first?

No real thermals above the ocean even if the water was warm.
The water was warm, so he's likely in the tropics, creating an iceberg would likely be rather difficult.
Saltwater is harder to freeze than fresh water to start with, making a chunk of ice big enough for him to land on would be a bitch and a half, and then he has to keep it from melting out from underneath them while he rests.
 
43
The first thing I became aware of was the smell of smoke. Am I dead? I felt dead. Last time I was this tired was for the evacuation of Azeroth, but even then, I didn't Walk this quickly.

"Atreus? Are you okay?"

Sheila.

I slowly forced my eyes open. It was dark, a small fire crackled a couple of meters away. Ren was in her real from, laying right next to me, her nose against my neck. Sheila was sitting with her back against where my shoulder met my neck.

"Mmm," I managed to answer, "Tired."

Sheila moved to pick up a waterskin, sliding the tip into my muzzle. Cold water on my tongue.

Swallowing deeply, I drank before I sighed as she pulled it away,

"What happened?" Sheila asked and stroked my nose, "It took longer than normal and when we reformed from our stones, you were unconscious."

"First world… nothing but water. No land I could see," I managed to say, "Had to walk again."

"Oh."

I felt my eyes closed and everything was darkness.

Sounds. A roar.

Something slammed into me and I rolled.

What…

Forcing my eyes open, the place was filled with sunlight streaming in through the leaved above, we were beneath a massive tree.

Rengosa had her wings half spread above me, facing off against a two legged proto drake.

It roared at her and she answered in turn, her armour deploying across her. Then the protodrake's roar turned into a scream of pain and it clawed at it's own skull as a green fireball hit it.

Rengosa pounced on the predator, catching it's neck in her yaws as she wrestled it onto the ground.

Consorts in danger. Help.

Everything felt so heavy. I slowly struggled, shifting my wings as I slowly got up. So heavy.

One leg at a time.

I slowly managed to get onto my paws… then the ground decided that enough was enough with defying gravity got revenge for all the times in the past I had flown. So it reached up and smacked me into the jaw.

Everything was darkness again.

Mmm.

Wet.

I blinked and jerked awake. Ren!

"Atreus!" Sheila said and put her hands at the bridge of my snout, "Relax! It's fine!"

It was dark again. It was raining hard. Sheila was wrapped in one of our heavy waterproof cloaks and kneeling by my head, one of our tent fabrics had been stretched out among the trees above us, keeping the rain off. Rengosa was laying next to her, one wing raised to keep the worst of the drift rain off her.

"Predator," I managed to say, slowly blinking.

Sheila nodded in the darkness, giving me some water from the waterskin, "Got jumped by some sort of proto-drake couple of days ago," she explained and put it down again, "been mostly quiet since then."

Couple of days!?

"How long… how long have I been out?" I asked and carefully raised my head. Still felt a bit tired, but didn't feel like I was about to pass out.

"Six days," Rengosa filled me in and shifted slightly to give me a quick nuzzle, "Sheila told me why you had to Walk again. Don't do it again."

"…Will try too," I sighed and put my head back down, "Ugh. I'm hungry… where are we anyway?"

Sheila shook her head, "Not too sure, some sort of jungle. Ren did a flyover earlier, seems to be a lot of jungle and little more. There's a small village to the east by the coast, but we haven't checked it out yet. Humans we think."

"I'll find you a deer as soon as the sun rise," Ren said and nuzzled, "They are quite good."

"…Thanks," I sighed and put my head back down after giving Ren a small nuzzle back. Damn it, still so damn tired.

"Go back to sleep, love," Sheila said, "We'll keep watch."

Mmm.

That sounded like a nice idea really.

I let my eyes slowly drift closed again, letting the sound of rain and breathing put me back asleep.




AN// Unbetaed due to lack of time.
 
Don't save your life again? Don't do what you need to, to escape an impossible to survive location again?
To me this sounds like absolute nonsense, it's like saying "I heard what happened, it was understandable and the right thing to do but don't do it again"

OR

I'm misunderstanding the context and what she meant was "Don't try to Walk again" which makes a lot more sense but is kinda redundant because he is physically unable to stand up much less Planeswalk.
 
Don't save your life again? Don't do what you need to, to escape an impossible to survive location again?
To me this sounds like absolute nonsense, it's like saying "I heard what happened, it was understandable and the right thing to do but don't do it again"

OR

I'm misunderstanding the context and what she meant was "Don't try to Walk again" which makes a lot more sense but is kinda redundant because he is physically unable to stand up much less Planeswalk.
Translation:
"We understand that nothing else would have worked in that situation. Don't get in that situation again."
Which normally might be making an impossible request on the off-chance that it might be possible, and to try and express some fear-for-him that otherwise can't be expressed by them...
...but Atregos is a really, really good enchanter, so he might actually be able to prevent that situation from coming up again.
 
Easiest way to avoid this (or significantly worse) kind of trouble? Don't walk far from a known safe spot.

Jump to plane... "AAAAH RUN!!!", and it's just a short jump back to a known resting place, and you're not exhausted in the first place. Far jump, tired, Panic!, Jump blind instead, and, well... the next spot might be just as bad or worse, while the planeswalker is completely exhausted. RIP.
 
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44
Ren had been right. The deer here had been tasty.

Right now, we were slowly making our way along an animal path through the forest in the general direction of the village.

I still felt a bit weak, but it was under control. A couple of good nights of sleep and I'd be fine.

The forest was more of a jungle. Not a rain forest, not enough rain, but definitely a jungle with all the sounds that came with it.

"Close enough?" Sheila asked, "We should know if it actually is humans before we approach."

"Should be," I agreed with a nod and dug through my satchel to pull out a crystal sphere before casting my scrying spell, showing what I saw in the air above the crystal sphere.

I sent the view point up and then towards the village in the distance.

It wasn't that far away, maybe three kilometres just by the coast. It was defended, it had a deep moat facing the town and inside that a thick wooden wall with wooden spikes facing towards the jungle.

Which made sense if the jungle contained proto-drakes and similar.

Floating further along, the inside was less complicated than the defences suggested. Mostly wooden huts and a couple of more solid looking buildings. Further towards the water were the docks stretching out into the water, small boats tied to them. Not very big, small with one mast and an outrigger.

Just one and two-man little finishing boats.

The inhabitants were clearly human. Humans… humans were everywhere in the multiverse. Wonder why?

Elves, dragons, dwarves… all of them were different depending on the plane in question. But humans?

Humans were mostly humans.

Very strange, wonder why.

Still, the inhabitants seem to be… what the…

"Are those… cats?" Rengosa asked, "Actual cats."

"…Seems to be," I agreed and zoomed the viewpoint further down. There was what looked like a regular housecat, wearing an apron and chopping carrots, "That's just strange."

Cancelling the spell, I shook my head, "I mean… even if they could do it, how do you get a housecat to do something?"

Sheila grinned, "Well… if they are anything like dragons, I have some ideas."

I glowered at her and she winked at me.

Sigh. Might as well get a collar with a bell on it and be done with it.

Oh.

That can't be good.

Rengosa paused and looked around, "It's quiet."

"…Yeah, I noticed it too," I agreed and pulled a dagger, "We're being hunted."

Sheila nodded and scanned the jungle around us, her hands lighting up in green flame fire. The leaves rustled to the right and a… velociraptor with blue scales and black stripes, a red crest on it's head.

It clicked at us, head kept low.

It was stalking us but showed itself. Drawing our attention.

Clever girl.

I extended my dagger into a short spear and turned, spinning as I brought the long sharp blade up, cutting the head of a charging raptor and it's body went tumbling onto the ground.

That caused the jungle to erupt into roars and they charged.

Half a dozen of the fuckers.

Rengosa and Sheila wielded fire and ice in blasts and waves against the predators, holding them at bay and blasting them back.

I didn't bother with anything fancy, I just cut and slashed and stabbed at anything that got close.

Duck!

One of the predators pounced only to be blasted back and off it's feet by a ball of green fire. I spun, planting my spear against the ground, vaulting another one over me before I stepped back, shifting my weapon into a sword, slashing at the next one that got close.

Just as soon as it started, they pulled back, screaming challenges at us.

That's when another one emerged from among the trees. This one was three times the size of the other ones.

The Alpha.

Opening its mouth it roared before it charged. Rengosa was having none of that and put a spear of ice flying straight down it's throat.

The Alpha fell, going sliding along the ground and coming to a halt laying in the dirt, a spear of ice sticking out of its back, having gone almost straight through.

The rest of the pack had enough by that point and escaped into the underbrush.





AN// Unbetaed because of lack of time.
 
That's probably a decent source of magical materials, at least for dragons.
The locals thinking the same thing about you might be a problem, however.
 
Woo monster hunter! Wonder what atregos will think when he sees or hears about the elder dragons

I personally love what the definition of Elder Dragon entails. It's not just some overgrown lizard, no sire- to get the title, the Monster has to be so ridiculous in some way its mere existence shifts the entire ecology of the area. Talk about badass.

...on the other hand, Kirin. God, I hate that stupid adamantium horse. Talk about a rep stain.
 
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