The plains stretched like an endless ocean; short, yellow and green grass covered the ground and the blue sky met with them at the horizon. A few beasts roamed across the plains. Ariel turned to the beasts in the distance, four legs, straight ears and a tail.
Horses!
Ariel recalled his days back at the mansion. His first warhorse, Reinhard, with her black coat, white dots and flowing hair. The wind caressing his face as Reinhard galloped with him on the plains...
"Ariel! Snap back." A hand smacked at his armor.
Ariel turned to the source of the voice.
Peter waved his hand in pain. "Damn, that thing's hard."
"What's the problem?" Amy asked, turning to Ariel.
"Nothing, let's go."
The group marched towards the city of Iei through the day. When the sun dipped beneath the horizon they built their camp. The fire faintly crackled between them as they consumed the last food remaining.
"We don't even have the money to buy anything..." Peter sighed, as his stomach grumbled.
"You still have some fire-stones remaining right?" Amy asked, without lifting her head from the map.
"Yeah, I have like two or three crystals."
Amy put the map back to her pack. "We can just sell them as a rare stone."
"I knew they would be worth something." Peter chuckled.
After a brief silence Ariel spoke.
"It's your turn to watch, Amy."
She rubbed her eyes. "Sure, I cannot sleep lately anyway."
Peter and Ariel went to their tents. Amy swept her gaze over to the plains. The slow winds waved her clothes as the stars slowly blinked.
Stars.
She enjoyed the silence for a moment. Then her mind shifted to the orb, with a flick of her finger she moved through the titles, Mysteries of Fungi, Flowers, Notes, Old Atwia, and so on. Then she stopped and put the orb back.
Nothing interesting.
The stars slowly drifted through the black sky. Her eyes shifted to the Azael constellations. Something seemed off... she counted the dominant stars; one, two... thirty-three, thirty-four...?
That can't be right.
She counted it again. It was thirty-four, no matter how she counted.
We should be in Azael 32...
"Wake up!" She shouted, quickly packing her things.
Peter shot up from his bed. "What... what's going on?"
"I miscounted. The city already landed, It'll be gone in the morning!" Amy drew mana from her orb to create a lamp of fire.
They quickly packed up the tents and rushed forward. Crickets chirped as the trio crushed the grasses beneath.
"Are we even running at the right direction?" Peter murmured.
"Just keep running!" Amy answered.
Shapeless objects appeared and vanished at the edge of the lamp light.
After a few hours, the first rays of sun landed onto the earth. Their legs had stopped feeling the burn a while ago. The waterfall ahead cascaded faintly.
"Nightlong waterfall!" Amy shouted between her breaths, looking at the map in hand.
"We should head upstream."
Taking a sharp turn, they rushed along the river. The City of Iei rose from behind the hills, first the tall aquamarine roofs then the sturdy yellow walls on a piece of land that seemed like it was ripped out of somewhere far away.
"There." Amy said.
The workers ahead slowly lifted the ladders as the trio closed in.
"Wait!" Ariel shouted.
After a moment, the workers let the ladders go. The trio climbed the ladder in silence, the numbness on their legs slowly faded bringing the exhaustion and the throbbing back. They threw themselves over to the stone platform of Iei, Ariel's metal armor clanked against the stone.
They lay there for a while, stabilizing their breath.
Peter was the first to get up, he looked around. Intricate carvings filled the heads of the windows and the doors. Gas lamps hung from every corner of the buildings. He turned to the people, they wore layered robes with long sleeves most of them purple or red.
He took his notebook out and started noting the details.
"Cool..." He muttered.
Ariel was the second to get up, he analyzed the surroundings.
Nothing interesting.
Turning to Amy he helped her to get up.
"Let's check the library first... the cure probably will be there." She said.
Ariel turned to Peter, who was still scribbling on his notebook.
"Let's go, you can write on the way."
Suddenly the ground roared. And then the city lifted off of the ground a faint hum echoed throughout the city, then it coughed. A few civilians exchanged glances.
"It never did that..." someone mumbled.
The trio walked along the roads, they reached to the center of the city. In front of them there was a statue made of copper, turned green over time. On top of it was a nameplate, It read "Regulus" in different scripts. Ariel looked around and spotted a sign with a book logo.
"There it is." he said, and led the trio inside.
Peter took another glance at the statue before following along.
Inside of the library was circular bookcases followed the curved building, ending at a domed ceiling with a window to see the sky.
"Where can we find books about mana overexposure?" She asked.
The lady lifted her head from the book, "They should be at... section C near the history section." She pointed at a bookcase and turned back at her book.
They moved towards the section. Peter's eyes shifted to a book titled "The Founding of Iei and Regulus the Great."
Amy moved towards the C section as Peter moved to the history section. She ran through the books.
Botany... not that. Here it is! "Diagnosis of Overexposure and Its Cure."
"I found it." She said, with the book in her hands.
They sat on their chairs and began reading the books.
"What's that?" Ariel asked, pointing at the book in Peter's hands.
"A book about Iei, I thought It'll be cool to make a little summary of it." He put the book on the table.
"Since it seems like we will be here for a while."
After a few minutes.
"The sigil is complex and it requires an unspecified amount of mana." Amy sighed, closing the book and setting it aside.
"Are you sure that you don't want to record the sigil?" Ariel asked.
"Recording them on a magical item is very risky, Ariel. They work like a dam, when you start it it's hard to stop without causing things." She turned to Peter.
"It's better to draw them on paper."
"Huh? Me?" Peter shifted his gaze from the book to Amy.
"Sorry I wasn't listening. But the flotation device this city is built on was invented thousands of years ago can you believe it!?" His eyes shone.
Amy's head dropped at the table and she used her arms as a pillow, with an exhausted sigh she shifted her eyes to the window above.