Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 110: Journey(3)

Kothar steered the ship through yet another portal. This was the sixth one since the desolate world, and he felt that they were surely nearing Eclat.

Three of the five earlier planes had been relatively mundane, he wouldn't have been able to distinguish them from a region of wilderness on a slightly alien planet. But the other two had been decidedly odd. 

The first, was a frozen hellscape, battered with bone chilling winds, and razor sharp shards of ice that constantly flew through the air. There was a constant wailing sound that rang through the air, and the plane seemed devoid of life, but Kothar had not been too interested in investigating for any life. Since, he had gotten an eerie feeling as soon as they arrived on the plane, as if they were an unseen pair of eyes watching him form far off in the distance. 

As for the other strange plane, it had been blindingly bright, even with the protection afforded to Kothar's eyes by his suit. Eventually, Fothar squinted and could make out the reason for the brightness. The star that the planet orbited had expanded, it now had a strong reddish glow, and took up a great portion of the sky. 

But contrary to Kothar's expectations the planet itself flourished, it was filled with life. It seemed those denizens of the plane who had been relegated to a narrow and dreary existence of the deserts of this plane had established themselves completely.

Everywhere he looked, there were flourishing cacti, and enormous scorpions that scuttled about.

An enormous lizard basked on a rock, opening one eye lazily to look at the odd bird that soared through the sky, but not registering it as a threat, it closed the eye and returned to dozing away.

[A relative of Sandstrider perhaps?] Silane joked, the lizard's tan colored scales and massive scales meant he did look somewhat similar to the massive reptilian Freeman.

[I think he might be a little offended that you would suggest that. To be fair, I  wouldn't be surprised if this plane was a kind of hideaway for him, like Atla was for me.] Kothar studied the enormous lizard curiously, it had enormous feet that were at half meter across, which gave the lizard a comical appearance.

[Atla is your hideaway, huh? I gather you'll be hiding there getting cozy with that enormous creature we saw before we left?] Silane poked fun at Kothar, though she had been just as terrified upon encountering the creature.

[That creature paying any attention to me would be like me going out of my way to bother a particular bacterium. I'm sure it'll be fine.] Now that he was not face to face with the creature, Kothar found it was far easier to rationally assess the threat from it.

Now that they had passed through the portal, Kothar looked around and, for a moment, was completely confused. Then he realized. They were completely underwater.

Fish of every color darted all about him, and below him a massive reef, with brightly colored coral flourished in the depths. 

As the ship moved forward, the fish fled, and hid amongst the reef, hiding from the new massive fish that he appeared out of the odd hole that had opened up in their world.

On the other side of the portal that Kothar had just closed, a few curious fish were becoming acquainted with a pair of vultures, who would develop a taste for seafood that they would unfortunately crave for the rest of their lives, yet never taste again.

The rotors on the ship spun, and they acted just as well as propellers as the ship zipped easily through the water, sending fish after fish hiding into their nooks and crannies in the reef.

Far away, an enormous shadow slid smoothly through the water. From the way it moved smoothly from side to side and the menacing silhouette, Kothar was sure it was bad news.

[How's that Spatial Core, Kothar? I don't want to be making a new friend on this plane.] Silane had obviously also noticed the menacing silhouette, and asked Kothar, a hint of anxiety in her voice. 

[I'm getting better at gathering ambient Spatial Mana from the surroundings, so far most planes have had a decent density. But I am worried about what'll happen if we run into a plane with no Spatial Mana to replenish from.] Kothar replied, steering the ship away from the shadowy shape.

[I'm sure there won't be a chance of that. All the planes we've been to have had at the very least a trace of pure mana in the air. And as for Spatial Mana, there's not chance a plane won't have any, since every plane is made up of space.] Silane said matter-of-factly, while she calculated the trajectory of the approaching shadow.

[I don't know, with how many different planes there are, don't you think there's a chance we might come across a plane that is devoid of Elemental Spatial Mana. At the very least, I think we'd best prepare for that.] Kothar seemed firm on this, after being caught off guard when being suddenly sent to Idwa by the Artifact, Kothar had been determined not to be caught unawares again.

[All in due time, how about for now, you get us back to Eclat, and away from what's likely an overly interested shark that's definitely noticed us.] Silane now had a hint of urgency in her voice. 

Immediately, Kothar pushed the throttles up, taking the ship up to the fastest speed he could without damaging the craft.

Not long after, he was able to open yet another portal, and they sped through, emerging into an open sky, droplets of water flying off of the ship.

[We did it!] Kothar exclaimed. There was no way he could forget the way the mana of this plane felt, after all, this was where he had felt it for the first time.

As he stared down at the coastline stretching out below, Kothar started to recognize exactly where he was.