D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Lily ---

As Lily glided through the portal she quickly realised why it had looked so weird. They were finally in the cloud layer, or at least, this portal was. Instead of seeing anything useful her entire vision was eaten up by clouds. The moisture in them condensing onto her fur and causing her to shiver slightly. It was cold up here and the water was not helping. At the very least her wings were leathery, and the water hadn’t sent her crashing to her doom.

She could also here some monsters around. Which was not good. The metal orbs were likely present as well, but she couldn’t spot them through the clouds and knew that they were almost silent when in motion. That would be a problem she would need to keep in mind. For now, she was more concerned about the monsters. They were... resting? So there had to be solid ground somewhere then.

It was hard to work out more than that, but some of them were flying around, and others seemed to be at rest. Though the ones that were flying seemed to be mostly gliding. Wingbeats were very infrequent to her ears, and most of them stayed away from the portal. Lily guessed that was because if they flew through, they’d then be trapped inside the mountain with far less room to move about.

Lily could feel Kat’s attention on her as she made her way forwards and slightly upwards. It seemed that the monsters hovered at this level or above so hopefully a bit of height would give her a clear vision of what was going on nearby, or at least some treetops and an idea of how the monsters had spread out, or if there were any orbs nearby to watch for. She hadn’t seen any enter or leave the portal... but surely they had to?

Lily kept her focus as she breached through the clouds... into more clouds. The entire area seemed to be the inside of a much, MUCH larger cloud. It stretched high into the sky at least a kilometre up, maybe further. What was weirder, was that the birds she’d thought were resting were hanging around. They seemed to be able to rest on the clouds. Some were flying around the area, while others nestled into their wings against themselves while seemingly floating.

Though, calling them ’birds’ was barely accurate. They were massive, terrifying looking things when compared to the birds of her home. Lily was just barely poking her head up... and these birds were monstrously sized in comparison. Their HEIGHT was measured in metres, and they looked large enough to be used as mounts, heck busses might be more accurate.

Their bodies had feathers that seemed coated in metal, looking almost like someone had convinced a bird to grow steel wool like it was a sheep. Their wings were more normal, but the body was fluffy looking but weighty, with an odd shine to it and the occasional scraping sound when they shifted in place. A mountain of metal packed into a bird shaped package that moved when they felt like it.

Their beaks were similarly large, heavy things that were sized in such a way that Lily knew she could fit inside one with room to spare. Kat was just barely large enough to avoid such a fate. Luckily, for whatever reason they didn’t seem to be watching her... but it was hard to tell.

A sharp crack rang out, as one of the birds snapped their mouth at a seemingly empty bit of space. Lily still couldn’t see anything there, but in a winding line a bunch of the other ones lashed out, similar cracking sounds as their jaws slammed shut over something she couldn’t see. What... was there something there? Would they just making noise? Playing? Calling out to something? Lily wasn’t sure...

Lily watched for a while longer as the snapping died down. Each crack echoing out like a small explosion had just gone off. The jaw pressure needed to make such a noise was not one Lily wanted to think about. Fighting even just one of these monsters would be a challenge... and there was quite a lot of them to fight if it came down to that. The problem was, Lily felt exceptionally snacked sized right about now, and she had no idea if her stealth skills were up to the task.

Lily chewed on the next step as she looked around. There might be other portals nearby... and there might be someplace to land... but she was wondering if there actually wasn’t. How were other people meant to manage this though? Perhaps riding the birds? Lily didn’t know... but for the moment she decided to duck back into the clouds. Shivering as the water clung to her, Lily made her way back to the portal... that was moving? What?

Lily’s focused narrowed to the portal and... yes it was drifting. It was moving around. Lily thanked her spatial affinity, because while it hadn’t moved much, in the dense cloud cover there was no possible way she would find it again without it. She felt Kat chuckle at the end of her link, as if silently berating her for the misstep... but...

*Hey! If you were the one that went through you WOULD have been lost.*

Kat didn’t respond other than to send over a mental huff as Lily caught back up to the portal. Checking carefully, Lily flew down to its base and found... a bit of land. Though even calling it ’a bit’ was generous. It was more a collection of floating stones all moving at different speeds. Some of them weren’t even large enough for her to stand on, while the largest, the one under the portal was just barely enough space for the portal itself and maybe one person to stand on either side of it.

Lily didn’t know where the floating stones lead, they weren’t quite in-sync with the portal’s stone as you trailed out more than a step or two... but it was hard to tell what was going on further away then that on account of all the clouds. Investigating this area was going to be a pain. Though... do they even need to go looking? Lily could sense the portals after all... and the portals moved. Perhaps getting Kat and Appoline over to this side and then simply waiting in spot and allowing another portal to come to them? Even if it didn’t line up perfectly, Lily knew she’d be able to feel them as they approached.

Of course, there was still the issue of the birds. They didn’t all live up in that... hollow cloud? Was that right considering technically most clouds were hollow. So it was... a cloud covered hollow? No, now wasn’t the time to get distracted. Lily sent her plan over to Kat to see what she thought.

[Makes sense to me, though still... getting Appoline through is going to be a bit of a pain. At least I can fly basically forever even while carrying her... though... hmm... I wonder if it will be too cold. I’ll warn her about that just in case. Hmmm... hmm... this is going to be a bit of working I think. Maybe come back and start carving away at a tunnel for Appoline while she makes whatever extra potions she needs and I’ll try to do the same from my end?]

*I suppose I can do that. It’s not going to be terribly fun but if needs must. No issues with the birds?*

[They seem fairly calm, or at least, calm enough that I’d suspect my aura can keep them from attacking us.]

*Hmmm... worth trying I suppose. Though I do have to ask, not worth exploring around any further?*

[I’m still worried about getting zapped by the lightning or something. For now, if it’s letting you fly around the immediate area in the clouds, I’d already consider that good. The ’island’ might count as the clouds nearby. Though why there are portals around nothing is something to look into.]

*Yeah, it’s certainly weird. They have at least a bit of dirt near them but it isn’t much.*

Lily flew back through the portal and started to work out where the best spot to dig was. She was careful of any metal orbs, and ensured that she was digging towards Kat of course. Still, it didn’t take too much of her mental effort to manage this. *Do you think the portals require at least a bit of dirt around them? Current results are kind of inconclusive.*

[Yeah not sure. I wouldn’t want to risk breaking one just to check, and those failed portals we saw in the jungle muddy the water further. Clearly it’s not just an open area with maybe some dirt underneath. There are other rules... though what they are I’m not sure.]

*I think they have to be at least partially artificial at this point. I wonder if we can find some sort of controller for them?*

[If it exists, it’s probably at the top and how you’re meant to claim all of the relic pieces.]