Kai stood at the edge of the cliff. After clarifying a few details from the young girl, he was ready to depart.

  According to Beri, there was a long stretch of ground hidden under the mist that the group could use to walk above the lava. Whilst not as safe as the large floating islands, it was better than trying to fly continuously through the air.

  Kai’s task was to try and find where and how the group was going to get down onto it. As he gazed down, a plume of magma burst from beneath the misty grey layer before raining down again.

  “...”

  He took one last glance over his shoulder to check on Beri before he stepped over the edge and let gravity pull him down.

  He worried for the young shaman. She had never once refused to use the Whispering Wood spell her teacher had passed down to her. Nor had she ever told them how it works.

  She didn’t have to.

  But he knew as soon as he gave the order.

  The slight tremble. The look of fear through her eyes; not at him, but at what was coming. It happened every time. Then, after a moment of hesitation, her hands would clench the wooden bird before she resigned herself to whatever happened next.

  The wooden carving could be fixed back in the frontier; a wood specialist shaman could knit the pieces back together or carve another totem from a piece of lightning struck blueshroom sequoia. Then, she could reconjure the spell from several easily attained materials.

  But that wouldn’t take away from what she had to go through. Nor would it make it any easier. All divination spells were like that - demanding a price. He and the rest of them understood that, so they never asked.

  It was a terrifyingly useful spell. She always seemed to know the answers to problems they hadn’t even encountered yet. Perhaps that was why she kept preparing it.

  Or maybe her willingness was the price. He had seen more than a few spells that could make people addicted or even dependent on their casting. The final result was never a pleasant sight.

  Either way, it wouldn’t change the fact that she would probably prepare another as soon as they got back. If they got back…

  NO!

  They would. They would. He would make sure of it.

  Kai pulled his distracted thoughts back to the surroundings. He had created a small shackle of water around his ankles and wrists and was slowly lowering himself down. He was a few meters from the mist now. Closing his eyes, he fell under.

  The first thing he felt was the heat. It was interfering with his water. Whatever this mist was made from, it was hot. His shackles started to evaporate, and he was forced to focus on stopping himself from losing them completely.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  The second thing he noticed was the vision - or lack of it. He was surrounded by a grey mist so dense he couldn’t see anything ahead of himself. He could just about make out the area around his body but lost anything beyond that.

  The shackles around his wrists disappeared a few seconds later as he crouched down and put his hands in the ones around his ankles as he tried to stabilise himself with only two by directing more aether to make them sturdier. Concerningly, he was losing water just as quickly as he was reforming it..

  “Not enough.”

  He began to pull aether from his forearms and pushed them into the water to keep them from disappearing. Unfortunately, his momentary focus cost him more than just a few burns on his exposed skin.

  Suddenly, he saw a flash of colour to his left as a large column of magma shot past him and beyond the grey layer. A few drops landing on his side and igniting his armour.

  He quickly drew water from the air to quench the flames but had to endure a few more burns before he was safe.

  As safe as he could be flying blind through a strange mist in a cavern under the sea.

  Eventually, he saw the Red Sea. A large ocean of magma, rich in reds, yellows, and orange, all swirling around and over each other like a dancing horror waiting to smile as it devours them in its rolling tongue.

  He studied the magma sea, which was probably as deep as the Blue Sea, for a few minutes while he adjusted to the heat. He wasn’t losing water anymore, but the air was so hot and dry that he also couldn’t draw any from around him either.

  What he found strange, though, was that the mist wasn’t made of water like he had thought. Instead, it appeared to be made of a strange gas that would occasionally pop out from a bubble on the surface and float upwards to join the rest of the layer.

  Beri had told him that there was a piece of land large enough for them to walk across rising out of the magma down here. He turned to his left and began to fly forward for a few minutes before turning right and doing the same again.

  He made sure to watch the magma for any signs of a large bubble about to burst and throw burning death into the air. Thankfully, his time in the myconoid raids had taught him to observe changes in flowing walls and floors.

  He managed to find the large piece of land after searching for nearly half an hour. They had agreed that if he couldn’t find it within an hour, he was to resurface and try again after recovering his aether, but thankfully, he wouldn’t have to waste that much time.

  He flew over and crossed onto the area above solid ground, the relentless heat notably waning as a result.

  He flew across and measured the width of the rock as somewhere between one hundred and fifty to two hundred steps - or around one hundred meters as his sorceress still kept trying to drill into him.

  Unfortunately, while the grey mist did get slightly weaker on the ground, it was still difficult to see more than a few meters away. They could probably see each other if they stayed close. But they would be blind if someone wandered too far.

  …Except for Song.

  He should probably get his questionably sane friend to check how sturdy the ground is and if there is anything hidden underneath. Even with Beri’s guarantee, she had only said that they could walk across it, not that it was safe.

  “Hehehe.” Kai chuckled to himself at the thought. When had he ever been safe since deciding to go on a journey?

  After a brief smile, he willed the water shackles to carry him up, this time curling into a ball to make it easier as he shot straight up through the mist. Once he was out, he reformed the shackles around his wrists for stability before looking around.

  A few hundred meters away from him was the rest of his cohort, waving for his attention. Not willing to keep them waiting, he made a mental note of roughly how far away he was before shooting forward to rejoin them.