The group managed to reach the island swiftly, although it took slightly longer since the island's distance increased by another 100 kilometres.
As they flew over it Lachlan reminisced on the past, the time they first stood upon the island, how the sheer size of the trees and abnormal gravity awed them. Now those very trees that awed them created a wall that surrounds the entire island.
As they flew overhead there were patches of ruptured dirt, where the trees had been ripped up and roughly 1 kilometre into the island was the beginning of the mountain that surrounded the world tree.
The vast mountain shaped like a circle surrounding the world tree. The bare stone near the mountain tops, while the caves rested roughly halfway down the mountain rested the caves, only of the which that had a stream coming out of it that ran down the mountainside.
Passing over the mountain that reached hundreds of metres into the air they came across the beginning of the tree roots. Just the end of the world tree's roots was as tall as an adult human, let alone when they came closer towards the centre.
The roots covered the ground, not letting a single bit of dirt become visible. But in the distance, where the tree shot into the air their little huts could be spotted. They were slightly above the ground using stilts, resting against the tree.
But above their huts was Anne's laboratory, chains connecting the island to the tree, they were stabbed into the tree using a spike.
They quickly reached their huts and landed, Maddie came rushing out. She stormed off to Simon, "So why did we have to move the island?" Her voice sounded furious, along with the fact she was right in front of Simon's face.
"Because those Land Guardians are rather cunning pricks, using their authority to try and take the island away from us. Fortunately, Flynn solved the problem swiftly, by saying the island is 200 kilometres away instead of 100, which is why we had to move the island," Simon exclaimed swiftly.
"Oh, those sneaking bastards. But speaking about moving the island, I have an idea that could be rather unique so to say," Maddie said mysteriously.
"You want to have the island stationed in the sky," Joe said from behind everyone, he had a large grin across his face.
"Wha-" Maddie didn't expect anyone to guess what she was thinking, she tilted her head down dejectedly, "Yeah, I wanted to suggest we make the island floating in the sky since it makes it a whole lot safer."
"Well it could make the island a lot safer but we need to plan a bit for that. How high should we have the island? Should we move it around or keep it here? What are we going to do if someone takes the stones? Until we can guarantee no mistakes with the plan we won't go with it," Flynn responded in a slightly harsh tone, as though he was someone scolding their pet.
"Well I suppose we could have it we could maybe have the island roughly 1 kilometre above the sea level, we can move it around since it won't be connected to the land it could technically classify as a mobile home and to prevent anyone from taking the stones we should just hiding it inside the ground," Maddie had thought long and hard about the idea as she tested it while returning to the huts. "Also, the stones will need to constantly provide gravity upwards, as until we're able to get into the centre of the island most of the ground will still pushing downwards from the gravity."
"Well look at you, it looks as though you've thought about this idea for a bit," Simon said as he wrapped his arms around Maddie. "Although there is one thing you overlooked, the oxygen levels at higher altitudes aren't the same as they are on the ground."
"Well I obviously thought about it, but 1 kilometre above the sea level isn't bad at all. You should only worry about the oxygen levels once you reach 2.5 kilometres above sea level, but even then it's still perfectly fine for a person to live at those altitudes," Maddie said proudly while she tilted her head upwards.
"Unfortunately, I remember hearing people talk about how the gravity is different on Earth now, apparently it's three times stronger," Simon said with a smug face.
"Huh, then why doesn't it feel different when I walk on Earth right now?" Maddie questioned intimidatingly.
"Because our bodies seemed to have adapted to it rather swiftly, but unfortunately, gravity is a major factor when it comes to oxygen levels; because gravity pulls the oxygen molecules closer to the surface. Not to mention the pressure up high is rather low as well, which means we won't be getting the amount of oxygen we need for every breath we take," Simon explained calmly as he continued to grin.
The group just listened to the could argue, everyone was just as stunned. It was like a new world to them. Simon being smart? Rarely happens. Simon explaining something technical? Has just about never happened before.
What they were looking at was a new Simon, one that had the brain power to support the team, although Flynn was the one that usually takes care of that. It's as though his relationship with Maddie brings out a whole new level of intelligent, from the deepest parts of his mind.
"Well why don't we find a stone that'll help with that? We have water stones and plant stones, not to mention the gravity stones. What's to say there isn't a stone that can control the air?" Maddie argued back angrily, she hated Simon's smug face and enjoyed making it disappear, which is why both of them constantly argued in secret. Ever since they met they've argued about some of the most useless things, yet they would study them in detail just to win.
Maddie remembers winning an argument over whether or not you should open the door for strangers as a polite gesture. She argued for while Simon argued against.
"Well we'll need to find them first, but where do you expect to find an air stone? The only reason those stones appear on this island is due to its unique features, the abnormal gravity, the central tree, not to mention the unique water," Simon responded swiftly.
"I know someone that should be able to tell you the best places for strong wind," Zoe said shyly from behind the couple. She was slightly afraid she would get yelled out for disturbing their conversation, especially when they both turned their heads towards her in syncronised fashion.
"Who?" They both asked menacingly.
"My dad, Harrison. He took up windsurfing as a hobby during his younger years, went around the world to the places with the strongest winds against the water to surf there," Zoe responded nervously, as she felt the two stare at her as though she was their prey.
"Where is he?" The couple got closer to Zoe, their faces just centimetres away from Zoe's. Zoe could feel the two of them heavily breathing onto her face.
"He's apart of the farming group, so he should be in the cave right now probably resting," Zoe answered as she backed away.
Hearing the information Maddie and Simon's gaze both snapped towards where the cave is located, even though it was nowhere in sight, the importance of it is enough to keep its position memorised. In case of emergencies or they see anything from that direction.
Simon summoned Tempest and hopped on before shooting towards the cave. Maddie took out her gravity stone, everyone watched as she floated in the air before flying towards the mountain, quickly catching up to Simon before passing him.
Simon sat on Tempest awed at the sight of his fiance flying past him. As unlike him, she was just flying through the air without any issues or support while he rode on top of a bird. But as he took a closer look he noticed the stone in Maddie's hand.
'I see, so you can do that as well' Simon's eyes lit up as he hopped off Tempest as he unsummoned him. Taking hold of the stone he changed the direction of his gravity and began "Falling" towards the mountainside.
But unlike Maddie use has tested everything, Simon was completely inexperienced. His body arched as he flew towards the mountainside. Not to mention the way he was flying was rather erratic, while Maddie's was smooth, as though she had full control over the flight.
The group back at the huts watched as all of this unfolded. Some of them then took out their gravity stones and gave it a try, they first tried flying around the tree but instead of following a circular line they followed a square one instead.
"Haha, I didn't think we could use the stones for flying. Doesn't that mean we don't need to ride on the birds to get around the place?" Zhang said happily as he flew around the tree in an almost perfect circular shape.
"I suppose it does work rather well, as the stone almost forces the air to change direction as well, limiting the amount of air that pushes against our bodies," Lachlan replied as he sped past Zhang.
Although in Lachlan's mind it doesn't give off a powerful feeling as compared with descending upon the lands on a mythical griffon. There was just something about it that made him feel majestic, not to mention Lachlan can easily ward off any flying beast with the single release of Aaron's aura.
'But that doesn't stop us from using the stones while on the beast' Lachlan thought about as a grin formed across his face.
...
At the caves, Simon and Maddie descended downwards before shooting through the cave, not a single care in their minds as they sped up. The darkness at the end of the cave changed to light and they flew right through.
The main cave has changed greatly over the time that they've been cultivating the land. Although the river stream was almost the same, at the centre of the cave where the lake rests, there were multiple offshoots from the lake, all of which led around the cave to water the plants.
As for the actual farm, the plants grew large and bountiful as the glistening green crystal could be seen within the centre of the farm. It was a medium ranked plant stone, they were using it to boost up the speed of growth, just slightly though as they don't have an automated process to go any faster.
All the plants had evolved as well, the tomatoes were the size of someone's head, while the strawberries were roughly the size of an adult's clenched fist. The cucumbers were as long as an adult's leg while the lettuce reached their waists.
The two quickly rushed over to the side where a large cottage was made, it housed 8 people, four couples that had retired and didn't really want to involve themselves with the new world.
Opening the door and rushing through the house they reached an old couple sitting outside on wooden rocking chairs. The two were Harrison and Dakota, chatting peacefully but got distracted when they heard the ruckus from behind them.
"Harrison! Where's the place with the strongest winds on Earth?" Maddie and Simon both asked at the same time as they almost appeared in front of Harrison like a ghost.
"Up high in the mountains that reach the jet stream. There are also places like Patagonia, located in South America, some places in Antartica or a place called Tornado Alley, located in Kansas, America," Harrison replied as he took a sip of his tea.
"Zoe said you're a windsurfer, how do you know about all the other places?" Simon asked as he tilted his head curiously.
"Well isn't it obvious. I just searched windiest places in the world on the internet, in an attempt to find some great places to go windsurfing," Harrison answered slightly mocking Simon in his tone. He may be old but he's used the internet before, he got a full tutorial on how to use the internet from his son, Joe.
Simon felt as though he asked a stupid question but quickly got up and left. Maddie followed right behind him. The two quickly began their race back to the huts, where they saw the rest of the group learning how to fly.
Hope You Enjoyed!
"You guys have gotten so good already," Maddie said joyfully as she flew up to them. She began to show off some tricks, doing flips in the air as she flew circles around everyone.
"Of course, we had some rather good demonstrations," Phoebe complimented Maddie as she flew towards her and tried doing a flip. She almost did it, but once she got to the top of the flip she almost lost control and feel down. Lachlan quickly flew behind and caught her before flying up to the others.
"So what commands do you give the stone? I'm constantly having to command the stone to change the direction slightly midair, but at the same time, I'm having difficulties keeping it constant since I'm putting a lot of my attention into spatial awareness. Don't want to end up splattered against a wall," said Joe.
"Well, I just command the stone to follow the direction of my fingers or hand, anything that can be used as a direction can be used for the stone," Maddie smiled when everyone stared at her dumbfounded. "I'll quickly do an example."
Maddie held up the stone in front of them, it quickly flew downwards diagonally. The group didn't think anything of it, they could do the same thing. But their eyes widened when they saw where it was heading to.
It was heading straight towards Maddie's hut's roof, or more specifically, the very point at the highest point on her roof. Just when it was about to slam into it the stone came to complete halt, it gently rested on the point with extreme balance.
"It involves a bit more of a technical term. For example, if you say for the gravity to go upwards, everything in a 200-metre radius will up; but if you command the stone to make everything, say, go towards the tree branch. Everything in a 200-metre radius will go up until it reaches the branch, which is where it will come to a complete halt," Maddie explained as the group looked on in awe.
"Another example is changing the gravity downward. You can change the gravity downwards and everything in that radius will go down until it can't anymore; but if you command for the gravity to go downwards towards the ground, everything in a 200-metre radius above the ground will get pulled towards it. Which would also explain why the island is so unique."
"So whatever is at the centre of the island was commanded to pull everything in a certain radius towards it. But why does the gravity get weaker?" Lachlan understood everything Maddie said quickly, but the other unique thing about the island was that the gravity gradually gets stronger the closer they are to the centre.
"Remember, there is no limit in details for the instructions we give the stone. There's nothing stopping us from making the gravity gradual with the stones. There's also no limit to the area we want to be affected, we could make it in the shape of a square or even a triangle," Maddie answered.
"Then let's test it out," Lachlan responded as he flew back to the ground. When his toes touched the surface he threw his stone. 'Change gravity towards the ground, radius 20 metres, every metre from the edge of the area gravity will increase by 1, starting at 2'
Lachlan threw the stone a bit away so he wasn't in the affected area just yet. He began walking towards the stone, once he reached 20 metres out from the stone he felt the gravity increase by 2. Taking a couple of steps he felt it increase again, he quickly walked 10 metres in before he came to a stop.
He had stopped training for a while so his body wasn't trained for 11 times gravity yet, although he could handle it he would struggle quite a bit.
'Change gravity 2 times, the affected area will be a rectangular prism, 20 metres long, 3 metres wide and 2 metres tall' Lachlan felt the gravity lighten up on him and he began to feel out the area.
He followed the edges of the affected area and discovered that it followed the shape of a rectangle. He then jumped up roughly 3 metres into the air, he took out another stone from his pocket and dropped it.
His gaze followed its fall as it suddenly increased once it was 2 metres up from the ground.
"Suppose that concludes the basic testing, we'll get more into detail later. For now however," Lachlan turned towards Maddie and Simon. "We'll be going to find that air stone, but we first need to know where to go."
"Well from what Harrison told us, we could either go to the top of Mount Everest, go to Antartica, Tornado Valley in Colorado, America, or go to Patagonia in South America," Simon said.
"There could also be new islands that are much windier then these places, but since these are the only places we know about I suppose we'll just settle for one," Lachlan said as he went into deep thought about which place to choose.
"How are both America's or South America's conditions after the two years?" Joe asked.
"From what I remember, both locations had it really rough, especially America. Although they both become equal in terms of danger, the way both countries handled the evolution is like comparing the heavens and the earth," Flynn answered. "While South America quickly adapted through strengthening their people through beast taming; America almost got annihilated from the sheer strength that everything threw at them, especially since most of their population didn't know how to fight against things that can't be killed through shooting it."
"So South America then?" Zhang asked.
"I'm slightly hesitant, as South America also became a major hub to drug cartels. Not to mention some of the even shader stuff going on, such as human trafficking," Flynn explained fully concerned about the safety of the group.
"Don't worry, we're strong enough to handle them," Chloe reassured him while flexing her arms.
"Here's the real problem though, the human traffickers don't care what it takes to get what they want. If you beat up their people through resisting they'll just send more people, a lot more people as that's how they get things done," Flynn explained his biggest concern about the trip.
"So they're a bunch of cowards that have no honour," Simon said while sounding as though he's looking down on them.
"Right now in this world, honour is something stupid that people should forget about. Power, money, and connections are what get you through the world now. Keeping your honour will now lead you to your deaths, as your enemies will take advantage of it," Flynn explained as he turned towards Simon. "You don't need honour anymore as no one high up will recognise it, the only thing they recognise is your power or influence."
"Do you think that's why those higher-ups are sending their children to the military? As they'll not only be able to build up their strength, they'll also be able to build up their power and reputation through making connections," said Lachlan as he came unto the realisation that those higher-ups weren't just sending their children into the military just for bragging rights.
"It's certainly a smart idea, as their children should have a bright future after making all those connections. But back on topic, I think we should head to Patagonia, as there's something else that interests me there," said Simon.
"Oh, and what's that?" Lachlan asked.
"I want to tame another beast and South America apparently has some rather exotic birds, granted I'll certainly want you to check them all before I tame any of them," Simon explained as he glanced over to Lachlan. "I've also wanted to try some South America cuisine, now's the perfect time to do it."
"Alright then, but make sure you take extra precaution around the cities, especially if you're passing any alleyways or shady corners. You should also always be ready to attack someone if necessary, just completely knock them out as long as you're doing it to protect yourself," Flynn warned the group. "And remember, you're only there to find an air stone, try to avoid getting involved with anything else, especially anything shady or dangerous."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure to keep a tight handle on the leash," said Chloe as she reassured Flynn she had everything under control. "Aside from Simon and possibly Zhang, no one else would be involved in anything dangerous, so I'll just keep a close eye on those two."
"Ha, good luck keeping an eye on Zhang," Flynn responded as she grinned.
"Maybe we should just put a tracker on him," Chloe joked with a slightly serious tone.
Zhang stared at the two slightly worried he'll have to have a tracker put on him. That'll ruin the fun in any games he decides to play with everyone here.
"Alright, so how should we get there?" Lachlan asked. "Should we use the stones? Ride on the birds? Or a mix of both?"
"What's the point in riding the birds when we have the stones?" Zhang asked.
"Well if we have Kyle or Aaron summoned we'll easily be able to ward off any beast through their auras, not to mention the threatening appearance of both Kyle and Aaron will make sure everyone gets it into their minds that they won't be messing with us," Lachlan explained. "There's also the fact that they could quickly provide us with assistance as they're already summoned."
"Then let's just do both and get out of here," Zhang said impatiently, as though he was a kid rushing his parents so he could get home faster.
"Alrighty then, Simon and Maddie we're leaving the huts to you two, make sure they don't get destroyed while we're away. Dylan, you continue keeping an eye and protecting my sister," said Lachlan.
The group was slightly confused at the last part until they heard something leave really quickly, as though they were simply a gust in the wind. They didn't even notice that Dylan had been by them the entire time, even Zhang was surprised, almost shamed about his own skills.
Lachlan summoned Aaron while Georgia summoned Kyle. Lachlan holding onto the stone in his pocket before shotting off into the air, Aaron quickly followed right behind him. "Make sure you don't lag behind too much, we got a busy week ahead of it."
The rest didn't think too much about the remark but quickly shot into the air right behind Lachlan. Chloe and Simon quickly turned and waved their goodbyes before picking up the pace.
"Has anyone ever been to South America before?" Brianna asked.
"Nope, but there shouldn't be too many things different," Simon said. "Most countries are in the same state after the evolution, some worse than others such as America. But all in all, most countries are roughly equal now."
"Granted some countries such as America or Russie still have a hold over quite a few nukes," Simon quickly added on.
"Alright; however, as long as they continue to point their nukes at the beast populace I won't mind them. But the moment it begins to target a country, I'll be making sure none of them will be fired," Lachlan vowed.
The group began to have little chats amongst themselves as they flew towards Patagonia at a steady pace. They were excited about what they were going to find there.
Hope You Enjoyed!
It can't only be me that seems to enjoy dance groups performing so crazy insane dance routines right?
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