14. The Search
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Unlike the first time he landed on Terra Nova, as he now learned what it was called by the Aeroleans about the Lower World, he was here with a mission. Similar to his first visit, he landed in sparingly sprouted woods, most of which seem to belong to evergreen and pines. ‘Strange’, he thought, as the altitude required for these kinds of trees is way higher than whatever it is here.

 

Consulting his provided map, Gargan was sure that he landed right in the middle of the search area, which spanned a whopping 75 miles. Not counting the deep ravine he saw north of his location, and the dense forest west of it, it should be a quick aerial search, and it shouldn’t take him more than 2 days to fully assess the surroundings for any clue.

 

Putting the map against the grassy group, he used a few of the loose pebbles nearby to pin it down, Gargan took out another bundle of papers, and began to study the blueprint of the Fae of The Sky. He has already looked over the blueprint more than half a dozen times already, but still, that wasn’t enough.

 

He needed to look for any details of the ship. Gargan would be lucky if he stumbled about onto the ship, but that was the most optimistic option, and he tended to not bet on them. Instead, he should look for any wreck-away, debrises, or broken and driften parts of the ship, and to do so, he needed to know what structure could he potentially found, and what it would look like.

 

Not only that, as small as the ship was, she has a concealment module installed, both as a mechanism against looters and pirates, as well as to keep her secrecy for the more….discreet delivery. Another fishy thing, Gargan thought, was why would there be any discreet pack that needed to be hidden? And who was it hiding from?

 

Surely, it could contain some top secret documents, or a highly secretive purchase by a lord from his lady, but then, why pay for such an expensive service, when most nobles of such caliber have more than enough funds and resources to have their own couriers.

 

That concealment cloak, as Gargan named it, was a product of magic and engineering, as it, in theory, bended the light surrounding it, and reflected the background onto and from the ship’s to any eyes. The only counter to it, as far as his knowledge about this world’s manatach could understand, was to either come in physical contact with the ship, or have the concealment module destroyed or otherwise deactivated.

 

As such, it is probably in one of the most fortified locations of the ship, the citadel no doubt, and should still be activated. With any luck, Gargan will have to look for any broken-away part, and trailing them back to where the ship is. Or, that thing could be deactivated with its violent landing, as he knew for sure that the tracking module was not working, hence his reason to be here, instead of Mordred’s salvaging crew.

 

Either way, Gargan spent quite a sizable time under the shade of the largest canopy meticulously studying every single detail about the ship, from its hull's construction, to its skeletal beams, to even the small, stamped nails that were used on the side of the hull. When he began to move, the sun was at its peak, and slowly creased down from its highest. Without any hint on which direction the ship had fallen, Gargan decided to head south first, and the east, as both directions would lead to sparser woods, and into the nearby plain. Those should not take much time to scout through, and Gargan reckon that he could cover most, if not all by the time the sun has set.

 

At the altitude that most bell towers were built at, Gargan effortlessly glide around, his falcon eyes glued to the ground, and tirelessly scanned the surroundings. He would look for anything that was remotely unnatural, man-made, cuts, torns, destroyed, or shiny. Not only that, he also kept his eye peeled for any unnatural damage to the environment too, such as a deep gorge on the ground, or having a dozen trees that collapsed as if something fast and heavy had collided with it.

 

Unfortunately, when the day came to an end, Gargan did not find any remotely close to part of a ship. There were some clearing with collapsed trees, but most of them seem to be the result of diseased trees, and most of which were hollowed….It may be the result of some kind of wood eating insect….which Gargan couldn’t recall the name of….Mice? Mine? Mite?

 

“Termite!” He cried, as the avian finished up the made-shift campfire ....”That's what they’re called!” It was perhaps too late, and too useless now that piece of information decided to return to him, but nevertheless, he was somehow quite proud of it. “Anyway….The south and east seem to not be it, huh….That only left the forest to the west, and the ravine to the north. Great!”

 

Of course, one of the reasons why Gargan chose the south and east to search first was also because he hoped for them to be there. It was simply easier to search those areas, than the dense forest, or a ravine that was both deep and dangerous to fly through. It will ust simply take too much time to thoroughly search them both…..But, he has no other option.

 

“Alright….Let try the forest first then.” Gargan analyzed the given map, and settled on it. “With any luck, it should be there….I really don’t want to go down there….” He mumbled, and remembered the last time that he had to race through something as rocky and dangerous as the ravine….At least there aren't any wyverns in the area.

 

“You are gonna stay with me this time, right?” He holds onto the charm on his side, and talks to it. Jealous by his partner's action, the blue butterfly landed right on his peak, covering his field of vision, and almost blinded the birdman. “Oh, ouch!”

 

“Hey! Don’t do that!” He jokingly cried, “I’m sorry! You too! Zephyr’s Grace….You are going to stick with me too! Right?” The butterfly, perhaps satisfied enough with Gargan’s declaration, departed from his peak, and landed on his plum, gently and carefreely. “Really….when did you become this free spirited?”

 

After a quick dinner, which consisted of dried rations, Gargan picked a sturdy and high branch as his bed, and went to sleep. Before that, he laid a thick layer of mist surrounding his camp, both as a concealment from the wild beast, and also as close range radar, in case anything daring enough to get too close.

 

Next morning, way before the light break, Gargan was up and ready. A life of an explorer is one full of hardship and constant dangers, and he was well accustomed to it. In fact, it is hard for him to break away from it….Well, there isn’t any harm in being too careful anyway, as the avian prepares and eats his breakfast under the darkness' cover. At this time of the day, most nocturnal creatures should have returned to their nests and dens to avoid the sunlight, which would come any minute now, and the diurnal ones shouldn’t be up just yet. Or, the majority of them anyway, which would lower the density of active animals that would stumble across his camp.

 

That night was peaceful, and no animal dared to disrupt him, or even wanted to get close to the mysterious mist, besides from the songbirds, which Gargan found to be pleasant companions for his morning meals, as they traded songs and a little bit of their meal with him. He welcomed the rare addition of nuts and wildberries to his usual jerkies and dried meal.

 

After enjoying a strangely healthy and berries-full meal, Gargan began his second day of searching, this time on foot or gliding from one tree to another. Due to the dense vegetation and tall grasses of the forest however, most often than not, he was on the ground, greatly reducing his searching speed.

 

The third and fourth days also shared the same fate, too, as parts of the forest were full of gigantic botanical life, and one part of the region were fill with trees with girth thicker than a residential house back in Sky Harbor, and roots covered the ground, rolling and intertwined with one another. It was not an easy task to traverse it, and even harder to search for something that could be as small as a nail.

 

By the end of the fourth day, he still hadn't found any sight of the ship yet, leaving only the ravine to the north, and a little bit of the woods neighboring it unturned. “Hah….why does it have to be at the last place I decided to look?” He sighed, and marked down his searchzone for today, noting that nothing was found.

 

Maybe the birdman didn’t realized it, but he was too partially to be blamed, as he took liberty to learns and documented about anything that caught his attention, be it a strange 8-winged butterfly that was as large as a roden, or the aforementioned giant trees, which he founded to be reminiscent of the Fae’s Dwy’llen, home to the mighty and everyoung Tilla’dwy, Queen of the Fae.

 

He also took a great collection of samples, mostly seeds of any beautiful or fruit-bearing plant he could find, as well as 4 bag-fulls of soils, something he has theorized to be the cause of those larger-than-they-should-be trees. It was somewhat of a hobby of his, as well as his way of remembering where he was.

 

Some other explorers, like his longtime partner, an elven woman, preferred the shiny gems and geomineral, and some, like his mentor, would disregard anything that wasn’t magical.

 

Nonetheless, Gargan was satisfied with his loot for now, as he still had a job to complete. And he hopes to earn a nice bonus on top of the already ludicrous pay, and to do so, he should pick up the pace, as he is currently on day 4 out of 7 of his promises.

 

“Hm….That is going to be a tight squeeze, but I should be able to finish searching the ravine in three day….” He verbalized his thought, his hand tracing along the ridgeline of the ravine on the parchment. “At least I could do some aerial reconnaissance there, so that should quicken the pace.”

 

On the fifth day, he was finally able to find some progress, within just 3 hours of searching the canyons. Against the dark, rocky ground, it was much easier for him to spot a sizable panel of treated wood and timbers. It was broken up and torn into pieces, but Gargan was able to identify it as part of the ship’s hull.

 

Interestingly however, there were burn marks on it, and it was from the inside, as he realized the outside of the ship was coated in thick sealing components, that help with fire resistance, and the inside was not….

 

Nevertheless, it was a great discovery, and having found a piece that large would only suggest that the ship is somewhere nearby. “Well,” Gargan told himself,  “I’ll be damned….Let hurry and finish this job!”

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