Alex and Fufi flapped through the forest, heading northwest.  Merumeru clung to Alex’s bird leg, wrapping herself around the scaled appendage like a sock. The slime girl looked at everything in wide wonder, scanning everything she saw with wide eyes.

It was much cooler at the altitude but Merumeru didn't seem to mind. The slime girl hugged herself more tightly to Alex's bird leg. As they climbed into the higher mountains, the air thinned. Soaring became more difficult and it required a lot more flapping to stay above the ever higher peaks.

Alex saw what looked like a dark blotch in the air above them.  “What’s that?  It doesn’t look like a bird or animal.  It is just hanging out in the sky.”

“Oh, what a lucky find.  That is a float stone.” Fufi flew up and grabbed the fist-sized brown rock with her beak.

Thinking it was a good time for a break, the trio started towards the ground.  They headed towards a mountain lake.

Fufi couldn’t go any lower with the float-stone in her mouth so she handed it off to Alex who clutched it in a claw.  The harpy felt the stone pushing upward.  The closer they got to the ground the more it wanted to go back up into the sky.

“What is their weird rock? I know you said it was a float stone but it doesn’t seem like gravity applies to it.” Alex asked when they landed.

“Oh gravity still applies to it, but it is altered.  Hundreds of years ago magical girl Cosmos saved the world.  Monsters descended from the void of space and she rose to the occasion to fight against them.  Her powers affect space and gravity.” Fufi explained, walking over to the lake to cool her webbed feet.

“Wow, that sounds good but why did Cosmos leave floating rocks around?” Alex pressed.

“Well, she enchanted bits of the ground to float up so that they could battle in the skies instead of on the ground.  It is hard to shoot void creatures if they are attacking from directly above.  She built some fortresses and placed portals in them to take the fight to the invaders. After she saved the world she went into retirement but everyone fought over the sky forts and sky ships.  Everything that was accessible got destroyed.  However, that doesn’t mean they lost their magic.  The sky is vast so there is debris floating around.  Finding any of it is quite valuable. ” Fufi said.

Alex let Merumeru down and deployed the cart.  After placing the float-stone in a cabinet and letting go the rock fell up on the top of the cabinet and stayed there.  “Weird, Though if we could get enough of these rocks we could levitate the carriage.  That sounds like a problem for future Alex. ” Alex said with a shrug. 

“Now you understand why these stones are more valuable than gold. Allied countries went to war to possess them.” Fufi said, the sun causing her forehead gem to sparkle.

The three of them played around with the stone a bit more. Fufi didn’t weigh enough to keep the stone from causing her to float to the ceiling.  It was the same for Merumeru.  She just giggled and swished around the ceiling.  It was the same with the dolls.  Edelweiss flew up a bit less slowly because she was more tanky but nobody could think of a good reason to equip it on a doll.  Maybe Lily could shoot toothpick sized arrows from thousands of feet up but that would really be testing her vision and archery skills.  Alex could probably make some kind of carpet bombing doll, but that would require carpet bombs and a way to fetch the doll if Alex couldn’t fly up to retrieve her.

Alex muttered something about ‘carpet bombing.’

“What was that?  I caught the carpet but not the last part.  Though I think you are right, the carriage would be cuter with a carpet.”

“I wonder what Cosmos did when she found out what the people she saved did afterward.” Alex quickly changed the subject, not wanting to introduce war crimes.

“Oh, she retired.  Luna gave her a cushy desk job on the moon.” Fufi explained.

The harpy blinked at the mental image of a magical girl sitting at a desk in a call center. Alex decided to drop it not really wanting to know.

Setting out a blanket, Alex prepared a picnic basket by opening a panel on the carriage and getting to work. Alex didn’t have to try to wield a knife because Martha made some sandwiches earlier.

As they were setting up the picnic, Ki stepped out of a tree, startling everyone.  “Hello, how has the trip been so far?  You all have made some incredible distance for a day’s travel.  Another day’s travel at that speed and you’ll be above timberline and out of the domain of the forest.” 

“Yeah, I guess in a way the forest has been protecting us.  I guess that even though things haven’t been perfect for us we haven’t had to deal with a single demon.  Do you think there will be demons past the forest’s edge?”Alex asked.

“There might be.  Demons can cultivate ice and evolve that direction.  Though it is seen as a sign of belonging to a lower sect.  Their native world has a lot of fire so a demon who picks an element that is opposite of fire gets discriminated against.  We’ve caught a few ice devils that got arrogant and decided to challenge the forest.” Ki eyed the picnic basket.

“Would you like to join us for our meal?  Martha made sandwiches and we prepared a pot of hot tea.” Fufi craned her head towards the nymph.

“Certainly,” Ki curtseyed. 

They ate a meal. Ki only ate bread and veggies.  Everyone sipped tea and chatted.

“So how are you handling the mountains?” Ki asked.

“Meru!” Merumeru answered cheerfully.

Alex patted the slime girl on the head with a wing. “Me too Merumeru, It reminds me of home a bit.  I lived in a fairly high elevation area, though not above timberline like we are going.  The thinner air makes it harder to breathe and I have to flap my wings more.” Alex said.

“That is just because the flamingo form is sleeker and more aerodynamic than a harpy’s.” Fufi stated proudly.

Alex sighed and looked at Fufi. “Now you are just bragging.  Besides, I didn’t become a harpy by choice.  I’m a victim of an epidemic.”

“Well, make sure to keep warm.  When you get above timberline it’ll just be rocks and glaciers.” Ki looked a little worried.

“We’ll be fine.  If anything too dangerous pops up we can just fly away.” Fufi sounded confident.

“I wonder if we are even headed in the right direction.  What if we are flying a couple degrees off course and end up miles away from where the ‘X’ on the map is.” Alex looked from Fufi to Ki.

“If there is one thing flamingos are good at, it is migrating.  It is like we have a built-in compass.” Fufi sad.

“She’s right.  As the baroness of these lands I can tell that if that map is accurate then you are over half way there.” Ki stated.

“Phew, that is good.  I’ve heard of people wandering around in the woods lost forever if they go too far.” Alex said.

“Don’t worry Alex, I won’t lead you astray!” Fufi proclaimed.

After a while the sun started to sink into the horizon and everyone agreed it was time to get ready for bed.  Alex, Fufi and Merumeru slept in the carriage to test if it could keep them warm through the night.  Ki proclaimed that the cold didn’t bother her much so long as she slept in a tree.  The expected sounds of a forest were the only things that disturbed their slumber.  None of the small animals that skulked about in the night disturbed them.  When morning came the carriage was unharmed and Ki hopped down from her spot on a large tree growing by the shore.  For breakfast, Ki and Merumeru boiled some water for tea. They used the rest of the pot to boil oats.

After breakfast, Everyone said their goodbyes and packed up. Carriage back in card form and slime girl sock equipped, Alex followed Fufi back into the skies to the northwest.  As they gained altitude, Ki’s waving form shrank into the distance, followed by the lake they camped at.

The flight upward along ridges and mountains tired Alex more and more.  The sun shone directly overhead when they made it to timberline. Though it was summer, snow still covered the ground in spots.  The trees that tried to grow didn’t look well.  They didn’t grow high and some of them looked a bit gnarled.  The mountains had low points where some trees grew.  Looking northwest the range kept going higher and higher and after several miles Alex could see peaks where nothing grew at the base.

Panting much more than Fufi, Alex pushed onward.  When the forest was completely lost from view, Fufi gestured to something below them.  Following her gaze, Alex noticed a spot where the ice was absent.  There was a whole valley that was barren rocks.

“I think that might be a demon encampment.” Fufi flew next to Alex and shouted into the harpy’s ear so she could hear.

Alex nodded, still panting.

“Let's ignore it.  If they are ice devils then they can’t fly.  However, they are third tier demons. I think it would be best to start out with first or second tier demons.  They are less dangerous.” Fufi adjusted her course again.  They flew in more of an outward expanding circle, trying to get a view of all the surrounding area.  After around an hour of circling, they spotted something gleaming and white on top of one of the peaks.  Approaching closer, they discovered a shining white temple.  It had several storeys and a big steeple at the center.  The cold and tired group flew in for a landing.

melchi

Anyone got a good idea for the town?  I've been sorta calling it starter town but it would be nice it if it had a new name.  Something cute would be most fitting.  That would give Ki some more points in her baroness of beauty class.