The giant creatures were called Plainsrunners – it made sense, given what they were used for, but I thought the name was a little on the nose. The four of us made our way up the winding steps, having paid for our passage already, and onto the platform a short step away from the platform the top.

The seating area atop the Plainsrunner was made from a dark wood reinforced with leather and metal. I followed my companions’ examples as I strapped myself into a rigid chair, my head resting against its back.

The driver – or rider – nodded as we all strapped in, before making his away along the animal’s back to another seat at the base of its skull.

“In relief, I will be glad to be home. My thanks again to all of you for accompanying me, and especially to you, Hunter, for retrieving the egg. When I set out upon this journey, I had thought that I would be gone for much longer, as our own alchemists advised that even one such as Master Alchemist Ben Won Ro could take many weeks to prepare a cure, if it were even possible.”

I looked over at Reff, only able to see his wide shoulders around his huge chair. I could hear a change in his voice, a release of tension I had not known was there, until that moment. I thought back to our meeting, and how he had seemed fine with a delay of an hour or two. I guessed that, when you were expecting to wait for weeks, a few hours may not have seemed that long, but even so, I had to shake my head at the obvious strain he had been under.

“Reff, I’m really glad I met you. And that I could help.”

“I always wanted to see your homes, Reff. I’m quite looking forward to it! Hunter, your head is growing, I can almost see it around the chair. Do I need to unstrap and come over there?” The sing-song voice of my teacher sounded from behind me, and I thought I could hear a smile in the voice.

“No, Teacher that’s not nec-”, the end of Aella’s chain flipped over the chair and into my face, interrupting me and I yelped, before I felt my face heat, as I realised that if there had actually been any danger, my ability would have triggered. I heard her snigger to herself and I sat muttering to myself for a few moments.

“The journey should take no more than a day, perhaps two, depending on the speed of the Plainsrunner. Reff, I am also glad that we are able to help your people. I cannot imagine your brother would react well to wide-scale death among his people.” Walker ignored Aella and my own playful snarking, turning his attention towards our purpose, as always.

“With worry, my brother is not as hot-headed as I am, however I believe that even he may lose his temper, should this plague spread too far.”

“I am sure that this, ‘Risen Throne’ will come to regret their actions, for the brief period in which they still exist.” My dark mentor’s voice turned hard as he mentioned the group responsible, and I thought back to what I had seen of him in action. I knew I would not want Walker angry at me, let alone more than one Apex.

A slight shiver ran through me at the thought, and I turned my gaze inwards to take a look at my centre. Despite all the days of travel and the near constant cultivation and refinement of Experience, my centre was mostly unchanged. My excessive channels might provide me with some advantages – and had probably saved my life in the Black – it was still disheartening to look at my soul see and find my Core barely started. I knew that the journey to Pinnacle could take a long time, and I was not expecting to leap through the stages, but since finishing my Focus I had been basically stood still, when it came to my cultivation, or so it felt.

I looked up as our rider – driver – hopped onto the platform we were seated on, made sure we were all strapped in and made his way along the animal’s spine to his own seat.

There hard to be a limit to how much Praxis my energy circulation system could hold, I just had to get there. I had been through a lot – had Experienced a lot since my arrival and I had to believe that would make up for starting as late as I had, at some point.

As I pondered, our transport began to move with a strange rocking walk, almost like being aboard a ship. I held my breath for a moment, concentration wholly on my stomach, but after a few moments I relaxed, as the feared sickness did not descend.

We were moving down a wide central boulevard, somewhat faster than a walk, but not by much. I knew there was no way this was the maximum speed of the beast we were riding, unless the Blacksands were really close and we were just being lazy.

It took us about half an hour to reach the wall of the outpost, and I was mostly concentrating on refining more Praxis when we passed through a gate much larger than the one we had used to enter, obviously sized to allow the entry of the colossal animals.

As we once again emerged into the bright daylight, there was a pause and I heard the distinct call of, “Clear!” followed shortly by, “Confirmed!”. I turned my head about to ask Walker that that had been about when, with a jolt, my head was pressed firmly back against the seat, along with my whole body as the animal accelerated almost instantly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the walls of the outpost rapidly retreating as we switched into a long, smooth gait. Still accelerating, I felt the platform drop slightly and then, in an instant we were airborne. I looked on, wide-eyed as the ground fell away from us, and I guessed that we were hundreds of feet in the air. For long seconds, we hung above the ground, our speed impossible to tell, other than the tremendous pressure pulling me into the seat. It is a well-known expression that, “What goes up, must come down.”, at least it had been on Earth, and it seemed to be true there on my new world as well. We began to fall, eventually, as all things must and I felt a fluttering tingle in my stomach as we dropped out of the air.

Crushing my eyes shut as I saw the plains rush up towards us, for a moment I forgot where I was and thought I was about to die for a second time. The landing, when it came, was unnoticeable. We transitioned from falling, to being catapulted once more into the air. The change was so smooth it was almost like being on the track of a rollercoaster, and I once again opened my eyes, a grin splitting my face as I began to laugh in pure exhilaration at the feeling.

My voice was lost in the rush of the wind, but I was unable to stay silent, such was the joy rushing through me. Shouting wordlessly, I pulled the Experience into my centre, savouring every second.

*

***

*

Eventually we stopped for the evening – the ground had changed over the last few hours and was now the black and dark grey sand from which I assume the area derived its name.

The Plainsrunner turned in a circle, its large ears stiff, before it finally crouched. Given the size of the thing, I did not want to meet whatever it was on the lookout for, so I was glad it was on its guard. Once the beast was crouched, the driver – rider – walked back down the spine of our collective mount while whistling a jaunty tune, nodded to us, and then began unbuckling straps on the side of the platform, revealing a long rope ladder. The ladder unspooled down the side of the cat-karoo and he disappeared over the edge without a word.

We all unstrapped ourselves from our seats – it felt good to be standing. It had been impossible to accurately estimate our speed, but given the g-forces involved in our journey, I guessed we had been moving somewhere in the hundreds of miles-per-hours, which really said a lot since we had been traveling so far. When I had been in the tower back in Everwood, I had been amazed by the scope of the forest, but knowing we were only on the edge and that the plains we had crossed in a day had been hundreds, maybe thousands of miles across was almost mind boggling.

My companions had climbed down the rope while I stood thinking, and I hurried after them. The fur of the animal was soft, but it still managed to scratch my skin if I brushed against it the wrong way on my way down.

Reaching the ground, I found my friends, along with the rider – driver – whose name I did not know, milling about and stretching their legs.

Taking the opportunity, and eager to spend a little energy after sitting for so long, I walked up Aella, and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Teacher, back at the fight with the bandits I fought a swordswoman and she cut me up quite a lot. Any chance you could give me some pointers with weapons?”

Turning her pink-on-pink gaze to me, Aella’s eyes narrowed and her lisp twisted about as she considered the question.

“I would normally consider you too unskilled with the empty hand to begin with weapons, but you seem to heal pretty fast, so let’s give it a try.” Her lilting voice sounded doubtful at first, but by the end she was back to her normal, bubbly sing-song self.

“Here, use this.” My teacher held out a hand and the blue sword she had taken from the bandit leader appeared there as she offered it to me.

I nodded in thanks and reached for the curved weapon, but as my teacher passed it to me, I had to drop it, as its weight was utterly impossible for me to support, and if I had tried, I probably would have hurt myself. The blade landed in the dark sand with a solid thud, and Aella glared at me.

“Why did you drop it? That's a nice weapon, you shouldn’t treat it like that!” She raised a hand as if to slap some sense into me, so I spoke quickly.

“Teacher, I’m sorry, it’s just too heavy for me to lift!”

The raised hand paused for a moment, before she dropped it back to her side, the glare turning into an amused smile.

“Oh! Sorry, Hunter. It’s sometimes hard to remember how weak Core stage cultivators are.” Aella reached down and picked up the sword and straightened as it vanished.

“That’s the only other weapon I have on me! Sorry, weapons will have to wait!”

“Actually, I have a couple on me. I have,” I checked my rings quickly, “A couple of swords and a weighted chain like you.”

“Oooh, a chain would be good with your Focus, and obviously I’m a master with one!” She placed a hand on her chest and spoke as if showing modesty, which in no way fit her words. But who was I to judge?

“Okay, Teacher, let’s try and see how it goes. It does seem like it would be useful for me in particular.”

“Good! Watch this, pay attention!” Aella walked off way, illuminated by the vast moon above us. I felt the other move over to watch with me and I did my best to pay attention, as I had been instructed.

Aella unwound the chain from around her waist, about twelve feet of it, the chain almost flowing like liquid, rather than a chain. Making sure I was watching, she began to spin it – slower than during her fight with the bandit leader, but still only made visible in the night by the occasional flash of moonlight it reflected.

All at once, she began to move, the chain flicking out before being pulled back and wrapped around various parts of her body as she moved faster and faster. At one point, I was pretty sure the chain had shot out in five directions at once, though I knew that could not be the case. The weighted end flew in unexpected directions, coming up from the ground one moment before crashing down from above the next, and all the while my teacher moved at its centre, movements graceful and precise as she guided the weapon about.

After about two minutes, Aella finally came to a stop, the chain snapping back into her hand before she wrapped it once more around her slender waist and walked back over to us.

“Were you paying attention, Hunter?”

“I was, Teacher, though you were still moving too fast for me to catch everything. It was very impressive, and beautiful to watch.” My voice was coloured by open admiration – it had been beautiful to watch, and while my teacher was incredibly attractive, like everyone I had met or seen in this world, that had nothing to do with my admiration. It had been like watching a dance – a dance that could splat people into mush.

“Good! Now you do it.”

*

***

*

The next day, I was once again strapped into my seat atop the Plainsrunner, as we bounded through the air. I rubbed at my throat, still able to feel the chain wrapped tight around it from trying to copy my teacher the evening before. The practice had not gone well, and I was sure I had avoided a second suicide only because of the timely warnings from Instinctive Precognition.

Eventually, Aella had confiscated the weapon for my own safety, telling me that we could try again if we could find a less dangerous practice weapon, though I think she may have been humouring me. Walker had offered to show me some sword forms, but I had begged off until we reached our destination, slightly traumatised from the many near-deaths I had inflicted upon myself.

Turning my mind back to the present, I noted a mountain in the distance, standing alone above the horizon and kept my eye on it, expecting to pass it soon. More than an hour passed, my eyes still watching that lonesome peak as we bounced over the sand, and I began to realise that distance may have been playing tricks on my eyes. The rocky protrusion had grown bigger over time, and indeed was growing by the second. At the speed we had to be traveling, that meant it was beyond huge. An hour passed, my alarmed gaze locked on the strutting stone, finally piecing together that it may in fact be our destination.

The air was growing frigid by then, thick mist pouring out from my mouth and nose, only to be snatched away by the rushing wind. I could feel frost forming on my beard and I had a flash back to my last moments on Earth. Surprisingly, there was no bite to the memory – like most of my first life, I could remember it, but it felt somehow detached, like it was something that had happened to somebody else. I was fine with that – my last life had not been great, and I would hate for it to hold me back, given the wonders I was experiencing.

My guess proved true –, the mountain I had been watching seemed to be our destination and before long, we had arrived at the Blacksand Citadel. The sky was blanketed with thick grey clouds the likes of which I had not seen since my arrival on that world. The Blacksand Citadel rose from the frost coated sand like a vast dark pillar, stretching into the sky far enough that I could not make out the top through the clouds. The base was massive, making the Plainsrunner seem tiny as we dismounted. The towers back at Everwood had been high, but they were relatively slender; the Citadel looked like a colossal mesa, its sides sheer and intricately carved with geometric patterns incorporating balconies and external stairs, as well as windows and doors for as high as the eye could see, and stretching out at least a couple of miles to either side. Huge carved stone doors, which appeared to be constructed from smaller and smaller doors, by the look of it, stood ahead of us, and I had to crane my head back to even take them in fully.

As I stared at the incomprehensibly huge thing, I heard Walker thank our driver and bid him goodbye. I turned in time to see him finish climbing the ladder, and moments later, the animal sped away, vanishing over the horizon in less than a minute. Isaw my teacher stood to my side, also staring up at the mountainous home of Reff’s people, a look of wonder on her face. I smiled at the sight, glad that my friend could find her own wonders, despite being native to the world.

“With significant relief, welcome to my home. It is good to be back.”