- Scouting -

It turned out that riding Fiella was just as easy as Aelan had just promised, she happily moved alongside Aelan’s enquian and reacted smoothly to Lleu’s nudges which made learning the basics of riding simple. In unison with the rest of the Pathfinders, Lleu and Aelan made their way into and then through the gate.

Contrasting the rest of the city walls which were built out of a dark grey stone the bricks that formed the gate were a much lighter grey that slightly approached white. In addition, there were complex looking sets of spirals and patterns carved into the sides of the gate that converged into a single line separating the city from the outside. Faintly, a green glow could be seen rising up from that line and was reflected by the perfectly straight wall of mist that rose on the other side of it. This wall was tall enough to reach the same height as Lleu’s saddle and would completely submerge Fiella’s head once they entered.

Before he could ask how all the enquian could see the ground and find their footing through the dense clouds they plodded straight into them. Strangely, the mist did not move at all as they passed through it, instead, it continued the mesmerizing slow swirling it had been doing before contact.

The end of the tunnel containing the gate quickly grew and a moment later they had fully crossed the border from the city to the wilderness surrounding them. Lleu had seen what the lands surrounding the city looked like several times when he climbed to the peak of an especially tall building but it was a completely different experience being there in person. All around was nothing other than the massive ocean of clouds which constantly churned and both seemed in eternal motion yet never truly moved. Occasionally, thin tendrils of mist would break this status quo and rose up from the mass only to dissipate a moment after. As they rode, one of these tendrils materialized and reached towards Lleu making contact with his skin. A stab of pain shot through Lleu’s mind and for a moment he thought an alien presence was trying to force its way into his thoughts, however, that sensation vanished only a breath later.

As not a single one of the other pathfinders had any reaction when making contact with the tendrils Lleu kept a straight face, trying to give the others a good first impression. He also knew that he had not imagined the feeling as several surprised yelps rose behind him as other youths made contact with the mist for the first time.

Quickly, the expedition began rearranging itself to form an orderly procession. Groups of two to five riders kept side by side and were followed by the next group which stayed a few paces behind. Also, additional space was left between each society creating clear separations.

The pathfinders too had taken their place in the formation and formed four rows in total. These four rows were distributed in a two, five, five, four pattern with Lleu and Aelan at the right-hand side of the group of five farthest in the back.

Although this amount of people sent on the expedition was not completely out of the norm for the high-ranking societies it was still on the lower end. This was not due to a stinginess but instead was because societies such as the Pathfinders had far too few members to send out large forces. Instead, they prided themselves on having a smaller group of elites who could do what large weaker groups could not. The reason for the low amount of people was difficulty in recruitment as specialized societies required moderate to high affinities in very specific elements, for the Pathfinders shadow what the element they could not go without. Eligible people were rare and could generally only be found within the families of already existing members.

“Let's go” shouted one of the pathfinders in the frontmost row and all four of their groups suddenly split apart from the rest of the procession. They then further divided so riders were either on their own or with one partner. With sudden bursts of speed, they all took off in different directions, sounds of hooves disappearing into the fog.

As Lleu had not been expecting this he had to work hard to both keep his balance while still trying to keep what little sense of direction he had left.

“I thought you said she was tame!” shouted Lleu as the two enquian sped forward side by side, each trying to outstrip the other.

“She is! It's just that after being cooped up in the city for so long they just need to run a wild for a bit.”

“A warning would have been nice” Lleu’s last complaint was laughed away by Aelan as they sped through the mist, accelerating until the mounts finally got the excess energy out of their system.

As they traveled farther from both the main group in the expedition and the city Lleu had never set foot out of before that day he for the first time knew what the world could look like without any stone walls in view. All around him there were only two colors: white and grey. As these colors perfectly matched those of his leathers and cloak Lleu looked and felt almost like an extension of the clouds flowing around him. The world seemed to extend infinitely in every direction around him and suddenly Lleu felt the success he had been longing for all of his life. He had done what he had not dared to hope for, leave the city and his old restricting life behind!

The crunching of snow was heard from enquians hooves as they plodded along, now much slower as they had gradually declined is speed until they found a comfortable pace. All around them snowflakes slowly danced their way from the overcast sky, which had the same color as the mist surrounding them, and fell out of sight to presumably join whatever snowy layer covered the ground.

This sort of weather was very normal as far in the north as they were during the summer which had begun only a few weeks prior. During that season it only snowed a little every now and then instead of the harsh blizzards they had during most of the remaining year. Thankfully blizzards were no issue for the city since a large combination of fire totems along with the wind totem array prevented extreme weather from affecting its inhabitants to any great extent. Food production was also not affected as the city was supplied by an extensive network of underground farms maintained by the citizens of the lower district.

Slowly another sort of anomaly began breaking the monotony of the endless mist and grey sky. It took a moment of fixed observation but Lleu was able to determine that the interrupting shapes were actually twisted looking trees with faded leaves and bark. Looking as they had been drained of life and dried up long ago or possibly even that they had always been dead Lleu began feeling slightly nervous, wondering what else could be hidden out of sight.