Snippet #2709178

Holo just nodded at Sam's words, listening well to his instructions as she followed his words. "Very well. Lead the way." She said as she allowed Sam to perform his magic. Although it took a little of work to keep her horses calm in the chasm, she managed before at last they had all landed safely, Holo quickly caring far more first for her horses, only to have the smells of the land fully surround her. "Welcome to the lands I call home." Alexia's voice stated as they landed, but Holo was a little concerned about the land itself, letting the others speak some, allowing the smells and senses of this world to come to them fully. For the most part, it was all clearly just a thick jungle filled land, the smell of water and trees heavy in the air, but below that there was also a strong scent of blood that had been spilled somewhat recently, not in the past day, but perhaps just a few days ago, and there was lots of the smell in the air.

While everyone could smell it though, for Red, the feeling was more then just a smell. Although Alexia hardly cared for blood magics herself, there was many advantages to it, like some added senses for those who learned to use them. If the bloodmage had taken the efforts to learn and use such senses, then he could feel the land was still ripe the blood wherever the water had not yet washed it away, if splattered a bit deep in the soil, this entire land having seen thousands of battles over the centuries.

"This land does have a bloody thirst to it yes. Anyone familiar with the rumors knows of the bears and boars here. While they can be easily taken care of, it is the predators that lay deeper within the lands who pose us a threat. Panthers and tigers are more concerning, but they tend to stalk their prey first. Stick close in a party and we'll be fine, they prefer to be a silent as possible and take out the stragglers. Even if you're looking for them, you're going to be hard put to follow them. I see them from time to time, but they never really jump you if they know you are aware of them. What does concern us are the raptors here. They are as big as any major mammoth and hunt in packs of six to thirty. The crusaders constantly send entire droves of their warriors out to find me. Raiding parties of a dozen or two dozen warriors and a few priests are the most common groups to be sent, but at times, the crusaders send a small war band out. The largest I know consisted of a little over two hundred crusaders. Parties like that get sent in almost every other month by one order or another, most of the time often aiding or accompanying crusaders from Zenos. Of all the crusaders sent here though to search for me, I can count the number to reach my home on just my hands alone. I find it amusing that of the seven who have made it to my home, that five of them were male slaves, not actual crusaders who made it my door step." Alexia explained slowly starting to move off along a barely visible trail, but making sure to give them all time to keep up and stick close, giving a small smile at the irony of her last sentence.

"The raptors are usually the first to start a fight, and then in the chaos other predators follow. They travel too noisily, attract far to much attention to themselves, make themselves easy prey for the raptors by trying to start a fight and run them off. We see a predator, we need to double our pace without trying to start a fight. They predators here will hunt us for a bit, before making any move. Thankfully the raptors only hunt the inner lands, so we won't have to worry about them long as long none of us bleed too much. The creatures here, they don't smell blood, but from what I can understand, they do see where blood will be slipped and that sets them into a frenzy. They have some kind of divining sense when it comes to knowing where a fight will break out and its never good. We just missed the blood moon so hopefully everything here will be sleeping that mess off which is why I was in a rush to get here so quickly. It will be the safest time we have to progress through the jungle." She explained, the others following along slowly. "As for the skies... the rules are simple. You fly, you die. Not much of a mess behind either, the air forcibly crushes you at first, and if that doesn't work, it takes more serious measures. Either way, the rules are clear. You can jump and fall without question, you can glide even. The air will let you scale and climb the walls the trees and even the crater walls as much as you want. You can hang ropes and swing from spot to spot, let yourself dangle from a rope anchored to something, but if you flat out try fly, to defy gravity entirely, you will suffer death. It doesn't matter the means of how you would fly. Magic, wings, science, its all same. I've seen mages try to hover in the air here and get suffocated, elder dragons have followed me and were ripped to shreds, helicopters just implode on themselves in shower of sparks and shrapnel. Gravity trains work, so that's how I know one can hover here, but I wouldn't risk it anymore then a few feet off the ground just to be safe. The trains are fine when they just rest a few feet off the ground like normal, but I've seen some of those heavy trains try to boost their power and just go over the trees. That was quite a display of fireworks. They must have been packing a full armored battalion in that train because I could see the explosions and hear the mess clean from my home in the middle of this land." Alexia explained as they walked, it having become very clear that any stress she had had before was entirely gone, even starting to walk with a bit of a comfort and ease, almost confidence in her body even, uncaring if someone saw. She did however make it a small point to keep her feet in at least some water, and so the blue glow she had shifted back and forth depending on how much water she was in at any given second.

"And what of this... this blood sensing ability? Do we need to be worried if we just so much as nick ourselves here? The smell of blood is already still lingering in the air after all." Holo asked once Alexia went quite, following along in her wagon slowly.

"My home is safe from the creatures once we make it. We need only worry about bleeding too much before we reach the coast. Its not the scent of blood that attracts them, its the action of bleeding. They see where blood is going to be spilled and that is what causes trouble. We have around 160 kilometers of land to cross before we make to the edges of the lake that surrounds my home. They won't cross the water." Alexia explained. "There should be a good stream up ahead that I've left a few small wooden barge like boats docked at a large pond that connects to the stream. It will let us make the trip the rest of the way with ease and fairly quickly. We'll take one and hopefully that will be that. Once we reach my home, it will be far easier to explain things properly. If you see any crusaders along our trip, I need a few alive... and in decent enough shape to walk and carry a message on their own. There should be a raiding party from Zenos in a week or two as well, so we'll snag a few of those survivors if we have to, but I need a few regardless. One will work, but most things really don't live long alone here in this world." She continued. "We can't stop now though. If you get tired, just drink some water. Go lightly. I don't know the full properties of the water as well as I would like even after all this time, but I can say for certain that the water will bring new life to you so to speak. It will help heal wounds, calm you, even repair many things if you leave them submerged. It doesn't work for cloth though. Leather and furs are washed extremely well in the waters, but they can still experience some form of water damages over time. It should keep us more then relaxed and fast enough to keep us going non-stop however." Alexia added.

"I... understand. I don't like this place though. I would be perfectly fine if we speed up a little. My horses may be work horses, but they can still hold their own in a race if it comes to that. They also seem to be sharing the same glow that you do yourself, is that the water at work?" Holo asked.

"It is. Non-sapient seem to be affected more quickly by the full effects of the water, for sapient, it takes some time for it to get started." Alexia said turning around.

"Very well. I don't trust this land, but I will stick to my words and the contract laid out by my trusted dragon. Hop in though, we're making this journey go by a bit faster. You can guide me or take the reigns if you so desire. I would feel safer on a boat here then on my own feet." Holo stated, Alexia nodding and allowing the others to get on.

"Very well, allow us to expedite this trip then." Alexia stated, looking over Holo, seeing how even the smallest sound made her ears turn a bit to track it, as well as watching her clearly smelling the air a bit. "We can move a bit faster, but I would say that its safer to still only exercise a quickened pace rather then race through here. Fending off one predator is easy, none of us really need to worry, but we should avoid getting into a real fight."