Once Song had stopped playing, and the group was ready, they headed for the first island.

  It was around a hundred meters away and the size of a small house, so they would all be able to stand on it but not have much moving room. They had devised four different strategies for crossing the air and reaching the floating rock.

  The first strategy was for Kai to conjure a large water ball and float it to the island with people inside. The only downside: this would use a large amount of aether, and he would need to rest and eat after several uses.

  The second strategy required either Baal or Vaal to manipulate the cliff and create a bridge to the first island and then try to make it float from there.

  The problem with this was whether they would have enough reserves as both had less than half compatibility with their bondshroom and were already low from the ambush.

  The third strategy was to use Beri’s Float spell and have her carry each person across one by one. Unfortunately, she only had one spell and lacked the materials needed to make another. Her spell would break after half a cycle; however, as it would last a while and could be an emergency option if anyone fell, she was reluctant to use it.

  The last strategy was for Kai to summon a strong wind and just push everyone to the island.

  Thanks to the Taoshroom and his bonded Wetshroom, he was able to recover his aether through simply breathing the moisture in the air.

  The danger with this would be that their strongest member wouldn’t have the ability to fight in the air while carrying everyone. Furthermore, as everyone would have to be holding each other and spread out, Myst would be unable to cast any spells without risking hitting someone else. This strategy would effectively disable both high-level combatants.

  Each had their pros and cons, but eventually, they decided that it would be safer have Kai float them across in groups with Myst watching and ready to react to any danger. If Kai floated Myst on her own after everyone else was safe, then she could still attack as long as they didn’t block her line of sight.

  Kai carried Song and the twins over first, and they tried to see if they could move the large rock, to no avail.

  Next, he returned and brought Harold, Lily, and Beri. Beri nearly fell off the edge when they reached the floating rock, as it almost tipped over from the sudden weight shift.

  Lastly, Myst was carried over without any problems. The entire trip had taken a few minutes and only cost Kai a little aether. He could recover that amount after a few minutes of meditation.

  They continued this for the next few hours, crossing nearly a hundred floating islands. The largest of which required them to walk for long enough that Kai recovered his aether levels to full.

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  The smallest one caused a problem as it was unable to handle Lily’s weight when Kai dropped her down, and it started to fall into the grey mist below. A quick reaction and one wind-propelled dive later, the girl was saved and snuggling into her saviour's arms, refusing to be let go.

  At least until the others pointed out that they were stranded for as long as she continued to flirt in Kai’s arms, causing Kai to put her down.

  “Have you noticed it?”

  Harold turned to look at the sorceress.

  “Noticed what?”

  “The islands are slowly getting lower, and they’re gradually getting larger. We haven’t seen anything smaller than a four-person size for at least an hour.”

  The old man looked around and confirmed Myst’s thoughts. He found it strange they seemed to be guided to descend into the grey mist below. Was there something in the floating islands that was weighing them down, or was it something near the waterfall that pulled them up?

  The two shared their thoughts when Kai came to pick the old man up a few moments later.

  “It could be anything. We don’t know anything about this layer of the Twin Seas. For all we know, this could be a permanent or a temporary thing. Personally, if we are slowly falling, then I want to find solid ground again - and fast.”

  The pair agreed with the powerful shaman, and the group began to hurry their travels.

  A few hours later, they were crossing a large island roughly the size of a city. They had been walking for nearly an hour and were almost at the other side.

  Kai’s aether levels hadn’t fallen much as he was focusing on replenishing them as he went along. However, the further they travelled from the waterfall, the less moisture in the air and, thus, the slower his recovery.

  At this pace, he would likely start having problems by the end of the day with his recovery being too slow to afford to carry multiple people at a time. This would inevitably slow the whole group down and cause more problems.

  As they approached the edge of the large island, they all stopped.

  There was nothing.

  The chain of islands had disappeared.

  “Well, that’s not good…”

  Several members turned to the old man before he continued to speak.

  “Where to now, Leader?”

  Kai’s eyebrows crunched up as he tried to think of a solution. There was no more land ahead, and going back wasn’t an option as they hadn’t seen anything to eat, nor any other paths above the mist.

  “No other choice…”

  Kai turned to the youngest member and spoke, his tone heavy and full of foreboding.

  “Use your last divination spell, Beri. We need a new direction.”

  The young girl’s shoulders shook for a brief moment at the realisation of what that would mean. She only had two spells remaining, one divination and one float spell.

  If the float spell was a spell that could have saved one person, then her divination spell was something that could have saved all of them.

  Once it was used up, they would have to follow this path to the end - regardless of the cost.

  Beri reached into her hip bag and pulled out a small wooden carving of a bird. She held it tightly for a brief moment before her hesitation gave way, and she crushed the carving, activating their last lifeline.