The Cloudfarers [A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure]

Cold fog streamed past Rylan's face, the sound of it almost enough to drown out the hum of the cloudcrank's whirling propellers. The wind was making his eyes water, so he risked letting go of one of the handles on the craft's wing to pull his cowl tighter around his head.

Even as he adjusted his clothes, however, his gaze never left the dark, foggy landscape passing by below at an alarming rate.

Dunes rose and fell, one mass indistinguishable from the next.

"Yuel," Rylan called out, unease gathering in the pit of his stomach. "How are we going to navigate under these conditions?"

"That's Naz's job!" the blonde former pirate called back. "Don't worry; there are landmarks we're looking for that should be visible even at night!"

"Thirty degrees starboard," Nazyr grunted in reply. "Pretty sure I can see the Crimson Pit!"

Frowning, Rylan turned his head to the right, where he spotted an orange glow in the distance.

Yuel banked the ship to the right, heading straight for it. As they approached, a kind of roaring noise and a rhythmic thumping became audible. Suddenly, they were above a crowd gathered on a ring of stands built into the sides of the surrounding dunes, all lit by sputtering torches. And in the middle of that crowd stood a large metal cage, where two fighters seemed to be duking it out bare-fisted on a floor of red sand.

[Whoa, so many people!] Arphin commented. [Oh! Watch out, Boss!]

The moment they'd appeared overhead, people had started to cheer and throw things. Most of it passed by harmlessly beneath them, but it was still only thanks to Arphin's warning that Rylan managed to duck in time to avoid the severed head of a fogfish.

"What the fog is going on here?" he yelled over the roaring crowd.

"Blood sports!" Yuel replied. "Best party in the slums, hosted once a week!"

"Terrible drinks though," Nazyr added. "Very watered down. If yer gonna go, make sure ye bring yer own! Also, twenty degrees more starboard from here."

The roar of the crowd faded just as quickly as it had come on after they passed over.

"Bloodsports? That can't be legal!" Leahna exclaimed, aghast.

"Nothing is legal about the slums," Yuel replied. "They're just being tolerated as the lesser evil, and the same goes for the Crimson Pits. The people need an outlet!"

[Maybe we should go down there to fight someday, Boss,] Arphin sent excitedly. [Show those people what we're capable of!]

'I don't think that would be a very fair match, Arphin,' Rylan sent back. 'Those people aren't Quinthar. Also, I'm supposed to lay low, remember?'

[Right right... Well, maybe we can fight some Quinthar in an arena setting someday then, after your bounty has been cleared. Wouldn't that be cool?]

'For a friendly sparring match, maybe,' Rylan agreed. 'I don't really want to hurt anybody that I don't have a grudge against.'

[Right, because people can have 'pain' and that's bad,] Arphin replied understandingly. [Being a human must be so complicated; there's so many things to take into consideration!]

'Tell me about it.'

The next landmark soon showed up, only slightly more portside than their heading: a forest of mushrooms with large purple caps that spread a faint reddish-purple glow.

"What happened here?" Rylan called over the rushing air. "This doesn't look natural..."

"Oh, I think this is where a massive Ruby-Grade Malequint died a few years ago!" Leahna called back. "It attacked the city, sticking its head out of the clouds to shoot beams of light out of its mouth. Then all three of Cliffport's Ruby-Grade Quinthar came out and killed it together!"

[Whoa,] Arphin muttered. [Boss, there's like, bones beneath those mushrooms. Really big ones!]

"What she said," Yuel agreed, lightly panting from exertion. "Real shame we missed it; it sounded like a spectacular battle! Anyway, the mushrooms that grew on its corpse appear to have absorbed some Aurorium, and now they serve as a great waypoint for caravans and the like!"

"Fifteen degrees to port from here," Nazyr declared, prompting Yuel to bank slightly to the left. "Next one's the final landmark. It's a bit far, but ye can't miss it; it's a kelp forest!"

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Roger that!"

Even without obvious landmarks, there was still plenty to see within the fog.

They had to swerve around a swarm of glowing pink jellyfloats, only to be met by a frightened school of fish which flitted away from them.

For a while, the school swam straight ahead, creating mesmerising patterns as they showed off their ability to move in unison. Finally, however, they darted off to the right and disappeared into the fog.

[Boss, there's something going on up ahead,] Arphin cautioned about a minute later. [Some creatures are fighting to the right of our path, though I can't make out what exactly!]

"Arphin says there's something floating up ahead, starboard side!" Rylan passed on to Yuel.

"Thanks for the heads up!"

Rylan squinted into the fog, barely able to make out a dark shape against the ambient light from the moons and stars above that permeated the fog.

As they got closer, the shape finally resolved itself into that of a massive butterfly ray.

The gentle filter feeder seemed agitated, its thick buoyant wings flapping and undulating hard, then it suddenly dove, sweeping its tail behind it right as a dark shape came swooping in.

The predatory streak of darkness juked aside at the last moment, avoiding the ray's barbed tail before disappearing into the fog below.

As the diving manta faded from view as well, a silence fell over the craft, broken only by the rushing fog, the steady whirring of the propellers, and the rhythmic creaking of pedals. For a moment, everyone seemed to be holding their breath.

That ray was almost as big as the cloudcrank. Let's hope whatever's hunting it doesn't decide to—

[Big Sis!] Arphin urgently called out. [Watch out!]

Leahna let out a shriek as she ducked down. A flash of white burst off as something swept by and raked her, the light painting a momentary silhouette of leathery black wings, before the predator flapped out of view again, letting out a high-pitched screech that made Rylan wince.

"Fog, it's a giant mistbat!" Yuel called out. "We have to lose it!"

Nazyr cursed, the propellers speeding up as they both started pedalling harder.

Mistbats were one of the main reasons caravans tended not to travel through the cloudsea at night. While the nocturnal creatures mainly preyed on medium-sized animals like seals and sheep, mistbats were fully capable of swooping in and grabbing an unsuspecting human and carrying them off into the floaty fog.

If you were taken, the bat would proceed to bite down into your neck mid-flight and suck out a considerable quantity of blood. Then it would unceremoniously drop you again, usually from considerable height.

It did not strike Rylan as a particularly pleasant way to go.

It fortunately wasn't a Malequint. Though that did mean Rylan had little chance of tracking it through the fog.

Thankfully, he had Arphin.

'Can you get a bead on it?' he sent to his spiritgear.

[I'm tracking it, Boss!]

'Perfect. Let me know when it approaches again.'

He let go of the handle to his left and grabbed the rope anchoring him to the fuselage instead, pulling it taut. It would have to be enough.

He planted both feet firmly on the woven kelp stretched across the wing, and pushed himself upright in a single go. The fog streaming at him pushed hard against his chest. He clutched the rope, but felt himself getting pulled towards the fuselage. He stumbled, but got his feet back underneath him, and suddenly he was standing.

[Boss!] Arphin warned. [It's coming!]

Cursing, Rylan drew one of his throwing knives, activating his Skill with a flex of his spirit.

Arphin was feeding him a stream of impressions of a large creature, flapping its wings through the fog, circling them.

Raising his arm, Rylan turned slightly to the right, tracking its position as best he could without seeing it himself.

The creature started its approach. Right as Rylan prepared to launch his blade, however, a sense of panic came through the connection, followed by the impression of a large floating creature, right in the cloudcrank's path.

Rylan froze, his eyes widening. "Whale!" he shouted. "Yuel, there's a whale straight ahead!"

The cloudcrank had picked up a lot of speed, and a large, dark form loomed out of the fog even before he finished his sentence. A huge fin stretched to the side of a massive torso, which had two distinct bulges on top. A twincavum whale.

Not again!

Thankfully, Yuel didn't hesitate a second.

The cloudcrank's nose dove down, and Rylan found himself fogborne above the wing he'd been standing on.

The bat swooped in from the right, its claws stretched towards him. Rylan saw a flash of sharp teeth. Then the rope lost its slack, and he was abruptly yanked down, causing the predator to miss and shoot by overhead.

A flash of white erupted from Rylan's Mana Shell as he smacked into the plane's fuselage. He was somehow still holding on to the rope, though it didn't help him much, as he was rotating uncontrollably, somehow having ended up hanging beneath the wing.

He finally managed to grab on to something and stabilise himself, only to be treated to the sight of rocks approaching at high speed.

"PULL UP, PULL UP!" he screamed.

"I'm trying!" Yuel shouted back.

The cloudcrank was pulling up, it just wasn't going fast enough. As Rylan braced for impact, however, an orb of yellow light came flashing by. A sudden gust followed, pushing into the wings from below.

It was enough. Rylan's legs passed over a jagged ridge with inches to spare.

[Go Izzy!] Arphin cheered.

Blowing out a breath, Rylan started hoisting himself back onto the wing, first getting one of his hands on a handle, then swinging a leg over the wing, and finally pushing himself up onto his knees.

But they weren't out of the haze yet.

[Incoming!] Arphin warned, sending along another stream of impressions.

The fogging bat was still hunting them.

Cursing, Rylan struggled to get up on the wing again, managing to get one foot under him, but not daring to let go of any handles to draw a knife just yet.

He'd barely gotten his bearings when the bat showed up straight in front of him, black wings unfurled and maw full of sharp teeth wide open, like a creature straight out of a nightmare.

Then a streak of white pierced the fog, and a glowing arrow sank deep into the creature's stomach.

"Take that, you stupid bat!" Leahna shouted triumphantly.

In response, the bat let out an ear-piercing screech, still headed straight for Rylan.

However, just because he wasn't holding any knives, that didn't mean he was defenceless. Time to finish this!

Activating his Jump Skill, Rylan leapt off of the wing, straight towards the giant mistbat.