In the forests of Kliffwood, three forms flew towards the mountain off in the distance with renewed vigor. Maxwell rode his Moa, weaving in between trees and rocks, and Aeris and Matilda flew as fast as their wings could take them. Suddenly, Maxwell saw something that made him slide to a stop. Aeris and Matilda kept going, but Maxwell came to a grinding halt where the forest ended at a sheer drop. The next island over was hundreds of blocks away, charred and blackened by the eruptions of Vulcaneum. He shouted to Aeris and Matilda,
"Hey! Wait!"
Aeris and Matilda stopped and turned around. Maxwell sat there on his Moa. He shouted,
"What about me?"
Aeris looked at Matilda, and said,
"Think you could use your powers to get him across?"
Matilda replied,
"I don't need to. There's clouds everywhere."
Maxwell looked around. Sure enough, there were white, blue, and golden clouds scattered around the gap. Maxwell said,
"Yeah. So what?"
"You can jump across them."
Maxwell looked at the cloud in front of him
"You mean you can actually stand on these things?"
Matilda nodded,and said,
"Yeah…now come on!"
Maxwell looked at a white cloud a few blocks in front of him. Needless to say, he was nervous. Walking on clouds? Wasn't that impossible? And the Aether was above cloud level! How did he know that these were really clouds?* Still, Matilda hadn't lied to him yet. He might as well try, but he'll save some of the Moa's energy in case he had to fly back. He slowly edged to the end of the cliff. He kept telling himself to not look down. He looked at the cloud a few blocks in front of him. It was pure white. He flew the Moa over, and gently, ever so gently, landed on it. It began to sink, and Maxwell's heart raced as he looked through the transparent cloud, to see the earth thousands of blocks down below him. He sank almost a block into the cloud before he finally stopped moving. He loosened his grip on the Moa's reins. He breathed a sigh of relief, and grinned. He looked to Aeris and Matilda. Matilda smiled, and gestured for him to come on. Maxwell flew over to another cloud. He sank again, and stopped. He flew to another, and another. Soon, he was making good progress across the gap, accompanied by Aeris and Matilda. He flew from cloud to cloud, and as he flew, he noticed that there was a different one in his path. It was blue! Was it any different from the others, or was it just blue for some reason? He flew his Moa over it, and Matilda saw him about to land on it. Her eyes widened, she held out her hands, and said,
"Wait, don't land on the blue-"
Before she could finish, Maxwell had landed on it. In an instant, Maxwell shot into the sky, screaming. The Moa squawked in surprise as Maxwell and his Moa were separated, tumbling through the air. They fell back down to the cloud, and were shot back up once more, but something was wrong. They had gone off at an angle. They weren't going to land on a cloud this time. Matilda quickly held out her hand, and pulled a white Aercloud under Maxwell, and Maxwell and his Moa landed softly on it. Matilda and Aeris flew over to Maxwell, who was only just starting to sit up. Matilda helped him up, asking,
"Are you okay?"
Maxwell replied,
"Well, I think my heart may have mildly stopped, but other than that, I'm fine."
Matilda sighed in relief. They just stood there for a moment. Then, Aeris stifled a laugh. Then, she giggled. Matilda felt a smile tugging at her cheeks. Maxwell was starting to smile too. Matilda, struggling to stop herself, said,
"This isn't funny, guys!"
Her voice started to waver as she said it, and before long, all of them were rolling on the cloud, laughing hysterically. The Moa just stood above them, and started to preen it's feathers. After they could finally talk again, Aeris wiped the tears from her eyes, and sat up. Maxwell sat up after her, and as Matilda sat up, he said,
"But seriously, though, good catch with the cloud."
"Thanks.", Matilda replied.
The sat there, watching the view in silence for a few minutes. Aeris looked to the sky, and said,
"Does the sun look like it's moved to you?"
Maxwell and Matilda looked up, and Maxwell said,
"Hard to tell, really. We haven't come that far."
Aeris cocked an eyebrow, and said,
"If it took us this long to get here, and the sun's only moved that much, how are we going to get to the other side of the Aether?!"
Maxwell replied,
"Well, the note from Mercury said that we need a Nether portal. My-"
"Wait, the Nether?!"
"Yeah. Why?"
Matilda looked at Maxwell, and said,
"The Nether is this mythical place that's the polar oppositeof the Aether. Are you talking about the same one?"
Maxwell nodded. Aeris grinned, and said,
"It exists?!"
Maxwell continued,
"Yeah. We use it for transportation. We found out that if you ignite the inside of a ring of Obsidian, you can go to the Nether. Normally, it was a forbidden zone, a no-man's land. But then we discovered something. There was a guy who got separated from his portal in the Nether, and in a last ditch effort to get home, he used the Obsidian he had to get back home. When he came back, he was eight times farther from the portal than he had traveled in the Nether. That's when we made the connection. We built a network of portals, and we use it to get from place to place. My guess is, we can use it to get to Gravitite's base with it."
Aeris grinned even wider, and said,
"Awesome!"
Matilda asked,
"But how will we know where to build the exit portal?"
Maxwell shrugged, and said,
"I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there."
Suddenly, Maxwell heard a noise. It was a deep, resonant wailing noise. It went on for a full two seconds, and Maxwell could hear it getting closer. As he windered what it was, he saw Aeris getting up, and walking to the edge of the cloud. Then, suddenly, a giant flying whale flew straight up past them! It was a pale blue, with gold lines around their eyes, and white markings right below the grey on the tops of their bodies. Maxwell stared as several more followed behind it, and they leveled out and flew across the Aether in a giant group. Aeris said,
"It's a pod of Aerwhales!"
Maxwell watched as one of the young ones broke away from the group. It slowly floated over to him, and nudged him with it's giant muzzle. Maxwell was pushed back a couple of feet, and the sudden movement startled the creature. One of the older ones noticed, and floated over, nudging the young Aerwhale back towards the pod. It reluctantly flew away from these three odd looking creatures, and in a few waves of it's massive tail, it was back alongside it's mother. It playfully pushed under her flipper with it's head. A hissing noise came out of the mother's blowhole, releasing a stream of white Aerclouds behind it. Maxwell sat back in wonder. Matilda said,
"They're beautiful."
Aeris nodded, and said,
"They can outlive Valkyries, you know. They can live for thousands of years."
She shook her head, and said,
"Man. If those things could talk."
Maxwell was silent for a moment. As he watched the pod passing by them, he said,
"I wish every day was like this."
He turned to Matilda and said,
"When all of this blows over, what do you think you'll be doing?"
Matilda thought. Then, she said,
"Well, I think that my normal life is pretty much over."
"Yeah, and you have a pretty long life ahead of you. Compared to me, at least. Humans only live for 100 years, if they're extremely lucky."
"Really? That must stink."
Maxwell nodded. Then, he said,
"But that gets me thinking. If I'm not even a Valkyrie, how am I going to be the Gilded Valkyrie?"
Aeris said,
"Well...maybe not, but the prophecy did specifically say 'One with no wings', so there's gotta be a reason."
"Yeah...you're probably right."
Aeris sat down again, and asked Maxwell,
"So. What do you plan on doing after this?"
"I dunno. It sure looks like I'm set to be here for a while. I guess I'll just make it up as I go."
Maxwell looked at the sun to tell the time. Then he remembered that the sun didn't move up here. What time was it? They had only defeated Hermia that morning, and they had been walking for a few hours...Maxwell looked to the island, and saw the giant face of Vulcaneum in the distance. They should probably get going. Maxwell pushed himself to his feet, and said to Aeris and Matilda,
"Well, we should probably keep going. We've gotta get to Vulcaneum before it gets late."
Matilda nodded, and said,
"I agree. Break time's over."
Aeris sighed, and stood up. Maxwell mounted his Moa, and flew to the next cloud over. Matilda and Aeris spread their wings, and took off. They caught up with the pod of Aerwhales as they flew, and the giant creatures watched as the rushed past them. The baby let out a deep, bellowing song as the trio passed them. Aeris waved as they flew towards Vulcaneum.
The two massive Zanite doors blocking the entrance to the giant mountain towered over them, like giants guarding a hoard of treasure. They were elaborately carved, with depictions of Aerwhales, Valkyries, and Moas covering their worn purple surfaces. Despite their intimidating appearance, Maxwell was surprised that they were still intact. Didn't the Cockatrices destroy this place? Maxwell walked up to the doorway, flanked by Aeris and Matilda. Maxwell turned to Matilda, and said,
"Think your powers can make a dent in it?"
Matilda replied warily,
"I can try."
She closed her eyes, and raised her hand. Maxwell looked behind them, and saw one of the waterfalls coming out of one of the islands behind them contorting, and bending towards them. Matilda opened her eyes, and said,
"You may want to step aside."
Maxwell and Aeris quickly moved away, amd Matilda thrust her hand forward. The waterfall blasted forward in a concentrated stream, and pounded againt the Zanite doors. She kept going until there was no water left in the waterfall to use, and let what was left run down. After she caught her breath, her eyes widened, and she cocked an eyebrow.
"What?"
She said. There was some damage, but barely! Some of the carvings were worn down, but this was some incredibly strong Zanite! She looked at her hands, and said,
"I don't understand! Blasts of water were used to etchthings like this!"
Maxwell said,
"Those ancient blacksmiths never missed a trick, did they?"
Aeris said,
"Never. They knew how to harden average materials to more than five times their normal resilience. It's why their armors are so legendary."
Maxwell rubbed his forehead, and he thought. The Cockatrices had to get in somehow, but it definitely wasn't through this door. Thenn, he made another snapping noise with his hand. Of course! He jumped on his Moa, and said to Aeris and Matilda,
"Follow me!"
He ran away from the door. Aeris and Matilda looked at each other, shrugged, and followed Maxwell. Maxwell flew his Moa, and tried to fly up the side of the mountain. However, the Moa just didn't have the energy to make it up the mountain, and whenever it tried to grip the side, the rock was too steep, and it slid back down to the ground. After the third attempt, it just laid on the ground, panting. Maxwell got up. Aeris said,
"We're gonna have to leave the Moa."
Maxwell sighed.
Matilda set Maxwell on the edge of the gaping hole on the top of the volcano. Maxwell said,
"Just like I thought! This is our entrance!"
Aeris scratched her head, and said,
"But I don't get it. Wouldn't the smiths take that into account? Why didn't they block the top?
Maxwell replied,
"If they blocked up the top, they would block out any air, or the top would blow off from the expansion of the hot air inside. The best they could do was fortify it with guards, but..."
Maxwell gestured to a pile of severely damaged armor scattered across the mountain.
"The Cockatrices got past that when they took over."
Aeris said,
"Do you think they're still in there? The Cockatrices?"
Maxwell shook his head, and said,
"There's no food sources for miles around. That would never support an animal that multiplies as fast as they do."
Maxwell looked down. He saw the bottom of the Volcano, a giant pit of lava, and two bridges crossing above it. They led to the edges of the mountain, where homes were carved into the sides, clad with Zanite, with no windows. Doubtlessly to protect the blacksmiths from eruptions. Maxwell said,
"Alright. Lower me in."
Maxwell's feet hit the warm floor of the intersection between the two bridges. He looked around, and drew his sword. He didn't expect any trouble, but you never knew. Matilda drew her sword, and asked,
"Hey Maxwell?"
"Yeah?"
"The note said that the weapon's true power would come with the gem, right?"
"Last I checked."
"Then why are my sword and knives still only iron?"
"I dunno. Maybe there's more to them than that."
"How do you know."
Maxwell shrugged, and said,
"I don't."
Suddenly, Maxwell heard something. Footsteps. Maxwell, Aeris, and Matilda looked behind them, and they saw hundreds of yellow eyes staring back at them. Cockatrice eyes. Maxwell brandished his sword, and said,
"But it looks like it's time to find out!"
* Maxwell's inquiry in this matter was absolutely not without foundation. Clouds found in the Aether are not clouds, but Aerclouds, which is what the Aerwhales spew out of their blowholes when they're in the Aether. They don't look too dissimilar from normal whales, except for the fact that they fly. They're also massively resilient, able to generate enough light gas inside them to "Dive" through the vacuum below the Aether, and enter Earth's atmosphere, where they feed off of Earth's clouds, (Filter feeding for the microorganisms that live in clouds) and return to the Aether, where they blow the byproduct out of their blowholes, mixed with the whale's mucous proteins in the blowhole, (What? Whales have snot too.) And it expands, becomes semi-solid, and begins to float as an Aercloud. Occasionally, the whale will leave some microorganisms behind, and if one of the types multiplies in the cloud and becomes the only type in the Aercloud, it can change it's properties, which can lead to…interesting results.