Horizon Walkers (Game Thread) Dead

[hiei82]

Ai was about to answer the Princess when she was faced with a rather sudden change in events. First had been the discovery of the dead cat-creature. This would normally have been of little concern were it not for the giant spider webs in which it was caught. "If it's willing and able to catch such a creature, then it's able to do the same to us." Ai thought to herself, remembering the factoid for later. She might have added it as a note to her log were it not for the arrival of the strange reptilian-looking man screaming "GIANT SPIDER ON MY ASS KILL IT!"

Never one to let a warning go unaddressed, she quickly reached down to her belt and pulled forth both her sword and one of her Mutagens. Downing the chemical concoction, she felt her muscles come to life. Her otherwise normal limbs grew in size; becoming stronger and faster than normal. As the first spiders arrived, she was going to engage but the Horizon saw fit to send more than one at them. From the tree with the cat, another gigantic spider leapt forth. A third spider made itself known from another direction where an old settlement appeared to be.

Realizing this was no time to be conservative, she pulled forth another bottle - this one a Cognatogen - and tossed it back without a second thought. Almost at once, the world seemed to slow. The spiders were still rushing at her, but she could see their every movement in clear detail. Normally in this state, she too would feel slow and bewilderingly weak, but thanks to the Mutagen she could move with ease exactly as she wanted.

Ai could see the others preparing their own defenses; mostly attempts to scare or deter the spiders. The princess was trying to talk to them. Ai had no such ability. The only way she could stop them was through the sword. IF she had time, she might have been able to prepare some kind of repellant, but she had neither the ingredients nor the knowledge of what would work on these spiders.

Ai rushed at the spider from the settlement but stopped before reaching it. All she'd intended to do was give herself room to fight and - if necessary - retreat. Once the spider was in range, Ai struck with her sword. Her form was perfect, though it was an unfamiliar creature to fight. She didn't know everything it could do, but if it was like a normal spider she just needed to avoid their bites and anything that came out of their mouth or thorax. So, keeping her distance, she used thrusting motions with her sword to aim for vital areas; particularly it's many many eyes.

 

[Josh123914]

The spider edged closer to Nettil, spewing more toxic acid at her. In response, she stood up and flung a chunk of her cobblestone wall at the beast. The block of stone stunned the spider, which gave Nettil just enough time to ready her spear and shoot a deadly blow to the monster.

Spinning around, she assessed the rest of the situation. The woman called Ai ran towards the settlement and began to literally cut her way through a spider. This kills it.
Meanwhile, their new arrival successfully shot the other spider in a leg, but now that one has decided to retreat back into the jungle, since its comrades both now lay dead.

The area was now very quiet. The faint wind left jungle leaves rustling, but again, there were no noises of wildlife. The settlement ahead seemed to have 3 distinct points of interest. One was a large tented eating area, that seemed capable of holding several dozen people if need be. The second was a building on stilts with some sort of sentry on its roof and some dried ink spilling out of a window. The final place of note was the artificial pond in the middle of the settlement. It had a faint blue glow to it, and several natural streams appeared to flow into it, only for the water to be caught in the hole.

Nettil now looked over to the new person, and asked very cautiously, "Who are you? And what were those?"

 

[DarkRawen]

Iura chose to stand back while the others fought. It was partly because he did not think that the spiders deserved to be killed -surely the group were the ones trespassing, not the spiders-, but also so that he could gauge the others' abilities. While Iuratus was not really impressed by the newcomer or this Nettil, their abilities seemed to surpass those of regular mortals. They were just not... that much. The swordplay of Ai, however, caught his eye, it was impeccable.

I wonder how she learned that. I'll have to ask later.

Regardless of their skills, it did not seem like he needed to help them, which meant he did not have to attack spiders that were likely acting out of fear, not anger. That much was a good thing. The surviving spider would do well, given that even Iuratus knew of a spider's ability to regenerate their legs.

I do wonder how anyone could think they would reply. Spiders cannot talk, as far as I know.

He wondered if the any of the people who had been fighting was hurt, but it was not his place to interrupt a conversation to ask. Therefore, instead of walking over to the stranger, Iuratus walked past them, and towards the settlement there. He did take a moment to give a nod to Ai, though, if only out of respect. Then his eyes wandered over to the water, it was glowing blue the same way his eyes did.

"What is this?" he wondered aloud, sword pointed at the odd colour of the water. "Some kind of magic, perhaps?" Iuratus got closer, curiously examining this strange phenomena. Removing his gauntlet, he carefully ran a hand through the water, head tilted towards the water. He was looking for some kind of magic in it.

 

[IFS]

One of the others attempted to speak with the spider, only for another two of the creatures to drop down from above. How did I miss them? Myrreh wondered briefly, her instincts and senses were as sharp as ever, perhaps the new environment was simply throwing her off. At any rate the spiders, their numbers now bolstered, moved to attack but were swiftly driven away by the others. Myrreh had drawn her sword when the spiders attacked but in the end it proved unnecessary for her to involve herself. After all she didn't find herself overly troubled by the fates of these strangers and the spiders had not managed to threaten her family.

Of the strangers only one had been particularly impressive in the fight, Ai, the teacher. Did she mention what subject she specialized in? Perhaps it was swordplay. In fact Ai's technique likely equaled or perhaps even exceeded that of some of the more talented duelists she had seen in the city. But then the spiders had not seemed especially challenging or dangerous foes, they were little more than animals (though she supposed that was true of most things).

"Some kind of magic, perhaps?"

Magic. Magic was simply a power that one could not understand, far too broad of a blanket for Myrreh's liking. There were any number of chemicals or organisms that could illuminate such a puddle, why would one jump to magic as an explanation? The puddle might bear more looking into, but she was certain she could discover a simpler causative agent.

"Perhaps some sort of glowing algae or other life," she suggested "or some chemical leaking up from the ground below."

She sniffed the air, trying to detect anything anomalous. Did this village have much to offer them, she wondered. If it could even be called a village that was. Perhaps they might be better off stripping it for whatever might help then moving on. The others could stay if they wished, so far she saw no reason for her family to remain for long.

 

[DarkRawen]

"Perhaps some sort of glowing algae or other life, or some chemical leaking up from the ground below."

The masked one walked up him, and Iuratus looked at her. "Chemical? Like... alchimia? I believe the humans back home call it alchemy. Is that it?" he asked, puzzled. "I have to admit that I am not that familiar with some of the terms used by mankind. Chemical..." he looked at the water again, glowing gently.

"How could we know if it are these chemicals of yours? Or algae?" He then put his gauntlet on, shaking his head.

I cannot allow myself to become too curious.

"Magic or alchemy, it matters little. In the end, what we need to know is what it could do, or if we need it. We must be careful not to disrupt the flow or ruining the glow. I quite like it, it reminds me of home," Iura continued, remembering water flowing from the sky-city down to the earth, like a long waterfall, or a ladder too fleeting to climb. Of course, that water did not have a glow like this. Calmly, he relaxed, though the voice of one of the others made him alert again.


"Hello? Don't supposed you'd know where we are would you?"

"Is there someone up there?" Iuratus asked, and tried to look into the tower Jensa was looking at. Given his naturally sharp eyesight, he would should be able to see if them if so.

 

[booksv3]

Turning towards the one who was talking to him and frowning at it Hissa very slowly lets his bow go to a ready position with the string straight and not pulled back like it had been. Looking it over he sighs and pulls the arrow from the string, letting it drop back into the quiver as he answers.
"My name is Hissa and those were spiders, though that is pretty obvious."

Walking past the one talking to him Hissa jerks the arrows sticking from the spider body and grumbles at the goo on them, but drops them into the quiver also before turning back and looking over the group that still stands around.
"Your the leader of this group? Seems they don't follow you that well. Who are you?"

 

[hiei82]

Once the spider went down, Ai almost immediately went to work collecting ingredients. Venom rarely lasted long before it broke down. It was just a part of the nature of the substance. Venom needed to be highly reactive to kill quickly and effectively and so it quickly reacted with the environment when the spider's own defenses broke down. Toward that end, that was where she started with her harvest. Pulling out a pair of leather gloves, she carefully milked the venom into one of her many empty flasks.

Very early in the process, the warrior Iuratus nodded as he passed from the battle and into the town. Ai wasn't sure why he did so, but she suspected it had to do with her fighting the spider. Ai returned the action in kind before continuing with her task. Specifically, she followed a similar process for the spider's acidic spit and silk gland collecting what useful material she could. In the end, she had a flask of the venom, three vials of the acid, a vial of adhesive, and a large bag of now-adhesive-free silk

She briefly considered turning to the other spiders but decided against it. Her container supply wasn't unlimited and she never knew what they'd encounter next. Further, it was probably a poor idea to remain on the outskirts while the rest of the group was in the settlement.

She made her way into the settlement just in time to hear Iuratus speak. "Magic or alchemy, it matters little. In the end, what we need to know is what it could do, or if we need it. We must be careful not to disrupt the flow or ruining the glow. I quite like it, it reminds me of home,". Hearing her specialty mentioned, Ai made her way over to the glowing lake. "I might be able to identify it; almost certainly if it's an alchemical process." she offered, looking at the lake.

To illustrate the point, she put down her backpack and opened it to reveal the portable alchemical lab to those present. "Identifying useful alchemical ingredients is half the reason I'm on this journey." she added with a small smile. "And don't worry; I'll only take a small sample for testing; it shouldn't disrupt the lake as a whole." she added to reassure Iuratus.

From there, she turned her attention to the lake; trusting Iuratus and all of the other dedicated warriors to the phantom sentry. "Nettil! If you're not busy, would you help me with the tests; I'm sure your knowledge as a herbalist would expedite the analysis."

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

As another approached, fighting broke, apparently spiders were chasing it. Odd things that looked unnatural but didn't feel it. Kyras watched as others moved into action faster than he did. He noticed Ai again, moving with an odd and impressive speed. Curious. He watched and followed as the other moved towards a nearby settlement. Abandoned it seemed. An odd glowing pool of what he thought to be water in the center. Some of the others were talking about it, wondering about it.

As he started to approach he heard Jensa shout at something "Hello? Don't supposed you'd know where we are would you?"

Kyras turned his attention from the pool and looked where Jensa was looking, trying to spot a person, he asked Jensa "Is someone up there?" wondering if she had seen something he didn't.

 

[Josh123914]

"My name is Hissa and those were spiders, though that is pretty obvious."
"I was hoping you would have more information" She grumbled, folding her arms at the lizardman.

"Your the leader of this group? Seems they don't follow you that well. Who are you?"
"My name is Nettil, and no, I don't claim to be their leader. Besides you did quite well with that spider" She decided to complement him rather than get hung over on his veiled insult.

Jensa's calling at the stilted building was met with silence. Nettil considered going over to it, but would rather check the water. So there she went, taking a wineskin from her bag to fill.
"I hope this water is drinkable" she told Hissa. "How long have you been here?"
But as soon as she got the words out, she heard someone calling her name;
"Nettil! If you're not busy, would you help me with the tests; I'm sure your knowledge as a herbalist would expedite the analysis."
It was Ai. "Just a minute!" Nettil stood up and looked back to Hissa. "You were saying?"

Meanwhile, the palms of Kyras' hands became itchy went red, with portions of skin began to flake off.
In a few moments Jensa would feel the same, not only on her hands, but in her throat and face as well.

 

[booksv3]

"My name is Nettil, and no, I don't claim to be their leader. Besides you did quite well with that spider.

Nodding and looking around as the group starts to slowly split up Hissa unstring's his bow as he answers her, coiling the string and slipping it back into its pouch.
"Most things will run if they find a limb not working anymore. They don't go down with one shot this time, but i am not sure where the vitals are on these things. I don't have more information on them, just that they are very big and seem to spit some kind of acid."

Wincing and turning himself to look at his own back he looks at the few burned points on it.

How long have you been here?
"A day, not long. I came through and left for the jungle right away, no reason to step into that over there right away if i do not need to. First time seeing the spiders through."

You were saying?"
"You say your not their leader but looking at it they call on you for help."

Hissa looks at Nettil almost distrusting as the evidence in his eyes contradicts her statement.

 

[DarkRawen]

"I might be able to identify it; almost certainly if it's an alchemical process. Identifying useful alchemical ingredients is half the reason I'm on this journey. And don't worry; I'll only take a small sample for testing; it shouldn't disrupt the lake as a whole."

"I see, that is good," Iura said, and sat down next to the water, deciding to stay. There was no reply from the tower, whoever Jensa had thought she seen, did not want to speak. Iuratus could not see anyone either. Besides, he wanted to see what Ai would do, and how Nettil could aid her. The tools Ai had brought earned a tilted head, Iuratus was curious about what purpose they served.

"You say your not their leader but looking at it they call on you for help."

While Iura had not intended to listen in on someone else's conversation, Nettil and the newest arrival had come closer to the water, and it was unavoidable.

"Being called upon for aid is not proof of one's leadership," Iura said to the newcomer. He had to admit, he did not like the idea of Nettil being the leader, she seemed a bit too arrogant to fit. Everyone had minor flaws, but arrogance was one that could get people killed.

"I do not think there is a leader yet," he added, it had not seemed like that from when they entered. A united group would not engage in discussion back and forth while facing a possibly dangerous situation.

Not that I always agreed with Justine or Justin.

Between them, however, it was friendly banter. Besides, no one had been the leader when he had travelled with them, first Justine and then Justin a hundred years later, two people only needed general agreement. When first seeing this group, it had seemed more like disagreement. Especially between Jensa and Nettil.

Perhaps they both want to be the leader. Could either do it, though?

"If there is no leader, I would like to suggest someone with experience and presence. It does not matter who, as long as they know how to tackle a group." he added, helpfully. At least, he intended so. Then he noticed the wounds of the strange being.

"Those looks like bad burns, do you want me to heal them?" Iuratus asked, and removed his gauntlets. A soft blue glow that felt comforting even from a distance appeared around his hands. "I am Iuratus, by the way, and it will not hurt."

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Kyras felt an itch on his hands as he looked at the tower. He started scratching it as he heard Iuratus speak and he turned looking at Jensa to see her face reddening. He looked down at his hands and saw the skin flaking off of his palms.

Kyras mumbled "What the..." and shook his hands a bit as he looked at them and the skin kept flaking off. It wasn't painful and nothing felt particularly wrong as he looked at them but Jensa started to vomit and he got worried. His eyes glowed slightly as he tried to heal his hands, but nothing really happened "What the..." Annoyed and confused he started scratching again and some of the skin sloughed off as he dug at it. He felt it as he continued and saw pale skin as he looked.

After a moment Kyras wondered and created a small flame in his hand. The red skin caught on fire and he didn't feel anything as it burned away. He killed the flame as the itching stopped and looked at his palms. Pale skin and some ash.

He mumbled "Strange..." before saying "I think I'm fine" and looking at Jensa trying to figure out if she'd be too with her vomiting what appeared to be feathers.

 

[booksv3]

"Those looks like bad burns, do you want me to heal them?"

Looking at the much taller thing with glowing hands Hissa takes a step back and stiffens.
"I don't know you, and i don't know what you can do. Its just some drops from the spiders, should be fine."

Reaching back and scratching his skin under where the drop burns are Hissa looks beyond the two standing next to him and frowns, glad he hadn't jumped or drank from the lake.
"Seems your team mates need some help, their skin is going crazy."

Still keeping an eye on the glowing hands Hissa looks between the glowing handed person and the one with the plant control.

 

[Josh123914]

"Being called upon for aid is not proof of one's leadership,"
Nettil smiled at that, acknowledging Iura's understanding of the situation,

"If there is no leader, I would like to suggest someone with experience and presence. It does not matter who, as long as they know how to tackle a group."
That, however, wracked Nettil's head. The idea of formally designating a leader in a group of near-complete strangers is only going to foster discontent. However, she decided it best to hold off an argument on that.

Looking over to Jensa and Kyras, who seemed to recover from their ordeal. Their burns began to subside, and fresh skin clean of any scars or blemishes were now in place.
Nettil looked back to Iura's hand, which no began to turn a faint reddish colour, as did the portions of Nettil's hands that touched the water moments before.
"Iura? Your hand?" she beckoned. Nettil crouched on the ground and started rubbing her own hands with dirt, then got back up and moved past Iura. "It'll itch for a while, but we should be fine afterwards" she said nervously.

"The water here is strange and foreign, try to avoid, umm, falling into it?" She warned to the rest of the group.

After this, Nettil plopped herself down next to Myrreh and the water.
"What are you thinking?"

The water had a faint blue hue to it in addition to the glow. No bubbling was occurring, however there seemed to be a large stick of some sort at the bottom of the pool.

Meanwhile, up in the sentry, a small ladder to the roof showed a view that was blocked by the dense foliage of the jungle, however some sort of light was flashing to the distant east to them. And the foliage seemed to thin in a narrow area from the settlement towards the light.

As well as this, papers in a contemporary text were strewn across a table. Some of them were spared an inky demise.

Over and away at the large feast table lay dozens of small jars, each filled with dead or decaying fruits, spices or... animals. Insects, mostly. Even the occasional rat.

 

[DarkRawen]

"I don't know you, and i don't know what you can do. Its just some drops from the spiders, should be fine."

Iura nodded, though he had to admit that the hostility was frustrating. He, who could not lie, being distrusted. Of course, none of the others knew about that, and he had several times been advised to keep that part of his nature hidden. He was not entirely sure whether he should follow that advice or if willingly holding back information that could be important was sinful.

I suppose it depends on the situation.

And in this case, it was about the aid of someone else.

"I understand your hesitation, but know this; I cannot lie, it is simply impossible for me to do so. When I say that it will not harm you, that is nothing but the truth."

With that, he let the glow fade, the stranger would likely not trust him either way.

"Seems your team mates need some help, their skin is going crazy."

"What?" he asked, and looked over at the others, distraught. What had happened? Neither of those had fought. What had they done to earn such injuries?

"Iura? Your hand?"

He had not noticed the pain before Nettil pointed it out, it was indeed red.

What did I do... the water, was it not?

So that was the effect of the glow. A shame, he had hoped it would resemble those springs at home, that made one refreshed and clean. The condition of his hand got worse rather quickly. Skin was about to peel off, and he started healing his hand, hoping for that to be it. If so, he would offer his help to the others, but he did not know what kind of water it truly was.

I better make sure it will not be more of a harm to heal it with magic than to leave it alone.

He noted Nettil's warning about not touching the water, though it brought a worrisome thought to mind, not on his behalf, but for the others.

"If the water here is unsafe to drink, where will we get water from? It would be unwise to go without." He had some water from home, but it was far from enough to fulfil the needs of the others alongside his own.

 

[hiei82]

Seeing as Nettil was busy, Ai decided to continue without her. First, she pulled on a glove from her supplies. Based on the reaction the others were having to the "water", it wouldn't be wise to touch it directly. She'd likely be sacrificing the glove, but it was to a worthy cause.

After assembling her lab, she turned her attention to the lake. Before she took the sample however, she noticed something odd. There was a stick at the bottom of the lake. Normally this wouldn't be odd at all; things fell into lakes all the time. The issue was that the lake seemed to react negatively with living material. If that was the case, why was the stick apparently unharmed?

Gathering a few pieces of wood from the nearby jungle, she tosses some wood - both living and dead - into the lake, near the shore. The results were surprising. While the still living wood didn't seem to react, the dead wood did. This implied that either the stick in the water was either recently submerged and therefore still "living" for the time being, or there was a unique property to it. Since the living wood seemed resistant to the effects of the lake, she went back to the jungle, gathered a few pairs of long greenwood and used them to pull the submerged stick as close to the shore as possible. Unfortunately, to get the stick she'd need to put her hand in the lake.

Which meant she needed to know what the water was first; bringing her back to the original line of questioning. Using one of the glass flasks she had, she carefully dipped it into the lake using her covered hand; filling it up with the strange liquid. As soon as it was sufficiently full, she removed the flask and quickly carried it over to the portable lab. She poured the flask into a new container carefully then placed the original, contaminated flask off to the side. Finally, she removed the glove by pulling it down her arm from the inside with a pair of fingers, turning it inside-out in the process. She tossed the glove aside as a casualty of alchemy, fully expecting the contaminated water to burn through the leather at some point.

With the clean flask, she slowly split up the water to perform several different tests. The first indicated the substance was actually alkaline rather than acidic. This offered some possible solutions to the stick problem, but little else. Next she attempted to distil the substance. The result was more expected. The substance WAS water, it just had a contaminant of some kind; a glowing blue particulate. She distilled more of the water until she had both some clean water and a large supply of the basic, blue substance. With this collected, she took a small amount of sand and used it to cover the blue grains. This filled the flask nearly to the top. Finally, she applied a cork and slipped the substance into her pack. All of this she noted in a journal for "future study", including notes on the approximate location of the lake relative to the original horizon gate they'd used to enter.

Returning her attention to the stick, Ai pulled out the vials of acid she'd taken from the spider. The acid would enable her to get the stick. Using one of the vials, she coated her now-consumed glove's partner in the acid. The glove sizzled in response, but that was fine. it was designed to survive acid for at least a time. The real point was to lower the pH of the glove's outer layer to act as an ablative protection against the lake. As soon as this was done, she reached into the lake and grabbed the stick, pulling it free as quickly as she could. Once it was free, she lay it on the shore and removed her glove the same way as the previous glove before returning her attention to the stick.

Spoiler: OOC

The last paragraph assumes that the edge of the lake is shallow enough that an elbow length leather glove is tall enough to reach the bottom without water spilling into the glove. If this is not the case, let me know and I will remove the paragraph

 

[Josh123914]

Nettil looked at the procedure Ai was going through, and concluded that she almost certainly would not be much help.

She decided to head up to the sentry to see what Jensa had been doing. Her skin was beginning to flake off, but the itchiness was suppressed due to some fabric she had bandaged herself with. Arriving up in the room, she saw Jensa dispensing a hoard of flies out the window and towards a seating area. Nettil checked over Jensa's shoulder and saw a glow in the distance, and a spot where the jungle appeared to be less dense.

"Oh, good. There's a Horizon not far from here." She concluded. "That or a lake."

Moving away from whatever Jensa was concentrating on, and instead looked over to some papers on a nearby table. She scooped up a handful and brought them down to the others. They were mainly from someone with terrible handwriting, but the message from them were clear.
Nettil cleared her throat and began "According to these" she said, holding the half-degraded parchment in the air. "This area had no people in it until a few months ago. They were experimenting on the water, trying to find out if the healing properties could be distilled."

"But it wasn't working. Non-native species couldn't survive in the water. Ai can probably explain why at this point. Hmm" Nettil squinted her eyes at the parchment for a moment. She then pulled out a random seed from her pocket and tossed it into the pond. It fizzed for a moment and then a loud crackle and bang could be heard.

"Sorry everyone. Needed to know how it would react. The fool writing the log wrote the non-native plant seeds either "was violently exploited", or "was violently exploded".
That still left the question of the dead driftwood, but Nettil was confident Ai already had an explanation for that and then continued. "They then started experimenting on living beings. Feeding insects the bark and leaves of local trees here and then tossing them into the water... One thing led to another, and suddenly there are now giant spiders. Lovely."
Nettil pursed her lips at that. "Its been a few months now. If those are the only things thriving on this world then I am leaving"

 

[booksv2]

Watching as the group either does something with the water, many of the things making Hissa think he should keep away from it and defiantly not take a drink. Walking over and watching someone play with the water and keep moving it from container to container he frowns as each time the person he is watching does switch containers for the water something seems to be different.

Shaking his head and walking around that female with a wide berth he walks over to the lake and squats next to it. Pulling one if his arrows out of his quiver Hissa slowly dips the tip in the water and watches as it starts to bubble and disolve like he had dropped a piece of meat in spider acid. Frowning and dropping the arrow into the water he stands and takes a few steps back careful to keep all the water away from himself. Scratching his jaw and looking around Hissa takes a few more steps back away from the lake. Just as a small explosion happens behind him making Hissa spin quickly ready to run he glares at the person who was reading something and commenting on seeds or... who even knew.

Sighing to himself Hissa things.
I was hoping they would have someone as a leader i could talk to. Well... They seem to each be doing their own thing, so i am going to see if i can find some place to rest.
Shaking his head again and turning away from the group at the lake Hissa walks over to one of the buildings on stilts. Grabbing the ladder sticking out from under it and giving it a shake he makes a face and jumps on one of the legs, climbing it easily he leaves scratches and claw marks in the wood. Getting to the top and in one of the windows Hissa looks around and takes in the sparse room. A wood bed with a few cabinets and a table several things seem to have been taken long ago.

Walking over to the bed Hissa gives the slats a push and grunts, cursing under his breath, as two of them break because of rot. Sighing and sitting on the floor Hissa curls up on his side and closes his eyes, listening for anyone below to start making a racket or calling for him.

 

[DarkRawen]

Iuratus sat down as Nettil read the letters aloud. It was regrettable for such a thing to have happened to those living here. Then again, perhaps it had been their own nature that had caused it, trying to disturb a beautiful glimmering water and make it into something they could use for their own benefit. Sure, he was curious about it, as were several of the others, but experimenting with it had been going too far.

Hubris and greed among mortals, that is not something new.

Even so, he did not think they had deserved to die out like that. The spiders were one thing, odd spiders that did not withdraw out of fear when obviously overpowered and that spat poison. He looked at his hand, his skin always had a clean quality to it, but he could see that there was no mark. Was that his own abilities? Or the water?

Regardless, it seems it would do us little good to try to change its properties.

"Oh, good. There's a Horizon not far from here."

"I see," Iura said, and got up. "There is little reason to stay, then. Unless the rest of you need a moment to rest, of course," he added, glancing at the odd lizard-like being that had gone to sleep in a tree.

"Even then, we should make haste. The spiders could return, if not something more dangerous."