D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 2261 Bogged Down

--- Kat ---

And so it was off to the mountain! The idea had basically been a coin flip and after an hour of flying over the meadows to avoid the rabbits... Kat was wondering if it was the correct one. They already knew that space shenanigans were active in the area, but the mountain made it hard to tell. Despite getting closer it hadn’t changed size much if at all and it didn’t seem any closer... but it was all an absolute giant mountain.

The real issue was the visions to the sides. While the forest was still there, it wasn’t the same trees. A minor issue, they’d travelled for an hour, of course it wasn’t the same trees... except the trees looked completely different, as if they weren’t even the same type. Instead of standard evergreen leaves with their unique colour scheme and bark shape, these ones were dark purple pine needles that looked somewhat hostile from a distance.

The real problem though was when you looked the other way. Instead of endless meadows you could see what looked to be a lightning scorched desert made out of glass. The only thing making it still a desert was that Kat was pretty sure she could make out sand underneath the glass, and the whole thing was probably still exceptionally hot.

The question remained though... why couldn’t they see any of this before? The forest was perhaps excusable if it wasn’t for the fact the current spikier trees were about twice as tall as the ones they’d been looking at before and should’ve been quite visible. The desert could also perhaps be excused by the various hills blocking everyone’s sight... but their were quite a few instances of the glass managing to be taller then some of those purple trees.

"Do we change plans? Lily can you feel the space around us being messed with?" asked Kat.

Kat relayed aloud what Lily had uncovered... which was basically nothing. "... so what are your thoughts Appoline?"

"I mean... I still don’t really mind what direction we go... but I admit your point is somewhat worrying. If I’m not allowed to harvest anything from this flower field I’d rather leave it as soon as possible to get anywhere else really," sighed Appoline.

"Is there a potion that could tell us how far the mountain is? Or how long it would take to get there?" asked Kat.

"No...? Something like that is really not what you use potions for. It... I don’t even think it would be possible in a cost efficient manner. Impossible? No certainly not but you might need a Rank 4 potion or higher just for something that simple. That’s before you even take into account whatever space magic nonsense is going on around here," explained Appoline.

Kat sighed, "Alright fair enough... so I suppose the new question is, are we even getting closer to the mountain?"

"I’d have to assume so. Even if the surroundings are changing in ways that don’t entirely make consistent sense they are changing. We’re going somewhere at the very least," offered Appoline.

Kat supposed it wasn’t a bad way to look at things so she nodded and continued to fly. They continued to ponder what the best thing to do would be until Lily drifted off to sleep. That was apparently a poor thing to allow because perhaps five minutes after Lily drifting off the landscape changed between wingbeats. Where there had once been meadow, now there was swampland instead. Things still carried a faint lightning theme, with lots of sparking plants Kat could see... but the purple likely wasn’t part of the lightning. There was also the issue of the weird cracks she could see around the place.

Kat hovered in the air for a bit before carefully making her way over to a large rock. Just in case, Kat threw a bit of demonic fire at it for good measure just in case it turned into some sort of giant rock crab monster or something. After the rabbits she didn’t want to take any more chances.

When nothing launched itself at them to attack, Kat carefully placed Appoline down first before gently waking Lily.

"It hasn’t even been five minutes... and we’re in some sort of swamp. I woke you up because of the abrupt change and because I’m worried about what those cracks are..." murmured Kat as she gently stroked Lily’s fur.

Lily bumped her head into Kat’s hand for a few moments before Kat got the idea and backed off a bit, giving her space to transform. "Not that it wasn’t nice, but I wanted to be able to talk properly and... Appoline what are you doing?"

Appoline froze before slowly turning around to face Lily. "I’m investigating the mud under this rock," answered Appoline as if this was completely normal.

Appoline didn’t seem concerned as, without direct censure from either of them, she went back to poking at the mud. Kat sighed and sent mental confirmation to Lily that she’d keep an eye on her while Lily looked over everything else. "So the cracks?" asked Kat.

"I... am not sure. That one over there is close enough and it gives a sort of weird feeling. I... I think they might be time cracks..." mumbled Lily as she pointed to a nearby crack in space. It was smaller then the obvious ones Kat had noticed immediately. It was lower to the ground, halfway between knee and ankle height and looked almost like a flower of some kind until you started to move a bit and see how distorted everything underneath was. Almost like looking at one of those fancy rainbow holographic cards.

"So... if it IS time related why can’t you tell?" asked Kat. "Are time and space not connected?"

Lily sighed, "I asked Thyme a bit about this before and the answer is ’practically yes, but magically not really except until they are again’. Which... I think it’s like how fire is in some ways heat but not exactly the same, and yet a fire mage CAN make ice rather easily if they have a spell designed, not to create ice, but to create fire by draining the heat from an area.

"Thyme might have dual space AND time affinities, or they might just have time and are adept enough to pretend to have space. I’m not certain anymore... and I’m not even sure Thyme knows the truth. It’s like how ice and water can be different affinities. I think. Anyway, I have a budding ability to sense spatial warps. This is not that. These things... assuming they even are a ’thing’ aren’t directly related to space.

"I still wouldn’t touch one though. Actually wait, why not throw something at it?" pondered Lily as she glanced back towards Kat.

"Why not indeed?" voiced Kat. "There are plenty enough things nearby, grab one with a shadow and take a chance. If you’re worried I’m happy to take the hit... but there’s no reason to ask me I don’t think. Seems safe enough."

"I’m not sure I agree... but sure," agreed Lily. A shadow snaked over to grab a nearby branch that was stuck into the mud. Taking a few moments to line it up, Lily lobbed it towards the crack. Lily wasn’t sure anyone had expected what happened to the branch. The moment it made contact with the crack, it teleported to the other side... but it didn’t stop there.

Instead of continuing on, it teleported back to halfway along the trajectory, then forward again, back, forward, left, right, up, down, it split in half at a few points to go in multiple directions at the same time, seemingly destroyed and yet the next moment it managed to continue its dance, rattling around the crack itself until the speed it had gained from this was so much that it caught fire.

The fire continued to twist and warp around the crack until it slowly burnt itself out. A few times, thinking it was over Kat and Lily got ready to comment, but the flame would roar back to life for a moment or two. In the end, they waited through thirty seconds of nothing happening before speaking, well, Kat did anyway. "Ok what the fuck does that mean?"