Emperor Zao hated when people don't listen, he hated it even more when he was sent away without reason. To be portaled away, he was furious. In his view, a dozen cities laid out clearly. Small houses and wood fires were burning. It was like a small snowglobe village, only much, much larger and resting in a bed of soft snow.
He looked around and didn't see the others. 'Huh?' Puzzled, he searched the snow and yelled their names. When no one answered, he circulated his energy into his hands, channeled a teleportation circle and flicked his fingers. He teleported back to the place where they had just been sent away, the Qilin was still rising into the Air.
Wu Hai's return had caused a disturbance in the Area's energy levels. The Winged man turned his vision toward the Emperor and scoffed. "Didn't I just send you away? How did you return?"
He was alerted to their presence, his job was to send them where they belonged. In his many years of service he had never been wrong, yet, this youth had returned. "Lesser beings cannot hide from my vision, Child, you are not welcome in this place without the appropriate skills. You will only serve to change the delicate balance. Get down on your knees and explain!"
'Wow, he's a prick,' Emperor Zao stood there unwilling to kneel. "Hey there friend, could you please explain. That was a terrible thing to do just then, what If I'd been trapped. Really, my tender life.. you've stolen my wife, kidnapped my friend and stolen my wife. Give them back."
"You have no place to talk," His eyes glowed, "Kneel."
Pointing his finger, an energy began to accumulate across the Qilin's fingertip.
"I said, not without my friends." Wu Hai stood firm.
"Not afraid? You're either confident or a fool. Your friends went where they belong, the lower levels of this place. If you seek power, earn it." The Qilin's power evaporated like a lie, he landed in front of the Emperor. "Explain how you returned and I'll answer your question."
For a moment, Zao Wu Hai considered attacking but this being didn't seem to be an enemy, merely an asshole. "I teleported back. Now its your turn."
"Teleported... My, you will be difficult." He sighed, the Qilin took a long time to think things over. When he finally thought of something, he spoke. "How many followers do you have?"
"Followers?" Wu Hai didn't know what to say, he blurted it out. "Probably 500 or so."
"Oh.. You have a Cult, how common. Heres' a Token, welcome to the Land of the Gods, I am a messenger of the Gods. Listen to my words or pay the price, I will not repeat them."
'Messenger of the Gods, he's a condescending prick but not an evil one.' Emperor Zao tried his best to hear the Qilin out, there were many levels to the Kingdoms of Heaven. The more he heard, the more incredulous it sounded. There was such a vast difference in the share of power.
The Messenger laughed a lot while he condemned the Emperor's act of returning. "You shouldn't go where you aren't welcomed, the Gods, they can strike at you without penalty for such a violation. Remain in the lower realms where you belong." A quick gust of wind threw Wu Hai into another portal, sending him back to the Snowglobe Cityscapes.
"What a prick." Wu Hai channeled his power and went back. "I am not done asking questions."
The Messenger got very annoyed. "You're not fit to be here!" The Messenger portaled him again. "What an asshole." As the Messenger was thinking this, Wu Hai appeared right back in front of him.
Only this time, he had a Hammer in his hands.
Emperor Zao swung the Hammer Down, he chanted in his mind his master's mantra. 'The Hammer Falls' "You're going to tell me where you sent them, or I'm coming back until you either kill me, or I kill you!"
"That's some nerve, do you even have ears?" The Messenger got up. There was blood coming from his beak. "You actually injured me, you must have a strong belief in your power. Very well, I'll repeat myself, this once."
The situation fizzled into nothing again, it almost pissed the Emperor off but answers was what he wanted. "Explain."
"She's on the lowest level. I can't send you there, you don't belong there. If you choose to go that route, it will be with your own power. I am already late for other matters, pick your question quickly, I give you one more before I ignore you entirely and send you away." His attitude hadn't changed but he had accepted the demon's ability to return and cause more interruptions. It was much faster to just accommodate a request for information.
"Can I ask a question at another time? I actually have to find my friends and I'm sure I'll have more questions." He requested the chance as delicately as possible.
"No." The Qilin waved his hand, sending Wu Hai away once more. The Messenger let out a long sigh, "Son of a bitch.. I can't believe he hit me." Flexing his jaw, his beak felt cracked in one spot. It was nothing to heal but a surprise that wounded his pride slightly. "I'll have to keep an eye on that one."
He spread his wings and flew to the upper levels.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Wu Hai had been thrown back down to the Snowglobe Cityscapes a few times, but now he knew better. There was a way to find his friends, he only had to go to the lower levels. Spreading his wings, he flew as high as he could before a strange repelling force started to push him down.
"Hmmph, I see. So there are barriers like this too." he couldn't see the source of the barrier but it was present, there was no way up higher. Scanning his surroundings, the horizon stretched out pretty far, he flew for a while toward what looked like the Edge.
It wasn't. He flew for Five days and still couldn't see the edge. Turning to the East, he flew for another five days and had the same issue. No matter where he went, he was still on that plane, stuck.
"I will not accept this!" He flew straight down, extending his claws he dug down.
He dug deep, deeper than he had ever tried before. No amount of heat came from the soil, he traveled for tens of hundreds of meters, perhaps tens of thousands. Some of the soil was loose, it made burrowing with the aide of a storage ring quite quick. When he lost sight of the hole above and no light came to his vision, he pulled out a glowstone and held it in his mouth tunneling further down.
The Emperor's direction was easy to determine, he kept digging, excavating his way into the heart of the realm to reach its most bottom level. For two weeks he constantly tunneled. Then, he broke through something, a barrier. His hand seemed to disappear when he lunged forward for another claw full of dirt. He lost his balance, betrayed by the gravity and hole he had been digging for himself.
He spread his wings in freefall, below him, as the dust and soil collapsed around him, raining beside him as he fell, the Emperor saw the layout that Gefést had spoken of. Wu Hai threw himself forward, flying as fast as he could toward the edge, it was so far away. He felt like he was falling for hours, it made him dizzy and a bit bored of it after a while. 'Mike would have loved this.'
The Emperor had very little time to think, let alone sleep. He was restless with worry over his missing companions.
Wu Hai stopped midair.
"What the hell am I doing?!" He flipped over his hand and searched his storage.
A ship appeared.
Entering it, he felt amazed at the comfort. The gravity that had been bothering him somewhat nearly vanished. Energy that was being absorbed from outside was filling up the energy levels of the ship.
It hummed.
Gefést's words rang in his ears again as he sat in the Captains Chair. There were controls at his fingertips and a stick for guidance. A Sensor activated when he sat down, his ship whirled to life and displays, holographic representations of his surroundings were put on the HUD.
'That's nice.' Wu Hai gently rubbed the new console.
A spirit came out of the far corner, it flowed around the cabin. "Greetings, Emperor Zao. I am the Ship's spirit. Please give me a designation."
"Another spirit?" It seemed to be a common theme, spirits attached to objects, Wu Hai dismissed it out of habit but he was seeing it a lot more. "I will choose your name when I find an appropriate one. For now, plot a course to the edge of the landmass below."
"Yes, Emperor Zao." A few multicolored lines appeared on the HUD and the ships pitch changed. The relative orientation inside the ship was static, even if the ship went into a spiral there would be little impact on the interior.
"Also, you don't have to use my name at all times during discussion. I know you haven't already but It can get annoying really fast. Just call me Zao, or Wu Hai. Well, you've got the course, lets go." Wu Hai wanted the ship to head on course but nothing happened.
"Zao. You are required to pilot the ship, no Autopilot function exists." The Ship's spirit put its palms up to gesture.
'Kim Li... No wonder he said his would be better.' Wu Hai's face cringed, he was hoping to take a nap. "What measures are installed for defense?"
"Currently, energy levels are at 15%. When energy levels reach 30%, the ship can cloak, hiding its presence from sight. Though, the possibility of discovery is a risk, the Ship can travel at speeds far exceeding the Emperor's known and recorded flight times." The Ship gave an answer.
"How long until we reach 30%?" It felt like a stupid question, charging a battery was holding him up. The Emperor asked his question and sat in the chair, familiarizing himself with the controls.
"One Hour if we remain still, five if we're moving." The Ship gave another answer but it was like a thorn under the Emperor's fingernail, annoying as shit.
"Five Hours.. Great. Get started." Wu Hai grabbed the stick, reoriented the ship and slammed his foot down on the accelerator pad. 'At least the controls are stupid easy... Wait, did he make them simple just for me or as a standard option?' He let it go but swore to himself to air his grievances later.
The Ship started to fly at incredible speed. In a matter of minutes, it had quickly flown the span it would have taken the Emperor to fly for several hours himself. He felt like he was finally moving, the landmass underneath him even started to shift under his feet, proving that he was making some progress.
He held the stick and suddenly found himself enjoying the feeling. It was different than flying with his wings, a sensation of piloting something else was much different than the wind rushing by. There was a sense of disconnection that was replaced with an intense and thrilling motivation to go faster. Wu Hai woohooed and spin the ship a few times. He was thinking of a name, he wanted something that felt safe and sturdy.
"Misozi" It came out, he wasn't sure if it was the right name but the Sprit immediately accepted the name.
"Yes, Misozi. That sounds like a good name. Teardrop, although my exterior does not look like a tear, the name makes me feel like it was chosen after careful consideration. Thank you Zao." The Spirit seemed to have gained a newfound appreciation for its body but Wu Hai didn't care, the problem was sorted and there was a long flight ahead.
Five hours passed a lot quicker than he had imagined, it didn't look like they had moved very far, the landmass below them was still very far away. "Cloak the ship, I'm taking a nap."
"Energy levels will continue to deplete until the Cloak is deactivated, If you want to increase its operation time, please add energy. An elemental essence conversion formation is located in the rear of the ship." Misozi gave precise directions to the gas tank.
It made Wu Hai want to crush the ship, he grit his teeth and his hands so tight that his fingers bled.
"You mean to tell me that I could have filled the tank without you having to absorb it from outside this whole time?" Wu Hai swung his fist against the wall. "Dammit.. I'm so fucking tired, you should have told me. Next time a function exists that you think might help the situation, fucking tell me." A large jar appeared with elemental essence, Wu Hai poured it into the formation. "How much more did that give me?"
"5%" Misozi answered quickly, "If you want to fill the tank you will require 13 more jars of that size. Any essence will do."
"^!#$&" Wu Hai cursed Kim Li under his breath. Filling the tank could have been done before it exchanged hands.