Liadan was now wondering how they made the proverbial jump from their land to this one. Krass, as if replying to her thoughts, pointed towards an assembled stone formation in the middle of an empty field. It wasn't natural, that was clear, but now came the question of who built it like that.
Krass - "Ah, the magnificent workings of God's Divine Beast", Krass yelled out proudly. " At least I had time to wow you with this one. But yes, this little thing here was built by something out there, somewhere, our deity and its enormous beast, a giant with golden scales covering its body, and crystal tips at the end of its fingers. Or at the tail, people are still arguing about that."
Lian -" Not to sound rude, but how do you know if that's real? I mean, from what I can tell, you all believe that the monster is real, but not the god. Why is that?", the girl tried to ask as politely and skeptically as possible.
Krass -" Yes, even our malleable world is filled with skeptics. I was one of them.", " remarked the Captain, glancing sadly at his teammates. " Years ago I met the survivors of a certain incident. We all did, but they left a real impression on me. Before they were survivors, they were witnesses. Of the Beast rushing through the shell of their world. They never saw it before, but then it just flew by, casting its shadow for a mere second, before disappearing. Then, a ball of blinding light shined for a few moments, followed by a shriek of unimaginable proportions, heard by hundreds of layers.
Goidel -'' I read some records of the incident. It said that the shriek sounded like it was talking", added Goidel. "But that was never confirmed because everyone near enough lost their hearing or passed out instantly from the noise. 240 thousand victims was a rough estimation, I think."
Multiple -" That's horrible", was the only thing the two could reply with.
Krass -" No one found out the source of the light, or the shriek but there was a sort of happy ending though.", smirked Krass as if he won a gold medal. " The Divine Beast brought with it… God. A small being as some said, but mighty enough to command the enormous creature. When it talked in its weird language, the Beast did as instructed. No one could see itself, only hear their words. "
Ogda -" Hear? But didn't you say" wanted Ogda to interject, but then realized what happened.
Krass -" Yap", quickly added the Captain. "It healed one village, then moved on to the other, and so on for all the affected layers. That was the day we learned about those above us. And I saw that they are caring, which in turn makes me happy." He tried to hide his proud remark, but Liadan could tell that the Captain wasn't just a true believer, but a devoted one as well.
The girl didn't know how to reply to that, so in turn tried to change the subject -" So they put together these rocks? Are they connected somehow to another formation like this? Is that how you travel?"
Blitz -" Oh, I'll give it to ya girl, except for manners, you catch on quickly". Blitz's attitude towards them still seemed to waver between first impressions and current times. But Liadan wasn't interested in keeping a long-term friendship with him anyway, and Ogda only really valued the girl's opinion over most anyway. " By the way, Mister Captain, can we go already? The cocoon has started to shake for a while now", he added, a bit concerned.
Krass slowly and carefully approached one of the stones, shaped like a pillar, as if careful not to wake it up. A whispered word covered every step, and for each one, a sliver of blue, red, green and white streaks would appear on the side of the pillar. When he got closer, he gently pressed on one of them, and with the tip of his finger moved a tinted line. There were no striations on the rock, but somehow his fingertip grabbed the color and guided it on his demanded path.
Lian -" Is this really the only way to travel?" asked Lian, bewildered by the method required. Goidel waved his palm to indicate that there were others, but this was probably the best way for now. "They are a bit out of reach. For now, hopefully."
A sudden static change in the air lets them know that Krass finished his ritual. The portal he created was a small one, considering their group, but was still good enough to fit all of them if they entered it one by one. As a show of good faith, the Captain was the first one to pass through it, with their spoils from the hunt as well. Blitz, mostly forced by the former, followed secondly and Ogda insisted that he should be the one to enter next. " I need to make sure that it's safe for you, ok?"
Lian -" But I'll be right after you, so you'll only be a second, or two ahead of me? Right?... Goidel, how long does it take to teleport to the other side?"
Goidel -" Teleport? Oh no, you got it all wrong. Sorry, I didn't…I mean the Captain…I mean", he stopped, grabbing his breath after fumbling his words. "The portal forms a physical tunnel to the other layer, made out of rocks and dirt and other minerals. We'll be walking."
With that information on board, Ogda gave up on hiding his abilities and bent his body to create a space where Liadan could sit on his back. Goidel was surprised by this, and even felt panic for a second, before brushing it aside as his usual paranoia. After which he posed a brazen request.
Goidel -" Can you make space for one more?"