The Ocean -- Bluhen

Summary
After investigating one of the floating lights in the sky and finding little of consequence, Bluhen flew out into the storm on the horizon over the ocean. The further he flew out, the harsher the storm grew, the winds and furious waves making it hard to navigate flight. On top of that, the further out he flew, Bluhen noticed brief interruptions in his abilities -- flickerings and pauses. Not wanting to fall to his death into the tumultuous ocean, Bluhen flew above the clouds and out of harms way, only to run into the same barrier around the city he had encountered before. Following it with his hand for a bit, he noticed it arced upward toward the city in a dome shape.

This exploration was awarded 25 AP.

Transcript
PANDOR. Exploration commenced. Bluhen 'I wonder if there is a wall blocking you from going too far out into the ocean, as well...' Ever since that's been brought up, you've felt the striking urge to go check it out. You're the only one that can do it, after all, and you wouldn't let such an opportunity for adventure pass you up. Though, before you go there, there's something you wanted to do for a while. Seeking a relatively hidden spot in the city, you sprout your wings and unleash your glow, and fly straight up, right into the city's skyline. Now what were you looking for... right. The glowing lights. You try and fly up to them so you can look at them up close. They're sparkly and glowy and you wanna know what they're like. PANDOR. Looking at the light in front of you, it seems... fairly unassuming. Just a suspended, radiant orb of warm, yellow light, frozen in the air. Quite a few of them are in the vicinity, sprinkled her and there, scattered like stars in the sunset sky. Bluhen Frozen in the air? You stare at it for a moment, before reaching forward, seeing if you can grab onto one and hold it in your hand, if you can move it around or even touch it in the first place. They're kind of cute, actually. Tiny little balls of light in the sky. ~ PANDOR. You reach out to touch the light, but your hand passes right through. It doesn't move, flicker, or otherwise even react to being touched, it simply continues to exist, glowing softly in the space in front of you. Bluhen Huh. So it's not solid, just a coalescent light... you hold your hand out, rest it above your palm as if you're holding it in your hand, and focus on your magical prowess - they remind you of your Eids, a bit. Both are, at their essence, floating lights... so maybe using the same magic you use to move your Eids, you can move the light that way. You know it's a little bit of a stretch, though. Your Eids are powered with El energy, and it's that energy of El that you control with your Cycle Magic, while these seem to be just lights... but, hey, it's worth a shot, right? (You've got to be honest with yourself, though. You kind of just want to see if you can take one down back to the ground with you.) You start slowly moving your hand back - keeping an eye on if the light moves with you. You've really got this 'why not' attitude right now - it's not like it'll hurt you if it turns out not to work in the end, so why not? PANDOR. You focus hard, but whatever this light is, it does not seem to be the sort of magic you are accustomed to. It remains unmoving, frozen in the exact place it had been when you first approached it. Bluhen You let out a soft, disappointed sigh as you pull your hand back to rest at your side again. What a shame. You would've loved to bring it back with you, but it doesn't seem to want to budge. That's alright, though. You hover back a little, bask in it's warm little glow for a while longer, before turning around towards what you think was the direction of the ocean, starting to head that way, instead. Time to do what you were actually planning to do. PANDOR. It's not a very small body of water, and thus, rather easy to spot, particularly from your spot in the sky. Near the shoreline, waves churn and lap against the sandy beach, though you do notice that in contrast to the usual almost methodically regular tempo of water crashing against the sand that can be found with most oceans, the speed at which the waves form, crest, and collapse is irregular, and almost erratic at times. Bluhen You land on the shore, observing the erratic waves in front of you. That's strange. From your time in Hamel, you've noticed that they usually have a certain rhythm to their ebb and flow. You can't make heads or tails out of this, though. You shake your head, letting out a sigh. It throws you out of balance a little, but it's fine. You take off your glove and stick your hand in the water real quick to check the temperature, before deciding to pocket your glove instead of putting it over a soaked hand. Nonetheless, afterwards, you start flying again, this time choosing to just hover above the waves a bit as you fly out into sea, in the direction of the storm. You need to see what's out there. PANDOR. The water is warm -- not to the point of being odd for ocean water, but rather pleasant to the touch. And as you take off, coasting just above the ways, the spray of the ocean doesn't bother you too much. It actually feels serene, the sound of seafoam beneath you, the salty tinge to the air, the way the sunset sky reflects in ripples over the surface of the water. Were it not for the dark storm looming on the horizon, you might even call this entirely peaceful, between the beauty of the scenery and the relative quiet compared to the bustling of the city.

But loom the storm does, darkening the clouds ahead and causing a distinct churn in the tides. The water is growing choppier as you distance yourself from the serenity of the shore, and you feel the water that splashes up towards you grow colder and colder. A low rumble of thunder seems to almost warn you to turn around and seek the safety of solid ground. Bluhen You shake your head as the cold water splashes up, riled up by the storm in the distance. In response, you raise yourself up, keeping out of reach of the crashing waves. Your breathing slows to a halt before eventually stopping - it takes focus to keep up the facade, and there's no-one around you right now, so you can just as well put the attention you assign into faking your breathing into whatever's up ahead, instead. It'll be a better use of your time. You look around yourself, summoning your Eids with the wave of a hand - Edel Wille, with two copies of Mut behind you. Ice will be helpful out in the ocean. At least, you hope so. Then, you go on ahead. You won't let the storm stop you. You know something's out there. There has to be. There would be no reason for this storm, otherwise. Worst case scenario, perhaps you'll just fly above the clouds, instead. But for now, you won't let it fend you off. PANDOR. The wind is picking up now, blowing you off course as you attempt to fly above the waves. The waves, which, as you delve deeper into the apex of the storm, are steadily climbing in both height and strength. A crack of lightning somewhere off to the side, and it doesn't take long for the omnipresent rumble of thunder to follow it. But somehow, you find your focus, managing to coast just above the waterline and not get knocked into the tumultuous sea below by a cresting wave. The shoreline is distant, the city growing smaller behind you. But though your focus has kept you in the air long enough to get you to the true center of the storm, you now have to deal with the center of the storm. Visibility is low between the rising water and the sting of the rain and the wind blowing your hair into your face... But above all, you find the greatest difficulty in controlling your flight with the galeforce winds tossing you left and right, forward and backwards, and before long you realize that you really aren't making much progress at all any more. Bluhen As you continue further through the storm, you instinctively clench your fists, trying to break through the wall of winds stopping you. You've dealt with powerful winds before - the wind El situation in Sander is not one you'll easily forget - but even then, there's something about the sheer power of these winds that feels unnatural, that even you couldn't break through. Two compressed spheres of air start forming in the palm of your hand before you let it drop, weakly letting the wind El energy sizzle out on its own. No, you don't think throwing wind magic out there and following its current will work. It might've been worth a shot if you really needed to see what was in the very center of the storm, but you can turn away from that and see if you can find a better solution, instead. This isn't getting you anywhere. No, you decide to go for plan B, instead. You summon the wind energy in your hands again, and with a chant of ancient magic - windhose! - Mut infuses itself into the spell, giving it just a bit more kick, a bit more force as you send it flying backwards, at an angle, up. You're out of here. You don't want to have to rely on your magic too much - if you can't break through with your own force of will, you don't want to risk getting stuck, getting injured, maybe worse with whatever the hell's out there if your magic gives up on you. Instead, you follow the trail of the air current your spell has created, flying diagonally upwards, trying to break out above the clouds, instead. You don't care so much about the storm. You can go out of your way to avoid it. You just want to see what the hell is on the other side. PANDOR. If nothing else, the magic you summon seems to cut through the whipping gales of the storm... But something is still odd. You can feel a flickering, a waver in the strength of the magic that you're unfamiliar with. Like the flame of a candle in the wind, the power pulse through you ebbs and flows, but falters at times. Still, it isn't enough to cut it off completely, and though it comes with more difficulty than you expected, the wind cutting through in the gaps where your power seems to cut off for brief moments, you find your way farther from the choppy waves and into the dark cloud above.

Lightning crackles, illuminating the edges of the storm clouds around you, and the rushing woosh of wind to fill the spaces booms into deafening thunder. Up and up and up you climb...

Until you emerge above the clouds, still feeling the stronger than normal breeze and smelling the rain on the air. Bluhen Something isn't right. Though you initially don't take any moment to reminiscence on it, the wavering of your magic puts you on high alert. That can't be right. You can only think of one reason why your magic would waver, and that should be physically impossible right now. So then, why? Nonetheless, you cut through the storm, and when you finally arrive above it, you take a deep, deep breath, collecting your bearings. Holy shit. That could've gone wrong in so many ways, and you were an idiot for charging in unprepared, but you're fine now. You're okay. You sit there, floating in the air for a while, making sure you're rested up at least a little before you keep trekking forward, further across the ocean, making sure to stay above the storm this time. You're not going back in unless you really have to. You still need to see how far out you can go before you hit a barrier of some sort (if you even hit one, though you severely doubt there wouldn't be), as that was the reason you came here in the first place. PANDOR. The first thing you notice from your point above the clouds is that the storm extends as far as the eye can see. There is no horizon; instead it tapers off into black clouds and fog, blurring the distance in a way that makes it hard to see just how far the storm goes.

But you carry on, the smell of the sea and the chill of the rain still all around you. Skating over the clouds, you fly with relative ease, though that same feeling, that flickering from earlier is still there -- your wings keep you aloft but every so often, you seem to drop a few inches without any real explanation. You don't have much time to think about it though, before...

Thunk.

An invisible barrier blocks your way. Bluhen It goes on forever. Oh, that's what you feared. There's no end to it - as far you can see, it's just a storm that goes on forever. You shake your head, letting out a sigh in displeasure as you keep on heading forward. Your wings keep giving out, and something has to be wrong - this can't be right. This shouldn't be happening. What the hell could be g- Thunk. Distracted by your thoughts, you run face first into a barrier again. You rub your face a little, start patting the barrier, throw a glance up ahead to see if maybe, maybe you can see any end of the storm (you doubt it), if it spreads across the entire horizon - and then to be sure, you start flying up, brushing your hand past the barrier to check if it goes all the way up. You have a feeling it does. But, you don't want to risk accidentally assuming something wrong, of course. PANDOR. All you see ahead are the rolling dark clouds and the fog that obscures the horizon beyond them. From side to side, towards the west, the clouds only stop when the mountain range breaks between you and them, and to the south, there are gently rolling hills and a patch of overgrown land.

Keeping your hand pressed against the barrier, you notice that it arcs upwards the closer you move towards the city. It's subtle, a gradual curve, but a curve nonetheless. The barrier does not seem to have any breaks in it however -- from everything you can tell, it is a continuous dome. Bluhen There really is nothing but a storm that goes on forever. You shake your head, a sigh voicing your disapproval. Well, so be it. As you trail up and up, closer to the city, you can feel the curve - you look back down at the storm below you, consider going back in for just a moment, then realize that's definitely the worst idea you've ever had. Still, though, you know you can't die for real... but that doesn't mean you should abuse that gift. Hmm. You let go of the dome, and instead, decide to make a beeline towards the overgrown patch of land in the distance. You're not done stretching your wings yet - you want to fly some more, and you've always been a fan of nature. Why not, then? PANDOR. ERROR: Actions inconsistent with recorded request. Terminating logging of exploration...

Exploration ended.