Lisa teleported several times, heading west, travelling around fifty kilometres at a time. She took her time, walking for an hour in between until she was sure she wasn't going to teleport into a trap or a large rock. She travelled all night and the sun was just rising by the time she saw a thin blue line spreading across the horizon. She knew she would have to be more careful from here onwards.
Focussing on the land before her, she teleported a short distance this time, appearing among the sand dunes a couple of kilometres short of the shoreline. The air was warmer here. Sweat trickled down the middle of her back. Unfastening her bearskin, she walked towards the coast, listening to tufts of dry yellow grass crunching beneath her soft boots. The wind was stronger than before, throwing her hair into disarray behind her.
She walked for perhaps half an hour before reaching the ocean where soft yellow sand stretched out on either side of her. She had only seen one ocean before, at Bone Beach where Lord Hades' body had hung from the reckoning tree. It had been a foreboding place, full of rough seas and icy winds. The ocean before her had crystal clear waters and it was smooth as a lake with nothing but a warm breeze flowing gently across its surface. The two couldn't be any more different. She wondered how they could both be oceans when they had so little in common.
There were no cliffs to overlook her position. Sand dunes led back the way she had come, covered in dry, yellow grass that stopped short of the shoreline. The beach stretched to the horizon on either side of her, covered in fine, soft sand.
Lisa dropped down on one knee before sitting cross-legged as she stared out over the water. Small blue waves rolled towards her, breaking into white streams of bubbles as they crashed across the shoreline. It scared the hell out of her to think that there could be so much water in the world. It scared her even more when she realised that she was actually considering flying over it.
How far could it be to the island? She had flown long distances before but never over water. She wouldn't be able to land if she got tired. She wouldn't be able to rest if she got hungry or felt unwell. What if she couldn't find it? She could fly for days, heading in the wrong direction before crashing down into the water. She had never felt so frightened.
Lisa shook her head, putting her fears aside. Flying had never made her feel tired before. Her wings were swift and powerful. Reaching into the pocket of her bearskin coat, she held the Eye, drawing the Lasrecon towards her. She couldn't feel them at first, but then a surge of energy flowed through her, making her tremble inside. White light erupted from her eyes as she spread her wings and took to the sky.
* * * * *
Lisa launched herself high into the sky before gazing down at the infinite blue ocean below. The wind caught beneath her wings, making her flight effortless for a while. When the wind dropped she beat her wings more often, but flying seemed somehow easier than before. She didn't know whether it was because she had filled herself with Lasrecon, or whether she had improved her flying skills. Maybe it was just that the winds were more favourable over the ocean?
She remembered how Ibex had combined flying and teleporting into a more effective form of transport. Riser had berated Lisa for not combining her skills in the same way. Twisting her lips, she focussed on the sky ahead and shifted just a few hundred metres. She reappeared at an odd angle and started flapping her wings like a fool, almost falling out of the sky. After a brief moment of panic, she managed to right herself and started flying properly once more.
Her heart beat faster in her chest. She could only imagine how Riser would have laughed at such a display of incompetence. It made her annoyed, but it also made her smile. He was right. She needed to have a better understanding of her abilities if she was going to survive for long in the Blasted Lands. She had been a child all her life - and it had been a privilege - but she would have to grow up sooner or later.
Beating her wings to regain her altitude, she teleported again, appearing a kilometre in front of where she had been before. She tried not to panic this time but she couldn't help letting out a high-pitched yelp as she wobbled in mid-air, trying to maintain the angle of her wings. She kicked her legs in the air, forgetting there was no ground to stand on and then finally relaxed her shoulders, gliding like before.
'What are doing?!' she said to herself.
She knew how to fly! The problem was all in her mind. She remembered how her mother had struggled to teleport without her gemstone because her limiting self-beliefs had got in her own way, crippling her natural abilities by over thinking the problem to the point where she couldn't do it at all. Lisa smiled as she glided higher on a warm breeze. Wasn't she doing exactly the same thing? She knew how to teleport. She knew how to fly. She didn't have to do them separately. It was all in her mind.
Relaxing her neck, she twisted her head from side to side and shifted repeatedly in a series of short, smooth jumps, interleaving them with effortless gliding. She covered a hundred kilometres in less than half an hour.
It was all going so well until she passed a strange dark line beneath the water. After that she couldn't teleport at all. It confused her at first, but then she remembered how Ranno had told her that the island was warded to keep the war lords out. Anyone foolish enough to try to teleport to the island without wings would now be swimming in an increasingly choppy ocean. The water's smooth surface had long since given way to unforgiving waves. Nobody would survive a swim like that for long.
There were creatures in the water. She could see dark shadows following just beneath the surface, waiting for her to fall. At first they were friendly. Their sleek, grey bodies, jumped playfully out of the water, making squeaking sounds as they rolled and twisted in the air. But it wasn't long before they turned and headed in a different direction, replaced by much larger creatures that were covered in big black warts. These new creatures weren't playful at all. They didn't jump but they often came to the surface, their black eyes following her progress as their mouths yawned open, revealing row upon row of savage teeth.
Lisa flew higher, trying to escape their gaze. She remembered what they were with the help of the Lasrecon. They were vogniers, savage creatures that were feared by anyone with any sense. Those who had studied them too closely hadn't lasted very long. They could jump too. More than a few young sky lords had been snatched out of the air while flying too low, their wings still beating as the vogniers dragged them into the depths below. The path of a vognier was thick with blood - so the saying went. Lisa had no intention of providing them with their next meal.
Tilting her wings to glide higher on the wind, she breathed deeply and tried not to look down.