Chapter 346: Astalith, the land of the Sun
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
"KAI! SLOW DOWN!"
"WE’RE GONNA FUCKING DIE!"
"YESSSS! THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN SAILING!"
"WE’RE SO HIGH! FLY LOWER! FLY LOWERRRR!"
"MATE WITH ME HUSBAND!"
Kai was currently flying toward Astalith, traveling over the open ocean, Eridani, and the open ocean between Astalith and Eridani. He made the jet’s floor clear for everyone to see the land and ocean from above, but that scared them even more.
Leo was having the time of his life, waving his hands and legs in the air as they traveled really fast. "This reminds me of that one time when I took you flying after I got my pilot’s license."
"Oh yeah! When you acted like you were going to crash into a fucking mountain?!"
"Hey! I was just messing around. Besides, nothing would have happened to us anyway."
Kai frowned. "I literally died."
"No! I made it seem like you died. That mortal body you were in was just a shell to contain your soul. Your shell was destroyed, then when I sent you here, I put you in your real body."
Kai didn’t even know how to react to that. "That’s some freaky shit, man."
"I know."
Amaya was looking at Kai and Leo talking, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. "WHAT ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT?"
"I DON’T KNOW?! I CAN’T HEAR THEM!"
Kai had to rub his ear because of how loud the girls were. "Why are they yelling? It’s not even loud in here."
"First-time flyers. It’s a thing. They think yelling will make them feel better."
"I guess."
An hour passed, and the girls were still screaming, but that had become white noise for Kai at this point. He squinted his eyes and noticed land rapidly coming into view.
"Haha! We’re here! Everyone, stop your screaming, we’re here!"
"We’re here? Put us down! Please! I can’t take it!"
"Gwen, you’re a dragon. Isn’t the sky your domain?"
"I’m only part dragon!" She argued
"Guys! It’s a trap! He’s going to throw us in the ocean!"
Kai stared at Amaya, wondering if she was okay. However, the thought of dropping them into the ocean was something that crossed his mind.
"J-Just. Please. Put us down! T-This is worse than being on the water." Sasha wasn’t throwing up, but she was passing out every few minutes because of the altitude and fear.
"You guys are funny. This is great. I can travel like this forever. Flying is so much better than sailing."
"Yeah, we’re glad you’re loving it, Mrs. Tree lover." Though Nadya said that, she was clinging to her seat because of how high they were.
"When am I getting pregnant?" That was all Karumi was worried about.
Soon, the jet started flying over Astalith, and what they saw made them gasp. The continent was beautiful. The architecture reminded Kai of Persia and its beautifully crafted architecture, beaches along the coast were vibrant and populated, and it looked as if the people were having the time of their lives.
However, there was one thing that stood out. Sand. The entire continent was a desert with sand everywhere. The only place, besides the beaches, where the land looked different was the mountains that stretched from coast to coast, splitting the continent in half, and the minor rock formations riddled all over the land.
"Wow, this place looks completely different from Sarkylla and Eridani." Kai was actually fascinated by the difference. While he wasn’t that big on sand since it got everywhere, he did love the vibe the land was giving.
Soon, Kai landed in the middle of the desert, close to a large town, and hopped out of the jet with everyone.
Leo said his goodbyes and went back to Kai’s house to play with his grandbabies.
"Whoa, that’s a lot of sand!" Gwen had never seen so much sand before in her life.
"I’m already loving this place!" As a dwarf, Sasha was attracted to land, no matter what form it was in. So traveling to a continent that was a desert was very amazing to her.
"The trees! Where are the tres!" Kyana panicked, not knowing where she could find a tree to hug. "Oh, there’s one!"
"NO! Kyana, that’s not a tree!" Kai tried to warn her, but it was too late.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She hugged a cactus.
"What the fuck?! The tree fought back!" Gwen sprang into action, burning the cactus to a crisp.
Amaya joined on, cutting it apart, then Karumi blew it up with a beam of spirit energy from her mouth.
"Kyana! Don’t worry, I’ll heal you." Nadya protected Kyana with a barrier, then healed her wounds, getting rid of all the spines that penetrated her body.
"Kai! This place is already dangerous! That fucking tree attacked me!"
"We need to handle the other monsters like these!" Sasha had her shield up, making sure none of the spines would shoot at them from other cacti.
He couldn’t help but laugh out loud. This was the first time he’s seen someone gang up on a cactus. He felt bad for the plant, just sitting out in the open, minding its own business, then it gets blown to smithereens.
"Girls, hahaha! That’s not a monster. Oh god, you all crack me up! That’s a cactus."
Amaya scoffed. "You made that word up."
"All words are made up. And no, I’m for real. That’s a plant. It’s one of the only types of plants that can grow in deserts, and they have these needle-like things on their body called spines to protect them from predators...or idiots like you, Kyana. And you all just killed it. For no reason."
All of them looked at Kai like deer in headlights.
"What? That’s a plant?" Kyana looked at the charred cactus, trying to see if she could sense any spirits around it, but she couldn’t. Most likely because the cactus is dead.
"Oh, goodie, we have some fresh meat around here. I was hoping we would run into some people out here."
Everyone turned to see a group of people who looked to be bandits...sand bandits. They dressed according to the hot weather and desert landscape, and rode camels instead of horses.
Sasha rolled her eyes. "Oh, great. We come here for two seconds and we’re already being robbed."
"Boss, these guys not only have weird accents but are also dressed weird. Do you think they’re aliens?" One of the bandits asked
"Well, if they are aliens, then we can sell them for a lot of money. Get ’em, boys!"