Note: This is a adaption of the chapter "Hiking up the cloud mountain." by an anonymous writer. Any material taken from the original chapter is credited to the original writer. Thank you for reading and please enjoy the chapter.
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Hiking up Mount Sky wasn't the easiest thing in the world for Isaac. For one, despite Issac's almost complete resistance to both heat and cold, the high altitude of the mountain range chilled Issac to his very Corrupted cold and even Marry and Nat, natives of this plane barely managed to last only slightly longer than Issac did. Only through use of his magma breath did the three manage to have at least some warmth as they climbed higher and higher, watching the plant life diminish as they progressed further up.
The entire trip to the mountains took about three days and had left the entire party exhausted. Regardless, they continued. Issac didn't want to spend another second letting the tyrannical Sky King to get away with his corrupt deeds, however right now they had to focus on their current objective.
By the time it was around noon, the three found themselves taking a break at a small plateau on the cloud mountain.
Issac was looking around for any signs of danger, while Nat was sitting at the edge the plateau looking in awe at the view of the shining sun pouring it's light over the white landscape. Issac briefly wondered if the sun was also made of clouds as well.
Nat was overall a lot more chipper then a few days ago. It was like her town's destruction never happened. But deep down, Isaac knew that Nat was still hurting inside. Regardless, she still throws around silly one-liners, experiments with magic, and occasionally misread her own maps (she sometimes holds them upside down). On the three days they traveled together, Nat was starting to feel like a little sister to Isaac. He still doesn't know how old she is and has no intention of asking. For all he knows, she's probably just as old as Nathan, making her older then him. Somethings are best left unknown.
"Quite the view isn't it? Do you have anything like this on your world?" Marry asked, wearing a set of warm hiking gear rather than her armor which was placed beside her as she sat on a cloud rock.
"Yes, though I have to admit I haven't seen quite a view like this before we got here." Issac answered.
Marry smiled briefly but her face turned serious when Issac turned to her and asked about their progress.
Pulling out a topographical map of the region from Nat's backpack, she layed it on a lumpy rock and began pointing at the plateau they were currently resting on, then trailing her fingers up a mountain path that led higher into another plateau about five hundred feet above them, explaining as she went.
"Even with your slow speed we have actually made a surprising amount of progress, usually at this point we would've been attacked by a pack of feral animals or at least a blizzard climbing up here, so it seems like Lord Fate and Lady Luck have blessed us here for now." She said, circling her finger around the higher plateau above them. "Higher up the mountain are were packs of pegasi are often found, with this area here being a well known grazing spot for any herd. Most herds tend to have their own leader, the largest one usually have the strongest amount of innate air magic. If we can get you to absorb one of those, I imagine we'll have no problems until we get to the Sky King's castle."
"I see, how long until we get there?" Issac asked.
"Only a few more hours on foot if everything goes well." Marry answered.
"What about the post office city I mentioned?" Nat brought up. "Why tame or adsorb a bunch of wild pegasi when we can just borrow some from Sky High City? They dedicate themselves to delivering letters all over the kingdom by using tamed pegasi. In fact, it's the only place in the Cloud Kingdom other then the Cloud Castle that has tamed Pegasus. I'm sure we can find some for rent if we look. The city is not that far from here."
Mary and Isaac blinked in surprise. They honestly forgot about Sky High City.
Nat continued her rant. "Be careful. There have been a lot of rumors and legends circulating around this mountain though they may or may not be true. As I mentioned three days ago, the Sky King occasionally hunts on this mountain. So be careful. Fun fact: Did you know that the Sky King named this mountain after himself? Anyways, I also heard rumors that a primitive tribe of air kobolds lives somewhere here. Air kobolds have been extinct for many years so I'm pretty sure that rumor is a hoax. Along those lines, there is a legend of an ancient temple somewhere on this mountain. Once again, no one has found it yet so I'm assuming that the legend was over-exaggerated. Also, if you plan on hunting wild pegasi then I recommend you defeat the alpha first. Doing so will make the rest of the herd view you as their new alpha." Nat took a bunch of deep breaths after that long winded rant.
Isaac ruffled Nat's hair to her annoyance. "Thank you Nat. That was very informative. Shall we head off then?" Issac said.
"Of course." Mary replied. "Sure." Nat added.
"Alright. Pack up your things. We are going to see what Mt. Sky has to offer!" Isaac concluded.