The Final Resting Place of The Last Great Magical Engineers.

As hastily planned in the middle of a pub brawl, Jago Fleetfoot - the Red Wizard a halfling met the Faerie Nixie Laundelle outside the city gates of Komiteia at sunrise three days later. Together the unlikely pair headed off towards the Tori Mountains fully equipped for questing. Due to his less than long legs Jago had set out on his familiar an extremely large grizzly bear named Sigurd. Jago had rescued the bear as a cub and raised him into the imposing beast he was today. Laden with equipment, expedition kit and enough food to feed a halfling for two weeks (Or a human for two months.) the small party moved slowly.

Whilst it only took them three days to cross the mountain range it had been an arduous track. The mountains were mostly barred, windswept and stony. Eventually the two companions and the pet grizzly reached the edge of an immense misty bamboo forest known as Menomori Forest. Jago had a safe route marked out on his magical map, but that hadn’t stopped him feeling the eyes of the forest watching every step they took. Five days later they reached the edge of the paranoia inducing daylight stealing maze of bamboo to savanna. A mile or so later, the edge of a cliff, a dark sea and an incredible view of the Hanging Gardens. Literal beautiful, crystal and blossom platforms hanging silently and beautifully in mid-air on magical flaming rings. As if this wasn’t enough of a heart stopping sight after the sky-less nights in the forest, the gardens were backlit by a magnificent orange and pink sunset.

“Now that Nixie, is where we are heading. The island, its staggering, isn’t it?”

Jago did his half of the camp set up quickly and quietly just soaking in their environment. The hidden library was a mile away, on the island above which the Hanging Gardens floated effortlessly. After a hearty meal Jago fell to sleep. The morning would bring fresh adventure, finally reaching their target. They both needed a good night’s rest – It had been an epic journey to this point and they’d only just arrived at this magical place. Who knew what magic guarded their goal? What might they encounter on the way in? These concerns seemed miles away from the young sleeping Halfling. Only time would tell.

As Nixie settled in her bed roll, generously provided by the Red Wizard, she turned from the sight of natural beauty over on her side to see the Halfling over the dying light of the embers. She wasn't a stranger to sleeping rough but found some comfort in the material and it's unique musky smell like incense and churches and magicks older than the ground on which they lay. The Halfling appeared childlike in his sleep, his shape gently rising to and fro with an audible sound. When he had seen the gardens, crystallised in the sky with their halos glowing, he was taken back by the beauty but Nixie found she felt very little upon viewing it. For a split second she wished with all her heart to be moved, to feel the beauty resonate with her soul before this thought vanished as quickly as it had appeared. She pushed it down.

Nixie slept very little that night but felt no worse for wear. Sleep was an optional activity for Faeries and one she felt no desire for. In sleep the body heals and the mind consolidates information from the day. But Nixie felt her body never became damaged enough to warrant healing and her mind was as sharp and as swift as an arrowhead. As the sun was rising and the birds were becoming more confident in their morning chorus, Jago stirred but by this point Nixie had already prepared their morning's breakfast. The journey they had travelled so far had allowed Nixie to learn a lot about Jago. She activity sought out information from him, gobbling up every scrap of knowledge unable to sift out what was useful and what was not. She had learnt his favourite foods and drink, how he preferred some foods cooked, what drinks he was partial to and his small routines. Nixie oft felt that she could learn more about a person by their routines and rituals than by hours of chatter. The spread, rationed as it was for their travels, had been embellished by some foraging and hunting the Faery had partook in whilst her companion slumbered under the stars. Grilled cuts of rabbit and juicy wild mushrooms lay along side Halfling produced bread and rich cheese. An array of wild fruits were clustered also for a sweet refreshing burst of sugar for the road ahead. As expected from a land as beautiful as this, it was abundant with the gifts of nature. If they had not come with supplies, a traveller along these roads could easily sustain themselves for some time.

"I hope you enjoy." Nixie gestured as Jago came to acknowledge the spread of foods. "I suppose this could be our last meal if there's a powerful adversary within that library." She smiled, a glint of teeth flashing with the electric of excitement. "Shall we find out?"