Ominous Odyssey (Overworld Chronicles Book 13) by John Corwin

Author:John Corwin [Corwin, John]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Raven House
Published: 2016-08-03T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

By mid-morning the next day, the linking gems were in place. The experienced navigators ran several tests and seemed delighted with the new power-sharing layout. Even the new recruits noticed the difference.

"It gave me a headache yesterday," one of them said. "Today it is much easier."

Once the experienced navigators were confident the new design had no flaws, they gave the green light to Illaena.

Illaena looked supremely proud of her crew, even sparing a nod of acknowledgement to Eor. "You have done well." She turned to her first mate and issued an order.

"Onward to the core," Tahlee shouted, and the navigators thrust the Falcheen forward.

The rift between the elemental eruptions to port and the aether storm to starboard grew narrower during our progress until it felt as though the layers were pressing close enough to suffocate us.

A chain of skylets appeared ahead in the mist and Illaena directed the ship toward the one in the center, a hovering chunk of land about the size of Kdosh. It looked like an asteroid, pockmarked and ravaged with hundreds of impact craters. Unlike the mountain, this skylet wasn't comprised of aetherium.

A crater hosted a lake, but there was no vegetation or life to feed off its waters. The land beyond the water vanished into the aether nebula. Lightning arced against the skylet, blasting holes in the rock and leaving molten lava.

"Man, that place doesn't look too inviting." Shelton tugged on the brim of his hat as if it might ward off the elements.

Adam leaned over the railing. "Wow, those aether discharges are intense."

"You mean the lightning?" Elyssa said.

He nodded. "Regular lightning is electrical. This is raw unguided magical energy."

"It'll all kill you just the same," Shelton said. "Which begs the question, why in the hell are we headed toward it?"

I observed the grim set of Illaena's mouth and eyes and hoped the route Xalara had given her would get us through safely. "I'm sure the captain knows what she's doing."

Adam flinched as another bolt of aether exploded against the skylet. "This is gonna be tricky."

"We made it through that lightning hole," Shelton said.

"Because the discharges were concentrated at the lip of the hole," Adam said. "These strikes are so random we'll be dead before we even know we were hit."

Shelton pressed his hands over his ears. "Shut up, man! You're giving me a panic attack."

Elyssa squeezed my hand. "At least the rest of the crew looks confident."

Judging from the business-as-usual demeanors of the seasoned navigators and Tahlee, either they had confidence in Illaena's abilities, or they were totally fine with being obliterated by aether lightning.

The Falcheen swooped down toward the lake, and for a moment, I wondered if we were about to submerge. Instead, we parked right over the water, the bow facing what looked like the mother of all thunderstorms. Bolts of aether lashed out and pummeled the land not fifty yards from the tip of the ship's nose, revving my pulse and making me jump back.

Shelton took out his staff and clenched it.

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