Cloudfeet

He was jumping. High. His boots were hot from the alchemical reaction, the gunpowder was doing the magic. As Hugh Cloudfeet ascended to the heavens, jumping from floating rock to floating rock, the air was only getting better. Purer, cleaner, lighter. He could not go too high, for the air also got thinner and thinner, but he didn’t have to.

Turning to his left, he could see it: the Geoflux. Carrying earth and rocks across the skies, to distant destinations, a natural event many witness and study. But for Hugh, it was his ride.

He landed on a close floating stone. He prepared himself. He had spent many months waiting for this journey, it was his time to shine. His heels touched the rock surface activating the catalyst. He was off. The jump propelled him many miles forward in a motion of great grace. He felt the wind brushing against his face, a sensation of freedom and inner peace.

Until he opened his eyes to catch a fragment of some mineral in the Geoflux. He held it and was taken by the wondrous stream. It wasn’t a big chunk of mineral, Hugh felt he was slowly descending with the ore in his hands. He looked further down the Geoflux and noticed a curved part of it, directed downwards.

Hugh used his cunning and looked for a nearby rock that would be big enough. In the moment the current shifted angle, he manually pressed the boots activator and stretched himself towards the boulder. The alchemic explosion only pushed him barely, he mostly depended on how much time he had before the stream was once again horizontal. He tried to reach it with his left hand, closer, closer…

He grabbed an edge of the boulder just in time! The Geoflux changed direction again, hauling Hugh over and on top of his saving object. Were he not holding anything, surely that would’ve expelled him out of the stream, to a free fall he could not do anything about. However, he was now a first class passenger on the magical way to the east.

He took a moment to gather himself and feel relief for his daring success. And joy. The situation was now pretty comfortable actually, with a beautiful voyage point to the lands below, exquisite sights of the many things being carried by the Geoflux and the pleasant wind caressing his face.

He could almost stay here forever, but his next transport was coming. An unexpected one at that; Hugh had planned to ride the flux for hours until he could reach his destination, forced to take on the many curves and random directions present along the way. However, what he was seeing was an opportunity.

It was a kettle of Crown Vultures, flying east, unlike the Geoflux which was soon taking a huge detour. A kettle of large, robust and strong Crown Vultures. A smile flashed in Hugh’s face. He restocked the gunpowder inside his boots and got ready. One press of the heels, the inner ignition was set off and the young traveler jumped from his rock.

Hugh was putting himself amidst the vultures, but things didn’t go as planned. They evaded him, or were simply far. Hugh hadn’t escaped the free falling this time. He reached for a vulture, then another, then another. Feathers, wing flaps, bird noises. His hope was one last vulture, soaring low.

Hugh had an idea, as always. He reached for his rope in his side pocket, the rope he had kept in case something were to happen in the floating rocks and the Geoflux. He wasn’t there anymore, but this was that something. He tied it into a lasso. He threw it just as the vulture was passing by his side.

The rope was apparently between the creatures’ legs, Hugh pulled it and closed his eyes, in hopes for the best. A few seconds passed, the daring traveler was still falling. Perhaps his daredevil nature was to be his demise, perhaps there’s a reason he hadn’t met many like him in his years.

Hugh was holding tight to the rope, his heart uncertain. Until he felt a jolt, the rope was tensioned, he’d stopped falling! He looked up to see the lasso was around one of the fingers of the great Crown Vulture. The majestic beast was used to carrying much heavier prey, so a single humanoid was little to nothing for it.

The daredevil traveler Hugh had done it. He twisted the rope around his arms and hand for extra safety and let himself have a smile. A different one than before, but still, a smile. He allowed himself to be carried by the bird in the direction it was migrating.

Hugh finally saw what he expected to see traveling in this direction: the city of Redham. The wealthy economic pole of the nation. His fabled destination.

With a knife and a cut of the rope above his head, he made himself fall. On a sloped roof. He started rolling until Hugh fell perfectly on top of one of the many haystacks in the area. Luckly, the Crown Vulture’s way allowed for the idea.

And there he was. The young traveler had done it. There was a lot to come up next, supplies to buy, boot adjustments to be made, but more importantly, the main reason he had made the journey in the first place: the Transporters’ Guild.