Pedaling hard and asking too many questions!

I’ve read about journeys and expeditions of scientists, explorers and athletes in Antarctica, the life they led there and the hardships and challenges they had to endure. It’s easy and convenient to read about it in your own four walls, protected with layer upon layer of civilization and technology. How often had I wondered what really drove these people to expose themselves voluntarily (in most cases at least) to such risks and threats!

Now, pedaling through the endless wastelands of Skîbæria I still didn’t know. Yes, the land had this special beauty of pureness to it, but it was so unbelievably vast! How easily could you get lost in this white, frozen ocean of nothing! Never would I voluntarily choose this place to travel or to explore!

But I had no choice and neither did Lily, Illyára and Al’Reeza. We had to push through the hostile environment at all costs to survive! The girls had furthermore a mission to fulfill, even if they’d failed its final task to fulfill - to find out why the sky dragons were migrating south in such numbers. I didn’t even know how they could survive, reproduce and generally thrive in such an environment in the first place!

But during our trip we had plenty of time at our disposal and I finally could ask all the questions I had ever wanted to ask. Unfortunately I was interested in such a broad spectrum of topics that we often derailed and landed completely elsewhere.

Illyára, who sat directly behind me, usually answered. Lily often wasn’t in the mood and Al’Reeza had a hard time learning proper pedaling.

“All Dragons are highly magically inclined creatures.” the ælf just now tried to answer my question, how dragons could survive the freezing temperatures in Skîbæria. “Their bodies store huge amounts of manærite, especially their bones. The concentration is even higher than in some sentient species.”

“Excuse me,” I interrupted. “What species do you call ‘sentient’?”

“Dwarves, ælves, oruc, daimon, giants, humans and of course beastkin.” answered Lily in her place. The beast girl next to me pedaled hard and with seemingly endless stamina.

“These are all humanoid species, right?” I inquired.

The girls all winced audibly and Lily snarled: “Be careful where you let this speciesist crap out! A human is as much an ‘ælfoid’ or a ‘daimoid’ as an oruc or dwarf would be a ‘humanoid’ or a ‘gigantoid’! Sure, you find potheads everywhere who think their species is superior to all the others, but generally all kinds who can communicate with each other mutually agreed to call themselves ‘sentient’.”

That made me think.

“Do you think ‘sentient’ is really the correct term?” I thought out loud. “Aren’t there any intelligent species who just can’t form words like we are used to? For instance great apes, whales or some birds?”

“Interesting that you bring up this topic.” answered Illyára.

“Take again the sky dragons for example. They sure are intelligent enough to also be called ‘sentient’, but they lack - as you correctly pointed out - the capability of a commonly understandable language. And that greatly hinders a mutual understanding. They also reject any attempt to form a ‘mind link’ or other forms of telepathic communication, so we can’t understand them on that level too. Interestingly they themselves have some sort of ‘mind link’.”

These creatures surely were full of surprises!

“They can communicate telepathically with each other?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes, we are sure of that, although we don’t know to what degree. We noticed hidden mind threads of really exotic quality between them, but we couldn’t access them or ‘listen in’ if you know what I mean.”

“I think I can imagine.” I replied a little bit reserved. I still couldn’t forget my first encounter with Al’Reeza, where she'd practically ‘mind raped’ me! Somewhat I envied these creatures who could easily repel such an attack.

“So we don’t really know what kind of spiritual content they are exchanging. It could be certain specific information or just general emotions. We just don’t know.”

She paused a little bit to pick up on my earlier question.

“Their minds certainly are evolved enough to create a strong feedback with the mana in the manærite. They can manipulate it to some degree which helps them to survive the hard conditions here.”

“But they can’t …use it to …manipulate matter …like trained …magicians. They can just …enhance …physical properties, …like most …adventurers.” Al’Reeza joined our conversation, panting while trying her best not to slip with her hooves from the pedals.

I listened up. Enhancing physical properties? Could that be a solution to my blasted weakness because of the high gravity here?

“What do you mean by ‘enhancing’?” I asked curiously.

“Creatures and people who aren’t magically gifted still can use the mana from manærite to boost their physical properties.” explained Illyára instead of Al’Reeza who again concentrated on pedaling. “Because mana always interacts with life and spiritual energy. But aside from naturally gifted beings like daimons and ælves only a small percentage of dwarves, giants, orucs and humans can actually use this mana to perform real magic.”

She accentuated this last bit pointedly.

“Despite that, all life can use mana to strengthen their bodies and boost their physical performance and health, though for the most part subconsciously. If for instance a non magically gifted adventurer relentlessly trains and always eats huge amounts of manærite rich nutrition, he will evolve and steadily grow bigger and stronger the longer he lives, as long as he keeps up his training. But furthermore, he can use the mana in his body to boost for a short time his performance, even concentrate his energy to enhance the impact of his strikes or strengthen his defenses. Very old and experienced adventurers can thus achieve truly legendary feats, like for instance the slaying of an earth dragon from Dúran Scimitos."

That of course also piqued my interest.

“What kinds of dragons even exist in total?”

This time Lily answered.

“Sky dragons, earth dragons, sea dragons.”

With that said she fell silent again. I looked at her expectantly, but she just pedaled wordlessly on. Finally she added helpfully: “Sky dragons fly, sea dragons swim, earth dragons roam the lands.”

Well, that was informative!

“Earth dragons are truly gigantic beasts.” Illyára stepped in kindly. “They can reach lengths of up to three hundred feet and weigh five hundred diboulds or more. And they have armor about three to four feet thick.”

Again these unknown unit systems! But its armor may be equivalent to a modern tank. What a terrifying beast!

“Fortunately they are just lithovores, herbivores and occasionally scavengers. But they can get a mighty bad temper and have little intelligence, opposite to their flying brethren!”

“Excuse me,” I interjected. “What is a ‘lithovore’?”

“A rock eater.” explained Lily in her usual laconic way.

“And they are not the only ones.” elaborated Illyára. “Dwarves and giants are also partly lithovores, as are all dragons and some tree species too. Old magicians and adventurers may also develop that habit.”

“And what are ‘diboulds’?” I asked.

Lily let out a deep, exasperated, really bestial sounding sigh.

“Be nice!” Illyára scolded her furred companion.

“Then please allow yourself a break every now and then.” the beastess vented. “I can’t stand this constant chitter chatter! A little bit quiet now and then!”

Yes, I admit, I behaved a little bit like a small child. But I firmly refused to feel ashamed or embarrassed.

“Lily, I’m sorry.” I apologized nevertheless. “I know I can be quite annoying sometimes, but please try to put yourself in my situation. I am a complete stranger here, who doesn’t know a thing about this place, heck, this whole world! I feel like a newborn, even with the mind capabilities of a grown up. Alone I would be completely helpless. Do you know how unsettling this feeling is?”

Lily sighed again, but sounded much less annoyed.

“I know, but please understand also that I’m not used to this much talking and noise around. We will be together in a very crowded room with little to almost no personal space for the next sidehs, heck, randas. Believe me, you’ll have plenty of time to learn all that you want and all that is necessary to survive here in Liyúra. But please, some quiet and some breaks from time to time!”

“Deal.” I said and extended my hand to her, which she carefully grabbed in her paw after a moment of consideration. I shook it strongly and added: “I earnestly promise from here on to weave some breaks into my endless stream of questions from time to time.”

I must’ve sounded too ceremonious, because Lily turned her head and asked her companions in the back: “Is he making fun of me?”

Illyára burst out laughing and even Al’Reeza chuckled through her strenuous task.

“No, I think he really means it, as funny as it sounds.” the ælven girl replied, still giggling.

The beast girl eyed me suspiciously and I held her gaze firmly - despite her yellow, predatory eyes drilling deep into my soul.

“Well, I take your word.” she finally said and turned her look again to the front.

“Alright.”

I let out the air I didn’t know I was holding in.

“Please, just let me have this last question. Then I’ll shut up for, lets see, a short candle? What are ‘diboulds’?”

Lily just groaned weakly.