Day 110

[from Project Sky]

It's been a couple of weeks now since I set out on my journey. I've visited the five colonies that were the closest to my own, but none of them held any clues as to how I might be able to reverse the effects of the Ruin. So now, I'm travelling towards the town of Harford, which is apparently the biggest colony for miles, and not too far away either. Perhaps I can find some useful information there.

I've already gotten used to the travelling lifestyle. It's usually recommended that one avoids flying at night, primarily because of the poor visibility, but also because at this altitude, it gets extremely cold after the sun sets. For that reason, I have to stay overnight at each colony before flying off in the morning. Of course, renting a room for the night isn't free. This fractured world has no unified currency, so I have to pay my rent by doing errands and favours instead. That's the way this world works: a favour for a favour. The elder likes it better this way, and hopes that once the world is restored we won't return to the old ways of being ruled by greed.

As the dozen or so floating islands that make up Harford gradually grow larger in front of me, I realize for the first time just how large it really is. Having spent all my life in my tiny village of only a dozen or so houses, the thought of a town as large as Harford is hard for me to comprehend, and yet there it is in front of me, gradually filling my vision. Even at this distance I can make out far more houses than I've ever seen in one place before. And from what I've been told, even this is a drop in the ocean compared to the very largest colonies. I can't even begin to imagine how large they must be.

As I get closer, I notice something strange. Extending from one of the islands and out into the horizon are three thin blue lines, shimmering in the midday sunlight. I have no idea what they are, but there's no doubt that they have some sort of magical property. Perhaps they're connected to other far-away colonies, and provide some kind of rapid communication or transport between them. It might be worth investigating those lines, once I've landed.

It's not long before I'm flying directly over Harford, looking for a place to land. It truly is enormous. There must be at least a hundred buildings, possibly more. One large island, easily the size of our entire village, is completely taken up by a massive farm. In the centre of the town is a large clock tower, at least thirty feet high, surrounded by a large cobbled square. I can make out the people below me now, as they make their way through the paved streets and across the bridges linking the islands together, some of which are made of stone. I've only ever seen wooden bridges before. I can't help wondering why stone bridges would be necessary.

I can now also make out the remains of a river snaking its way between the centremost islands, split into its opposite banks where the Ruin caused the landscape to rupture along its centre. The river would have been drained as the shattered pieces of land rose up into the sky, but the enterprising townsfolk appear to have built walls around the edges of each river segment, causing the rainwater to collect in them and form makeshift lakes that trace out the river's path. No doubt this is where they get their water supply from. It's quite a clever engineering solution.

Spotting a wide open bank next to one such lake, I decide this would be an excellent place to disembark. I guide my pegasus towards it, gradually descending before slowing down and coming to a rest next to the water's edge. As I climb off the pegasus' back, looking at the shimmering mass of liquid before me, it suddenly occurs to me that I've never seen a body of water this large before. It's a narrow strip, only about two metres wide, but at least a hundred metres long. It's surprisingly clear and blue, just like the sky above.

As I look along the water's edge, I see a figure crouched by the river bank a short distance to my right. It's a girl, about the same age as I, perhaps a year or two younger. She appears to be drinking from the river, gathering water in her cupped hands and then raising them to her lips. It's the most readily available source of water in the town, and it looks clean enough, so it doesn't surprise me too much to see someone drinking from it.

After watching the girl silently for a moment, I decide that this would be as good a place as any to start my usual investigation. Leading my pegasus gently by the reins, I make my way along the river bank towards her.