Chapter 108: Journey

The ship smoothly flew out the other side of the portal, instantly Kothar's eyes were barraged by a sudden rush of colors and images.

This world was by far the most unusual of all the places that he had seen so far, everywhere he looked, there were brightly colored plants.

While the plants were now of a scale that he could now appreciate, spending so much time on Atla meant the change to a more normally scaled plane was nauseating.

But Kothar had been through far worse and quickly adjusted.

Kothar cruised by a bright purple plant that was made up of a collection of bulbs, each one pulsing gently. To the right was a stand of tall thin trees, a dark green color, having only one branch that extended straight up into the air, without any leaves at all. 

The trees were curving and coiling up and down like a whip, and they seemed to dance in unison, waving softly through the air.

Kothar steered his ship away,  he judged it was best not to get too close to the odd plants, but they seemed to be everywhere he turned.

[Now that's a really odd looking one!] Silane exclaimed, she had been as engrossed as Kothar had been with the new plane, and the odd plants fascinated her.

Silane pointed out the tiny plants, they had only a pair of large leaves, shaped like the wings of a butterfly, and each wing was covered in a vibrant yellow pattern, contrasting with the almost black, dark, dark green of the leaf.

Kothar pulled the ship to a halt, and hovered there, watching the antics of the strange plants.

They had a set of thin roots extending out from the main stem, not firmly anchored to the ground, rather they used them like legs, scuttling back and forth. 

The surprises didn't end there, Kothar watched with fascination as a group of them took flight, as a large leaf from a nearby tree fell amongst them, and they scattered into the air, fluttering about.

From afar, they would be indistinguishable from butterflies. 

[I'd love to hop out and get a sample for you Silane, but I've still no way of knowing how safe this plane is. Perhaps once we get a better sense of how things are here.] Kothar knew how interested Silane would have to be, after seeing plant life that was so mobile.

[I think it's safe to say that it's extremely dangerous.] Silane said bluntly, as Kothar watched the whip like trees dancing in the air, slowly realizing that while initially it seemed as if they were dancing in the wind, all the other plants around them were moving, but to completely different rhythms.

[What? Oh. I guess that rules your field samples out Silane.] Kothar saw that the fallen leaf, a bright blue leaf, had suddenly expanded, an enormous mouth-like orifice opening on one side, and it completely enveloped a large group of the flying leaves.

But that wasn't the reason for his disgust. Because right after that, the large leaf scuttled back towards the trunk of the tree that it had fallen from, and leapt into a bright red, damp opening in the bulbous trunk of the nearby tree, which notably had a large clearing around it.

It had been like watching a predator catching its prey, then running back to another predator and hopping straight into its mouth Kothar wondered, then realized that technically the leaf was part of the original tree.

Kothar realized that the bulbous tree with the bright blue leaves wasn't the only plant with a large clearing around it, rather, all the plants had clearings around them. Either around the individual plants, or around a group of the same species.

[Any theories on what's happening here, Silane?] Kothar had some guesses himself, but he liked to hear Silane's in depth analyses of new environments they came across.

[My guess is at the very least, Carbon is scarce on this plane, and possibly other raw materials that plants need for growth also. Additionally, though the dim light reflects that getting as much light as possible is essential to these plants, their combative nature means that plants that grow too near to their neighbors are likely to be eaten, it seems that the survivors are those who can withstand a war of attrition.] Silane showed Kothar the percentage space that the plants they had seen so far had left empty, and bombarded him with several other statistics.

[And don't think I don't realize you're just asking for the sake of it. I know you aren't that stupid, and I share your knowledge, Kothar.] Silane added sharply, but she sounded pleased at the same time.

[I'm so sorry. I guess we'll just cruise at a safe distance from these trees until I have enough mana to open another portal.] Kothar said with sarcastic tone, as he veered away from a pulsating red spike  plant, which turned its tip toward the ship as he flew by, as if sensing the movement.

Kothar pushed the throttles up to full blast, as the tip of the spike opened up and a sharp spiked vine lashed out toward the ship, trying to ensure it.

Kothar looked ahead, and released he was heading right for the stand of whip like trees, he pulled the joysticks back all the way in an attempt to avoid them, but the tens of pointed whip like branches managed to grab onto the ship, and they were tough, and though the ship had an insane amount of thrust, they still managed to grab on.

If Kothar pushed any harder, the massive surge of energy from the Imperium would burn out the basic motors that powered the rotors, and all their work would be for nothing.

Kothar charged up a massive amount of Lightning Mana in his left palm, and pulled up his mask. He hoped that the plants were susceptible to electricity, or he'd have to fight all of them for his ship.

The cockpit opened with a hiss, and Kothar leaned out, ready for a fight.