Through the hole is -

Empty sky? No, there's a small ledge of rock with a few plants clinging stubbornly to it, but beyond that... To the left and the right, above and also below as if perched on an impossibly high cliff, blue-tinged sky and clouds. Floating specks are visible in the distance here and there.

That is already very promising! They double check the portal's stability while using various elemental senses to look beyond the portal. Felkris creates a "mirror" and uses it to look around the portal's surroundings.

The portal's surroundings appear to be a fifty-foot rock floating in midair. There are two trees on it, a few bushes, a spattering of strange grass all over. Birds and some sort of nonbird flying creature are visible.

They check and a floating island sounds... extremely unusual, but not impossible. Not even before the war, when so many impossible things happened.

And since the portal is stable they send a small group of explorers to go through the other side.

The other side continues to contain a floating island.

The winds are fairly strong. It's nice and warm, at least.

Felkris taps the island for it's rather pathetic amount of ground magic. He also taps the ambient light for the sun magic (much better).

Feros notices the sun magic being tapped and absently taps it too. Also tapping for sky magic.

He does that again to double check how far up in the atmosphere they are.

Wherever they are, it is high, high above ground. Despite having surface-equivalent air pressure and temperature.

He reports this. "We did guess the world could be very different while still being able to let us live in it for a short while."

"Not only for a short while. The plants and the birds are very similar to us. I think we could even settle here if we find more of those islands."

"I think we should stick to the plan and create a second portal. But I see your point. How about the nonbird flying thing?"

"I, the poor innocent and busy healer, have yet to get around to test the flying nonbird. Or figure out how to capture one."

"I can do that for you." Felkris shoots a hand made out of solid fire to capture bird.

It tries to get away, shooting off surprisingly quickly with a loud squealing noise.

When that fails it flops around in paralyzed panic inside the fire hand.

It's some kind of... Flying manta ray? Almost flat, with a long tail and big floppy wings, two bulging bags on either side of the main body, colored light gray and pale blue like the sky.

It's still panicking and fighting as it is drawn in.

Meguto looks at Felkris face as the thing squeals. "Gods around us, Felkris. No need to be heartbroken over the thing."

When the thing is close enough. Meguto locks it in place with stone and then evaluates it's living essence.

Its living essence is strange! ...It's surprisingly familiar given that it feels like some kind of alien. Probably edible. Probably.

Heh, they are far from desperate enough to resort to bizarre nonbirds. Meguto will keep the thing to study. It's fascinating.

More mages pour out. Curious about the other side of the portal. The ones adept at construction start creating a small shed around the portal.

Some circle all around the floating island thing. Trying to figure out how it floats. Does it look worked over or natural? Any obvious signs of the magic that keeps it afloat?

The manta ray thing continues to panic and flail around and squeak! It's doing it slower now. Tired? The two gas bags are less full after it emits a burst of foul-smelling gas. Which catches fire.

There are no obvious signs of magic in the area. As they start constructing, the whole fifty-foot rock tilts to one side a bit as the weight goes unbalanced.

He decides not to tell about the fact that the gas was foul-smelling and flammable. The others will never stop with the poor-taste jokes.

Either this weird than the though or someone went through the trouble of disguising the magic very thoroughly and then made a poor job at making the thing stable... which is not technically impossible.

They try to compensate the balance through a combination of weight distribution and temporary magical anchoring. They can't anchor the thing relative to this place's ground, but they can anchor it relative to the ground on their side of the portal (After some complicated math to compensate the weird geometry).

Arion is curious about this place's surface and flies down.

Anchoring it relative to the ground on the far side of the portal works pretty well! It still tilts a little bit.

There's a lot of down to be had. He passes other floating rocks and flying creatures. Some of the floating rocks have towns and cities and farms on them.

It gets hotter and there's a strange feeling to the air. Those dark, evil looking clouds far below do not look inviting. There's a flash of lightning from one of them.

Some of the perfectionists in their group still try to fix the tilting, but eventually decide to do something else more productive. Like figuring out how the thing floats.

Evil looking clouds sounds tempting. But Arion will be too excited about towns and cities and farms. He will fly towards one.

The town is built as much vertically as horizontally, four or five of the big floating rocks tied together and then built up and down and out. Bridges become streets with apartments and workshops. Long wooden masts with airships tied to them swing cargo on and off with nets. Farmers work something halfway between a field and hyrdoponics with hand tools.

He can find a clear spot near the docks to land, but he generates a fair bit of alarm. The area is more or less evacuated in a bout of fear and people leave him well alone. One of the ships shoves off and starts going away, crude engines churning propellers with a lopsided rumbling sound.

But he didn't do anything wrong! Well, he walks around a bit. See if there is anything interesting to see.

One woman bravens up enough to come back out and stand at the counter of her little street stall, arms crossed and staring challengingly at the weird flying guy.

He smiles charmingly at her and greets her in an unknown language. What is she selling?

(He is no foolish enough to not realize things might get dangerous. And is keeping an eye out for trouble.)

Baked goods.

Headshake, and she replies in English. A short sentence, and then she points at him and barks a possibly-angry question.

Well, he only knows Kandarin. And he can probably manage telepathy. Probably, he kiiiinda doesn't want to risk it just yet. He raises his hands as to show he is unarmed. The sleeves of his shirt fall showing he is wearing iron bracelets around his wrists.

When she sees the bracelets she nods slightly, as if proven correct on something.

Words words words words. Words words? Not as hostile or scared anymore. Gesturing at the bracelets.

Arion looks at the bracelets and shrugs. To communicate he doesn't see their importance.

More words... Coins. Here are some coins (plastic, glass, and wood). And paper money. Does he understand those?

Some of the other townsfolk have gone back to regular business now, when the mysterious flying stranger who ignored air traffic courtesies proves to be relatively peaceful.

Ah, does she want to trade? Sure. She can have a bracelet in exchange of coins (he looks at the paper money confusedly and is oddly interest in the plastic ones). He mimes that he also wants to buy one of the baked goods.

The mysterious flying stranger is unaware of air traffic courtesies more complex than "don't spy on people through their windows."

That iron bracelet will get him five glass coins and a blueberry jam pastry thing. 

Mime demonstrates that a glass coin is ten wooden coins and a wooden coin is twenty little plastic coins.

Huh, So he could get four glass coins, nine wooden coins and twenty plastic coins, right? (Weird that it's set up like this, but he will take it.)

He will accept the blueberry jam pastry and walk around the place some more.

Sure, she'll give change.

People still give him sucpicious looks and wide berths for the most part.

...Those two tough-looking guys in uniform with long weaponlike-looking sticks are presumably some kind of authority. They're not acting hostile, just wary, and stop a fair bit away and smile and wave and say incomprehensible words. The first one is probably "hello," shopkeeper said it too.

Arion is not actually happy seeing them, but is likewise not hostile. He repeats his own version of hello and smiles politely, demonstrating that he speaks another language.

Well, they're kind of stuck, aren't they?

Official Armed People talk among themselves and eventually decide to mime that he should follow them over to a building near where the docks turn into houses and streets.

Oh, well. He will follow, finishing off his pastry real quick.

They're still being really friendly about it! Haven't touched their weapons more than once.

The place is some kind of office. Minimalist, but with desks and tables and books and chairs and paperwork. Two women are working at two of the desks. The security guys talk to them, having a bit of an argument. Eventually one sighs and says 'fine' or something similar. She grabs a book and approaches Arion and gestures at herself and says "Marilla."

(One of the security guys leaves. The other doesn't, and stays to watch him impassively.)

Arion goes inside, briefly tapping the sky before going in.

He smiles politely at her and says "Arion" at himself.

He is considering his options. He could turn himself into air long enough to escape the place, but that sounds kinda rude and undiplomatic. And the language barrier might cause some issue... he will quietly try to remember how to telepath at people. While also trying to get an emotion read from the present people, yeah, that sounds like something he should be doing.

Guard Guy is mostly bored and annoyed. The lady now showing him pages in the book and trying to introduce him to the wonderful world of proper air signaling is frustrated, but also interested/fascinated with the stranger in the room.

He can understand that they're trying to tell him the rules for flying. The pictures help. The lack of words he can read doesn't.

Yeah, he pays attention, both because it's polite and because it helps figuring out how their minds work. After a few minutes of this he calls the lady's attention and mimes for her to touch his fingertips.

She is skeptical of this suggestion.

He points at his head. Then waves his fingertips. Then just to be sure he makes his fingertips glow slightly.

No. No no no no. She's not dealing with that kind of thing.

She says sarcastic things to Guard Guy, who then sighs, shakes his head, and holds out his hand toward Arion.

Arion holds the guard's hand and sends. The guard gets the gist of what Arion is trying to communicate. Which at the moment is actually "to communicate", the original meaning was probably something more specific like "telepathy" but the entirety of the thing isn't coming through. After noticing it's working Arion sends "works both ways".

They used to be able to do everything. It's not clear who 'they' are. You really should be in trouble for flying recklessly you know?

Arion is sufficiently unsure of his skill at telepathy that he thinks that 'they' was poorly translated. Who are they? What do you mean with flying recklessly?

You know, ancestors. People from before. Hey, you ignored all the signals and came straight in! Without so much as looking at the approach lanes! You're something strange so maybe you didn't know, I suppose.

He says something to the other lady, who shrugs and goes back to her desk.

Arion double checks to see if he didn't misunderstood anything. I not an ancestor and I am something strange, I think. I am not from here.

The concept of 'here' is very thorough.

...I am not equipped to deal with this. How about I just teach you basic air signals and you go somewhere else? Or stay here. If you won't cause trouble. Maybe I should go find the Mayor.

Arion shrugs. He also happens to send the mental impression of shrugging through the telepathy, so it's extra shruggy.

I guess I could try to teach you English. At least the basics. Until something else needs doing at least.

He starts doing that, beginning with the alphabet.

Sure, he will learn the alphabet. He probably won't come out of this conversational, but he will at least explain the telepathy bit.

Guard Guy doesn't bother asking him how he can do this weird telepathy thing.

Are you going to stay here long?

Probably not. But I don't know yet.

Well our laws apply even to adventurers. Just so you know.

Sure. Did I broke any laws besides the air courtesy ones?

Have you injured, raped, or murdered anyone recently? Didn't think so. But unless you want to read the full legal code, just use your common sense.

I have not. He guesses that he might have caused some harm during sparing sections, but he is not going to count those.

No destruction of property... No setting fires... No selling drugs... No lying when trading... That's about all you're really likely to run into, adventurer.

I don't even know how to make alcohol out of fruits. But thanks for letting me know. The name is Arion.

Hope you enjoy Kavsville, Arion. Now that you know air traffic rules, I have paperwork to do. He smiles with wry amusement/resignation and pulls his hand back. "Goodbye. Have fun."

"Thank you. Goodbye." He waves at the other two women and leaves.

Arion resumes walking around town. He tries to be discrete by not flying ...much. There is an awful lot of stairs.

Air traffic rules are really more about the space around the city than in it, anyway. Lots of stairs! Also lots of slightly swaying sloped roads, some ziplines, and an elevator or two.

He still causes stares and muttering, but not outright evacuation anymore. The path he's chosen seems to lead to poorer neighborhoods. Smaller, less well-built buildings. Gardens meant to grow things instead of look pretty. Lots of workshops and such.

One person is less hesitant to approach him. She was wandering the streets with a little balloon, a pack full of... Various things slung under it. Seems like a mobile shop? Her sign reads 'MISS FIX IT'.

"Hi! You look interesting. Have you got anything to do with the guard being called away earlier? Anyway, you look like the kind of guy who has something neat and technological that I could buy, needs something clever and mechanical made, or wants something broken fixed. I can provide all of these services and more! Opportunity is knocking."

Arion knows about poverty. In the abstract. To him the poorer parts look like the result of poor craftsmanship or lack of magic, which doesn't quite surprises him. People looking at him closely might notice that the ground beneath him is a tad cleaner.

"Hi." He only got half of that, but can make some contextual guesses. She is some kind of professional tinkerer. "I don't speak your language. Would you mind telepathic communication?" He raises his hand, the fingertips glowing for effect.

"Ooh, cool." She reaches out. How's it work?

Yes. Think of what you want to say. You're a tinkerer?

It doesn't really convey words, just the meaning behind them, but it gets the job done.

Yes, right in one. Gadgets, repaired and new, are my specialty. If you're an adventurer who found telepathy tech you must have some other cool stuff I could perhaps purchase, yes?

I don't have telepathy... tech? It's obvious that he doesn't know how tech could achieve telepathy.

You have telepathy. I mean, that's got to be some kind of Lost Technology. There's an almost mythic connotation attached to 'lost technology'. I've never heard of anything like this that wasn't ancient technology people have forgotten how to make.

I just do it myself. You had technology that could do magic?

I don't think magic is real...?

...Why not? You have floating islands.

...That's hydrogen? Floatstone. It grows like a little lattice with hydrogen inside, tiny balloons full of hydrogen, and it floats.

Hydrogen?? The concept is sent back covered in confusion. I only got that is a gas.

We're coming at each other with crossed ropes. They're both missing a lot of info, that is. You don't know English very well? Where'd you come from?

Arion sends her images as an answer. A city covered under a dome of magic energy. Locked away from the world for years. And a portal to another world.

Weird. Very weird. And kind of alarming. She's not sure what to do about that.

I am sorry?

It's just... What are you going to do now?

Look around? I don't have any plans.

I suppose if I think of magic like Lost Tech that you can't actually sell it doesn't change much... Need anything mechanical fixed?

Magical objects are a thing, but I don't know how to make anything more complicated than a floating light. And nothing mechanical to be fixed. We don't even have that many mechanical things.

Then maybe you could use some. Want a look through my inventory?

Sure, why not.

Clock! Mechanical calculator. Grappling hook. Tiny engine. Coiled-up spring that can store engine-power without burning anything. An air pump with attachable hydrogen filter. A compact typewriter for the English alphabet. Strange bundles of equipment meant for flying ships like an 'attitude gauge'. Other toys, bits and bobs.

He finds all of these things fascinating. Enough to check for prices of some. He wonder if the filter is something he could do with his magic and so on.

She has prices. Reasonable ones, even.

(Most of her stuff is not made out of metal. Wood and that weird glass are common materials.)

The filter is actually biological. We grow a lichen similar to floatgrass onto a mesh, and it filters hydrogen out of mixed air for us.

How useful is separating hydrogen out of air anyway? And is metal rare or something?

Hydrogen is fuel, and lets ships fly. And, yes.

I wonder if I could separate it myself. I am pretty sure a life-capable mage could do something with the lichen.

I know the rules of magic even less than the rules of lost technology, so...

Fair enough. How much does a clock costs? And are they easy to reassemble?

Yes. But for you? Not really. Clocks dancing in her mind. This bit connects to that bit which has tension on that other thing balanced with the bit over there... 

I can put it back together cheap if you bring me the parts after you look at it, though. Let's call it two glass coins and six wooden ones to buy. Three wood to reassemble.

Arion thinks for a couple of moments and then. "Deal."

And a good one. 

Money is changed. She demonstrates how to control the clock and how you have to wind it at least once a day. 

How does magic work?

He pays attention. Mages can tap the sources and use that energy do magic? He sends with a shrug. Or do you want something more complicated?

I suppose it's not likely I'm going to learn anything useful to me if you do. Oh well.

Not really. No.

Well, he was completely honest there were small magics, and supposedly a conduit could find their way here. But Arion didn't know how to teach the first and couldn't really help with the later.

I think I will send you on your way. I need to start working on a new clock to replace the one you just bought, after all.

I won't keep you busy any longer then. He breaks off contact gives a small head bow before walking away.

Magic is weird.

"Have a nice day, sir, enjoy your new timekeeping solution."

"Thank you!" He says over his shoulder.

He will walk around town for a small bit but then take flight (obeying the relevant customs) and finds his way back to the portal.

The town is fairly bustling. Most people give him lots of space, though a few more try to trade with him for technology he doesn't actually have.

He politely waves those off. And starts tracing his way back.

He can get clearance to take off easy enough. They don't want to annoy the flying visitor. Though they ask him to get well away from other ships before doing any maneuvering.

Does he have a good sense of direction for the portal? He might need it.

He never had need to put into practice, but he does have a good sense of direction. He can also tap the sky in code and get an estimate of distance and direction that way.

He'll find his friends and their portal-island only a little ways away from where he expected it to be, then.

And when Arion tries to sneak past the portal vines will emerge from the other side and grab his ankle. His older half-brother is there to berate his recklessness.

Arion will take the heat.

Above them, near the dome, a tiny nugget of magical potential is lazily floating around, waiting to find a suitable host. There aren't that many, the world is too full of hosts and none of the potential hosts stand out over the others.

Then it finally detects the potential hosts on the other side of the portal and it feels out for connections. There is someone. One connection is tenuous and fickle, but there.

The conduit flies through the portal unnoticed and then bonds itself to the individual.

Something's not right.

- Glass and mirrors, prisms, projectors and illusions, light tangling up on itself, inside her, in spirals of every angle -

She carefully puts down the soldering iron and wire and looks toward the wide, bright expanse of sky. Looks up toward the sun. 

She's imagining it, right? She's tired, and daydreaming. Why does she think she can just - reach out and...

...She imagines herself as a prism, seeing the light, letting it into her so it will change.

And the light flows into her. The prism becomes a vessel for brightness and heat, holding onto it or maybe being ignited by it. The essence of the sun is somewhere inside her, but not anywhere she can point to, just there. Reflecting and refracting like it's trying to escape.

A tiny amount of it does escape and motes of light form around her, tiny, barely noticeable to the human eye, but she can tell the intricate nuances of their brightness, shapes and color through a sense that she will realize is perceiving light without using sight.

Really? Really?

Is magic contagious, or is she having a psychotic episode? That's the question. She looks over herself for needle marks, tries to remember if she ate anything funny or felt strange today... Not really, no.

She doesn't want to deal with this right now. She lets go of the light, tries to send it away.

The swirl of light, heat and energy inside her expands and disperses, or maybe it would be correct to say it irradiates? With the result that the room goes blindingly bright and hot enough to make her clothing briefly uncomfortable.

Then it's gone.

The place where that light was feels a bit hollow and cold. Now that she knows what the light is like.

She could have started a fire. This room is one of the better places for that sort of risk, but still. Terrified, she resolves not to use any magic. A thought that would have been impossible or insane half a day ago. Shouldn't be hard... Right?

...It's still there, that new sensation. The chill is annoying, a bit unnerving. She doesn't try to refill it. She turns the soldering iron back on and works on her project.

She can't focus. After a while, she puts everything away and goes to warm up outside, not really paying attention. (It's nice to be warm...) And she picks up some kind of - energy - again. Augh. I have to find that guy again.

She hikes up to the port authority and asks about the strange visitor and learns that he left ages ago. Fantastic. She steadfastly refuses to touch or think about that niggling feeling in the back of her head for the rest of the day and goes to bed anxious.

She, mercifully, does not cause any spontaneous magic in her sleep. The void inside her does not really diminish but it can become a background thing like a shackle around someone's ankles.

Irate and tired, she tries to go about her business the next day just the same. It doesn't really go well. She avoids sunlight - whenever she's in it, she reflexively absorbs a little into that ball of magic what the hell sitting in her gut. 

She makes a few scheduled deliveries, jobs she'd already done, but soon retires back to that secure workshop and... Experiments. With a bucket of water handy. That feeling of trapping light like a prism, does she have to be standing in the light? She can emit light and heat... Controlled amounts of both those things?

She does not have to be standing in the light, but being on the shade near a illuminated area still lets her tap into the light and trap it. But the amount of "light" she taps into is proportional to how much light she is exposed to, as well obstacles in the way. Being indoors with closed windows and in the shade gives her barely-noticeable levels of "trapped light". So little that if she tries to use it for anything she will not be sure if the effect is just her imagination or just very tepid.

If she tries she can controllable create the light and heat of a torch, floating as a white ball right in front of her. She can even feel the light and heat as distinct actions. One goes metaphorically that way, and the other metaphorically this way. Or maybe is more like different fingers in her hand. There is a noticeable lack of that overwhelming sensation from when she used magically accidentally. Not just because she is not feeling it, but she is feeling its absence. It's mild, but noticeable while she is focusing on magic.

She really shouldn't be doing any of this. Randomly experimenting with - well, it sounds a bit better if she thinks of it as a piece of tech that attached itself to her, not magic. A bit. But it's like thinking about her breathing. As soon as she stops focusing on not doing anything, she finds herself drawing in more of the light.

Maybe if she absorbs and doesn't use it for a while it'll go to a nice, ignoreable medium? Not cold, not warm, just there.

It stays there alright when she is just trying to hold onto it.

....after a while it appears to be very slowly diminishing.

Well the goal is to make it so she doesn't worry about starting random fires and can just ignore it. This isn't helping directly, but at least she's getting more used to it? She's only accidentally used some a couple of times.

Well, getting used to is definitely an achievable goal. In time.

Meanwhile, back at the portal. People quickly noticed that the floating islands tend to drift away from each other and that's horrible for navigation. They're also increasingly bewildered by this bizarre world. With that in mind and given how hard creating a second portal would be. They decide to put that project on hold until they feel they have a better grasp on how things work. For all the know they could need to evacuate to either side of the portal and they'd like to be sure that both options are survivable. They start experimenting with the floating stone that composes the islands, hydrogen (which can be easily found and is highly flammable) and various magical interactions. They create a grid of glowing orbs around the portal island. They are too small and too disperse to call attention, but work as a point of reference. They try to figure out if there is a way to make more floating stone. They experiment with various ways to magically tether tiny bits of floating stone so they can have a fleet of islands that keep pace with each other.

They also keep an eye out for people coming buy.

The locals seem to use ropes and wooden timbers. Physical structures with some give and flex to them, plus a lot of careful balancing. Magical reinforcement has mixed results. The floating stone is a sort of leaving or skeleton of a form of local life. If they can encourage plant growth they might be able to get somewhere with that, but it will clearly take a while. Months, minimum.

Ship traffic and visiting flocks of floating creatures are both fairly common. Most of the ships ignore them. One small two-person rig stares at the island through binoculars for a while before leaving. Near sunset on the second day a seemingly endless swarm of ominously spike-covered reddish floating creatures drifts into their general area.

They can encourage growth, but the material is so unusual and unfamiliar they wonder if learning how to build the floating ships is more productive. They call back most of the mages that can't tap sky when the swarm becomes evident. Are the creatures aggressive? Or coming closer?

They are drifting closer. They're not aggressive - but they are pesky, sticky, and those sharp spines would be very hazardous to soft-skinned airships. They're a bit less dangerous to the mages' outpost, with its real, wooden walls.

True, but it's possible that they might need to fight these things under less safer conditions.

Well, that's a good time to figure out how hard to kill the little beasts are.

With help?

Sure! They can see how hard is to kill the creatures using various elements then.

...Not that difficult. Especially with fire. They're deathly afraid of fire, for good reason - it makes them blow up fairly spectacularly with barely a touch.

It's kind of a slaughter.

And since these things might mean the death of airship travelers they can feel no remorse about the slaughter.

Meguto wants some, figure out if they are toxic, edible or whatever. The balloon creatures are just plain fascinating. And they can be captured alive or dead.

Great! Some people are not at all suited to work on sky-sky-and-more-sky-forever world. They can use this to have fun flexing their magical abilities.

Samples and specimens can be easily collected with their broken elemental powers. The poor spiky swarm will not know what hit them.