Chapter 20: Arrival

The ship had sunk quickly, its hull was broken open in multiple places and there hadn't been any bulkheads to slow the flooding water. The captain had disappeared off somewhere almost instantly, likely the bottom of the ocean, as he had been underdeck near to the bow where the vessel had crashed into the gate. Feeling the wooden plating of the deck flex and complain beneath their feet as it began to tilt forwards, the remaining crew didn't need to be told twice to unfasten the dinghy from its surface and to prepare to disembark.

Jaeger joined them so that at least eight people were packed aboard a boat with no coverings, one central mast and sail, and that was probably designed for one or two at most. This meant that when the blue tides reached them, lapping at their new place of safety's sides, there was a horrible moment when it looked like it wouldn't rise up as the water did, and people even considered forcing the others around them to an untimely wet grave to save themselves. However, slowly but surely, it did rise up and, although feeling perilously close to sinking beneath them, they were able to work together to direct it through the gate.

They did not know how far away the nearest land was in this direction, but they knew for sure that it was too far to make it in any other, and so this was a risk that they were forced into taking. With Jaeger's flawless directions, as the voices had returned, it turned out that they did not have to go far. In this new world, the winds were strong and so they were sent racing along the wave tops towards their destination, which came into view in just over a day.

It was a low coastline, where few cliffs were visible, and it was populated mostly by pebbled beaches with a few sparsely blessed with yellow sands. It was one of these areas that they headed for, seeking a safe landing, but the wind decided otherwise and their new vessel's underside was pierced by a sharp rock when they finally came ashore on one of the distinctly nastier looking parts of the coast.

Of course, their landing was not unnoticed. It was likely that the manipulators of this place knew of the gate and so had done something to it to warn them should anything enter via it. This meant that, as Jaeger contributed to pulling the wreck above the high tide mark, several blue-cloaked figures appeared on the horizon. They ran down towards their visitors, who could probably all pass for demi-humans, should they try hard enough, but Jaeger knew that his own appearance would bring with it some unwanted attention.

Therefore, he took this as the best opportunity to leave, telling the crew, "Thanks for helping me find the gate." before speeding off down the beach, sending several stones skidding out from under him as he did so.

When he thought that a suitable distance had passed, he turned and headed to higher ground enjoying the softer feel of dirt and grass under his feet and admiring the view of open plains. He must have been followed though as he soon came face to face with three of the blue-clothed people.

"Where have you come from?" their leader asked, flanked by his two allies, he seemed rather confident in his questioning, "Arrivals in Anadora have to state their intentions."

So that was the name of this place, thought Jaeger, noting that he was certain that what he was looking for was here, "I'm merely on a quest looking for the source of several voices." he told them honestly.

"Do you know what is at the end of this quest?" questioned the same man, as the woman on his right fingered a symbolic golden star, the symbol of some deity.

They were religious then, saw Jaeger, "I have no idea…."

"Then you do understand that we may be suspicious of your true intentions; we would like to ask you to return to where you came from. We do not often accept arrivals from the world you came through."

That did make sense as it had seemed to hold a lot of demons, but Jaeger was still slightly irritated, "I have no ship to get back on, besides would it make it any better, me coming from someplace else?"

"No." was the reply.

That was not good. What was he meant to do now? He didn't exactly want to fight, but they were being rather difficult to deal with, even when he only wanted to get to his destination as soon as possible. Thinking it through, he decided that he was probably faster than them in a straight line and that bypassing them shouldn't be impossible. "I have no interest in continuing a conversation where you only spew hypocrisy and hate," he stated and started walking towards them.

"I can understand the hate, but hypocrisy?"

"Yes, when I talk about voices you would call me mad, but, when you do, you call it divine inspiration."

He was now about ten normal paces from them and they changed their stances, spreading out, readying themselves for combat.

"You would declare war on a nation?"

"To achieve my goals… why ask? Of course, my answer would be yes."

This was all the warning that he was going to give them as he leapt at the leader, the one in the centre, throwing a punch straight at his face and crossing the distance in a second. This manipulator was not too weak to block it with a single hand, though his feet did dig into the ground and slide back a fair way. Jaeger used this as an opportunity to change his hand's shape, encompassed within the man's grip so that he was holding onto him, and he yanked the poor guy past himself before shooting off towards his goal. He had to be faster than them. He just had to be, he told himself, guessing that he could get away before giving them a chance to access abilities.

Half a field away and he heard a faint slithering parting the grass at his feet. Chains, thicker than any that would be needed to tie up even the most ferocious of beast, were chasing after them, seemingly with a mind of their own. Taking a moment to glance back, the religious woman was producing them, out of thin air, straight from the palm of her hand. He thought that was a rather boring ability, but he still saw how they were getting closer to him whilst the other manipulators raced after him, evidently hoping to strike once he was tied up.

Not letting this happen, just when the heavy iron was about to close around his feet, he took a step and did not land again for several strides, walking on thin air so that the chains closed around nothing. When he was then again on the ground, he was too far away for the manipulation to be maintained and so had escaped. It was a good thing that they hadn't been ready to fight from the start. The three together might have been a problem, but all alone and at far range, the chains were not difficult to avoid.