Arin stared at the man, who's perfectly yellow teeth were currently spread in a wide grin, and grimaced in disgust.
'I don't even get to have a minute to myself?!'
Arin struggled to fight back against the instinct to remove his blade from its bag and chop off the man's head. If there weren't repercussions for harming your fellow Campaigners, he would've already allowed his instincts to take control. But alas, there were. So, Arin gritted his teeth and glared at the Ishogian, then growled,
"What the fuck are you smiling about, Ishog?"
Arin's rather uncourteous introduction only served to slightly widen Renota's grin. He laughed for a moment and answered the shorter noble boy's question with a relaxed and laid-back tone.
"Just taking in the view. What's got you so frustrated, Teet-soh-yah?"
He purposefully butchered the pronunciation of Arin's surname, mimicking how Arin was mispronouncing 'eesh-ohg' as 'ish-ahg'. Arin missed the point of the tease, since he hadn't known that he was saying Ishog wrong, but Renota's words still caused the fire of contempt brewing in his eyes to explode into a blue inferno of absolute disdain.
Arin clenched his jaw upward with such immense force it felt like his teeth might've shattered under the pressure. He was just about to start shouting at Renota when his thoughts momentarily became clear and unclouded by hatred. The rational side of his mind seized this opportunity and quickly looked around to gauge his surroundings. When he laid eyes on the environment, both the rational and irrational sides of his mind stopped in their tracks and dropped their clenched jaw.
Beneath Arin's feet was a relatively small circular plateau, it's almost unnaturally flat stone surface only a little wider than a two-lane road. Countless similar gray mountains surrounded the one Arin and Renota were on. A few of these mountains were somewhat shorter and some were much, much taller—seemingly piercing the sky itself. The mountains were connected by many thin, stone limbs that resembled countless strings hung intricately between every single one of the gray mountains. Of course, the 'strings' were still rather wide when not compared to the monolithic mountains, serving as a sort of bridge system for the inhabitants of the mountain range.
All of the mountains were similar in that they all possessed a flat and circular plateau at their peak. However, while some of these plateaus were so small it was almost wrong to dub it as such, others were wide enough to individually contain entire biomes. Because of the varying heights of the mountains, the biomes on the wide plateaus varied greatly— some were cold and dry while others were warm and moist, courtesy of each peak's respective height, and in turn, distance from the water below.
The bottoms of the mountains were not visible, obscured by a dark blue sea. Its surface constantly raged with whirlpools and waves, and the blue waters were constantly crashing into the stone mountains with terrible power. Arin— who was listening to the sounds of the ocean that were loud and clear even from his tall vantage point— was in awe staring into the ever-shifting currents of the sea. Even more awe-inspiring, however, was the fact that the towering peaks remained completely indifferent to the terrifying sea.
The sea also had a strange hypnotic effect. Even though the terrifying sight of the powerful water sent shivers down his spine, he couldn't help but stare into its depths. It struck him with immense fear unlike anything he had felt before in his life, but it also filled him with an equally unfamiliar calmness. He felt as though he could just throw all his worries away and stare into the sea until he passes away. He felt as though he could just throw all his worries, and himself, into the sea right now...
'What the hell are you thinking about?'
Trying to take his attention off of the wonderfully horrifying sea, Arin forced himself to shut his eyes, shifting his gaze toward the sky while they were closed. Opening his eyes, he saw something strange. It was clearly daytime based on the fact that everything in the world was illuminated, and also because a larger and oranger sun than the one Arin knew was currently illuminating everything in the world. So why could he see the night sky, as well? Despite that the orange sun was above the horizon, the sky was pitch-black, with entire galaxies worth of stars clearly visible in its dark expanse. The first explanation that came to his mind was that this world, somehow, did not possess an atmosphere. He quickly discarded that idea when he realized that he was not being burnt to a crisp by the sun, let alone the fact that he was breathing.
Arin couldn't help but wonder why the sky was the way it was, but he knew that just staring at it won't bring him some sudden revelation. Besides, there were more pressing matters.
For example... How exactly was he supposed to get off of the relatively small platform he was situated on? His best bet would obviously be to climb down to one of the strings and then traverse onward from there but he, well... Arin didn't exactly know how to climb. But how else was he going to get down? Arin turned back around to gauge his surroundings further, forgetting that Renota was even there while he was taking in the view. However, by the time he remembered, the Ishogian had already started descending the mountain. Renota's yellow eyes were the only thing peaking above the plateau, and they caught sight of Arin staring back. Renota shouted,
"C'mon! We don't have all day!"
Arin looked at him with a strange expression filled to the brim by not-so-subtle hints of contempt, causing him to sincerely ask,
"What, you can't climb?"
Arin was extremely irritated by this question. He couldn't climb, yes, but he also felt that the tone Renota used was chosen specifically in order to mock him. In reality, Renota was merely asking a genuine question, but Arin somehow twisted it into being a stab at his pride.
"Of course I know how to climb, Ishog!"
He made sure that the sword bag on his shoulder was secure and walked towards the edge of the plateau that was closest to one of the strings, which just so happened to be the same place Renota was climbing. Arin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, crouched down, but suddenly stopped when he looked down at the sea. Its hypnotic effect made him stop in his tracks and just mindlessly stare, as if he could do so for all eternity...
A laid-back but very clear voice boomed slightly louder than the waves, addressing Arin.
"Snap out of it."
Arin smirked and laughed to himself.
'Ishogs really are idiots... Does he really think that mere words would be enough to strip my attention away from that hypnotic sea? Who does he think he is, really?'
Right then, he realized that his attention had already been stripped away from the sea. Gritting his teeth dejectedly, Arin placed his hands on the edge of the plateau, found a foothold, and... was forced to figure out the rest from there.
***
Arin had actually done very well in climbing to the string, arriving only about thirty seconds after Renota had. He was a little bit torn on how he should feel, since he was both proud that he had some sort of talent for climbing, but he also still hated having to share the same air as Renota. But before he could think too much about how he should feel, the two Campaigners heard something.
A continuous and horribly unrhythmic clicking sound. The noise was faint, but that was quickly changing as the owner of the sound approached from the other side of the wide string. They both simultaneously turned their heads to look at whatever was approaching them.
Arin's face grew deathly pale.
'Oh, no... Already?!'
Meanwhile, Renota's mouth was spread out in a yellow grin, his eyes brimming with excitement.
"Already?! Oh, yeah!"