Chapter 324: Time Dilations
Irwin reappeared in the yellow clouds, this time unsurprised as he began dropping down. He pulled the small, four-man boat out of his soulscape. As soon as it appeared, he grabbed it and pulled himself inside. The odd shape of the boat caused them to start spinning as he pulled himself to the helm, and he quickly jabbed his finger at one of the runes. Immediately, the boat’s small sail swished out from under the prow, and it stopped spinning. Irwin slammed into his seat as the ship's descent stopped a moment later.
“Much better,” he said, guiding the ship down to where he sensed the baby chaos whales. As soon as he shot out of the thick, disorienting cloud cover, the four were circling around him, sending out worried and somewhat fearful resonances.
“I came back as fast as I could,” he said, even though he knew they didn’t understand him. “It’s just that the time dilation in here is pretty strong!”
One of the chaos whales let out a croon accompanied by what Irwin could only describe as a complaint.
He grinned and shook his head, sending resonances of comfort. As he was doing all this, his otherself was prepping the group in his soulscape. Scintilla gave the kids a loud talking to, telling them to listen to Ambraz and not do anything bad in their father’s soulscape.
Irwin grinned as he saw Soot share a look of startled disbelief at the suggestion with Flux. Scintilla hadn’t been happy to leave them alone on the ship, but she also hadn’t wanted to let him go alone, so they eventually just decided to bring the kids into his soulscape. Nisziz had almost died from laughter until Scintilla threatened to draw her sword, Leafbrand, to make her shut up. Irwin had let everyone know that if he and Greldo weren’t there, Earila would be in command, which surprised nearly all of them and caused Earilla to be unable to speak for a good ten minutes.
He laughed softly at the memory before focusing back on the here and now. A moment later, Greldo, Scintilla, and Dahlia appeared one at a time.
“Ugh, no!” Greldo groaned, pinching his nose. “It smells like an unholy combination between a volcano and the tanner back in Malorin!”
Irwin ignored his friend’s complaints and the slight pang as he thought back to Malorin. Instead, he kept a close eye on everyone. If they showed any sign of being uncomfortable, he’d pull them back into his soulscape. Scintilla saw him watching and grinned.
“It’s fine, pretty eyes. It smells a bit like home but with something foreign mixed in. It’s also not that cold, just a bit chilly.”
“Chilly?” Dahlia muttered, pulling the front of her vest open slightly before nodding at Irwin to show she was alright.
Irwin guessed that the air was fine, at least below the clouds. He wasn’t going to attempt their luck higher, though, at least not yet.