Elemental Cats

Toz woke up with a splitting headache. His vision was still blurry, and everywhere he looked swirled, but after a few moments with closed eyes, things settled down enough for him to gather his bearings. His head wasn't the only thing that was painful, his entire body was covered in bruises, and it felt like he had at least several broken bones and ribs.

Just looking around was painful, and Toz could forget about sitting or standing up. But finding out what kind of situation he was in and where he was held more importance to Toz than some trifling pain that would pass eventually.

However, what Toz found when he looked around made him wish he had stayed with his eyes shut for a few more minutes.

Although Toz only twisted his head a bit, it was enough to see everything he needed. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the platform of roots he was laying on, and that made up the base of the entire clump of trees he was on.

The roots created something like a net, connecting the trees that were focal points in the net. There were holes here and there in the net, allowing Toz to peek through and gaze into the Void on the other side.

A canopy of shimmering dark blue leaves and branches that grew from even darker trees filled Toz's vision when he looked straight up.

Although his vision was partly filled with the trees and roots, in another direction, he had a clear view of the Void as it stretched beyond what Toz could comprehend. The black emptiness was dotted with lights of various colors, shapes, and sizes. But no matter how thoroughly Toz searched the sky in front of him, he couldn't find something even remotely close to him, not even a trace of Roaring Skies.

However, there was still hope of it merely being on the other side of the forest, and as soon as Toz recovered enough to look, he would find out if he was really lost in the Void or merely sailing around Roaring Skies.

His brain had still been addled by the blow that knocked him out, so he forgot about the cats since they weren't in his immediate field of view. But when he laid his head back down, he remembered them and summoned them.

Since the cats had quickly hidden within Toz's familiar space, they were barely injured to begin with, and after being in the familiar space for so long, they had already recovered. But their faces turned ghastly upon noticing Toz's injured state. They had known he was injured but alive due to their connection with him and that he wasn't in immediate danger. But if they left the familiar space without knowing the exact situation outside, they could end up struck by debris and get separated from Toz. Although they might be able to reenter the familiar space if they were fast enough, it wasn't worth the risk.

Instead, it would be better to wait for Toz and let him call them forth when it was safe enough. In the meantime, the cats could only anxiously wait.

All of them instantly began searching through the remains of Toz's coat, trying to find potions, but all they found was the letter from Rick Besre. But not even that pocket was completely intact, and the letter was the only thing they found aside from the spatial rings with the grimoires.

Without their supplies, Toz would have to rely on his natural healing to recover. He didn't mind, but the cats didn't like seeing him so bruised and beaten.

Toz finally calmed the cats down and managed to ask Scrael and Lucy to investigate the island of floating trees while Nil and Mindle started preparing a camp and safety measures. Though, the camp consisted of arranging broken branches into a more comfortable bed for Toz. Trying to light a campfire could easily destroy the group's refuge from the Void's dangers.

While Mindle gathered leaves and branches from their surroundings to make Toz a nice soft place to lay down on, Nil began setting up traps and defenses that would keep any eventual threats away from Toz.

Although Toz hadn't been attacked by anything while unconscious, that didn't mean they were alone on the island of floating trees.

Toz's body was beaten and bruised beyond recognition, and although it affected his magic slightly since the mana had to travel through that broken body, Toz could still use some magic to help Nil and Mindle. Though not more than they would allow him to do when he was so injured.

Toz was still injured and tired, so after helping Nil and Mindle a bit, he fell asleep. If he had been alone, he would have never dared to fall asleep without securing a safe place to sleep. Thankfully, he had trustworthy companions whom he could entrust his life and safety to.

Nil and Mindle noticed Toz falling asleep and made sure to continue their work silently to make sure he got peaceful rest.

Lucy and Scrael noticed Nil and Mindle working in silence and didn't immediately rush over to Toz to report their findings. But they did walk over carefully and noticed he was sleeping.

While waiting for Toz to wake up, Lucy and Scrael talked to the other two, who were surprised Lucy and Scrael had returned so quickly.

The two cats sent to explore the island of trees and roots didn't mind explaining to Nil and Mindle first, even if they had to repeat it for Toz later.

Nil and Mindle didn't like what they heard from Lucy and Scrael, but at the same time, there was nothing they could do except prepare for the future and look for the positives.

After Nil finished his preparations, there wasn't much to do for the cats, so they sat around admiring the scenery and listening to Toz snoring as they waited for him to wake up. With the situation they were in, they didn't really feel like training.