Aerolith Reef

393 AC - I watch Pebble make his way through the belt of suspended rocks. He moves with surprising grace for such a lumbering brute—but then again, when you’re partly made of aerolith, it’s not all that surprising. I still don’t know whether these floating islets are his natural habitat, or if he was altered by the Tumult and his proximity to the mineral. Probably the latter. He’s a Chimera, as far as I can tell. Which, honestly, isn’t much. I still can’t believe that this hulking homunculus—or should I say golem?—keeps following me around. Once, a dog followed me like that, from the town square all the way home. I almost adopted him—he looked so pitiful. But my mother would’ve said no, anyway.

Pfff… just thinking about her makes my palms sweat. I chuckle. Even hundreds of miles away, she still manages to get to me. Ahead of me, the Chimera drifts like a soap bubble—except it’s got to weigh at least three tons. As it moves, the floating, aerolith-veined stones slowly part before it, as if… I frown. As if he was generating some kind of magnetic—or maybe antigravitational—field. Pebble—yeah, I thought calling him “Pebble” was funny, considering his size—might actually be able to manipulate the direction of the levitation field? I fire up my thrusters and head after him. I’ll have to talk to an energetician about this, just to be sure…

ISAREE