Spires in the Sky - Portal Prompt: To the Spires

Scorching heat and burning suns were usually things Penny tried to avoid, but they were worth it for this. Having a dry, wrinkly feel to her pumpkin face was not going to deter her, and she was fortunate to have plenty of distractions in the desert world.

Earlier that day when Penny had found the portal to Pavia she did not know what she was getting into. She found something new, she checked it out. That simple thinking did nothing for keeping her out of trouble, but it always drove her to find out more about the many worlds the came into contact with. In many situations it was a boon. In Penny's opinion, this was one of those situations. When she found the portal she jumped through and was rudely greeted by stinging sand flying in her face and a blindingly bright sky. Penny instinctivly brought her oversized hands to her face to cover all six of her eyes as she recoiled from the sudden change, but here eyes adjusted and she gained the ability to see just what was before her.

 A wonderous mesa of colored sandstone stretched under a never-ending sky with peculiar natural formations looking like a piece of art made with a master's paintbrush. The hues of the stones seemed to have no limit; there was every color of the rainbow from vivid reds to lively greens to deep blues. And here Penny had always thought deserts would be nothing but sand. Abandoning the portal Penny leaped forward to explore the new world, and she had already found a good genesis for her discovery. A bustling village of all sorts of characters could be seen in the distance. She could already hear the sound of people making trades, disputing prices, making small talk, and playing cheerfully despite the gap between her and the city. So Penny did what Penny does, and she walked on over. It took a little while longer to make it to the town than she had anticipated; the buttes and canyons complicated what should have been a short trek into a navigation puzzle, but she arrived. The village seemed even busier up close than it had from afar. The stalls in the market had every need and want a person could think of. From food which in itself varied from simply exotic fruits to skillfully cooked street food served with flair, to handmade crafts that showed years of learning in every inch. Blankets, baskets, statues, lotions, ice creams, sunscreens, glass bottles, metal tools, instruments, anything a person could want. Penny hovered over a booth of canisters wondering if she should take one when she overhead something. She wandered closer to the source of the conversation while keeping enough distance to be decidedly out of it. From where she stood she could clearly see the group she was easedropping on. The people of this world were just about as diverse as the items sold in the stands. Not a single one of the seven or eight people she was listening to were of the same species, and two of them walked on six legs instead of two like most species do. They were clearly unified. This could be deduced by the matching helmets and sports gear they all adorned. Each member giggled and moved with excitement as they talked about a race in the Strata Spires, and it was this topic that caught Penny's attention. A little while ago while she was in a cave hiding from a Crystal Wyrm, which in and of itself was a long story, she had listened to a story from a young daredevil about the spires. Huge striped monoliths that stood out from the ground threating to crumble to the earth, a reminder of nature's fragile beauty. The daredevil spoke of how the stars were only a hands reach away and how elated the height made a person feel. Undoubtaby the storyteller had exaggerated some details of the story, but that only made Penny even more interested. She knew what she was going to do. She was going to go climb a spire and touch the sky.