Dacheus returned his book to its satchel. “Yeah, that should work.” It wasn’t ideal, but it should work, right? Raikon was clearly strong enough to support him. With some help, he clambered up onto the soldier’s shoulders and turned to look at the stone. Clearly magical, clearly powerful, clearly related to their teleportation… 

“Ooh… oh, my…” Without thinking, he leaned forward to get a better look. Time seemed to slow as the large gem suddenly occupied all of his attention, a superhuman focus that shut out everything else to devote its efforts to the wonder in front of him. “Closer!” he called out. “Move closer, yes, like tha--”

Slowly, the fact that he was no longer quite upright dawned on him. Raikon was not moving closer; the mage was simply leaning forward. Too far forward, in fact. “Ack!” His arms pinwheeled, trying to keep his balance, but the satchel with his spellbook swung forward, throwing off what little balance he might have had. He managed to raise his hands as he pitched forward and tried to grab hold of the statue to no avail. 

His hands served some purpose, slowing his fall so that his face didn’t hit the statue quite as hard. It all seemed to be happening in the background, though, as he twisted his neck to continue looking at the gem even as he fell. “No, no! Come back!” he cried out as he reached toward the receding ruby with one hand while he slid down toward the floor. 

After a couple seconds of absurdity, he finally reached the floor, planting his hands on it to keep from landing on his face. It was only a minor distraction, as he kept trying to turn his head and look up at the magic gem. “It’s so… I need to get… [i]Dammit, put my feet down already![/i]” he spat, though he at least had the good sense not to try and kick himself away from Raikon. He needed to get back up to the gem, and [i]clearly[/i] the soldier wasn’t going to be of any help.