Chapter 5: Awakening
A/N: The acknowledgment of a lack of snackage continues.
"What if I get lost and can't find you?" Lora asked, tugging on the patterned silvery white tails of Jin's armoured coat. She looked up worriedly at Jin as he stopped walking, and clung to him tight.
She didn't ever want to lose him. He protected her after all.
He crouched down, putting his head slightly under her height. Being ten, she still had a ways to grow and looking down to see his eyes was strange to her. "There is a way you can always tell if I'm around. Here."
"Whoa!" She shivered as a chill ran through her, but it felt all...fuzzy. Like her furs. "It feels all tingly."
In the small space between her and Jin, there was a tiny bit of air that went all wavy. She tried to grab at it, but her hand just went right through.
She pouted as Jin chuckled lightly. "You're perceptive for noticing that, but you won't be able to touch it."
"What is it?"
"It's a physical manifestation of our affinity link."
She didn't understand those words, so she just stayed quiet like she normally did when things went over her head.
"Our bond." Jin touched the pretty blue crystal in his forehead, and then touched the same spot on her head. She flinched initially at the contact, expecting something else, but Jin didn't do that. The contradicting feeling of chilliness and fuzziness increased. "It represents how well we know and work with each other."
"Oh!" Lora smiled wide, enjoying the fuzzy feeling. "I like it! Can we keep it going all the time?"
"I can't."
She flinched. "Why not?"
"That would make me very tired very quickly. But I can do it for a while."
"Didn't you say it was some way I could always tell?"
"Heh. Nothing gets past you does it? If I'm further away it would feel more like a nudge than this full link."
"Can it be our little secret?
He smiled a gentle smile. "If you would like to, sure."
"Mmm, okay."
He stood, and the chilly fuzzy feeling stayed. He held out his hand to her. "Let's go. We have a long walk to the next village. Don't stray too far."
She grabbed his big hand, and for a brief moment, she imagined the little waviness in the air turned gold.
The clap of Lora's armoured boots echoed lightly in the hallway, disappearing into the hum of machinery around her. The air was brisk but not the fresh air she wanted, and the tenuous affinity link from earlier between her and Pyra was warm, but not the comforting chill she was looking for. The lighter pad of Pyra's trod paced behind her, and though Lora couldn't see her, she could feel her concerned stare.
In the face of everything that had just been said, everything she'd just seen and heard in the hours since she'd awoken from a nearly five-hundred year sleep - or whatever you'd call what happened - she couldn't blame Pyra for it. Lora had put on such a brave face in the face of all that was going on, but…
It was just so much.
How had Addam been able to even think when faced with the weight of taking care of the remnants of his people, all while being the Driver of the one who had unintentionally sunk his home beneath the clouds? How did he deal with that weight?
Malos' words to Pyra came back.
Maybe he hadn't.
Addam had sealed her away. Out of sight, out of mind.
Now that she was the Driver of the Aegis, what did that mean for her? Did she have to carry that weight now? A small part of her hoped that since five-hundred years had passed, maybe people wouldn't remember what the Aegis was.
Her hand went to knead her forehead. That was wishful thinking and she knew it. Urgh, so much was happening.
Dragging herself out of her thoughts, she glanced ahead again to the man in blue Tornan armour ahead of her, walking with a confident stride towards an unknown room. Her room, apparently. His Blade still flitted about without a care in the world.
As they passed over a grate that exposed some of the guts of the ship, something started to bug her. There were a lot of parts to it, but… "How large is this ship anyways?" she asked.
"Quite large." Ahkos didn't turn around to answer.
"I...suppose." That was kind vague answer. "But if it really is that large, shouldn't there be more people on it?" It had taken a lot of people to keep Hugo's battleship running, and this seemed like it was just as large, if not larger.
Ahkos chuckled. "So you'd think, but our resident engineer has automated most of it. There are eight of us on board currently, not including Pyra and yourself, and eleven when all of us are here."
Exactly the number that had travelled around in her group in the Aegis War. Not many at all, then. "No wonder the halls feel so empty. It's almost... spooky."
Obrona popped up in front of her and Lora had to stop short as Obrona let out a "woooo~!" while creepily wiggling her fingers in front of Lora. She darted away, cackling to herself before Lora could do anything.
They continued on, and even though it couldn't have been much more than a minute or two, the path from the kitchen to her room through the hall seemed to go on forever. Eventually, Ahkos stopped at a lift, whose doors opened up automatically at his approach.
Turning to her and Pyra he stepped out of the way and gestured forward. "The lead goes first."
She and Pyra glanced at each other, and Pyra shrugged. "Lead?" Lora asked.
Obrona slipped past them into the area and perched on the railing of the circular lift, legs swinging. "Just ignore the fluff. He's trying to get on your good side."
Ahkos narrowed his eyes at Obrona. "I don't spout fluff, much less write it. As usual, my understudy still has a lot to learn."
Lora and Pyra stepped into the enclosure and Ahkos slipped in and pushed a button as the door closed.
A slight flip of her stomach signaled the rise of the lift. Or maybe that was her repressed nerves, or the tightness of the enclosure, or a dozen other things that were whirling about like one of Haze's…
One of Haze's...
She scrunched her eyebrows. One of Haze's what? Why was that name coming to mind so often, so readily? It had happened earlier as well, back in the kitchen, back in…it had been a field, right?
Where Pyra had talked about Elysium. She shivered at the memory.
"So."
She realized that she had been looking down. Ahkos was staring right at her, a finger adjusting his red-rimmed lenses. "You've been rather quiet since our encounter with Malos, Pyra." Ah, not right at her, behind her and to the side where Pyra was. "Though, perhaps as I said then, his stage presence is really quite something else. It's understandable to be intimidated."
Lora glanced back, and to her surprise, saw Pyra's stoned faced glare. "No, that's not it. I'm not intimidated by him at all."
"Really now?" Ahkos crossed his arms. "Then what is it? A leftover grudge, perhaps? Though I'm not privy to the details, Malos has shared some about what happened. My own research into the historical accounts about it are rather...lacking in results. The dramatizations, while often excellently done, don't offer much in the way of clarifying true history."
Wait, there were plays about what had happened?
The bond between her and Pyra flared with a burning indignation. "Why would I forgive him after what he did to Alrest and to me?"
"Ah, so it is personal." His eyes flashed excitedly. "Please, do tell."
Lora stepped in front of Pyra. "Isn't it a bit rude to pry into something like that?"
"It's not often I get another perspective on the Aegis War."
"Aegis war?" Is that what they were calling it?
"Yes, the period nearly 500 years prior when the Aegises ran rampant. Perhaps you'd care to share something Lora? You were in the thick of it, were you not?"
She could feel his eyes bore into her, eager for an answer. She met his stare with silence and a hard glare.
"You're almost as bad as Jin," he muttered, breaking off the stare down. The lift stopped and the doors hissed open a moment later. Ahkos stepped out and gestured down the hall. "No matter. Your room is last on the left."
"Do you want me to stay there?" Lora asked, slipping past him, Pyra following close behind. She definitely wouldn't stay there.
He shrugged. "You can do whatever you like. You aren't a prisoner, and as Pyra can attest to, you're free to roam, so long as you don't get in anyone's way and don't make a mess of the ship. Just be careful where you go, as there's no telling what opposition you might face."
"But we can't leave?"
Ahkos raised an eyebrow. "As I said, the Marsanes is beneath the cloud sea." A slight smirk rose on his face. "Unless you think you can swim up in time, all while dealing with pressure like that?"
"You're dodging the question."
"Perhaps. A thought for you both. We'll be docking soon, as early as tomorrow in Mor Ardain. Entertaining as it could be, I believe it would be unwise for either of you to leave without some form of resolution to this drama floating about. Left to stew on their own, people make their own assumptions, true or not."
Malos could think what he wanted, but she understood what he was saying. "Thanks for the advice."
Ahkos let off a little bow. "You're quite welcome. One last thing, Lora. You and Pyra are in quite a unique position right now, and a number of paths are laid out in front of you. What do you plan to do with this opportunity?"
Thinking for a moment, she looked him dead in the eyes. "Well, that's up to us, isn't it?"
Ahkos smirked. "Well spoken. I wait with bated breath to see what you will do, Driver of the Aegis." The lift doors hissed closed on him, and Lora could hear Obrona giggling through them until the lift moved away.
Lora let out a little sigh, and her shoulders slumped, the tension draining now that she wasn't under pressure. She steered herself towards the door Ahkos had indicated and she heard Pyra follow behind.
She didn't make it far before she felt a hand land on her shoulder. The contact was warm, and there was a slight thrum as she triggered a tenuous affinity link.
"Are you going to be alright?"
"Yes. No. I don't know." Her hand went to the too-steady beat near her sternum, something she'd noticed when she woke up, but hadn't had time to examine closer. "There's just so much. I'm… confused; overwhelmed, really. It still feels like my memory is slogging through ice right now, and it's making it hard to focus or think straight. I wish that feeling would just go away for a moment."
The hand tightened on her shoulder. "Is...there something I can do to help?"
Lora glanced back to see Pyra's concerned look. "I'm not sure. Unless you can make that feeling go away for a while somehow?" She smiled and laughed. "No, it's alright. I'll be fine. Maybe you can help answer some questions?"
She saw Pyra bite her lip. "Are you sure you don't want to wait a little bit? You've only been out of the ice for less than a week. And you've only been walking around for less than a couple of hours. Maybe you should take a break, get a little bit of sleep, slow things down."
Lora shook her head. "Tempting, but no. I feel like I've already spent too much time sleeping as it is. Besides, I'm not tired." A lie. She felt exhausted, but it felt like it was just mental exhaustion, something she could push through.
Pyra's hand slipped off her shoulder and the link dissipated. "Well, if you're sure. Let's at least talk in private, not in a hallway."
"Yes, please."
"Sorry!"
"What in the-"
Rex shoved aside a couple of Gormotti gaping ahead at the chaos and destruction left in the wake of the Blade thieves. He couldn't blame them for gawking like this with the mess the thieves were making trying to ditch him.
Not more than a dozen peds ahead, another torrent of water from Praxis blasted aside some more of the crowd, though not without some screams. The already wet street became soaked.
As he ran past the rather confused, scared and somewhat angry populace, he caught sight of them - the thieves, Praxis and Theory - nearly to the arch that marked the entrance to Torigoth. A couple of Ardainian soldiers in a canvas tent nearby the market were shouting something, but he ignored them. His boots splashed into the puddle of the now sopping wet street.
One of the Blades, Theory - the one who had tried to impale him on a spike of ice earlier - twirled around to a stop to face him and stabbed her katana into the wet cobblestone streets of the marketplace.
The soaking cobblestone flash froze, spreading in a wave outward from where she started, and Rex only had a split second to think to jump over the sheet of ice that formed on the street. He landed, skidded a little, waving his arms for balance, before toggling a switch on his belt to deploy the spikes in his boots, one gloved hand going down to the ice to catch himself. Behind him, the fountain stopped bubbling, frozen as well.
Theory's face curled up in an annoyed expression, before darting back to follow Praxis down the long curved wooden ramp that led out of the city.
The rest of those around weren't so lucky, feet trapped in the thin sheet of ice that had spread up to their ankles, locking some of them in place. For the Gormotti, with their bare, but furred feet, that must be painful.
Glancing to the crowd of innocent bystanders - some of them shouting, others screaming, some looking on in mixes of confusion, curiosity or horror - he looked at the escaping thieves. Then back again.
Everything about this stunk, and his heart wrenched to help.
He pushed off of the ice, cool against even his gloved hands and darted after the Blade thieves. He made a mental promise to come back later and help however he could.
I won't lose what Gramps left for me. It was practically all he had left at this point.
Rex kept running, out into the plains of Gormott.
"What is commotion about?" Tora hopped up and down, attempting to see above the crowd in Torigoth's marketplace, but even his relatively tall nopon frame couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on. "Can Poppi tell?"
Out of the corner of Tora's vision, he saw his masterpiece of a creation - the first ever fully complete artificial Blade, culmination of three generationpons of work - tilt her head, servos whirring, an undetectable noise to all those who didn't know what to listen for.
It was worth every bit of debt he'd racked up. Even the last bit for the perfect range sensor.
"Unknown, masterpon. But seems to be very big deal."
Her hat flopped to the side in a very uncute manner. The fasteners holding it in place didn't work properly.
"Maybe there is big-big sale going on? Ooo, Tora hope there one on bion connectors!" It would solve the hat issue quite nicely.
"Poppi somehow doubts that. Masterpon in big debt anyways and should be careful not to get in more. Besides, masterpon is still worried about hat?" Poppi planted her hands proudly on her hips. "Worry not! Poppi is combat ready. Is masterpon who should worry about himself."
Her hat flopped to the other side.
Tora hefted up his mechashifting shield from it's magnetic holster. "Masterpon can take care of himself." With help of Poppi of course. "Have nothing to do with efficiency or readiness. More to do with ahh… image."
"Image?"
"Ahmm...hmm." He put the shield back on it's holster on his back. "How to explain importance..."
"Masterpon, watch out!"
"Wha-meh!"
The metal of her hands pulled him back as a number of Ardainian soldiers carrying heavy armaments nearly smacked into him. Led by a Blade in a blue dress with the tips of their hair on fire, they rushed by, nearly trampling where he'd just been. The crowd parted for the group and Tora briefly spotted what looked like ice on the streets of the marketplace, a path melting in the Blade lady's wake as she passed.
Where on Alrest had that ice come from?
Poppi set him back on the street. "Masterpon needs to be more aware of surroundings."
Tora let out a sigh with a, "Thanks, Poppi," as he smoothed down his rumpled fur. He spent a minute calming his hammering heart.
"Poppi starting to think that disturbance is likely not for a sale."
"And Tora agrees with that." Disappointing as that was. He started walking toward the gap between the crowd, which had already closed up, making it again, nearly impossible to see what was going on. "But why big bully Ardainians in such big hurr-?"
He was cut off as Poppi pulled on his overalls, yanking him back again. And another group of Ardainians - this one headed by someone in dark fancy looking clothes mixed with armour, topped with an interesting looking hat - rushed through. Whispers of "Special Inquisitor Mòrag," rushed through the crowd.
So they were just another self-important bigwig then. Maybe it had something to do with the huge Ardainian Titan Battleship that moved in a couple days ago into the port.
Frustratingly, the crowd closed the gap the Ardainians made after Poppi let him go again, and Tora still couldn't see what was going on.
Poppi let go of the straps of his overalls just in time for him to see even more Ardainian soldiers pass by, but these ones stuck around the main market plaza, and he heard them ordering people around and telling others to stay calm. Tough as it was to admit it, it looked like some of them were helping.
"Whatever is going on must be very big deal if everyone in such a hurry."
Tora crossed his arms, huffing. "Or maybe just making big show. Motion not mean progress. Big bully Ardainians just throwing weight around again." He stamped his feet a little. "Ooo. Makes Tora so mad!"
"Who's the big bully, eh?"
"Ardainians making big show of course-"
Snapping his mouth shut Tora froze as a shadow washed over him, blocking out the light. Nervous heat built under his fur, he slowly turned around and found a bulbous-looking man, decked out in a mix of browns and reds, a poufy looking brown adorning his head. Human fashion never quite made complete sense to Tora, but it seemed this one had rolled in mud with all the brown clothes.
Or maybe that was just Ardainians?
The man's hand fiddled with a thin brown moustache. A hulking, towering Blade was right behind him, a massive hammer slung over his shoulder.
"U-u-ummm… T-tora was talking about… um..."
Poppi stepped up between them and set her hands on her hips. "Ardainians making big deal because special visitor is in town. Big bully man making huge fuss for show, not because he care."
"Yes! Wait, no!" Tora turned to Poppi, whispering near her vocal receptors. "Why did Poppi rat out masterpon's innermost thoughts like that?"
"Masterpon always says to say truth." She didn't change the volume of her voice.
Tora gritted his teeth, hissing out the words. "Not when it about people who right behind them."
She tilted her head and her hat flopped to the side again, eyes looking very confused.
The pompous looking man crossed his arms. "I'm still here, thank you. I know you can't see past your own greedy little nose, but the empire is helping Gormott take care of some core crystal thieves, and Special Inquisitor Mòrag has assigned me, Consul Dughall, to keep the peace while she takes care of them."
"Biggipon sound so proud of it." Tora muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, nothing!"
The man, Dughall, looked over Poppi, eyes stopping at the orange glow of her ether furnace, a facsimile of a Blade core minus the normal blue. He looked back at Tora, eyes narrowing. "Not often you see a nopon Driver. What's your registration number?"
"Ah… registration number?" What on Alrest was that? "O-oh! Is-"
Tora was about to rattle off a random number before Poppi cut him off, stepping forward and proudly setting her hands on her hips. "No registration number needed because Poppi is world's first artificial Blade!"
"Poppi!"
"Artificial Blade, you say?"
Tora was speechless. He was proud of that, and the whole of Alrest should know. But sadly, it seemed he had some explaining to do to Poppi about timing too.
To his surprise, Dughall threw back his head, laughing. "Ridiculous! Artificial Blade? That's the worst excuse I've heard an unregistered Driver make yet."
Tora almost fell over from shock. He didn't believe him. Generationpons worth of work and the death of grampypon, and this roly poly big bully biggipon bigshot didn't believe him, even though the evidence was right in front of him! Tora didn't know what was worse.
"Dolmes, if you will, take these two in for questioning."
"Wait-wait-wait! You have to believe Tora! Was about to go take ride to get registration code VCH!"
"Code what now? What are you blathering on about, nop-agh!"
The bigwig dum-dum didn't know what hit him as Poppi vented the extra heat from her core furnace in a powerful blast of steam right into his face. Tora ducked around the blast and started dashing away. Good thinking on his part to program that verbal command for Poppi to vent her core heat.
"Run, Poppi!"
"Resisting arrest?" Dughall yelled after them, "That's grounds for imprisonment!"
Tora didn't really care; he had better things to do anyways. Finding dadapon Tatazo, and bringing his grampypon's murder to justice. No sense wasting time dealing with stupid elected officials.
Taking a long route around the inn for his bolt-hole, he could hear the servos of Poppi behind him. He glanced behind him and doubled his efforts. Meh, they were close!
He started fiddling with one of his pouches trying to reach one of the boomer-biters there, which would provide an adequate smoky distraction after he turned this corner.
He heard the sound of something firing and he turned to look.
There was an overwhelming sense of yellow.
The next thing Tora knew he was rolling along the ground as said solid bright glowing yellow something surrounded him. He had a glimpse of a wall of a house, before pain blossomed in his nose. He yowled in agony.
What was that? He wrenched his head in the confines to look near where Poppi should have been beside him to see her surrounded by the same thing. From this angle it looked like a net.
"Masterpon, Poppi feels all tingly." Poppi seemed unaffected by it, still standing upright.
She might have been fine, but Tora felt powerless, especially once his nose started bleeding, and he couldn't reach or activate anything on his shield either. So instead, he shouted. "This just drop in bucket of why Ardainian Empire is biggest bully!"
He saw the boots of the Ardainian bully, Dughall, and looked up. He wished he hadn't with the eyeful of ridiculous nose hair he got.
"Stop making a fuss, Nopon. If I had more time I'd question you right now, but I have more important matters to deal with than unruly Nopon, especially with the Special Inquisitor here. Take them away."
One of the Ardainian soldiers nearby picked him up and Dughall's hulking Blade picked up Poppi and slung her over his shoulder after a different soldier tried and failed to lift her.
Served them right. Stupid empire. Stupid net. Stupid Dughall ruining first day of Poppi being fully activated.
This is last time Tora goes out of house.
Rex skidded through the tall grass next to a fallen log as a swarm of huge, thick bubbles slammed into the rotting wood, sending chunks of it flying, nearly shredding through the whole thing.
If anyone had told him that bubbles could do damage like that before this he'd have laughed, but he'd already seen those same bubbles knock down market stalls and people, so he wasn't taking any chances.
"Ugh, just give up already!"
He peeked over the top of the remains of the log, and saw one of the thieves, Theory, dashing away, while the other stood with megalance in her hand blocking the way.
"Not until you give back Gramp's core crystal!" he yelled back.
Of course, it would have been so much easier if he had his broadsword, or any weapon honestly, but at this point, there was no going back. He started looking for places that he could sneak by and get closer and spotted a nearby boulder that would hopefully hold up as cover better than the nearly non-existent log he was still behind.
The Blade scoffed and Rex could practically see her roll her eyes. "A core crystal's a core crystal. Besides, we don't even have it on us."
"Huh?" He had been about to dash out but stopped short at what she said. "What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said. We don't have your stupid core crystal on us."
"Praxis, they're coming, come on!"
"Who's - agh!"
The other Blade, Theory, waved her partner over and after manipulating the ether with her lance sending another torrent of water his way, Praxis slid down a root system connecting the main part of the Gormotti Titan to a small island. One that would be underneath cloud sea during a high tide. Sputtering out water, Rex dashed over to the boulder he'd spotted earlier.
His mind spun in a whirlwind of ideas of something he could do. Most of them he tossed away immediately because it required a weapon. He only had some salvager tools and his wits, which seemed to be failing him.
He'd rushed in without thinking.
Again.
He froze as he heard a bellowing noise from a titan, mixed with the sounds of machinery. Having spent the most recent part of his life around various titanships, Rex picked up pretty quickly that the sound was from an Ardainian-style Titan airship. His heart rose at the thought of help, even if it did come from the military.
Skimming on the cloud sea fluff, the titanship came out of the cove formed by the rocky body of the Gormott Titan mixed with a nearby hanging root system, coming from the direction of Torigoth's lower port. However, as they quickly got close enough for Rex to see them, from the way they were dressed, the people on it didn't look like Ardainian soldiers. Not one bit.
Now what?
The titanship bobbed to a stop next to the island below.
"Theory, Praxis! How'd it go?" One of the people on board, a largely built Urayan man by the look of it, called down.
"Hook line and sinker!" Praxis sounded so proud of herself. Who in their right mind got proud over causing that kind of chaos for stealing? "But we're coming out a little hot. You?"
They hefted a bag with a sickening smirk on their face. "Same, but we got a massive haul, almost good enough to retire from. The empire's just started doing some Driver recruiting."
Rex wasn't dumb. He could connect the dots. Theory and Praxis were the distractions while the others had nicked the core crystals. They were thieves. There's no reason why they would've caused that big of a ruckus over him if they hadn't wanted something else.
The Urayan tossed up a black core crystal in his hand, catching it easily. "The one you nicked last night is an added bonus, especially since it ain't ever been to Indol. It'll fetch a nice price"
The one from last night. His eyes zeroed in on it. That had to be it. All he had left of Gramps.
"No time for bragging," Theory interrupted. "We've got the empire on our tail."
"We'll be long gone before then. Come on, then."
Rex's heart skipped a beat. Could he really stop this?
But they had Gramp's core crystal.
The Blades were almost on the titanship. No time for thinking. His heart leapt as he leapt to his feet, vaulted over the boulder he hid behind and with all the bravery he could muster, shouted:
"Hey, all of you! What you're doing is sick. It's just wrong, putting all those innocent people at risk for just profit! You're a bunch of lowlifes, the lot of you!"
Praxis turned around one foot on the ramp of the ship. "Oh, you're still here. Quit your high and mighty talk, pipsqueak, no one died."
"Who's the little runt?" It was the Urayan who'd spoken before.
"An unwanted tag-along in our distraction." Theory answered. "He's annoyingly persistent, but he's no one special."
"Gotcha. So no one will miss him. The less witnesses the better. Brio?"
Another man on board nodded. "Got it."
Rex's eyes widened and his heart dropped as he heard the mechanical groan and saw the turret on the deck of the titanship shifting into place towards him.
"Wait, wait, hold up," he yelled, backing up a step, bumping into the rock. "You can't seriously be thinking about-"
"Just shut up already, boy. You're a nobody."
The bark of the turret came as a punctuation to the bandit leader's answer, and Rex barely had enough time to cross his arms over his face, for all the good it would do to protect him.
There was an intense heat, followed by...no pain. He...hadn't just died, had he? He removed his arms from over his face, surprised at the amount of blue he was seeing.
The sky?
Wait, no. That was hair and cloth, not sky. And slight heat from the flaming blue hair.
He took a step back and realized that in front of him, a lady, no a Blade he quickly realized - people didn't just have hair lit with blue fire on the tips normally, after all - was standing in front of him. Something semi-transparent in front of her dissipated, and two thin swords materialized in her hands.
"Who-?"
She didn't turn as she cut off his question. "You're safe, so stop gawking and get out of the way so we can do our job." Her tone was calm, but offered no room for disobedience.
The Blade flicked her swords in a quick up and down motion, and segments he hadn't initially realized were in the swords separated, extending into fiery whips. She sent the whips lancing onto the ground, sending blue flames billowing towards Praxis and Theory, who raised their hands and formed a semi-transparent hexagonal shield that diverted the flames. They left scorch marks in their wake.
More blue flames leapt up around the island creating a tall flaming arena all on the little island, blocking the Blades from the ship.
That was ridiculously cool.
He heard a curse from the direction of the ship. "That's the Jewel!"
"Get us out of here already!"
The titan of the titanship groaned and the engine quickly whirred to a higher gear.
Rex was snapped out of his reverie as he was dragged back away from the Blade lady. He twisted out of the hold of the person dragging him back to see an Ardainian soldier, ridiculous looking helmet and all. "What are you- let go of me!"
"Out of the way, lad. We don't want you getting hurt."
"But they have something I need!" Rex protested.
"Lady Brighid already has it covered."
The soldier wasn't listening.
"But-"
"Look."
Rex complied, and his jaw dropped. He'd expected to see a struggle, and he certainly wasn't disappointed. In the fiery arena she'd created, the Blade - Brighid, apparently - was warring against the two Blade thieves in a fight that easily outstripped anything he'd ever participated in. The Blades whirled about in a cacophony of fire, ice and water mixed with katana, lance and swords that he couldn't keep up with.
Yet it looked like Brighid was not only keeping them back from jumping onto the ship, but winning.
At the sound of loudly rustling grass mixed with the pounding of boots, Rex wrenched his head back towards the soldier just in time to see other Ardainian soldiers anchor what looked like some sort of cannon into the ground. They angled it and shot off a big chain that launched up and punched into the flesh of the thieves titan ship, hooking into it and pulling it down and back towards the little isle. Another cannon and chain followed, holding the ship in place, despite the whine of the engine and the groan of the Titan itself.
The soldier who had pulled him away from Brighid dragged him behind a different rock than he had stood behind before, right as it started being pelted with fire from guns in the thieves in the ship. To both his right and left, the rest of the Ardainian Soldiers started to shoot off suppressing fire towards the ship and the Blade thieves. The others in the ship were fighting back with shots of their own.
Rex heard the mechanical whine of the big turret on the titanship signal it moving again. He peeked out from the rock and caught sight of the Blade thieves busy shielding themselves from the gunfire of the Ardainians. Taking advantage of that, Brighid manoeuvred her flaming whipswords around the shields to rip both of the Blade thieves from the ground and slam them together into the air.
Right into the path of the turret. Just as the turret fired.
He heard the two Blade girls scream as they were blasted away from the grip of the whips and rolled end over end onto the ground of the mainland past where he was.
One didn't get up, and the other struggled. How could either of them try to be standing, much less be alive, after something like that?
The one struggling to get up, Praxis, didn't get far. More Ardainian soldiers rushed out from the trees and quickly fired what looked to be glowing yellow nets at the Blade thieves, knocking her off her feet, entangling both of them. The nets seemed to put both of them out of commission.
He turned back to the titanship, which bucked from renewed fire from the Ardainians, scarring the hull of the ship more. Thankfully, it seemed like the Urayan who'd been tossing around Gramp's core crystal was still there, but a couple of the thieves had fallen. As he looked, one of the chains holding the ship in place was detached and the titanship dipped down into the cloud sea, almost submerging the deck. The other chain was still there holding it in place.
If the other got loose, he might lose...
As if sensing his intentions, the Ardainian put his hand on his shoulder. "Don't get any funny ideas, lad. There's backup on the way."
"That's not what I'm worried about. If they get loose, they have Gramps' core crystal, and I can't just sit around waiting."
The hand on his shoulder got heavier. "You can and you will. Go into a mess like that and you won't make it out alive. I don't want to have to explain what happened to you to your loved ones if you die."
Rex clenched his teeth, but complied. He wouldn't want to see the look on Auntie Corrine's face, or the kids in Fonsett if that happened.
He had to be able do something, but what?
His eyes glanced down at his grapple.
As Mòrag dashed to the scene at Lascham Island, the plan looked as though it was being executed nearly perfectly. However, as she cleared the trees - passing by the Blade thieves trapped in ether nets - she spotted a potential problem.
A boy, possibly the one Captain Padraig had mentioned, dashed out from the cover of a rock towards the thieves' titanship. The turret - an old design dating back to the Coecian-Ardainian war - turned towards the boy. An old one that fired metal slugs.
She increased her pace and shouted; "Brighid, manoeuvre RTS!"
Brighid, by instinct and training, turned and tossed her weapons to Mòrag, and started covering her with her ether barrier from the weapons fire from the thieves. Catching the weapons by the hilts easily, she whipped them out as she continued running. A familiar rush of energy and burning seeped through the core of her being, and she could feel her senses and reflexes sharpen as Brighid established their affinity link.
She would need it for this manoeuvre - one she would have never imagined she would use out of training.
As if trying to escape the turret, or perhaps not noticing it at all, the boy fired a salvager's grapple up to the poorly modified titanship. But it wouldn't be enough time.
Just as the turret fired at the boy, she got into position and twirled the whip around where the slug would be. At the sensation of weight, she spun with the momentum of the slug and slung it back into the turret. The resulting explosion made the titanship buck and knocked down the thieves on the deck.
The boy turned back, his grapple starting to reel up towards the ship, gave a sheepish looking grin and a thumbs up before he turned back. A poor form of thanking her.
"Wasn't that a bit reckless, Lady Mòrag?"
Mòrag readjusted her hat, which had become slightly ajar. "Perhaps, but it was the quickest way to save the civilian and neutralize the threat of the turret."
She could practically see a small upturn of Brighid's lip. "Always the pragmatist."
"Indeed." She retracted the whips into two shortswords and launched herself down to the island, feeling through their link that Brighid was close behind her.
Seeing that the boy was already nearly on the deck of the ship, she increased her pace. Hopping up onto the remaining chain holding the thieves' titanship in place, she started running up it. The increased strength and reflexes from Brighid allowed her to keep her balance as she ascended to the end of the chain and leapt up the last bit to the deck, Brighid with her.
The thieves that had survived the blast had mostly recovered, but she had seen a number of them had retreated below the deck of the ship. Clearly, they had noticed her ascent.
She scanned the deck, noting four thieves still standing. To the side, sitting on the wood, she saw her bait. The core crystals were collected in a simple sack, slightly open which she could see one peeking out the top. It appeared the thieves thought themselves clever, using the Blades as a distraction to steal them.
A large Urayan man levelled a broadsword at her at her approach. She coolly met his eyes as he bellowed and swung down in an overhead swing. Sidestepping the blade, the sword buried itself in the wood and she turned and with a surge of power sent from Brighid's affinity link, kicked him away across the deck of the ship. A single dormant core crystal skittered away from his person.
Strange, there were no dormant crystals among her bait.
Putting that to the side as the other thieves on deck rushed forward, Mòrag quickly passed one of her swords to Brighid when she noticed that two thieves were trying to flank them. Trusting Brighid to deal with one, she sidestepped the stab of the lance of one. She quickly grabbed the shaft and yanked the thief close, kneeing him in the midsection, knocking the wind out of him. Knocking him on the head with the hilt of her sword, she let him fall to the deck.
She was aiming to disable, not kill. They needed some of them alive to question them, to find the connection, if any, to Torna.
She didn't even have to glance over to know that Brighid had handily taken care of the other one. These thieves had no formal training, and she was beginning to suspect that the Drivers of the Blades Brighid's squad had captured were either below deck, or not here at all.
As she calmly walked across the deck to him past two Urayan bodies that had fallen with the explosion of the turret, the large Urayan with the broadsword who she had originally knocked across the deck tried to scramble to his feet. He failed, collapsing on an injured leg that gave out. She pressed the advantage and stepped on his back, pinning him to the ground as she pointed her sword at his throat.
The Urayan twisted his head to the side to look her in the eye. "What does the Flamebringer get out of spending so much on a little group like us, huh? Don't you have more important things to deal with?"
"Spare me the prattle. I've heard it all before." It seemed like every thieving group either played the victim card or did what this man was doing. "Give yourselves up peaceably and no one else will get hurt."
He seemed to consider her offer for a moment, before he spat to the side. "Never. I'd rather die than believe a word that comes from the Ardainian Empire." He chuckled darkly. "All of you are just pawns in a bigger game; even your emperor is nothing but a little-"
Mòrag knocked him out with a kick before he could say something stupid. "So be it."
Her grip on her sword tightened. Looked like it was the hard way. She turned to the hatch leading below deck, accepting the other sword in the pair from Brighid, intent on heading down below, but stopped near the ruined turret as she heard the high-pitched whine of another engine starting.
"Look out!"
Training kicked in at the sound of the warning and she sidestepped an attack and spun towards the aggressor. The aggressor's axe had been blocked by the boy - who had picked up the large Urayan's broadsword. He duelled with one of the Urayans she had assumed was dead on the deck.
She growled in frustration. Him getting involved was a liability, as she would have easily dodged the blow, or had Brighid block it. "Get out of the way before you get hurt, boy!"
"I can handle myself, thank you!"
Tch. Even with good intentions, it was bad when civilians got involved in operations like this. Yet he was doing surprisingly well.
She deliberated how to act without killing either when the other supposedly dead person - an Urayan woman - leapt up and dashed past the duel, knocking the boy out of the way. Mòrag stepped in and blocked the swing of the axe that would have taken the boy's head off, and quickly incapacitated the Urayan man.
The woman dashed past them, the bag of core crystals and the dormant core from earlier clutched tightly to her chest.
But before the thief got to the railing, a grapple - the boy's, she quickly realized - reached out and latched onto the jacket the woman wore. It hitched, but she simply slipped out of it, nimbly keeping hold of the crystals.
At the last second she tripped on the dormant core crystal from earlier, sending it and her tumbling over the edge of the ship.
"No!" the boy yelled, dropping the greatsword as he dived over the railing after her.
Dashing over to the railing of the deck, Mòrag got there just in time to see a smaller titanvessel shoot out from a hatch in the side on the side facing the cloud sea, catching the woman. The boy dived headfirst into the cloud sea afterward.
An escape craft.
Her free gloved hand gripped the metal railing tightly.
"Lady Mòrag, calm yourself."
"I am perfectly calm, Brighid." She glued the image of the retreating titanvessel in her mind and the individuals on its small open deck. As she let go of the railing, she sighed, annoyed. "Indol won't be pleased at the wasted core crystals."
"We can still retrieve them."
"I know." She had already made a mental note to put out a warrant for them. "It isn't a complete loss. We have the Blades, and some of the members of this band of thieves. It should be enough to determine their connection to Torna."
"But you wanted a complete victory. Especially after that man started to insult Emperor Niall."
She started walking away, giving a signal to the squadrons below. "It would have been the preferred outcome, yes. But such is the way these things go."
"What of the civilian boy? Are you going to let him go after how much trouble you went through to save his life?"
"I will ask the captain to keep a lookout for him."
Brighid made a noncommittal 'hmm,' and seemed to let the matter drop as the capture squad fired the other chain again, solidly hooking the ship. Once it stuck into the ship, this time it began reeling the titanship in toward Lascham Island with no more resistance.
Empty your head, Rex.
The memory echoed through his head as the pressure of the cloud sea was built rapidly. But Rex had only one focus. His portable light clipped to his belt shone on and glinted off Gramps' core crystal. Was it just the surroundings or did the core look a little bluer than it had earlier?
Empty your head of thoughts and the pressure won't matter.
His lungs burned as he tried to catch up to the fall of crystal and he kicked faster. And the pressure built even more.
He reached out his hand and swung and missed it.
Reached out again.
Got you.
And he brought the core crystal close to his chest.
There was a glint of light from the core. What was…?
Something in his mind flared to life, a burning, a connection, like something was combing, crawling through the inside of his head.
But Rex pushed on.
The sensation retreated, and the light from the core flared to blinding.
Mòrag let the boarding ramp down onto Lascham island once it was close enough, admitted the waiting squad close to her.
"Capture any remaining crew, and disable the ship," she ordered. "Be on the lookout for traps or any remaining crew. If possible I want to salvage this ship for the empire."
"Inquisitor!" They smartly saluted.
She and Brighid walked past as the soldiers filed onto the ship and she got onto solid ground. Ahead on the island, Captain Padraig stopped and saluted.
"At ease, captain."
"Inquisitor." The captain dropped his salute. "A soldier from Lady Brighid's squad reported to me. He said the civilian boy that was under their watch escaped and-"
He cut off as she held a hand up for silence. "I am aware of the situation, captain. The civilian boy in question jumped off the deck of the titanship into the cloud sea after we subdued those on the deck."
"Should we send a party to keep watch for him?"
Mòrag was about to affirm, but Brighid stepped forward. "I don't believe that that will be necessary, captain. Look past the ship."
Brighid turned and Mòrag followed her pointing finger to see a burst of light from beneath the cloud sea, past where the titanship was now anchored.
"Orders?" the captain asked.
"Stand by but be ready."
"Aye, Inquisitor."
The light died down, and a few long moments passed.
"Contact!" one of the soldiers shouted.
A figure burst from the fluff of the cloud sea, a trail of flames following behind them. Though it was difficult to tell, as they went into the path of the sun, it seemed like the figure was carrying someone.
The trail of flames stopped and the trajectory of the figure was coming right towards them.
Mòrag drew her swords and felt Brighid re-establish their affinity link. She had time to call, "Scatter!" and those on the island dived out of the way as the figure landed hard, sending dirt and dust flying.
At her signal, the soldiers with her surrounded them. The figure tenderly set the boy on the ground. The boy started coughing, and the figure stood to an impressive height, looking to all of them.
The glowing blue core - shaped like the Crest of Leftheria near it's sternum told her it was a Blade.
"Oh, dear." The voice of the Blade was deep and gravelly, though it seemed like there was no ill intent from him. His yellow eyes looked around at the weapons pointed at him. "Seems as though I interrupted something."
The Blade looked at Mòrag as if he could tell she was in charge and inclined his head to her.
"My name is Azurda. It is good to meet you."
A/N: Yup, it's Azurda!
...Sort of.
Meanwhile, Mòrag remains perfectly calm, and Lora has a headache.