Gravity
Violent gusts whipped across Rena's face and scattered her hair into the wind. A blanket of clouds descended upon her as the airship soared into the sky, drowning the deck in a dense fog and obscuring the approaching pack of nasod. For a tense moment, Rena, Aisha, and Elsword stood with their backs together, listening to the steady rattling of gears and the sharp slicing of propeller blades. Before they could react, the deck rattled beneath them and they felt their stomachs churn. The ship dove rapidly, plummeting toward the sea and threatening to pull their feet from the floor beneath them as the nasod charged forward. Feeling the weight of her body reduced to mere ounces, Rena slid to the ground and kicked up at the nearest nasod, forcing herself back to the deck and sending the mechanical miner flying as though it were a bundle of straw. Rolling on her side, she fired a volley into a pair of nasod and knocked them over the side of the ship, hurtling through the air and into a massive propeller where they were shredded into scrap.
Following Rena's lead, Elsword kept himself low and swung toward the sky, lifting a nasod off its feet as a burst of flame engulfed its head. With every moment, the airship rolled from side to side sending everyone and everything on the deck sliding and tumbling toward the edge. As she dodged a pair of whirling drills, Aisha lost her footing and toppled backward. Unable to stop herself, she flew off into the air and over the ocean.
"Aisha!" Elsword dove to the ground and reached out in vain as she fell toward the sea. Chanting furiously, Aisha thrust her wand into the air and disappeared in a brilliant flash. In moments, she had teleported a dozen times and landed back on the deck of the airship only to find herself in the worst possible position; she had landed face down and surrounded by a dozen rumbling nasod. Rolling to her feet, she drove her wand into the deck and summoned a huge glowing sigil that immediately erupted in a flurry of chains, wrapping tightly around the legs and feet of everyone on the deck, nasod included. Glowering indignantly at the struggling machines, she pulled her grimoire from her side and held it open, its pages fluttering violently in the wind. As Aisha chanted, the pages abruptly stopped, holding fast as an ominous seal emerged from them.
"O shadow of death, descend."
The air flashed and darkened as the ghastly form of a terrifying spectre flickered overhead. For a moment, nothing happened. As Aisha closed her grimoire, however, the nasod all around her began to crumble and shatter, their bodies simply dismantled and scattered into the wind. Gasping for air, Aisha fell to her knees just as the ship ceased its breakneck descent and found a level path. With the shackles around their legs vanishing, Elsword and Rena rushed over to Aisha's side to help her up.
"Are you alright?" Rena gripped her hand tightly as she pulled her to her feet, her face marred with distress.
"Yeah, I'm okay..." Aisha pressed her free hand to her forehead as her feet wobbled beneath her. "I don't think I like flying though..."
Beside her, Elsword stared gravely, his eyes fixed on her as she steadied herself. Still a bit uneasy, she stared back at him, confused.
"What?"
"..." For a moment, they stood silent as the wind whistled by. Just when Aisha had opened her mouth to urge Elsword to say something, he turned away and mumbled into the sky.
"That was pretty cool, back there..."
Aisha's eyes went wide as she stared, stunned at what she thought she'd just heard. "W-What was that?"
"...Nevermind." Elsword stomped off toward the nearest door, avoiding Aisha's eyes as best he could while the three of them gathered around and cautiously entered into the hold.
"At least we can finally get out of-" Aisha stopped short, the shock of their surroundings cutting her off sharply. Where they stood was not simply a cabin or a cargo hold but rather, a working foundry. Below them, dozens of nasod smelted and stirred piles of ore, separating their metals and shaping them into ingots. Preoccupied with their task, the nasod completely ignored the intruders and carried on their business, chipping away at small boulders and stoking the fires of a howling furnace.
Elsword grimaced. "All this stuff's from the mine, just to make more nasod."
"If that's the case, then it looks like Wally's planning to make thousands..." Rena surveyed the foundry, its workers busy sorting through the mounds of rock and rubble, chipping away at them until they surrendered their treasures. From the corner of the room, a faint glimmer caught her eye. Resting at the edge of the room, a small cart was nearly overflowing with El crystals and moving slowly into an adjacent corridor.
"What are they doing with so much... Oh!" Rena clapped her hands together and smiled brightly. "This is great. We might be able to get everything taken care of by the end of the day."
"Huh?" Elsword glared at her. "What're you talkin' about?"
"You two go follow that cart full of El stones, they might be taking it to where they're holding Ruben's El." She pointed at the pile of tiny El crystals and drew her finger up toward the wall as if to indicate some unknown point in the distance. "I'll go find the bridge and throw the pilot out, and then we'll just hijack the ship and use it to bring the El back to Ruben."
"Ah!" Aisha gasped once she understood the elegance of Rena's solution. They would use the very machine Wally had built to transport the El to carry it back to its rightful place and in the meantime, they could tie up Wally and his guards, destroy all the nasod, and set everything right again. In fact, the sheer elegance of it troubled her and she couldn't bring herself to be optimistic. Nothing had been simple so far, and she couldn't help but feel that this time would be any different.
"Wait, how do you know you'll be able to fly this thing?" Elsword looked to Rena skeptically.
"Heheh... I was a sailor for a few years when I was younger." Rena held up two fingers in a sideways 'V' and used them to frame her right eye as she winked. Blinking, Elsword was at a loss.
"...What?"
"That's probably the best plan for this situation..." Aisha agreed pensively, a nagging doubt lingering in the back of her mind.
"Alright then, when you guys find the El, go after Wally. He probably won't be on the bridge, and he might try to get away again if he realizes that we've taken control of the ship."
Elsword and Aisha nodded as Rena hopped over the nearby railing and onto a pile of gleaming copper. "Good luck!" She smiled and waved as she leapt across the nasod production line and ducked through an open doorway.
"Let's go." Elsword dashed down the stairs and onto the foundry floor, chasing after the cart full of El crystals. Still gathering herself, Aisha shook her head out in an attempt to dismiss her anxiety and hurried along after him.
Feet racing over shadows, Rena ran through the darkened corridor searching for any sign of life or motion. She rounded the corner and light flooded the air. Slowing to a walk, she glanced at the heavy steel doors lining the hall around her. Each held a tiny porthole and revealed another part of the ship's inner workings; the boilers, the engines, the spinning turbines and gears, all blasting the air with the deafening bellows of iron pounding against steel. While was Rena peering through one of the portholes, a cold blade slipped just beneath her chin.
"Drop your weapons." One of Wally's knights held his sword at Rena's throat and stared down at her. Backing slowly into the center of the hallway, she tossed her bow aside and raised her hands. Kicking her bow away, the knight scoffed. "There were two others with you in the mine. Where are they now?"
Rena closed her eyes for a moment and glowered. "I sent them off somewhere else. I don't like being violent around them."
Irritated, the Knight began to shout at her. "Tell me where they-"
Rena leaned back and twisted to the side, kicking the knight in the throat. He dropped his sword as he staggered backward and fell to the floor. Rena sauntered over to him, grabbing her bow as the knight clutched his throat and gasped for breath. As he clambered to his feet, Rena kicked his knee and dropped him to the ground where she stamped her heel into his back and drew her bow.
"Just so you know, that wasn't real violence yet." She pressed on his spine and he wheezed as air fled from his lungs. "Tell me where Wally is, then tell me where I can find the bridge."
"Ackhh..." The knight's voice caught in his throat as he struggled for breath. "Bridge... is at the bow, lower deck... there's a service passage... up ahead..."
Rena fired an arrow into the floor, grazing his face and cutting through his ear. "What about Wally?"
The knight winced and writhed, trying to force himself up but unable to overcome the force of Rena's foot. "I... I don't... know... please..."
Rena fired another arrow, cutting a thin line across his forehead.
"No, please!... I don't... know... please..." He gasped and coughed as his arms gave out and flopped alongside him, no longer able to keep up any sort of resistance.
"Okay, thanks~!" Rena smiled cheerfully and stepped off of his back. "You guys crack really easy, you know that? Knights shouldn't get intimidated by stuff like that." She stepped to the side and swung her foot into his face, knocking his head against the wall and leaving him unconscious. After running for another fifty yards, she found a small hatch that opened to the outside. Stepping into the realm of the sky, she stood on a wide service platform that seemed to stretch the entire length of the ship, giving her a clear, if blustery, path to the bow.
Good. Maybe I can finish this before those two have to get into anything dangerous...
Nodding to herself, Rena rushed across the service walkway toward the bow and fighting the wind every step of the way. Almost immediately, a huge shadow fell over her and enveloped the entire ship. Emerging from the clouds, another airship descended and started flying alongside Wally's, matching its speed and pulling in close. So close, in fact, that Rena could see the gangplank of the approaching ship lower and attach to the deck of Wally's craft.
Flanked by two of his royal guards, Lord Wally braced himself against the turbulence atop the deck and faced the ship that was now parallel to his own. With the cold wind stinging their eyes, they watched Raven walked across the gangplank and made his way over to them. Wally stepped forward held out his hand, shouting over the howling of wind and machinery.
"It's good to finally meet you!"
Raven glared at him and held up his left arm. "I don't think you want to shake this hand."
Wally looked over the menacing claw and laughed. "Ah, I suppose not!" Unamused by his banter, Raven ignored Wally's attempt at exchanging pleasantries.
"You have the El?"
"Ah, yes, of course." Wally pulled a small device from his pocket and toggled a switch on its side. Behind him, the ship's hull split open and a grand elevator whirled to life, rising to the surface and bringing with it Ruben's El and thousands of smaller El stones. The El was held in a heavy steel cage, its bottom sealed with steel plates to hold the tinier crystals in place making Ruben's El look like a grand monument buried in a desert of glowing sand. As soon as the elevator had stopped, Raven nodded and looked over his shoulder, signaling to his mercenaries. Rattling and rumbling, a powerful crane cross the gap between ships and scooped up the cage containing the El, lifting it from the deck.
"Wait, wait!" Wally waved his arms and the crane paused. "That's all well and good, but what about my factory!? I was promised the resources and technology to build every manner of nasod imaginable! When will your employer be making good on his word?"
"Ah, that." Raven nodded and the crane continued, pulling its cargo over to the Black Crow. In an instant, Raven lunged forward and drove his sword through Wally's chest. "Any man who would steal from his own people has no place in the world we're creating."
Enraged, Wally's guards raised their swords to strike only to be shot cleanly through the head by Raven's men. With the El transferred, Raven walked back over to the Black Crow and signaled to the bridge. "Shoot them down. Try to do it cleanly, we'll be recovering the rest of their cargo later."
Within moments, the Crow mercenaries rushed out onto the deck of their ship and manned the guns that lined its starboard side, firing relentlessly into Wally's ship.
"D-damn... you... how... dare... you...!" With blood pouring from his mouth, Wally clutched his controller and flipped all of its remaining toggles. Grinning bitterly, he looked up and spat toward the Black Crow before his face fell against the ground and his body went limp.
"What is this place even? It just looks like a huge storage room." Elsword grumbled as he wandered through stacks of metal bars and spare parts for the ship and its nasod.
"It's a ship." Aisha glared at him. "They're all just big moving storage rooms."
Elsword scoffed "Got it. Sorry for expecting stuff like an engine or maybe some people or something..."
Their patience wasn't wearing so thin with one another as it was merely wearing thin on the whole. Both of them were visibly annoyed by their lack of progress. Just after they had chased the cart full of El stones out of the foundry, it dropped down a chute far too narrow for either of them to fit through, bringing their pursuit to an unexpected end. After that, they proceeded through hallways and hanger bays without finding anything of note and getting lost several times along the way. In the next room, however, their luck changed drastically.
"Whoa..." Elsword stood back and examined the sight before him. A colossal nasod filled the hold, nearly twenty yards tall and armed with an array of cannons and smaller weapons Elsword had never seen before. For the time being, it appeared to be inactive.
"It's huge!" Aisha approached cautiously, circling around to its side and knocking on its chassis. As she did, a small panel popped off and sparks flew out as a bundle of wires shorted out and caught fire. Panicking, Aisha blew on the fire and it went out, leaving behind a cloud of thick, noxious smoke.
"Ah, you broke it." Elsword stared at her and she blushed lightly.
"I-It doesn't matter, we would've had to break it anyway if it started up!" As she looked to the wall and pouted, the ceiling suddenly opened up. Just as Elsword and Aisha looked up to see the sky above them, the ground shifted beneath their feet and they began to rise up to the deck. All around them, artillery shells were falling into the side of Wally's ship and exploding overhead. As the elevator came to a stop, the giant nasod that stood next to them began to move, rumbling to life with a shrill screech. Ignoring Elsword and Aisha, it turned toward the Black Crow and raised its arms, firing a flurry of rockets and exhaust flames at the opposing ship. Scrambling for cover, many of the crow mercenaries abandoned their posts and dove into the safety of the ship's interior as its hull was rocked by the blast of the nasod's cannons. After its initial assault, however, the nasod lowered its arms and stopped. Hovering over the deck, it turned to face Aisha and Elsword.
Elsword scowled and glared at Aisha. "You did a piss poor job breaking it."
Huffing and pouting, Aisha clenched her fist tightly around her wand and swung it out toward the nasod, sending a stream of lightning into its side and throughout the exposed wires. Spurting smoke and coughing sparks into the air, the giant quickly fell to the ground, its arms hanging motionless at its side. Now scowling herself, Aisha turned to Elsword and stared as he stumbled for a response.
"Alright, fine." He mumbled a concession while taking stock of their surroundings. The Crow's bombardment had stopped for the moment, but he could see that mercenaries were quickly filing back into their posts and loading up for another volley of artillery fire. Just as they were about to resume their attack, a stream of arrows flew across to the Black Crow, knocking its cannons off course and crippling their operators.
"Hey, look! Rena's down there!" As Elsword pointed toward the flight of arrows whistling through the air, the seemingly inactive nasod in front of them began to rumble. Jumping back and drawing their weapons, Elsword and Aisha stared as the front half of the nasod burst from the back, falling forward and crashing into the deck. In the midst of its remains sat a slick, metallic creature, its shape and size that of a human but its features completely foreign. Its movements were mechanical there were no joints or gears or hinges visible on its body. Instead of skin, it was covered in a some sort of coarse, flexible metal. Instead of a face, it sported only a single, glowing red eye in the center of its head. As she stared in horror at this alien creature, Aisha suddenly recalled an etching from one of her books and she realized that she knew exactly what she was looking at.
"It's... It's a Nasod..."
Elsword turned to her, confused. "So? We've seen hundreds of those, why're you acting all surprised?"
"No!" Aisha turned to him, her face awash with distress, "That's a real Nasod!"
"What?" Elsword's eyes went wide and he stared in disbelief as a legend he'd heard as a child leapt to the ground and stood before them. Shaking and writhing violently, it spun its hands and two blades shot out from the bolts on its wrists. Its single eye darted across the deck, rapidly scanning the area before finally fixing on Aisha. In just the time it took Aisha to blink and shield her eyes from an explosion overhead, the Nasod was just a few yards away. Swinging her wand to the side she summoned a crackling ball of dark energy and leapt back, readying a spell as Elsword rushed to her side. Without pause, the Nasod cut through Aisha's spell and continued unimpeded, lunging through the air at her and catching the side of her arm with the edge of its blades. As Aisha winced in pain, Elsword kicked her attacker in the face and brought his sword down sharply only to be blocked by the Nasod's iridescent blades.
A loud crash filled the air as the ground shook violently beneath them. Wally's airship, having taken massive damage to its port side and its bridge, was listing to the left and had just crashed into the Black Crow. The momentary quaking set the Nasod off-balance, sending it toppling backward as Aisha jumped to her feet and steadied herself. Seeing the blood trickle down her arm, Elsword grit his teeth and furrowed his brow. If they were going to survive another charge like that, they would have to strike at the very last second. Before they could prepare themselves, a sharp glimmer caught Elsword's eye. The moment the Nasod resumed its forward charge, a heavy cannon on the Black Crow fired a round straight at them. With no time to dodge in any direction, Elsword grabbed Aisha's hand and dove to the ground, calling forth a shimmering blade that burst into the air yards away from them. As the cannon's shell spiraled through the air, it slid along the airy blade, its flight shifting away from Elsword and Aisha and into the path of the oncoming Nasod. A blast erupted on the deck, so sudden and violent that Aisha couldn't hear anything but the ringing in her ears for a minute after. The Nasod, which had been so keenly intent on their death, was now just a faint mass of metal sinking into the sea.
With only one of a hundred dangers gone, Elsword and Aisha scrambled to their feet and rushed to the edge of the deck.
"Rena! Are you okay!?" Aisha strained herself to shout, her lungs burning from the cold and the smoke that surrounded her. Just a dozen feet below, Rena ducked behind a support beam for cover and finished off a skin of water.
"Yup! I'm fine, but that other ship... " She breathed heavily, her legs and arms aching after firing what seemed like a million arrows into the armaments of the Black Crow. "The other ship took the El, we've got to get over there!"
Elsword stood and glanced over at the bow of Wally's ship, its port side still lodged in the hull of the Black Crow. "Over there! We can jump across there!"
"Alright!" Rena stood, taking her bow in hand and drawing it taut. "Go on ahead! I'll keep them busy here until you can get over there and take out the gunners, then I'll head over!"
Nodding, Elsword and Aisha sprinted toward the bow as Rena rained a hail of arrows down on the mercenaries of the Black Crow. As she ran, Aisha felt an awful knot twist and turn in her stomach and her vague sense of unease crystallized into a single distressing thought.
Why is Rena always the one fighting to save us?
Before she could reflect any further, the ground heaved and leapt beneath their feet. Using all their strength to sprint for the bow, they ran to the edge of the deck and jumped. It was then that Wally's ship began to fall. Rolling hard to its side, the Black Crow shook itself free and started to pull away just as Aisha and Elsword were tumbling through the air toward it. Stranded on a trajectory that would land them in the frigid ocean below, Aisha reached out and grabbed Elsword by the waist, spinning her wand and teleporting them both up to the deck of the Black Crow. As they landed, she gripped her head and cringed.
"Ow ow ow ow... I've done that way too much today..."
"Forget that. Look!" Elsword pulled her up by the shoulder and she saw a sight that drained her face of all color. The Black Crow was sailing away through the air as Wally's ship listed aimlessly and slowly dropped out of the sky.
Aisha ran to the nearest railing and gazed into the distance. She could still see Rena pinned down by gunfire as the crows continued their barrage of the broken vessel. Her heart sank to the ocean floor and her eyes welled up with tears. Leaning into the wind as far as she could, she shouted at the top of her lungs. "No! Rena! Rena!"
Slumped over against one of the last intact walls of the outer walkway, Rena panted heavily and looked out at the down turned bow of Wally's ship. "I guess this... might finally be it..." As she glanced out over the ocean and across the sky, she saw Elsword and Aisha standing on the deck of the Black Crow and she sighed fondly. "Good... they made it." She stared to her side and saw the clouds retreating as she sunk toward the sea. Pitched forward, Wally's ship was beginning to drag in the wind and it shook more violently than ever. Crippled and crushed, the ship was no longer a vessel so much as it was a living corpse, its cargo bay lay in shambles, its foundry a mess of ore and ingots fused together by the heat of artillery explosions. In the midst of this destruction, Rena leaned back and closed her eyes. If this would be her death, she would accept it. Silently, she recited a string of words she had learned from her grandfather ages ago, the words she had spoken a dozen times before as she stood alongside the tomb of her friends and parents.
O Silver Moon, guide me home,
And set aside an evening's rest.
For how many years have I lived?
And how many Deaths have I died?
In the meadow of my birth-
A sharp cry cut through the din of battle and broke Rena's concentration. It was the sound of her name, desperate and frail, and it was coming from the deck of the Black Crow. When Rena looked up, she saw Aisha and Elsword clinging to the rails, out in the open and screaming toward her in spite of the danger they were in. Seeing them shouting at her like that, their voices so full of anguish, her heart caught in her throat. Laughing weakly, she pulled herself up to her feet and clutched her bow. "Those two... don't they know not to disturb a lady when she's resting?" Grinning broadly, she hooked her bow onto the ledge above, pulling herself up to the deck of Wally's ship and running along it's edge. With gunfire and artillery still riddling the air, she raced toward the stern, fighting against the burning pain in her legs and the exhaustion that was settling in throughout her body. With the left rear propellers demolished, the stern side of the deck was the furthest she could go, still more than a dozen yards away from the Black Crow. Still, she was determined not to leave her companions just yet. Dashing to the edge, she leapt into the air and sailed toward the Black Crow. As she began to fall, she drew her bow and released its string, creating a burst of wind that launched her through the air. Still just out of reach, she drew back and released again, flying over the water and landing on the rear deck of the Black Crow.
As she watched Rena's flight, Aisha sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Come on, let's go find her. We've got-" She turned to Elsword and stopped, stunned when she saw him rubbing his eyes. He immediately glowered at her and started walking away.
"It's just sweat. We gotta hurry before they find us here."
Smiling, even if only slightly, Aisha joined him and headed to the rear of the ship to join Rena. Somehow, even though they were now battered, bruised, exhausted, and stranded on a flying ship full of cold-blooded mercenaries, she felt an unexpected, comforting sense of accomplishment, the sort of victorious confidence that comes from knowing that had all survived. Despite the overwhelming dread that lingered over her and the knowledge that they were only seconds away from another battle, for the moment, she was content.