[XASTOL CITY, DRAGON'S BREATH TOWER]
Ivan stood on the balcony, his bangs flying in the breeze. The afternoon sun had already begun to set, and Xastol would grow quiet again tonight. It was a welcome change from the laborious hours of paperwork he had to sift through.
He heard someone's footfalls behind him and smiled, knowing who it was before they even spoke.
"Master Ivan," Captain Upo said timidly. He stood behind him, his hands crossed behind his back, and his head lowered.
"Captain." Ivan smiled. "It's done?"
Upo nodded. "Yes."
Ivan turned and brushed a grey hair back behind his ear. "Then you have my thanks. I am in your debt."
The captain felt a shame well in his stomach. "No," he urged. "I deserve no such thing. Especially after the way I treated you and your son." He knelt down low, putting all his pride aside, and took off his captain's hat, withdrawing his gun-blade as he did, and set them in front of him.
"I have no right to hold these. Not in the name of protecting Xastol. The disgrace is too much."
Ivan gave him a long look, his eyes careful and his tone measured. "Nonsense," he finally said with a smile. "If not for you and your men, then anarchy would have erupted long ago. Ruo and I may not have agreed on much, but there is no doubt that you are the best fit to lead the Sentries."
Upo felt his lips shiver, a damp heat welling behind his eyeballs. No…
Ivan came forward. "The past is the past. Let it live there."
You can't, Ivan shuddered, his arms trembling. Let me carry his dishonor alone!
But Ivan continued to advance. He stopped in front of him and leaned down. "Look at me, Captain," he asserted. Upo shook his head. A few droplets rained down onto the councilroom carpet, wetting it with his regret. Please, Master… Do not give me another chance!
Ivan put his hand on Upo's shoulder. The simple motion forced Upo to raise his head. Ivan studied the dwarf's crying face: his red nose, his pouring tears, and even his hair, limp and sweat-dampened, had lost all form as he sobbed. He could tell with just a look that the Captain wasn't a man who so often cried. This was one of the rare few times.
"Tell me, Captain, do you believe in fate?" Ivan asked.
"Fate?" Upo repeated. He sniffled. Most dwarves were raised on fate; Arsaes's laws were dictated by them. It took Ivan, his sons, and the humans that had come to Xastol to start convincing the city that such things didn't have to hold true.
Captain Upo shook his head.
"I thought so." Ivan smiled. He took a seat next to him and faced the balcony. He could barely make out a white dove standing on the city walls far away. "After what happened at the Dwanivit and what befell Ruo, I knew you'd be one of the people most rocked by all our changes. It's why I didn't seek you out for some time. I wanted to give you space."
Captain Upo's hands tightened, his fingers digging into his thighs. "But Master, I betrayed Xastol!"
"No," Ivan said. "You stayed true to it."
The sun lowered a bit, bathing the two of them in its glow and stretching their shadows along the floor and walls. They mixed and became one.
"I never truly hated my family, no matter how many heated exchanges we had. My father was the most stubborn of all, if you recall, and yet I never once faulted him for the way he thought. I wouldn't know, start with you, Captain."
A short breath escaped his nose as he sighed. "When I came back to Xastol, I was hated," Ivan began. "So much so that I contemplated leaving, to ignore the Church's law and take my son somewhere he wouldn't be as mistreated as I was. Do you know why I didn't?"
Upo shook his head. His tears had begun to dry.
A hint of melancholy gleamed in Ivan's eyes as a tear fell. "My wife. She believed in change more than anyone else I knew. She was a scholar on the outside, always painting with her creative heart. It was her dying words about this city that kept me here. Gwentyn believed in you all — even when I didn't. She knew sooner or later that something would change Xastol, whether it be itself or something from the outside. Her faith in our son was just that great. Sometimes its radiance even blinded me."
He wiped his tears and looked at Upo. "A friend told me once that the greatest power any of us could ever hold was the power of choice. It is the ultimate freedom any living being could have. How would I deny you of your positio,n knowing that you never got the chance to make your own choice, one that you weren't told to make? We've all got to be capable of loving others. If we stay good, then eventually, no matter how long it takes, our connections and feelings will change those around us anyway. That's what I feel it means to be a dwarf."
Upo lowered his eyes and looked towards the setting sun with a soft smile. He didn't mean to do it, and yet Ivan's words brought it forward all the same.
"I feel like a fool," the captain murmured. "I never knew you were capable of such nice words, Master Ivan."
Ivan side-eyed him humorously. "Well, of course! It's a mother's job to believe in greatness, while it's a father's job to reaffirm it! I always had faith that Hidemi could change you all, it was only a matter of when!"
"For some reason, I don't think those are your words," Upo guessed with a charmed smile. He felt within him a change — not a large one yet by any means — but a change nonetheless. Ivan chuckled and reached for the captain's hat, placing it back on his lime-colored hair with a low groan. On the wall in the distance, the dove flew away, as if irritated, and flapped its wings away from Xastol.
"It doesn't matter who says the words," he smiled. "Only who is willing to believe in them."
He stood, Upo accompanying him. They both turned to each other, the Councilman and the Captain, and bowed, a mutual understanding blossoming between them for the first time in either of their lives.
"So, Captain," Ivan said. "Are you ready to make your choice?"
Upo picked up his Cuiong before he puffed out his chest, quickly regaining his usual arrogant stride. He buckled it back into his waistbelt.
That was all the answer Ivan needed.
-------🅰🆂🅷🅵🅸🅴🅻🅳-----—
[THE ST.ROSEBURY, COCKPIT GALLEY, TOP FLOOR]
Aleximus and Aurora were the only two who didn't accept the caramel-honey tea Aviator Bodil offered to the rest of the kids. They instead just watched on as Jacender, Alexander, and Hidemi clinked their mugs together and took a hearty sip, paying no mind to the situation they were in.
Idiots! Aleximus cursed silently. Did you forget why we're here to begin with?!
He eyed Alexander sharply and kicked his foot, nearly dropping the cup from the boy's hand. "Ow!" Alex winced and pulled back. "What was that—" he started before seeing Aleximus's face. He exhaled and smiled innocently. "Relax. Worrying about it will just make the situation worse."
Those words made the anger in Aleximus flash across his face. "Relax?" he spat with a whisper. "You have some growing up to do if you think the real world will just let you relax!"
Alexander stopped slightly then and looked at him without a response. Jacender looked on at him with his brows furrowed. He could tell that whatever it was, it was not the first time Alex had been told such words, or at the very least, similar ones. He opened his mouth to defend him, but his brother's expression warned him otherwise. Instead, Jace a bit out of his seat and glanced through the open doorway that led further into the cockpit where the aviators sat in cushioned seats of red and black. Before the four pilots sitting there was a control panel made up of blue and orange lights that twinkled too brightly for any of them to see past. He wondered if that was the reason behind the visors the aviators wore.
Aurora fiddled with her fingers and looked at her wand atop the control panel in the front. "Do you think…" she began quietly. "Do you think we're in trouble?"
Before Jace could answer, the mechanical door to the hallway slid aside into its compartment and revealed the familiar figure of Aviator Bodil.
"You're not in trouble, girl," the aviator responded with a sigh. "At least, not yet." She removed her gloves and shook her head, pressing a button by the doorframe to slide the door back into place. Once it did, she looked at Hidemi. Then, after she'd gotten a long, hard look at him, she glanced at Jacender, then Aleximus, Aurora, and finally, Alexander, whom she locked eyes for a beat longer than she had with any of the rest. Aleximus noticed that.
Aleximus took the liberty of speaking first. "You said we're not in trouble yet?" he asked, rising to his feet. "Then where were you?"
He held his ground with a face that gave nothing away, but inside, he was fearful. Helping Hidemi was not something he'd normally have done. Hidemi was the first person in the outside world to help them, even going as far as believing in them. It took a lot for him to become someone he trusted, and even then, he prioritized Jacender over everything. The truth was that though he'd suspected Hidemi might come to Zenica, Aleximus knew that no matter what, Jacender would want to save him. He knew full well the lengths his brother would go through in getting Hidemi aboard the ship, even if it meant his own life. It was due to that that Aleximus was left with no choice but to help them succeed. Failure wasn't an option when it came to his brother — his safety was a prerequisite. No matter how much he had grown to care for Hidemi, everyone would be second to Jace.
"If you're going to report us or kick us out—" Aleximus said. Ms.Illmari held her hand up.
"I said you're not in trouble yet, boy. Don't overwork yourself."
Jacender grabbed his brother's arm and sat him down, squeezing him in the space between him and Hidemi.
"As for where I was," Ms.Ilmari continued, "I was making sure the guards secured the exit you five and your pet lion so graciously left open. As you know, it's an emergency exit," Alexander's cheeks became hot as she emphasized the word emergency. "As such, it should have been properly sealed. Speaking plainly, the entire ship is loaded with Ilodium the moment the engines come on. Nobody on board should be able to use Sanctum Energy so long as they are inside the walls. However, for some curious reason, you were able to open the door much easier than you should have."
Ms.Illmari looked at Jace as she said it. Everyone of them wondered immediately how she knew it was him who'd opened it, and then Alexander thought back to the flashing alarm he'd seen. It must've been a camera! he thought.
Jace scratched his head and let out a fake laugh. "I'm just really strong. Maybe that's why—"
"No," Ms.Illmari interrupted. "Sorry to say, but that wouldn't have done anything. We do routine checks every five minutes before boarding. Our investigation leads us to believe that something struck the door prior to the final boarding call, when all of our handlers had already been moved away from the ship. It could have been nothing, or something, regardless, something will come up somewhere."
Aleximus frowned slightly, then hid his expression. Back when Hidemi used his bracelet to double Aurora's cyclone… it blasted apart by clashing against itself. I guess the others thought it just disappeared, but before it did, I could have sworn I saw something hit it. Maybe it was that same thing that broke the door before boarding?
Ms.Illmari rubbed her temple and stared at Hidemi. "The most pressing issue now is what to do with you, my little stowaway."
Hidemi read her lips and half-blushed, half-shivered with nervousness. He dug into his robe immediately and pulled out the Barnabas Aleximus had given him and showed it off like a medal of honor.
"Yes, yes," the aviator responded with a wave. "I'm aware you have a Barnabas, but whether or not it was purchased before your brazen attempt to board a Wyvern Ship has nothing to do with anything. You illegally entered a Church-sanctioned ship with the backing of the entire military strength of Pendragon. Had you been an actual terrorist, not only would there be a kill on sight order, but if by some miracle you were detained… well… you'd be looking at a minimum of eighty years on Nazareth."
The color from Hidemi's face went out and drained until he looked like a skeleton. He hung his head back and seemingly passed out with shock against Aleximus's lap. Jacender and Aleximus flinched at the ghastly look on his face and pushed him to the ground.
Ms.Illmari smiled at them for a moment and then took a deep breath. "Alexander," she said with a soft look. "Because of what you did for me earlier when you boarded…"
Alexander remembered saving her from falling off the escalator and tossing her her keys. Only now, he realized that those keys must have been the ones for the empty captain's seat in the very front of the cockpit window.
"...I will excuse you and your friends this once, got it?"
Aurora jumped with joy. "R-Really?!" she asked, struggling to keep the excitement from leaking out. "But why?"
"S-Shut up, Aurora!" Jace whispered. "Who cares why? We're free!"
Hidemi, who'd gotten up from his overdramatic act, nodded his head furiously in agreement.
The aviator let out a small laugh and leaned against the wall. "Call it an airwoman's intuition," she smiled, tapping a finger against her head. "You're not bad kids, just very rash ones. And for one reason or another, you're all on this ship together. Getting that boy onboard was foolhardy, but you're not idiots, so I expect you knew full well the consequences."
Actually, Alexander and Aurora thought in unison, …Those two kinda forced us.
"Plus, you have a Vitra coin," Ms.Illmari added with a sour face. "The Church practically owns the rights to these ships. Even if I wanted to punish you, there's not much I can do."
Aleximus and Jacender shared a relieved look and sighed. Alexander flashed the same cocky smile he always wore and combed his odd hair. "Hmph. Easy!" he chuckled.
Ms.Illmari reached over and pinched his nose. "I said 'not much I can do', not that I wouldn't punish you!"
Hidemi laughed at him, earning him a pinch as well. The pain brought them both to their feet as she released them.
"You'll be restricted to your rooms for the rest of the flight, am I understood? Should you need anything, then the twins or the girl will bring it to you."
She glanced at Jacender. "Your lion is in your room. For the safety of the passengers and for peace, I'll ask that it remain there until we land."
By her tone, Jace could tell she wasn't really asking. But he nodded anyway.
"As for you," she said with a glance at Aleximus. "The pool on floor three, the museum on floor six, and the other upper levels are closed to you. Got it?"
Aleximus stared at her with a deadpan face. He couldn't care less about such pointless activities. She's just doing this to get back at me for almost pushing her off the escalator during boarding, isn't she?
"Sure," he finally said.
"Wait," Aurora said with a voice like ice. Her nostrils flared as she sneered, looking at her wand in the other room. "What about my wand? I get it back, don't I?"
Ms.Illmari looked at her like she was joking and waved her away. "Are you kidding? Of course not," she laughed. "You almost blew the emergency door open. Did you think we wouldn't pick up on those winds from the control room here? You'll get it back when we land."
Aurora comically lunged for the cockpit door, but Jacender and Hidemi caught her robe and pulled her back.
"Noooo!" she wailed like a child. "I want it back! I wanna! I wanna! Waaah!"
Ms.Illmari pressed the button on the side of the door, sliding it open a second time.
KDOOOOSH
She gave them a curt bow and directed them towards the opening. "It seems you have a choice. You may go, or stay and get in more trouble, children."
Halfway through saying that, Hidemi and Jace had already dragged the girl through the door. "Don't have to tell us twice!" Jace wheezed. "We're going!"
"Ahn! Ahn!" Hidemi added.
Ms.Illmari looked at Aleximus and Alexander. "Now, if you'd kindly let the pilots and I get back to work—"
"Yeah, yeah," Aleximus said, scratching the inside of his ear with his pinkie. "I heard you the first time."
An irritated vein pulsed on the aviator's head, but she continued smiling. She knew out of them all, she liked Aleximus the least, easily.
Alexander made for the door, but just as he passed her, Ms.Illmari straightened herself and put her gloves back on. "Oh, and Alexander," she said with a grunt. "Your aunt will be in Albion County waiting to pick you up. She was pleased to finally know your location after so many weeks of no contact."
The words made Alexander's blood run cold. Every hair on his neck rose until he thought they might poke through the back of his shirt and even past his jean jacket. Even the hair atop his head shivered with the news.
"T-Thank you," he said in a whisper. Like hell I'm thankful! He raged inside as the door closed behind him. I was hoping she didn't recognize me, but she did! Aghh! I should've known she'd call her of all people!
On the other side of the door, Aviator Bodil walked past the galley and into the cockpit where her co-pilots awaited her. As the four pilots removed their visors, the light by their consoles dimmed.
"The St.Rosebury is in cruise mode, Ms.Illmari," a woman said. "All altitude and heat levels are fine. No changes have been detected in Rosebury, the wyvern either."
"I see," Illmari said as she took a seat in the front. "And the portal? How much longer until we reach it?"
This time, a bushy-browed man — her lieutenant — spoke up. "An hour. After that, it'll be around forty-five minutes till we arrive in Albion County."
"Thank you, Xeno," Illmari smiled. She pocketed Aurora's wand gingerly in her jacket and slid the sash from the top of her head down onto her face. At least, a sash was what it seemed like. In truth, it was another visor, just like the ones the others wore.
"Those kids seem interesting," Xeno laughed. "At least you seem to have taken a liking to them."
"Hmph," Aviator Illmari noised. "Me, taking a liking to snot-nosed runts like those? I'm just doing my job, nothing more." She faced the control panel before her and extended her hand. The lights recognized her signature and summoned a flight path along the window in front of her.
Though whether or not they are in themselves interesting… is another matter altogether.
BRRRRMMMMMMMM!!!!!
She felt the familiar rumble of the ship's engines firing underneath her seat and smiled. The next stop was Albion County.
-------🅰🆂🅷🅵🅸🅴🅻🅳-----—
[THE ST. ROSEBURY, LOWEST LEVEL]
A faint hiss escaped from one of the cages in the back of the cargo bay. Though it and the three other cages were muffled by the reinforced fabric covering them, the on-ship baggage handler — an orange-haired middle-aged man named Mercutio who sat in a small desk room by the bay door — swore it was as if whatever was inside was tearing through the air itself.
He'd grown tired of jerking his head up whenever he heard it. This was the last straw.
"Again?" the handler muttered to himself. He put down the book he was reading and laid it flat out on the desk so as not to loose his page. He then opened the door to his closet-sized room and came onto the greater baggage area, separated into rows. This is the fifth time those cages have been hissing! Seriously, did someone bring aboard a full-grown Sanct Beast or something?!
Mercutio made his way through aisle 4-C and fixed his white-blue gloves. They were dirtied, but sturdy ironclad gloves supplied as standard issue to any on-ship baggage handler tasked with overseeing passengers' things. As such, the padding and logos were designed to emit a thin pulse of light in case visibility in the cargo bay was low. It wasn't until he'd strapped his gloves in tight that the handler realized why he had done it in the first place. Why is it so dark in here?
TNK
Mercutio spun then, hearing a sound that made his stomach dance with fear. "H-Hello?" he stammered. He raised his arms, facing the light toward the long aisle behind him, and sighed. The air was chilly in the lower levels despite the constant heat of the wyvern outside, firing the ship's engines. I must be sleepy, he thought, attributing the sound to a trick of the cold.
The cages in the back hissed again. "Kaaaaaa…."
The handler sighed and stood up straight. "Damn cages. What the hell is wrong?" he asked as he continued forward. He hadn't even realized the shadow that watched him from above in the rafters behind the giant analog clock in the ceiling.
Finally, the handler came upon the four cages and raised a brow. From what he could see, the bars were extra thick, and something sharp had nailed the drapes covering the cages into the very bottom beneath them, so even if someone had tried to pull them aside, they'd never be able to see in unless they tore them. He flashed his hand on the curtain to get a better look and gave it a serious look. "One… two… three… four..? I don't remember loading these."
Mercutio tore off his left glove and reached into his pocket, pulling out a purple Barnabas. He pressed the orb in the center and brought up an image of all the baggage that had been loaded on board during docking in Zenica. I thought so, he mused. Far end of aisle 4-C… That's odd. There was no log of these four cages being dropped off. Maybe it was one of the airmen? It's not uncommon for them to dock things without running them by me first.
"Kaaaaa..!" the cages screeched. Mercutio flinched and took a step back. That was no creak from a faulty cage, nor was it a sound like any Sanct Beast he'd ever heard of. It was something bone-chilling and unidentifiable. Almost unconsciously, the handler's hand extended towards the nearest cage. The light glew again from his hand as he vaguely saw something rise behind the curtain, its humanoid limbs unfurling as it stood to face him.
"What the hell?!" Mercutio jumped. "A-A person! There's a person in there!"
He moved forward to help, afraid of what would happen to whoever was inside, and grabbed at the cage's cover, his left glove falling to the floor with his Barnabas. "Don't worry! I don't know who you are, but I'll get you out!"
He dug his fingers into the softest part he could find near the middle and pulled with all the might his body would allow. Had the interior of the ship not been lined with Illodium, he might have been able to do more, but for now, a slight tear was all he could manage.
Mercutio smiled to himself, pleased he'd been able to make even the slightest hole and put his eye to it in hopes of getting a better look inside. "Hey! Can you hear me?"
He raised his gloved hand closer to the eye hole and peered in, curiously. Jagged teeth like crystals stared back at him as the creature on the other side growled, its jaw jutting for the hole Mercutio had made the moment he'd come close enough.
"S-Shit!" Mercutio screamed as he dashed back, barely escaping the loss of his eye. The skin below his eyebrow had been torn off with haste, and a small spray of blood gushed from him. He cupped his hand over the wound and shrieked.
A monster! His legs clacked against each other. In that moment, uncontrollable sweats took over his body, lathing him in fear. I-I've got to tell Aviator Bodil! The guards! That's right, the guards can handle this! I've got to—
KRNK!
Something hot pierced the handler's belly and lifted him off his feet like a fish on a hook. "Curiosity is a funny thing, isn't it?" an amused voice asked from behind him. "It is so often perilous, yet we find ourselves indulging it for one reason or another."
Mercutio could barely manage a word. He choked on the pain and gargled, his saliva and blood rising from his mouth to form a pool of red vomit that slid down his shirt. "Ahk… I…" he splurtted.
"Hush," the man behind him whispered. He pressed his lips closer to the back of Mercurito's ears and chuckled. "I don't fault you for your curiosity. What is life if not an exploration of our respective love?"
W-What's going on? Mercutio wheezed inside. No one can get into the cargo bay unless they're a handler or have an airman's Barnabas tag! How did this guy—
The flickering light of Mercutio's fallen glove amplified the figure's shadow from behind and made it stretch against the curtain on the four cages before him. He huffed, his vision going blurry for a moment before the intruder sighed. He stopped dangling Mercutio and lowered him back to his feet, sword still in his stomach, before—
"However, this time, you came much too close to mine," the voice said before the sword turned with a quick twist and cut upward, vertically bisecting Mercutio in a flash of speed. He was dead before both sides of his head hit the ground.
THUNK
The intruder's shadow-covered face smiled for a moment as he glanced at Mercutio, examining his handiwork before looking back at his hooked, shotel sword. He brought it up and examined it with a grin. "Are you still hungry, Liberia?"
Another growl came from one of the cages, turning his attention towards it. The intruder smiled as he lowered his blade. He approached the torn-open curtain and took a look at the creature inside, fumbling around with howls devoid of reasoning.
Nauruan Etdo placed his palm over the open hole and shook his head. "Not yet," he murmured, his peach-colored eyes glittering with excitement. "Your turn to cut will come soon, my loves."
He looked up at the clock on the ceiling and grinned. It would soon be time.
[CHOICES]