The world around them twisted like a storm breaking through the seams of reality itself. The Goose's wheels screeched against the air as it rocketed through the leyline, dragging them through the pulsing blue and purple vortex that tore apart the fabric of time and space.
Kai gripped the wheel tighter, teeth clenched. "G.A.I.L., give me a status update!"
"Attempting to stabilize the descent," G.A.I.L. replied, her voice distorted, as if struggling to stay grounded. "Warning: spatial distortion detected. Unstable gravitational shifts… instability increasing exponentially. Probability of continued flight without incident: 42%."
Tessa shot a nervous look at the shaking cockpit. "Oh great. We're in a cosmic blender."
"Just hold on!" Kai barked, pushing the throttle forward. He felt the truck bucking beneath them, an uncontrollable beast on the edge of some abyss. The entire world outside the Goose was a kaleidoscope of bleeding colors and swirling light—blues, purples, greens, and pinks, all cascading into one another in an ever-shifting blur.
The truck bucked violently, a jarring force pushing them hard into their seats. Kiri's voice came from behind, strained. "There's no way we can keep this up much longer. The leyline is distorting reality itself. This is—"
The Goose lurched.
The swirling colors outside turned into streaks, and suddenly the floor beneath them tilted at an impossible angle. The entire truck lifted, gravity seeming to lose all sense of reason. The wheels left the ground entirely, and they were plummeting, free-falling through a twisting void.
"Hang on!" Kai shouted, desperately trying to regain control. His hands moved frantically across the controls, adjusting settings he barely understood, trying to make sense of the broken interface flashing in front of him.
"G.A.I.L.!" he yelled. "Stealth mode! Now!"
"I'm afraid stealth is not available," G.A.I.L. replied, her voice distorted even further. "Leyline interference is preventing operational integrity of camouflage systems."
"Great!" Tessa snapped, clutching onto her seat. "So we're just a neon target now, huh?"
Before Kai could respond, a massive shockwave slammed into the truck. The force hit them like an invisible fist, sending the Goose spinning in mid-air. It careened sideways, and the sound of screeching metal filled the cabin as the truck began to break apart. Kai fought to keep it steady, but the storm inside the leyline was relentless. Every twist and turn of the magical current felt like being thrown around in the wildest roller coaster ride—except the stakes were life and death.
"Brace for impact!" Kai shouted.
The desert floor below them seemed to bend and stretch unnaturally, distorting like an optical illusion. A massive burst of energy shot out from the leyline ahead of them, creating a storm of magical debris—lightning bolts of arcane energy crackled in the air, the sky torn apart by the sheer force of it all.
They were falling, fast.
With one final desperate push, Kai threw the wheel to the right, guiding the Goose downward into a controlled crash. The world spun around them in a blur of sand and light, and just as the ground rushed up to meet them, there was a deafening crash.
The Goose slammed into the earth with a violent thud, sending dust and rock flying in every direction.
For a long, breathless moment, everything was still.
"Report!" Kai gasped, his voice shaky, but he still had to know the damage.
"We have sustained catastrophic damage," G.A.I.L. reported, her voice sounding more strained than ever. "Main weapon systems are offline. One wheel is severely warped. Shielding is down to 13% capacity. Survival probability is now 22%. Recommend immediate evacuation to nearby shelter."
The world outside was dark, the leyline's strange glow nowhere to be seen. They had landed in an unfamiliar desert canyon, surrounded by towering cliffs of jagged rock. The air was heavy with the scent of burnt metal, and the sun was setting low over the horizon, casting long shadows over the damaged Goose.
Tessa exhaled slowly, wiping sweat from her brow. "Well, that was fun. How long till we can move again?"
"I'll need to make repairs," Kai muttered, already pulling up his toolkit. "We're not going anywhere until we can fix at least the wheel and get the shields back up. The rest… we'll have to figure out later."
Kiri, who had been eerily silent through the descent, finally spoke. "We're lucky to be alive."
Kai nodded grimly, but his eyes were fixed on something else—a faint glow from the other side of the canyon, just beyond the rocky cliff face. It pulsed with an eerie blue light, almost like the remnants of the leyline still calling to them.
"We need to move," he said quietly. "There's something ahead. We have to find out what it is."
Tessa frowned. "Something else? After all this?"
"We don't have a choice," Kai said firmly, already standing. "We can't stay here. We need answers—and I think whatever's out there might have them."
Kiri surveyed the horizon, eyes narrowed. "Lead the way. Just… try not to get us killed next time."
Kai grinned. "No promises."