“How are we going bring this huge thing down, anyway?” Garder asked as the three secured the service corridor. “We could use spells, but there’s no way we’d get out alive.”

  “Already know the plan,” Shin replied and dug into her side pack.

  “What? Those bombs you always carry around?”

  “I can feed them raw alchemagi and power them up, as well as detonate them all remotely and at the same time. They may be small, but they are really all we need. So long as I put them at the right spots.”

  “This ship doesn’t use hydrogen or helium to keep itself afloat,” Milla said. “I believe airships of this type use low-level air alchemagi to keep it off the ground… There’s really nothing to blow up.”

  “Not quite true. I have six bombs here. One for the navigation, one for the propellor control system, and four for the munition bays. That oughta do enough damage to bring it down, wouldn’t you think?”

  “Or at least disable it. It’s our best chance,” Garder said. “Do we sneak around and cover you while you plant these bombs?”

  Shin concealed the pack again and drew her sword. “We don’t have time to sneak. We use the confines to our advantage and rush in.”

  “Real crazy like, you mean?”

  “Um… kind of, Garder, sure. We only have ten minutes or so before the Palm is within the mesa’s range. It might be a sophisticated warship, but we can take it down if we try.”

  “Just try not to destroy it from the inside while we’re still here,” Milla reminded. “I’ll cover our backs with vector lines. Shin, you take the lead and keep a static barrier up. Garder, cover our sides.”

  Shin took a breath and prepared herself. “We’ll go to the engine room first. If we can shut down the props, maybe we’ll divert attention from ourselves. Not to mention give us more time.”

  “Then let’s get to it, ladies,” Garder replied and leapt down the ladder and onto the catwalk overlooking the massive balloon interior.

  The appearance was similar to that of an indoor stadium, but instead of a sporting field, dozens of large turbines were keeping air laced with alchemagi flowing throughout. The system was powerful enough to keep a carriage as large and heavy as a jumbo jet aloft.

  “All clear,” Garder reported. “Let’s hurry and get down to the belly.”

  Milla and Shin joined him, and the three began their new objective: to destroy the mightiest and oldest airship of all of Aurra.

  Zalatrya howled as the light from above disappeared and a new, dull orangish light emerged from below. It flickered like a fire; it seemed to be natural, and the temperature was rising quickly.

  “It must be a magma chamber!” Simon called out from Zala’s tail-like fifth leg. “They might be utilizing a volcano deep under ground.”

  “Would they really have something so important in such a dangerous place?” Lechi shouted back.

  “What if there are rairer down there?” Temki worried. “What if it’s like a nest or something? What would we do?”

  “I don’t think that’s the case… Zala’s not liking the rise in heat. Her kind must not be able to take high temperatures.”

  Zala continued downward, though her descent speed continued to slow as she braced against the heat. Eventually, they hit the bottom of the shaft and had to pause for a moment to take in the incredible sight.

  The magma chamber was artificial; its walls were covered in metal, and large ducts carried glowing, vibrant molten rock throughout, like a slow river. The heat was intense but survivable, and large, old fans worked to cool the chamber enough to keep any maintenance crew alive.

  Several smaller, well-concealed doors were connected to walkways hanging above the magma, likely leading to the more conventional ways of entering the chamber. Zala couldn’t stand to touch the searing metal that covered the ceiling, so while still hanging from the shaft, she carefully lowered her passengers down onto the catwalk above the molten rock.

  “Thank you, Zala,” Lechi said over the bubbling magma. “We can’t get you out of here ourselves, but if you use the tunnels to get to City I, those people could use your help. Temki—give me one of your scarves.”

  “Um, okay.” He unraveled the larger of the two and handed it to her.

  “I’ll put this around your neck—that way they should know what’s going on and won’t attack you. Don’t go rushing up to anyone though until they see you’re friendly. We don’t want them thinking you ate him instead.”

  Zala lowered her head as far as it could go, and Lechi tied the purple scarf around her—it was just large enough for a single pass. Zala let out a chirp before retreating upwards to escape the heat.

  “Thanks, Zalatrya. We’ll see you again, okay?”

  She let out a whimper before disappearing into the darkness above, leaving the three on the heated grating of the catwalk, hanging just a few meters above the magma.

  “She’s a good girl,” Lechi said and wiped sweat off her forehead. “Geez… it’s so hot down here… We’d better make this quick.”

  “I don’t see any library of tablets,” Simon noted. “Temki, do you sense anything near?”

  “Actually, I do… There’s a powerful energy source nearby that is sending some kind of signal into… I guess it’s the planet itself?”

  “If this is where the suppression signal originates, it wouldn’t be able to get up to the surface,” Simon wondered. “But with all the massive catacombs down here…”

  “Well?” Lechi prodded.

  “Hold on… I’m thinking about how they get the signal out. That’s what suppression is, right? Basically, a radio signal that tells the brain not to do certain things? Well, I was thinking that they could send it through artificial sun towers—that’d work perfectly. They’re already strong sources of energy; they could make the signal cover all of Aurra.”

  “Sounds possible, Simon. We just gotta find the control center. Zala said it was somewhere down here, so we must be close.”

  “But Lechi, the connection to C is cut off. And it’s so distant, and surrounded by mountain ranges that the signal might not even reach there. Maybe it runs on a different connection, or C simply doesn’t ‘know.’”

  “We can worry about that later, can’t we?”

  “Yeah. Our friends up there fighting need our help. Which direction should we go, Temki? Have you pinpointed the source yet?”

  Temki looked down, through the grating, and shuffled his feet a bit. He looked back at Simon with slightly puzzled eyes.

  “Um… I-I think it’s below us…”

  “Huh? We still have to go further down?”

  “No… It’s in the magma…”

  “You’re kidding me.” Simon leaned over the railing and peered into the lake of fire. “How could it be under all that…”

  “Not under—in. The lava, um, magma is there to protect it. Such an important thing would need to be protected.”

  “No…” Lechi sighed. “There has to be a way to get to it. Or else we’ve come all this way for nothing.”

  “Hold on,” Simon replied. “Yes, there must be some way to access it. The Administration has to be able to maintain it and make edits to it and such. Temki—do you have enough ‘mind power’ to bring it up?”

  “Not even close. It’s huge and buried under tons of melted rock…”

  “And there aren’t any pulleys or chains. I don’t think it’s meant to come up. Rather, we have to drain the magma. See any way of doing that?”

  “It’s possible we need a strong earth or fire adept to advance,” Lechi explained. “We may have to go back and return with Jeryn or Osk.”

  “But it could be too late by then. C could be lost.”

  “We are kind of out of ideas, Simon,” Temki added. “Perhaps we should abandon this attempt for now…”

  “You’re wrong,” Simon said boldly. “Did you forget? Rivia gave us this part of the mission! He knew we could take care of this ourselves. So I know we can solve this puzzle. We just have to put our minds together.”

  The kids looked at one another, back to Simon, and gave him nods of approval. He was right—Rivia did select the three of them personally. The solution was likely obvious once they combined their talents. Lechi picked up Tanesh before his paws burned, and they began their efforts to fulfill their given task, which was the most important one of the day.

  “You really shouldn’t have come down here,” Palar said angrily as he slammed another stream of condensed sand into a nearby dune—just barely missing Jeryn. “There’s simply no way you could defeat me.”

  “Maybe I’ll get lucky,” Jeryn replied and took another look at the Palm, slowly making distance from the two.

  “Ha—luck. One can only claim they have the utmost skill when they can overpower any degree of favor the battlefield provides their enemy. I am the pretorian directly under the strongest of all Aurra—a man who surpasses even the king. You really expect to walk away from this?”

  “Last time we met, you didn’t say a word. I liked you better then.”

  “Ha.”

  Palar slammed his ax into the ground, and a river of clay spires erupted and spread outward. Jeryn leapt to dodge the first wave, then while in the air, shot a flame from his right hand like a jet nozzle to spin himself out of the way of the second attack. The clay spires fell back into the dune a moment after Jeryn landed on his feet. He was already drenched in sweat, and the moisture on his body would hinder his ability to use fire. Worse, fire was not a good match up against earth spells to begin with.

  Staring down his opponent, he removed his cloak and let it drift off in the winds, exposing the judo-like uniform underneath. Knowing there could be no holding back, he took the elemental javelin from his side and extended it. By feeding the double-sided crystalline spear alchemagi, it turned into a flexible fire weapon that he could cast from with greater power—though it still paled in comparison to the strength of Palar’s ax.

  “This isn’t another rebellion you’ll quell within a day,” Jeryn shouted out. “This is the accumulation of thousands of years of impatience and frustration. Nothing will end when the sun sets this time.”

  “Then it’ll just be a longer slaughter. Fools like you don’t even know what you’re fighting for, do you? But I suppose you will all have plenty of time to ponder when you’re locked up in Z for multiple lifetimes.”

  “These threats only give us more reason to not turn back. When this began, I had no interest in defying the Guard. But my friends gave me the chance to see a better future. The Guard is wrong. Any total empire is. You can’t force people to believe what you want them to, pretorian. Freedom should never be denied—that’s what’s wrong with Aurra. We expect to go to a better place when we die. The Guard has the power to give us that place, but you never will until we abolish the current system.”

  “Enough! Be silent. Rivia’s brainwashing has made you into just another puppet out for his ideals. It’s pathetic!”

  Palar swung his ax at a wide angle, summoning a wave of pounding sand towards Jeryn. He leapt, but barely dodged the attack—his right foot got caught in the wave, and he was slammed into a dune with exceptional force. But he was up again before Palar could finish him off.

  Jeryn knew his first target. Palar’s ax was no ordinary alchemagi weapon—not only could it absorb oncoming attacks, it seemed to have a permanent control over earth elements. As long as Palar had it, he wouldn’t need to use his fingers to summon any spell. But it was nearly impossible to get near him with such a weapon in his hands. There had to be a distraction of some sort so he could at least get close, or maybe he could hinder Palar’s ability to hold the ax correctly. Deciding to go for his enemy’s grip on the weapon first, Jeryn charged forward with his javelin burning brightly.

  After a feint, he stopped a few meters away and tossed his javelin into the air. Thinking he was the target, Palar followed the weapon through his visor—allowing Jeryn enough time to strike in a different manner.

  He pulled back his sleeves, revealing the small crossbows around both of his lower arms. He fired all eight bolts—two on the bottom and top of each device—out at either side of Palar. As soon as the pretorian noticed the projectiles, Jeryn empowered them with fire. The eight bolts spun and scattered wildly like small missiles attacking every side of their target. Each whistled in a high pitch as they homed in. It almost looked as if at least one would hit the foe, as Jeryn caught his thrown javelin and backed off a bit to escape the destructive power each arrow contained.

  But Palar was too fast and strong to be hit so easily. With his free arm, he brought up a defensive granite barrier on one side. Two arrows hit the sturdy wall, their fire power making them explode outward on contact.

  Swinging his ax in a wide sweep, Palar not only deflected the remaining six arrows perfectly—he also absorbed the alchemagi in each. Every arrow became a useless stick of metal and fell to the sand. The ax was already glowing dully to show the energy it had stolen.

  Before Palar could offer any glib remark, Jeyrn had begun his second attempt to harm his opponent. By quickly raising the heat around Palar and using air manipulation along with an additional substance, Jeryn could create a tornado of fire hot enough to melt steel. There should be no possible way for Palar to absorb such an attack—but if he did, Jeryn was running out of ideas. Still, he could keep Palar busy a little longer, and the desert was the perfect place to utilize the destructive move.

  Summoning energy through his javelin, Jeryn began the cyclonic activity around Palar. He warmed up the air before filling the torrent with the flames streaming out of his weapon. So far, Palar hadn’t attempted to defend himself—maybe he was waiting and watching. It was weak at first, but its power would increase exponentially with the final ingredient.

  While controlling the flaming vortex with one hand, Jeryn reached into his pocket and took out three of his four spheres. Filled with a highly pressurized and volatile oil-like substance, they provided a combustible fuel as powerful as what sent rockets into space. He crushed the orbs a bit to crack them, and then threw them into the vortex where they burst open.

  The explosion was immense, and Jeryn had to work to contain most of the energy inside the tornado itself. The sky in the immediate area had turned red, and the few clouds thousands of feet above were burning off from the upward release of heat. If he couldn’t control fire and heat, he would have already badly scorched himself.

  The fuel burned off half a minute later, and the vortex was soon too weak to maintain. To Jeryn’s dread, but little to his surprise, Palar still stood. He held his ax out with two hands victoriously, though some of his black uniform had burnt off, and its armored portions were partially melted.

  The ax was glowing a vibrant gold—the color of pure alchemagi in its raw state. No doubt it was at its full potential after absorbing the vortex. The thought of what it could do in such a place worried even Jeryn.

  “Too bad you can’t use forbidden fire techniques,” Palar said with a cough. “But this one that you’ve developed was respectable—I’ll give you that. Still little more than a fireworks display, I’m afraid. Now… my turn.”

  Jeryn made several leaps backward—but Palar knew it didn’t matter how far away he got; his next attack was strong enough to take him out no matter where he went. Palar took to the air and swung his weapon about. Streams of sand were attracted to the blade as if it were a magnet, and right before Palar hit the ground, they condensed into a small ball of energy.

  The moment the attack made impact, a shock wave blasted outward and created a heavy sandstorm in all directions. The technique itself plowed through the dunes and threw a mountain of sand upwards until it reached the height of a skyscraper. The attack would have been even stronger had the ground been solid and hard as opposed to a hill of soft sand—but it still easily disorientated Jeryn for a moment.

  Right at the last moment, he had used his sand streaming ability to carry him to safety. He had held on tightly to his weapon, knowing now that it provided his only method of victory. The blinding rain of particles coming down was something he could combine with his fire, and the time to do something was now, while Palar may have believed that his foe had been crushed under a megaton-strength attack.

  With most of his remaining energy, Jeryn scorched the falling sand with a high-temperature, concentrated attack. He wasn’t sure where Palar was, but he’d be able to quickly find out and act before his enemy could. Sending out a wave of blast furnace fire, Jeryn turned the sand molten briefly. Particles fused with each other to form larger, jagged glass shrapnel. Jeryn then sent out another burst of heat from his body to propel the glass.

  The double waves of heat also cleared the battlefield of falling sand. Jeryn and Palar quickly found themselves looking eye to eye once more, but this time, a tsunami of glass shards was just meters from Palar. Before he could fully react, the heated glass tore through him, ripping his uniform to shreds and nicking his armor hundreds of times, wearing it down to an almost useless state. With a chance to attack, Jeryn ran up, located the handle of the ax, and changed his javelin’s makeup to iron—likely the only element strong enough to do any damage to the heavy weapon.

  He swung down hard, and his javelin’s blade sliced the ax in half down the middle. He leapt over Palar and landed softly behind him to finish him off. His weapon still made of solid steel, he thrust it forward—only to be blocked by a condensed barrier of sand. Knowing Palar was once again fully alert and still dangerous, he backed off to protect himself.

  As the last of the sand returned to the ground, Palar turned around angrily and ripped off his sandblasted red visor. He stared down Jeryn with his real eyes for the first time—he was a strong, tall, darker-skinned man with a short beard and eyes as piercing as Verim’s. The ferocity he had in him was clearly evident—this was not a person who accepted defeat.

  “You’re better than I expected. You don’t rely on a single alignment. You use all of them together, and very well, at that. And resourceful…” he grumbled. “But it’s over. I rarely use my alchemagi. I consider it all flash, no substance. Anyone can perform a strong technique with it. It’s how you are with a blade that gives you actual skill. But with that said…”

  Jeryn took up a defensive stance, as the hills of sand under him began to tremble even before his opponent had cast a single spell.

  Palar raised his gloved hand up to his chin and stated, “There are still a few techniques I consider quite beautiful.”

  He muttered the spell very quickly. Even if Jeryn could hear what he was saying, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything at all against the kind of attack Palar was about to utilize.

  A dome of heavy air formed around Jeryn, and he felt a painful headache come about. It was as if the pressure in the air was coming together and pressing itself against him. He tried to get out of it, but his legs barely worked, and a few moments later, Palar completed the technique.

  In a perfect circle, the sand suddenly compressed itself downward and became as hard as concrete. Like an elephant had fallen on him, Jeryn fell to the ground in an instant and was pinned completely. He had to use all of his strength just to keep his head up. The pressure coming down on him had increased drastically within a split second.

  “This is one of our finest creations,” Palar said with a small smile. “As defenders of the Guard, we must develop and keep safe certain… pacifying techniques, so that we can bring down the hammer on any enemy without fear of reprisal. What do you think, Jeryn?”

  He groaned as every one of his muscles tried to remain functional. Even his goggles were being pulled downward and inflicting more pain on their own, but he couldn’t move enough to pull them off.

  “This is a gravity well—the pinnacle of the earth alignment. I’ve greatly compressed the matter under you and added mass to it. By keeping this change in a small area, I can increase the gravity within the circle. And once I’ve got you inside, there’s no way out. You’re already experiencing six G’s of force; you weigh six times as much as usually do. If you were stronger, you might be able to overcome this, but… you are not.”

  Jeryn was shoved downward by an even greater force. This time, he could barely move at all. The glass on his goggles shattered, and the sand further condensed. The area was also sinking—Palar now stood a dozen feet above, a grimace on his face as he increased the technique’s strength.

  “I’ve just doubled the gravity. Soon, I can double it again, and then again. It won’t be long until you’re liquid. I don’t care if all that happens is you go to Hold, and then seek me out for ‘revenge’ or whatnot. What matters is that I give you the most painful death you’ve ever experienced.”

  Jeryn moaned. The feeling of being crushed on the flattened, granite-like sand was absolute; it was torture. It was almost like drowning, but his ability to breathe and let the pain continue was even worse. He tried to think of any way to escape—but it seemed impossible by this point.

  “Some call me a monster,” Palar continued. “But they just don’t understand a glorious death. There’s an art to it, Jeryn. It’s no fun killing everyone the same way. I strive for a varying excellence in my work.”

  “I believe… that makes you a sociopath…” Jeryn groaned.

  “Ha. Maybe when we meet up again—and I’m sure we will, I’ll get to show you my full range of talent. You haven’t seen anything of what I can do yet. Enough talk—time for more pain.” Palar laughed.

  Dying wouldn’t be so bad, Jeryn thought. He’d see this Hold kingdom he had heard so much about. Maybe even help with the chaos going on there because of the battle. But he didn’t want to let that happen without doing everything he could. He had pride to tend to, and he knew, somehow, that he still had the ability to win this duel.

  Bracing through the pain, he forced his arm to move across the crushed sand. He only had one last shot at doing anything, and he once again realized that he had to stop Palar here, or the consequences would be heavy on his friends defending City C.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “The mesa will be within firing range in five minutes. All crew, take offensive positions, over,” the captain announced throughout the Palm.

  The majority of the crew still had no idea they had three intruders onboard. Running into only a few armed Guardsmen through the craft’s marbled hallways, with each quickly dealt with, Shin, Milla and Garder seemed to have a clear shot at the engine room. The Palm had tight corridors and dozens of rooms, but the way to the rear was obvious enough, and the path there had so far been mostly clear. Most everyone was likely elsewhere to prepare for the invasion on City C.

  “Pretty smooth so far…” Garder commented. “We should be near the rear now, right?”

  “Right ahead,” Shin replied. “Let’s bust right in.”

  Milla summoned a vector grid and plowed it through the metal door down the hallway. Two engineers poked their heads out curiously, and then ducked back inside once they saw the three running towards them.

  “Get out!” one of them shouted once the group was inside. “This is the engine room! You can’t just come barging in here! Get out!”

  “Shut up,” Garder said threateningly with sword ready to strike. “Shin, you take care of the engine, we’ll cover the door.”

  “Who are you? How did you get onboard?” the other engineer said calmly. “Christ. This whole thing felt wrong from the start…”

  “Look at them! They’re with that resistance, obviously! They’ll kill us—that’s how brutal they are!”

  “We won’t unless we have to,” Milla replied. “Take it easy.”

  Shin took out a bomb and rushed down the metal steps and through the larger components to get to the center of the engine. Turrets popped down from the ceiling and opened fire on her, but she had no difficulty deflecting each round and then frying the turrets with bolts of electricity.

  “W-what’s she doing down there?”

  “Disabling the engine,” Milla said. “If you have any escape pods on this thing, you might want to get off.”

  “You can’t take her down! She’s over two millennia old! You’re destroying a piece of history!”

  “Then they should’ve brought in another ship,” Garder said angrily. “This is typical Guard behavior—show off your power without thinking.”

  “You and Osk are all traitors…” the less panicked of the engineers commented. “You’ll all be going to Z for centuries for this.”

  “Yeah? And your friends down there in the desert—they were all treated like fodder. The Guard didn’t care about them, and you know what? They’ll be trapped in Hold for a long, long time. Possibly forever. And we’ve probably done worse things than they have. Unless you want to join them, you should leave this ship as soon as we’re done here.”

  “You don’t go to Hold when you die on Earth! You disappear forever! You can’t trick us!” the louder engineer replied.

  “Is that what they’ve been telling you?” Milla said, almost sadly. “I suppose they just wanted to see how much you’d be afraid… They’re testing fear on the battlefield. Does this scare you?”

  Milla surrounded each engineer with vector lines. They both froze and darted their eyes around frantically.

  “Does it scare you that I can harm you here? You’re not at your best when you’re afraid. I don’t know why the Guard wouldn’t tell you the truth. Disappearing forever… What a lie. Perhaps you would like to see what really happens…” She tightened the lines around the two.

  “Enough, sis… they’re scared enough already.”

  “Time to go!” Shin called out and leapt up the steps. “Place is about to go up. I didn’t risk using a remote in case something happened to me, so I chose a timed bomb instead. Milla, what are you doing to those two?”

  “Nothing…” she sighed and released the lines.

  The engineers remained still, afraid they would be trapped again.

  “Hey, you two…” Shin began to reach for her sword, “how do you get to the four munition bays from here? Tell me and we won’t hurt you.”

  “T-take the stairs from the c-cargo deck…” the slightly more rational engineer replied. “P-please…”

  “From the cargo area, huh? Okay, I think we can find that. Thanks. It’s nice when you guys help out.”

  “Shin, how long do we have until the bomb—” Milla was interrupted by a thundering boom and a bright, blue flash.

  Electricity poured across the engine room, destroying hundreds of instruments needed to keep the ship running. After a large jolt, the ship moved at a slight angle that it could not recover from. Everyone had to find their balance as the engine shut itself down and all became quiet.

  “Engine malfunction,” the PA reported. “All engineers, investigate immediately. Maintain all defensive positions until we are over the mesa.”

  “We’ve done it now…” Garder murmured. “You two can’t follow us. Here’s hoping there’s a back exit, or you’re both screwed.”

  “T-there is…” one of the engineers said with a sigh.

  “Good, good. Bye now.”

  Garder created a barrier of ice to block the door, and the three fled the engine room. It could easily be blown open again, but it would at least prevent the two engineers from following, if they even had such an idea.

  “Well, those guys were helpful,” Shin said.

  “I guess,” Garder replied. “How do we get to the cargo hold?”

  “Should be coming right up. They’re usually in the center of these ships and cover two of the floors. We’ll know it when we see it.”

  “What should we do?”

  “I think it’ll be better if you stay behind and keep the hold secure so no one sneaks up behind me—I’ll take care of the munition caches.”

  “We can do that,” Milla said. “But you have to be quick about it. The whole crew is going to know what’s going on pretty soon.”

  “I can keep going for a while,” Garder added. “I’ll seal all the doors with ice and then focus on the ones they’re trying to force open.”

  “I hope Jeryn’s doing okay down there. And Simon and the kids…”

  “We really can only worry about ourselves at the moment,” Shin reminded. “As long as one of us succeeds today, I think we can claim a minor victory. At least stall until some better plan comes up.”

  The next pair of doors were larger, and on the other side was a spacious room loaded with crates and weaponry. Similar in appearance to a vault, stairs led down to the floor and more doors covered all sides—there were eight to cover in all. The stairs down to the munition bays were in the lower corners of the room, with “NO OPEN FLAMES BEYOND THIS POINT” signage. Not every crate was locked down, and some were starting to slide down, worsening the angled pull. It seemed like the crew couldn’t recover from the imbalance. If it kept getting worse, the ship would slam into the desert. But that wouldn’t be enough; the Palm had to be destroyed completely, not only to secure the mesa and City C, but also to act as a show of force for the first day of the rebellion.

  “Here.” Shin handed one of her bombs to Milla. “That’s the other one with a timed fuse. If I don’t get back here in five minutes, go on to the bridge without me. Whatever you do, don’t come after me, got that?”

  “Yes, Shin… good luck down there.”

  She took out her katana and electrified it. “Thanks.”

  Garder grabbed onto the water vapor in the air—what little there was of it—to freeze each of the doors solidly. If any attempt would be made to force one open, he’d have time to refocus on a single door instead.

  “Well…” Shin took a deep breath, “here goes nothing.”

  She ran down the nearest flight of stairs, the echoes of her footsteps quickly disappearing into the darkness below. The twins took position near the largest crate in the room, strapped in at the center. Four doors on the lower level, four on top. Crew and soldiers could come in through any of them. Garder kept two fingers up to keep control of the ice on each.

  “Just us again, huh?” Garder sighed. “I keep asking myself how I got into this mess. Rivia could’ve chosen anyone, but he chose us. And it’s mostly because of you.”

  “But we’ve done pretty well so far, haven’t we?”

  “Who knows. We don’t have a great sense of direction. We’re kind of fumbling around in the dark. We don’t know how strong the Guard or the Administration is. They could be weaker or more powerful than we think.”

  “Why would they send out their men like that, just to die? I can’t get around it. Do you really think they were just testing us?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past their superiors. The thing I’m wondering about is how they got this entire ship through a portal. I have my doubts that the claws they stole from us are on the ship itself.”

  Thundering knocks came at one of the upper doors, which soon grew into attempts to bust down the door or tear it open. Garder focused more of his effort on that one bulkhead, and Milla used her iron power to bend the frame out of shape and make it even more difficult to get open.

  “And all of this, just to protect that demon… You know, even if we win today, we still have to kill that thing, too.”

  “We just need to lure it into the open where we can get a clear shot.”

  “No one in C has even come close to injuring it…”

  “Well, you did. It’s not invincible.”

  “Yeah… I did manage to get my sword into its side once.”

  The door below the one being attacked then rattled, followed by the other on the upper floor. Just a minute later, two of the doors on the either side of the room began to dent inward from the crew’s efforts to get inside.

  “Uh, I really can’t hold this many once,” Garder said through clenched teeth. “We might be dying soon.”

  “I’ll help you out,” Milla replied and contributed her own ice to the barriers, some of which were being melted from the other side with fire techniques. “Hey, Garder… I think you’ve finally surpassed me in your own alignment. See what happens when you put a little effort into it?”

  “It’d be a sad thing if I didn’t. I have to pull my weight, too.”

  “They’re really trying to get in. Don’t think I can hold it for long.”

  “Ah… Shin, where are you?” Garder mumbled.

  As if summoned, she came running up the opposite stairway she had used before and had obviously been quite overwhelmed.

  “Bombs all planted and well hidden,” she huffed. “B-but we’d better get moving. Lots of angry guys behind me.”

  “Right,” Milla replied. “Just a few seconds later, and they would’ve started piling in here, as well. Hold on.”

  Milla took aim at the single forward door that seemed unbothered and sliced it apart with a vector attack. Moments after they relinquished their grasp on the other four under-siege doors, they burst open and allowed crewmen and soldiers to flow through. But the three were already traveling down the next hall before they were spotted.

  “So, what was it like down there?” Garder asked, almost casually.

  “Dirty, dark, and confining,” Shin answered. “And plenty to destroy. I put the bombs in places where they should rip the ship apart after they detonate. Quite a few soldiers came after me down there—but it was mostly more engineers, really.”

  Warning sirens filled the ship’s halls suddenly, finally alerting the entire crew to the intruders’ presence.

  “About time,” Shin said. “They should be in too much of a panic to pose a real threat to us. We just have to get to the bridge—that’s all. Then we can get out of here and destroy the ship completely.”

  “Soldiers ahead!” Milla called out, noticing an entire squad forming a human barricade.

  “No time for this…” Shin grumbled. “Hey! Out of our way!”

  She put on a brief, astonishing burst of speed and surrounded herself with electricity, turning into a ball of lightning in the process. She plowed through the barricade, scattering the defending soldiers through the hall. More were ahead, but she cut down the ones in her way and shoved all others to the side in her effort to reach the bridge.

  “She’s… amazing,” Garder noted, transfixed on the spectacle.

  “She still needs our help,” Milla said, picking up her own speed.

  Defense turrets dropped from the ceiling, but Shin sliced through them without a moment’s rest. The bridge was straight ahead, and the men onboard were doing everything they could do keep the intruders out of it.

  The twins caught up with Shin, who was waiting in front of the door. It was coated in a mirror-blue layer of alchemagi sealant and lacked any knob or latch. The three took a second to rest, with the groans of wounded soldiers behind them. The floor that Shin had touched during her time as a human lightning bolt was blackened, and smoke filled the air in a thick veil.

  “Blitz Charge,” Shin panted. “Burns most of my energy but gets me through anything. Figured I wouldn’t need much alchemagi from here on.”

  “Someone’s talking on the other side of the door,” Milla noticed.

  “They’re right outside!” the pilot’s voice shouted. “I’m telling you—that’s them! You told me you found plane wreckage—that we shot them down, and that Palar would finish off what was left! You’re supposed to protect my ship, and you have failed!”

  “Now look, I told ya before, shut yer trap. All we gotta do is make sure they don’t get in here, and we can still bomb the hell out of that rock.”

  “These three are insane! T-they’re unstoppable! Not even you…”

  “Don’t doubt me. Don’t.”

  “I think there’s a pretorian in there…” Shin whispered. “I’ll go after him. Milla, you plant the bomb in the bridge. Hide it anywhere—it’s strong enough to take out everything in the room.”

  “Now you’re playing hero?” Garder worried.

  “Forget about me. I’m going to give you two some time to get off the ship, and I’ll blow it from the inside. Maybe I’ll take down the pretorian, as well. I need to go to Hold anyway and sort this mess out with Escellé.”

  “We got it, Shin,” Milla said. “But maybe we should play it safe and set them off now.”

  “No—I need you two to go find something out for me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Learn how they opened the portal. Try to get the claws back, too. If we can get them back, we may be able to stop this war before it gets worse. Either way, you’re needed elsewhere. My job in this battle is nearly done.”

  “But… Shin, will we see you again? You said you were just going to tag along before, way back…” Garder asked.

  “Aw, falling in love with me?”

  Garder turned a bit red in the face. “N-no. I just like you. You’re… cool and stuff. And we could still really use a professional, I’m sure…”

  “I was just joking. Of course we’ll meet up again. Tell you what… Come to Rivia’s office exactly four days from now. We’ll meet up there—that should give me enough time to finish things in Hold, okay?”

  “Alright, Shin…” Milla agreed. “Who knows what N will be like in a few days, but if that’s the plan, we’ll stick to it.”

  “So how are we going to open this door?” Garder wondered.

  “Ah, right. The door. I think a simple barging-in will suffice.”

  “So, like… we just slam ourselves against it on the count of three?”

  “That’s about it.”

  Garder shrugged and went into position. Shin counted to three, and at the same time, each hit the door with their sides as hard as they could. Something broke on the other end, but the door didn’t budge. They tried again, this time with enough force to dent the frame. On the third try, the door burst open completely, and the trio stumbled in.

  “Ah… shoot…” the tall pretorian inside grumbled and quickly took out his sword. “I guess they’re here.”

  “I can’t do this anymore! They’re going to take down the ship!”

  “Will you keep quiet?!”

  The pilot ignored the order and grabbed onto a nearby transponder.

  “All crew! All hands! Abandon ship! I repeat—abandon ship!”

  “You worthless little coward! Get back here! Ah, hell…”

  The pilot and the two remaining crew in the room rushed out of the opposite door, leaving the three in an awkward silence with the pretorian. Outside, the mesa was just beyond the next dune and cast a shadow on the desert as the sun set in the background. The tilt of the airship was even more apparent from the view on the small yet luxurious bridge.

  “Obviously, they ain’t the best and the brightest of the Guard…” the pretorian sighed. “You must be Milla and Garder.”

  “And Shin,” she added. “I think you’re my opponent today.”

  “Dang it… I got assigned to watch over the captain. Didn’t expect to have to fight nobody,” he said with a yawn. “I really don’t like fightin’.”

  “Are… you really a pretorian?” Shin questioned.

  “Ah, yeah, I am. I may be a lazy good-for-nothing, but don’t go doubting my talents, little miss. I hate that.”

  “L-little miss? I’m older than you are.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I know about you… One of ‘em Holdians.”

  As quick as lightning, the pretorian swung his electrified short sword down at Shin. She barely had time to block it.

  “You’re a lightning, too, huh…” she murmured.

  “Yep. Name’s Viveri. I may not look it, but I’m the fourth pretorian. Unrivaled in sword combat. Even if I seem like a slouch. And dang… I heard you were small, but you’re nothing but a midget next to me.”

  Shin growled at the comment. All the while, Garder had covered Milla as she snuck the last bomb under the one of the forward compartments and set the timer for twenty seconds.

  “It’s set for twenty,” she reported. “Guess we should be getting off.”

  “Good work, you two. Go and get out of here. I’ll handle this guy.”

  “What? You slipped an explosive while I wasn’t looking?” Viveri said angrily. “That does it—you really gotta pay for that.”

  He spun around, aiming directly for Milla—but Shin was too fast, and deflected the fast-as-sound blade right before it made impact.

  “Thanks, Shin. Good luck.”

  The twins fled the room while Shin kept Viveri in a defensive stance. They weren’t sure where they would find lifeboats, but they knew they could make their own way off the ship if they had to improvise.

  “Dang it… The king isn’t going to be pleased about this.”

  “You worry about yourself for now,” Shin replied.

  Realizing that Viveri could likely absorb much of the bomb’s damaging electricity, Shin knew she had to force him out of the room before it blew. Holding onto her strength, she struck at him repeatedly—about five times a second. With her smaller stature, she easily maneuvered herself around him and dodged every oncoming blow. Viveri tried to slip in a few bolts of lightning, but she either set herself up to absorb the attack or move herself out of the way. She had soon forced him out of the room, just seconds before the bomb exploded and destroyed the navigation systems.

  With all manner of control now gone, the ship pitched downward and began a slow fall towards the desert. The hull groaned under the strain. Soldiers and crew ran by the dueling lightning natives in their attempt to evacuate before the ship broke apart.

  “Darn it all… This wasn’t supposed t’happen. I mean sure, we didn’t expect our soldiers on the ground to win, but the Palm was supposed to come in and save the day.”

  “So much for that plan, then,” Shin snapped. “Just sacrificing your men like that. You should all be ashamed.”

  “Hey, it wasn’t my idea. King wanted to dispose of the weak here so he could reorganize the military. Y’know—bring in the guys with all the forbidden techniques and such. Yep, his new army is going to be one with men as strong as us pretorians.”

  “Lontonkon is an evil tyrant. He wiped out my entire clan—and I’ve made it my mission to kill him myself.”

  “Ah… really? That was yours? Well, you might’ve had the chance.”

  The two traded another series of blows, each clash ending in a vibrant flash of light. Shin pinned the pretorian against a wall and stared him in the eyes.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ol’ Lontonkon is the one orchestrating this whole thing. He’s in Aurra right now, awaiting word of our victory. Stationed right at the edge of the desert. In the other world, of course. Too bad.”

  Shin noticed the three fingers coming at her and ducked out of the way just in time. She recognized the attack—Viveri was attempting to inject powerful electricity straight from the source. It was a paralysis technique that made every muscle in the body go out of control.

  “Where did you learn that?”

  “Just thought I’d show you… Ya see, when the king wiped out your clan, he also stole its secrets and passed them out to lightnings under the Guard. Naturally, I got this one—I think it was yer pop’s handiwork.”

  “You…” Shin snarled back and raised her sword again.

  “Don’t get mad at me. I just got taught something they wanted me to use. King’s been going around wiping out clans or secret groups to learn the techniques they develop for decades now… Yours was just the first.”

  “You know that, and you still support him?!”

  “Nah, not really. He’s pretty sick and twisted. I’m just a guy doing his job, that’s all. I’m a pretorian ‘cause I happened to be born with potential.”

  “I don’t care. I’m still going to kill you.”

  “Peh. I don’t think you can in your state.”

  “Maybe you’re right. I’d better do this first.”

  Shin raised two fingers and took a few steps back. Before Viveri could attack, she spoke the words for remote detonation.

  The four bombs in the munition bays ignited the explosives they were hidden among, and the Palm was torn apart. With a deafening sound, the ballonets were ruptured moments after the first bursts from the hull.

  “What did you do?!” Viveri yelled. “Yer bringing down the whole ship with you in it!”

  “Yeah. And you, too. My queen isn’t going to treat you kindly for insulting me, or my family.”

  “Screw that—I’m not coming face to face with Escellé. I’m not ready for that earful. I’m gettin’ out of here.”

  Viveri disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Shin alone in the Palm as it broke apart a mile up in the sky. Soon, the warning alarms faded and all went silent save for the explosions coming out of every part of the airship.

  Shin was angry at herself for staying behind, knowing full well that she had come close to confronting the king himself. But she was out of energy; she didn’t even have enough left for an escape spell. Exhausted after her many battles and trials of the day, she slumped against the fuselage and closed her eyes tiredly. She’d be back in Hold again within seconds, and most of the disorientation of that process could be negated with the right preparation. Once there, she would have even more work to do. But for the moment, she was awarded with a brief rest.

  Jeryn, through all of his pain, could hear the destruction of the Palm behind him. Even Palar was taken aback that it had just seemingly exploded from the inside out. The small group he was supposed to stop had succeeded. Perhaps he had indeed underestimated his enemy.

  “Unbelievable…” he growled. “Viveri failed me as well? There will be consequences for this. But first, I’m going to finish you.”

  Jeryn felt the force against him increase again. He knew he wouldn’t be able to move in seconds, and then there would be nothing he could do.

  After what seemed an eternity, Jeryn’s arm completed its agonizing journey to his pack and he opened it. The final oil sphere was as heavy as a boulder, but he managed. He brought it to his side and cracked it with little effort. Under heavy pressure, the oil exploded across the sand.

  A thin pool of the stuff, compressed by the gravity, was forming around Jeryn. The ground was so compacted that the oil couldn’t seep into it, which was just what Jeryn needed. The oil had to spread out enough to reach the outer edge of the circle—then, he might have a chance for escape. With the force against it, the sheen was no more than a millimeter thick, and it had pooled in an even circular coat in front of Jeryn.

  With his other hand, he began to reach for his javelin, and upon touching it, fed it much of his remaining energy, turning it into a molten red. Palar was watching all of this, but couldn’t quite make sense of what Jeryn was trying to do. For all he knew, it was simply a hopeless struggle, and there was little he could do but keep his control on the gravity well.

  The oil soon surrounded Jeryn and had ended up filling about half the entire gravity circle. All he had to do now was give it a spark, and he would be able to use it as any skilled alchemagist of most any alignment could. He worked to get the javelin over to the oil so he could ignite it. The force against him was increasing again. He could feel bones beginning to crack, and his head hurt so much that he could barely stay conscious.

  Finally, the very tip of the javelin touched the oil, and the entirety of it combusted into a vibrant orange. It was an incredible sight. The pressure kept most of the flames from escaping, so the oil became an ethereal wave of shimmering light. Before getting burned, Jeryn quickly drew three fingers together and spat out a basic level-three spell: elemental transfiguration.

  After watching Jeryn disappear in a pool of burning oil, Palar looked around and loosened his grip a small bit on the gravity well. But it was too late for him to do anything—Jeryn had reformed right outside the well’s circle in a puff of flames, took to the air, and landed behind Palar. Before he could turn around, he impaled the pretorian from the back. The gravity well disappeared instantly, and the ignited oil and compressed earth exploded outward after being released from the force.

  “Surprised?” Jeryn panted.

  “H-how… the hell?”

  “Not like you’ve never done it. Anyone can travel through their element once they learn how. I just popped an oil sphere, waited for some of it to leak out of the circle, then turned it to flame and traveled with it.”

  “This… this is a fluke, not a true victory…”

  “Do you know how rarely I get to travel by fire? It never happens. And you just failed to consider it. An earth or watairre could easily escape this trap of yours. It’s not as foolproof as you thought.”

  At this, Palar laughed as if the pain inflicted on him meant nothing.

  “Cocky, aren’t you? You beat me while I was simply toying with you. That means nothing. Oh, I’ll be seeing you again real soon.”

  “Just die already…” Jeryn pushed the javelin further in and gave it additional fire energy.

  “Ha… next time… you’re mine…”

  With that, Palar went still and promptly disappeared in a cloud of orange smoke a moment later, his armor and uniform falling to the ground where he stood.

  Jeryn knelt down and examined himself. He couldn’t quite believe that he had just defeated the second pretorian, but he had probably been right—it was little more than a surprise for both sides. He shuddered at the thought of what Palar was truly capable of.

  He had received several severe burns during his maneuver. Fire manipulation was always dangerous—traveling by it was almost guaranteed to be hazardous. The body of a fire adept could be altered for protection against high temperature, but it was never automatic. Jeryn barely had time to properly protect himself, and now he was badly wounded.

  He managed to stand himself up and walk up the nearest dune. For the first time, he got a clear look at the battlefield. What a sight it was.

  The wreckage of the Gods’ Palm lay smoldering about a mile ahead, and past that, the remains of the soldiers on both sides—little more than clothing and weaponry. Jeryn slumped down into the sand to rest for a moment and noticed an escape pod just to the west. There were others as well, strewn about the desert with their parachutes open. Palm crew were abandoning them and wandering about in the sand. With no place to go, some were headed towards the mesa, hopefully to surrender.

  “Jeryn?” Milla’s voice called out, much to his relief.

  The twins were down at the base of the dune, equally exhausted. The sun was almost at the horizon. It would be dark within two hours—the battle had stopped just short of lasting another day.

  “Hey, Jeryn. Come down here. We’re going to head back.”

  Without saying anything, he half-walked, half-slid down the dune to rejoin his friends. He found his alchemagi cloak at the bottom and swung it around his soldiers, and after noticing that his broken goggles were still on his face, he took them off and dropped them to the ground.

  “Wow, you look terrible…” Garder said. “But you actually beat that guy, huh?”

  “Yeah…” Jeryn coughed. “Barely.”

  “They can patch you up back at base camp,” Milla assured him. “But we’d better get moving again soon. Shin said we should check out the area where the Palm came through.”

  “Where is Shin, anyway?”

  “Stayed on the Palm,” Garder replied. “We made quite a mess out there, huh? But I wonder if it all even means anything in the end.”

  “That’s what we need to find out,” Milla said. “Jeryn, those burns…”

  “I know, I know. I’m used to getting burned… Not so used to getting crushed.”

  “Huh?” Garder mumbled.

  “Ah, never mind.”

  “Are you too worn out to do your sand worm thing again?”

  “Yeah… I think I am.”

  “Damn. I really don’t feel like walking all the way back there.”

  “Oh, wait…” Milla took out the demirriage scroll. “I still have this. Think the sun is low enough to use it?”

  “We should be fine,” Jeryn replied tiredly. “Go ahead and open it.”

  “Alright, then.”

  She unfurled it onto the sand. The carriage formed instantly.

  “Ah, the perfect light,” Jeryn said. “You know it’s just right when it forms right away like that. Perfect—let’s get back to camp.”

  Milla curled up the metal scroll again, and the three boarded the carriage. The ride back to camp was over within a split second, and the changes the place had undergone were apparent right away.

  Wounded soldiers were under the camp’s many tents, some of which were damaged during the attack. Xavier was scuttling about doing his best to assist officers, while Osk was watching over everything from his command tent. Surviving soldiers from the other side were loosely bound and guarded, none seeming to have the slightest desire to try and escape.

  “Ha!” Osk said cheerfully once he saw that the three had reappeared inside the camp. “I thought you were crazy for attempting to bring down the Palm, especially with an idea that insane, but you actually did it. Look at it burn out there… Actually more of a sad sight, really. You know, I’ve served on her before. I was a Guardsman for a few lives, and—”

  “Captain, Jeryn needs attention,” Milla interrupted. “We need to do something about his burns and other wounds quickly. We’re going back out there—as soon as possible.”

  “Back out where? The battlefield? Not much out there anymore.”

  “No,” Garder replied. “Shin thinks there’s something in the Aurrian space where they brought the Palm in.”

  “Oh. I see. In that case, I’ll come with you. It’s customary for the overseers of battles to at least acknowledge one another’s existence, you know? I’d like to see just who I’ve been fighting this entire time.”

  “You should know that the men down there in the desert were treated as useless,” Milla informed. “More of a distraction so the Palm could come in and wipe us all out. But I guess they weren’t expecting us to have a plane out here.”

  “I figured as much. Jeryn, come to the medical tent. You two, take a moment to relax. Get something to eat. It’s been a long day.”

  Osk and Jeryn left the two amidst the post-battle disarray. They looked at the wounded and the puzzled faces. Many of the soldiers were talking with the prisoners as if they were equals. It occurred to the twins that their enemy was just as confused as they were about the meaning of the battle. The one thing both sides shared was their need for understanding.