The underground trembled as the ripples of kinetic energy ravaged the ancient rock which remained undisturbed until now.

Molten hot streams of lava dripped down, solidifying into crystalline spears which pierced the land below.

"SHIT!" Icarus cried, seeing that the entire front of the ship was in bits, the shock-absorbing plates designed to survive the explosion proved to be little more than an inconvenience for the heat of the blast.

The ship was leaking fuel before bursting into flames, blowing another part of the ship off.

Like a bird unfortunate enough to fly over a field of solar-panels and subsequently burst into flames from the reflected heat, the blazing wreck of an airship began to fall back down to the ground.

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" Curstl demanded, desperately clinging to a wooden pole making up the flimsy railing of the ship.

The colossal release of heat caused unpredictable gusts of wind to run wild.

"THE EXPLOSIVES! THEY WEREN'T ENOUGH!" he exclaimed.

He miscalculated the thickness of the rock above, in the end - the heavens were out of Ikarus' reach once again.

A part of Curstl was tempted to laugh at his failure, but another part refused to surrender to fate.

"HYPOTHETICALLY..." she began.

"WOULD THAT ONE BE ENOUGH?" she asked, pointing to the colossal ship, looking more like a space-station than anything considered an airship.

Icarus gritted his teeth.

"IT'S POINTLESS! THE SHIP IS OUT OF CONTROL!" he replied, demonstrating his point by spinning the captain's wheel only for it to snap off.

In one swift movement, Curstl hopped up to where Icarus stood, grabbing him and turning towards the enemy ship.

"WHAT ARE YOU...-"

Curstl's lance began to glow a radiant purple, growing brighter and brighter as her secondary class, namely the arcane school of magic, came into play.

Unlike other schools of magic, arcane allowed the user to amplify other spells as well as apply buffs to weapon and armour, like short-lasting enchantments.

She called the name of the spell out internally, "Lance Charge!"

To the enemy ship, it looked more like a failed attack; a desperate projectile intended to scratch the surface of the armoured juggernaut.

Moments later, Icarus' airship finally burst into scrap metal and splinters, raining napalm-like slime-fuel down into the dark abyss.

Within the giant ship, in the captain's room, sat the king and prince.

From a metal tube, enchanted to amplify sound, came the voice of a guard.

"Something destroyed the entire wall on the middle floor!" he reported.

"What?!" the king demanded, the entire "shell" of the ship was made from the hardest alloy, enchanted by the most skilled of mages; breaking such a barrier could only be done by a few classes.

"Ehh...? Oh - Ah AHH AHH!" the voice began to scream before letting out a wet crunch.

The king and prince listened in stunned silence as more alerts came from the crew, one by one.

"SOMEBODY MADE IT INTO THE ARMORY! WHAT DO WE D-"

Crunch

"Somebody broke into the security station of the middle-"

Crunch.

"Careful! I just mopped the floor!"

Flop.

"..."

Crunch.

The king turned towards the visibly scared guards standing by his door.

"QUICK! GET THE OUTSIDERS! WHOEVER IS IN THE SHIP IS BEYOND US!" he commanded.

Anxiously, the red-haired prince paced around the room.

"What's going on!? How would the enemy get on our ship?!"

"And they're strong... the guards can't handle them... I wonder if the outsider will be able to..."

He gritted his teeth.

"I guess I have no other choice..." he thought, turning towards the door leading out of the captain's room.

"I'm... going to go help the others, they might get lost!" he explained, not waiting for his father, the king, to reply.

As soon as he left the room, the prince rushed in the opposite direction of the disturbance.

On the middle floor, Curstl tore through the guards like they were armoured butter, Icarus was being carried under her arm.

"WHICH WAY?" she asked, plunging her lance into the chest of an incoming soldier, killing them instantly.

They all wielded different weapons, some wore robes, it was clear to see that the class system of this world influenced the "uniform" of the soldiers.

"LEFT!" Icarus cried as Curstl charged through another handful of guards.

"DIE!" cried one of the mages, firing a water-bolt at the unsuspecting Curstl.

It flew straight through her leg, turning the white foamy liquid into a vibrant pink.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" she cried through gritted teeth as the mage's head became a face shorter and a lance richer.

"YOUR LEG!" Icarus exclaimed, not ever wishing to see the inner-working of a leg this closely.

"TIS BUT A SCRATCH!" she cried, snatching a belt from one of the dead soldiers and tightening it above the gaping wound like a tourniquet.

She yanked the weapon out and kept moving, the adrenaline keeping her leg usable.

"We're almost there!" Icarus said nervously, seeing the number of soldiers trickle down to zero.

"Stop right there!" commanded the man with a clearly-fake goatee and glasses, he was wearing a suit designed to withstand hazardous environments, made from powerful alloys and rare, enchanted wood which was resistant to magic attacks.

In his hand was a simple, red crowbar.

"Gordon!" Icarus exclaimed, glaring at his brother with a look of betrayal.

"Icarus!" the prince replied, lowering his crowbar a little.

Curstl turned her head back, seeing that their situation was a lot worse than she expected, a group of eight people quickly made their way behind her.

An undead dagger-user, a human shield-user, a harpy, two frog-people, a human druid, a guy with a talking sword and a thief.

"Curstl?" John asked, recognising the guardian leader in an instant.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" John demanded.

Icarus took note of how familiar they seemed with Curstl.

Curstl turned towards Icarus.

"Are we far?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"The captain's room is right there..." he whispered, gesturing towards the door behind Gordon.

Curstl nodded.

"I'll take care of the eight, can you beat the copyright infringement?" she asked.

Icarus turned to face her.

"Don't be an idiot! Those guys look tough! and they seem to know you - they have got to be over-powered!"

He looked to the battle-ready group.

"Beside... they seem pretty friendly... you must have been their friend before," he remarked somberly, not wanting to take advantage of Curstl's amnesia to make her fight her friends.

Curstl smiled, patting the mood-ruining Icarus on the back.

"Well, I'm friends with you now, so quit being so melodramatic and kick Freeman's ass!" she said, pushing Icarus towards Gordon.

"Freeman's?" he wondered.

Curstl lifted her lance, aiming it at the L.F.T.O members.

Quickly, Bonifacius stepped before them, shield at the ready.

"Return to thy... admittedly flimsy senses!" he exclaimed.

Curstl grinned as her lance flew straight at Bonifacius, making its way around the shield and into his armoured shoulderblade.

In a flash, Bonifacius' wound was healed by Bromy.

Roots and long goose-heads stretched from every wall in an attempt to restrain Curstl who fried their magic with an AOE burst of arcane magic.

JohnWillStab and Alex acted in unison, John ran from the left, slashing at her waist while Alex charged from the right, slashing at her chest.

Both attackers were stopped by arcane shields which launched them backwards, through several wooden walls.

From behind, Curstl felt the sharp pain of a blade piercing her back, after a few seconds, she confirmed that it wasn't the heart - it was however very painful.

It was the thief, using shining-step to move behind her in the well-lit hall.

Moments later, the thief's torso was blown off with a single arcane-missile.

"THIEF!" Revenberry exclaimed, casting a bolt of water at Curstl who reflected the attack, amplifying it and as a result, decapitating Revenberry.

Quickly, Bromy began to revive both her and the Thief.

Bonifacius charged at her, he was a projectile Curstl knew she stood no chance of blocking.

"REVERSE!"

Before her appeared a purple rune, suspended in the air as a hazy region of space manifested.

The instant Bonifacius touched it, his momentum was inverted as he flew back towards his party.

"NOW, FOXLY!" he cried.

"RIGHT!"

Foxly activated the "Gale" card which re-applied some momentum to Bonifacius, sending him back at Curstl.

"MIRROR!" she cried.

"GALE!" he cried.

"MIRROR!"

"GALE!"

"MIRROR!"

"GALE!"

Bonifacius was trapped as the subject of the game of ping-pong between two magic users

Swiftly, Curstl dodged the incoming geese and roots as one, thin root and one sneaky goose tangled their way around her feet, trapping her in place.

A blazing slash of blue flame came from the side, it was Alex.

If she stopped her mirror spell, Bonifacius would crush her in a single hit, if she didn't, Alex would have killed her.

She gritted her teeth.

An explosion of arcane energy powerful enough to knock both princes to the ground sent herself as well as the other L.F.T.O members through the now broken floor and down several levels.

Curslt fell flat on her back, landing in a pile of rubble in what must have been a whole level dedicated to being a warehouse.

Shelves upon shelves of boxes housed countless items, from food to weapons.

Everything was dimly lit since the lights were spaced out.

She tried to get back up to her feet only to be met with the bone-grinding pain of her leg-wound.

"I can still beat them... I just need to..." she thought.

The other L.F.T.O members quickly gathered around the seemingly defeated Curstl.

Quickly, roots sprung from the ground, binding her to the ground as Bonifacius removed her lance from her clutched hand.

Bromy knelt down before the leader of the jGuardians, noticing the slight bruise on her head.

"I think I know what happened..." he remarked, remembering his experience with head trauma.

"And I think I know how to bring the normal Curstl back," he added.

He turned towards his guildmates.

"Do you guys have something hard and heavy?" he asked.

One solid mack to the head, the issue was seemingly solved.

Bromy healed Curstl and released her from the roots which bound her.

Cautiously, she looked around and scratched her head.

"Can somebody tell me what I'm doing in some gross basement?" she asked.

The L.F.T.O member breathed a relieved sigh.

Not long later she noticed Bonifacius.

"Hold on... could this be... a kidnapping?!" she asked excitedly.

Her face turned red.

"Oh, Bonifacius, there was no need for this, you could have just asked, I've got a dungeon-..."

She was cut off by a pain radiating from the back of her head.

It was an internal struggle, a contest of the minds, a tug-of-war between Curstl, herself and her.

Everyone around her was suddenly sent flying by a discharge of arcane energy which was more than strong enough to crumble skin and flesh away with arcs of magic power which looked like pure, violet electricity.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING RID OF ME THAT EASILY!" she roared, summoning more AOE blasts of energy.

Bromy summoned a thick, tree-like branch from the ground, he sent it barreling towards Curstl who inversed it and sent it back at him, crushing Bromy to death almost instantly.

Knowing all projectiles were more dangerous to them than Curstl, John ran up behind her, daggers in hand.

John's blade pierced her back, slicing some organ as a zap of arcane power ran through him, knocking him to the ground unconscious.

Bonifacius sprinted at the mage.

Just like John, Bonifacius knew that Curstl could just invert his charge, he also knew that the spell disappeared after affecting one target.

As he came close enough to slash her, Curstl inverted his momentum, sending him backwards and onto the ground.

"GALE!" Foxly exclaimed as the seal attached to Bonifacius sword activated, Flying from Bonifacius' hand and into Curstl's leg which it cleanly severed.

"NICE!" Foxly exclaimed.

♛ healed John and the others, she wasn't able to resurrect somebody like Bromy, still, it was better than nothing.

Back near the upper floors, Gordon and Icarus fought near the large hole left by Curstl's attack.

Icarus wielded his blade which he used to block the countless attacks from the prince.

"GIVE UP, BROTHER!" he commanded, his crowbar slicing a small cut on Icarus' cheek with its sharp tip.

"NEVER!" Icarus replied,

"Do you want to die?! Do you want to damn your entire race!?" the prince demanded, not stopping his flurry of attacks for even a second.

Icarus snapped his fingers as a cloud of sparks and smoke erupted from his gloved hand.

The prince stumbled back Icarus' poorly-aimed blade sliced at his armoured chest, doing little but scratching the armour and damaging the blade.

"SHIT!" he cried as Gordon's crowbar was brought down his back.

"AUGH!"

It was as if all air was knocked out of Icarus' lungs, he couldn't catch a breath as Gordon's crowbar continued to strike him.

"GIVE UP!" Gordon yelled, planting another hit.

Desperate, Icarus grabbed the armoured man by the waste as he collapsed to his knees.

"IF YOU WON'T LISTEN THEN I'LL KILL YOU AND MAKE SURE YOU NEVER LEAVE THE CASTLE AGAIN!"

Again and again, he continued landing hit after hit with the steel weapon.

Icarus finally slipped his hands under the armour, grabbing his brother by the shirt as he cast the spell.

"FIRE"

Smoke began to leak out of the armour as Gordon began to be consumed with fire.

"AH! FIRE! FUCK! FUCK!"

He tried to shake Icarus off to no avail.

"FIRE!"

Another burst of smoke came as more flames appeared inside.

"FIRE!"

"YOU SURRENDER!" Icarus roared, pushing Gordon down to the ground and falling atop him.

"WHAT ARE YOU-..?!"

Icarus shoved his gloved hand into Gordon's gaping mouth.

"GO JUMP OF THE F#*KING SHIP AND LEAVE ME BE!" he commanded.

"..."

"..."

Gordon looked his brother in the eyes.

"UHL GHAI UH HER!" (YOU'LL DIE UP THERE!)

"UHL GHEEH GHHOHIN IGH HOH HUHAH HOHN!" (YOU'LL KEEP RESPAWNING IN SOME SURFACE TOWN!)

Icarus's look of determination didn't fade.

"I KNOW!"

He gritted his teeth.

"I know that!"

"I don't want to die..." he admitted.

"But if I have to give up my dream... my dream of seeing the blue sky and the bright sun! Then I'd be worse than dead!" he exclaimed.

The two remained silent.

In one, quick movement, Gordon pushed his brother off him, sending him to the ground as he lifted the familiar crowbar into the air.

Icarus clenched his eyes shut, remembering the cold feel of the metal.

Instead of a crunch of piercing pain, there was only the clang of fallen metal followed by the sound of footsteps.

After several seconds, he opened his eyes, seeing the crowbar lay on the ground before him.

Gordon was limping away, leaning against the wall for support.

"I'll see you in the castle when you return..." he said, making his way towards the soon-to-be-open emergency exit.

Badly hurt, Icarus slowly stumbled his way into the captain's room, seeing the king sitting in the seat.

Icarus cracked a smile.

"Hey..."

Suddenly, Icarus's side was pierced by the dagger that a hidden guard jammed into him.

Quickly, he blinded the guard with a burst of flames before jamming his sword into her gut.

With another use of fire magic, the hazy-eyed Icarus cauterized his wound.

"Nice try..." he remarked, stepping towards the king.

"Icarus! Think about what you're doing!" he commanded.

Icarus didn't say anything as he grabbed the king and pushed him off the chair, instead, grabbing a hold of the radio-like communication device.

"This is... your captain speaking... Our next stop is the surface... so I suggest any non-surface dwellers get off the ship sometime between now and thirty seconds from now..." he said before angling the ship upwards and setting its course to be the red-hot patch of rock above.

Seeing no hope of getting through to the man and knowing he was unable to beat him in combat, the King began heading towards the door.

"I'll..." Icarus began.

The king turned back.

"See you later..."

Not long after that, when most of the subterraneans jumped off the airship, Icarus charged it into the ceiling of the cave.

On the surface, a few players quested in peace as the earth began to tremble once more.

"What the hell's going on here?" asked of them as the earth began to crack.

"I HAVE NO IDEA! RUN!" cried another.

That's when the tip of the ship pierced the ground, it was battered, bits of molten rock and solid rock clung to it like a badge, awarding it for the successful journey.

A bored god sat around with an umbrella, watching the spectacle from up close.

Icarus felt the temperature increase in the room and presumably the rest of the ship, as the sky finally came into view.

The sky, in all its greatness, in all its endless size, like the everpresent canvas upon which everything is built, was actually pretty cloudy, in fact, it was raining.