Chapter 17

The Race

The skyship they were on felt ready to tear apart. The slightest turn was enough to make it groan along all its ancient seams. Sal remained confident in her flight capabilities, however, not even breaking a sweat while she aimed the vehicle north and put it at the max velocity the tiny craft could muster. The ship shook under the strain, knocking its occupants into one another. Meredith fell into Emil and Vivian, propped up by them (and deluged with Vivian’s complaints) before they got themselves upright.

“It’s really falling apart out there,” Emily said, wiping away what dirt she could on the glass. Meredith didn’t have any doubts about that. From what she could see, they were flying further away, but the falls were on a slow crawl to catching up with them. She hoped those on the island had gotten off safely.

“The Desert Loop is just gone now, isn’t it…?” Rico said with a labored sigh. This time, Meredith allowed herself to look through.

Where once there had been sand and arid heat, that infamous climate pocket, there was nothing but a rushing tsunami pouring over the land. From within the waters was a bright and eerie flame that sparked to the sky. The roar of the dragon that was created from the unstable core reminded Meredith that it wasn’t just Marcus they had to deal with.

“So, what happened while we were all…blah…?” Emil asked her. It took Meredith a second to realize what her friend was talking about, and she had to bite back a laugh.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. It was beyond surreal.”

“Aw, come on! Rico, you were there, too, right?” Rico smiled at Emil, but didn’t respond to his question. They were passing over the Metropolis now, the grand city at the center of the world taking all the precautions it could against the coming devastation. Without Brynn’s squad there, Meredith could tell the rest of the Home Guard was working in overdrive to protect the citizenry and President Nelson, a testament to what they could achieve together. “Man, you guys are no fun…”

“Focus on what lies ahead, Baroné!” Amelia snapped. Her harshness put the boy in his place, leading to a snickering from Vivian. She, too, was cowed by their commander’s glare. “This isn’t just some random mission. This is a fight against Marcus, and Cynthia, two of the most powerful people I’ve ever known.”

“Yeah, so what?” Meredith said. She held to her belt as the ship rocked again with the force of turbulence. “They’re still just human! I don’t care if Marcus absorbed the soul of a goddess.”

“Mera, you’re not making this sound any easier…” Vivian gave a nervous laugh.

“It’s not going to be easy at all,” Rico finally said, his narrowing eyes drawn to the distance. Meredith joined him. The others had yet to see it, but the both of them knew, and could feel the force of that most powerful soul pouring out from the earth where the Gash once sat. “But we have a couple advantages.”

“Do we want to talk strategy now or later?” Amelia asked. The ship pitched to the side, sending them into a freefall towards the wall.

“Sorry! But these things aren’t making it easy!”

Sal’s apology was followed by a shout outside the bridge. “Yeah, commander, discuss later. This dragon is one persistent piece of crap!”

“And we’ve got more incoming!” Emily pointed out.

“Then everyone, get to battle stations! We’re not losing a single member of this crew!” Amelia was absolute, firm in her convictions and orders. She took to Sal’s shoulders and gripped them hard enough that their pilot to cracked a little. “You head straight for it, Sal. No stopping.”

“Come on,” Meredith said to Vivian and Emil, dragging them off the bridge with her. The breeze of the flying skyship through the permanently stuck ramp made the hall act as a wind tunnel, sucking the air from their lungs. The heat from the edge was palpable, and Meredith saw the red-scaled dragon burning with fire as it soared behind them.

“Bruce, protect the damn ship!”

“How? That thing is a fire-breathing dragon!”

“You use fire magic, you dolt! We don’t have any other defensive mechanisms here, you know!” Jay shouted. Across from the trio, Bruce looked surprised by this sudden revelation that Jay had offered him, giving Trent a hearty laugh towards his friend.

“Whatever you’re going to do, make it quick. That dragon isn’t alone out there,” Meredith screamed to the trio. She peeked down the other end of the ship, a large hole torn in its surface. She shrugged; they hadn’t had much time to repair it in the first place. “Viv, block that end. Any monster comes near it, blast it out of the sky.”

“Yes, ma’am, leader, ma’am,” Vivian acknowledged with the maximum amount of snark. Emil went with her, and Meredith slid to the edge of the ramp with Jay. The dragon was coming back.

Its maw opened wide, the pink of its throat exposed. Jay acted quickly, and Meredith worked with him, their souls coming together. As one, they flung blades of wind at the creature’s flaming jaws. They were a second too late, white-hot flames belching from the dragon. Jay grabbed her, cradling her body to defend it, before the flames rolled away from the ship harmlessly.

“Haha! Yeah!” Bruce cheered. The orb of heat had surrounded their ship, keeping it protected from the flame. Meredith and Jay struck again, this time ramming the wind down its throat and causing it to explode in flecks of fire. They high fived.

“If you’re done dealing with a dragon, we could use some help here!” Vivian shouted. She was flicking her finger back and forth, sending enchanted air blades at the monsters that were attempting to pry the skyship apart. Trent was summoning water-like spears to impale those Vivian couldn’t get the deed done for. Meredith barreled down the corridor. “These ones just came out of nowhere!”

Meredith didn’t stop her momentum, relying on Vivian to do it for her. The sword flashed out, impaling a line of the small, and familiar, creatures. They disappeared into puffs of black smoke before Meredith was pushed back by one of Vivian’s shields. Looking out the hole, Meredith could see more of the black enemies arriving, swarming in massive numbers with their chittering screeches and beady red eyes. “These ones aren’t from the cores.”

“I think they’re distractions!” Behind them, Emil had dropped back into the skyship. They hadn’t even noticed him depart topside, but his windswept hair and scarf were all the indication needed about where he’d been. “Commander! Skyships dead ahead, and you might want to look at the ground!”

The girls pushed Trent aside to look through the hole. Pieces of the skyship were being torn away thanks to the speed with which they were traveling, opening the hole wider for both to lean out of comfortably. Vivian’s mouth dropped open at the sight, but Meredith held no shock.

Brynn hadn’t been lying. The passage of land, once flecked with snow and pines, was torn away. The two expanses of land were now separated from one another, the sea rent in two. In the center of it was a gaping hole through which the monsters were streaming, a byproduct of Caleb’s defenses. Meredith found her lips snarling, knowing that their enemies were waiting below for them, buying as much time for Marcus as possible. Up above was the larger, looming threat: four skyships, each emblazoned with the Corps’ old emblem, ready to shoot them out of the sky.

“Hold on to your hats everyone! This is bumpy!” There was no hesitation in everyone grabbing ahold of someone else or whatever was glued down to the surface. Sal jerked the skyship to the side, right as a round of magical artillery sheared past their side. A piece of the hull broke away, falling towards the ocean.

“That’s the Defender!” Trent took note of. “Those damn bastards have our ship!”

“Then let’s take it back,” Jay said, clapping the two boys on the back. “Who wants to ride with me in the air?”

“You insane? I have better control than you and I wouldn’t risk it between cannon fire and those beasts. Let’s wait to thin the crowd,” Emil warned. Jay didn’t like it, but agreed with it. He still ran back towards the ramp, creating a blade that wrapped itself around the ship, cleaving away the many creatures coming for them. Another round of cannon fire came from the Avenger, straight for them.

“Deci-def! Barrier!” Vivian shouted, snapping her fingers. The honeycomb shield of blue spackling appeared. The shells exploded against the shield, leaving a crack in it and pushing their tiny skyship back. “That’s one tough skyship.”

“And we’re sitting ducks,” Meredith said. The hole in the ground was so close, yet so far away from them. They just needed to make it a little farther for that final plunge to Marcus. In the space between them, the four skyships were moving in position, ready to encircle their tiny force and blow it out of the sky. “Viv, I might need to use your magic.”

“If you must…” Feeling it prudent, they took each other’s hands, the cannons on the four skyships glowing with their murderous intent. It was now or never. Sal was pushing the ship with all it was worth, and Kenny’s tumbling and messing around could be heard, keeping the derelict vessel moving for as long as was possible. “On a count of three. One…”

“Two…” The cannons stopped absorbing their energy, the light fully contained within their barrels. Meredith could see the soldiers of the former Quake Squad and Frost Squad, alongside the robed cultists, populating each skyship. There was a moment of silence before they could pull the trigger. “Three!”

The cannons fired, their attack a piercing line sent to converge upon their tiny craft.

Meredith communed with Vivian’s soul, adding her own to the mix and making Vivian’s second shield even stronger than the first, and more instantaneous.

It wasn’t going to be enough, and Meredith knew that, but she pushed on all the same.

Inches before the cannons made contact with the shield, the air changed. Meredith could smell it, the smell of sulfur and ash. Vivian perked her head up, almost throwing herself outside of the skyship to get a glimpse. Multiple souls were incoming.

“Chain Explosion!”

“Max!” Vivian yelled, a genuine smile on her face. Fiery blasts blocked off the cannon fire. Their skyship rocked, sending them all to the floor, but they were unharmed as Sal kept it steady, sailing out of the smoke. More of the vehicle’s side had been ripped away, providing a direct look to the skyship that had arrived. “About damn time!”

“My apologies, Lady Vivian. Your father is a stubborn man!” Meredith raised an eyebrow, watching as next to Max came Captain Clive and Victor Lacroix. Vivian’s father continued to look unpleasant, and still in pain, but he grunted with acknowledgement of his daughter.

“Go.”

Vivian kept staring at her father, parent and daughter acknowledging the wicked tension between them. Meredith shook her shoulder to draw her out of it. The skyships were still there, bearing down on them. There was a time later for these discussions. Vivian sighed. “Don’t tell me what to do. Just stay out of the way, rotten father.”

For the first time, Victor looked…proud. Vivian hadn’t forgiven him, and perhaps he wasn’t seeking it, but at long last, he’d realized his daughter was her own person. Meredith could have laughed.

“We’ll hold back the fire!” Max announced. “Captain Clive and his men are on it, along with me!”

“I can trust no better, Max! Get on it!”

“Yes, ma’am! The skyships are all yours!” At first, Meredith wondered what exactly they were supposed to do in holding off the enemy aircraft. It wasn’t long before she realized the message wasn’t meant for them. Voices could be heard over the bridge, the communication going out wide.

“Come on, boys! Shoot those assholes down!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Leave some for us!”

“Take me up, Felix. We’ll bring these things down, Autumn-style!”

Meredith’s gut rumbled, a bubbling laughter rising from within it before she let it burst. No longer restrained by her lips, the laugh became infectious, giving hope to every one of them. The Defender and Avenger attempted to fire, but Max’s pinpoint explosions intercepted them, leaving only a trail of smoke behind. From behind that screen of smoke sailed two more skyships, moving in on their enemies with a pincer attack. Bodies were flitting through the air, a sure sign of Felix and Autumn flying through the sky.

“They made it!” Emil said, broken up by his laughter. “Come on, Felix! Take it down the way only you can!”

One of the skyships appeared to halt all movements, and from Meredith’s position, she could see the Lacardian skyship, Matthew atop it as his magic held their foe in place, unable to move outside its time. Autumn came racing towards it, and from her hands traveled penetrating roots, ripping their way through the skyship on the side. Brynn and her boys were charring the one opposite them with both cannons and combined magic. Two of the Order’s vehicles plummeted towards the sea.

Just two remained, a doable number.

A stray shot was missed, tearing through part of the engine room. Kenny was thrown back into their hallway with his beard lightly singed. He was coughing, patting the smoke out, and the skyship lost some altitude. Meredith didn’t want to imagine the carnage inside the mere half of their engine room remaining. The bulky man twisted on his stomach.

“Sal, we’re out of options. I can’t keep it running anymore!”

“Honey, I could tell that when we lost altitude. How much time do we have?”

“Maybe two minutes?”

“Enough. Signal that Lacardian skyship!” Sal shouted to those on the bridge. There were no questions asked about what Sal was planning. They trusted her. Meredith pulled herself up by a loose railing in the hall. She leaned outside the large hole, and saw that the Avenger had its sights set on their ship, preparing one more cannon shot against their now completely defenseless and near-listing vessel. Vivian grabbed hold of her belt, keeping her steady as she found the Lacardian ship.

“Mr. Matthew! A-Class! We could use some rescue efforts on the double!”

It wasn’t her teacher that had heard the call, but Felix in the air above. His wings flapped around, spinning around to send him back towards his classmates while Autumn threw them a thumbs up. The message was heard loud and clear, evidenced by the Lacardian skyship beginning to turn, making a beeline for them. The Avenger fired.

“Anyone with defensive spells, throw them up now!” Sal commanded. “I’m not letting this skyship stop until it rams a hole through that traitorous Quake Squad.”

It was crazy, Meredith thought, but from the way the cannon was just barely held back by the combination of Vivian and Bruce’s defensive talents, Meredith knew it was their only option. Soon as the smoke from the Avenger’s newest blast had faded, the Lacardian skyship appeared, pulling up right next to them.

“Need some help, fair ladies?” Conrad asked with a grin. He and Summer were waiting at the edge, ready to receive them. Their skyship shook, shuddering to a halt but maintaining levitation, and behind Meredith, she could see Sal stumbling out of the room with Amelia, Emily and Rico.

“That’ll hold for now. Let’s abandon ship.”

What was left of the engine groaned, struggling to sustain its current state from whatever Sal had done to it. She didn’t want them to delay, pushing all of them towards the hole. Bruce and Trent had already jumped, caught by Matthew, who had frozen time for them to give his students ample enough to bring them over. They pulled the disastrous duo on board. Meredith and Vivian made to jump next, easily crossing the gap and falling into both Conrad and Summer. The latter kicked Vivian off as soon as she could. Conrad was a bit cheekier about it.

“Glad to see me?” he asked, wiggling his brow. She swatted his shoulder, pushing off him while the rest of the crew landed on the skyship, courtesy of Emil’s magic. Sal turned back as soon as she did, twisting her fingers.

“Release. Baroné, push it!” Whatever Sal had done, its duty was over. As if she’d placed a block of metal somewhere inside the ship, holding it in place, she released that very same thing. The skyship coughed, spluttered, and the engine inside reached a whining pitch that told Meredith it was heading into overdrive. Once its full system had caught up with the engines, it was like a string snapped, aided by Emil pushing his hands towards it.

The skyship raced forward, enough gravity exerted upon it to make it faster than the firing cannon, as if it was a cannonball, itself.

The Avenger never saw it coming.

The skyship they’d rode in on crashed into the great skyship of the former Corps, exploding and ripping it to pieces. Many of the monsters in the air were caught by the blast, raining embers upon the sea and the hole below. Meredith glimpsed over the edge, her nausea returning to her before Emily put a hand on her back. A lamentable loss was felt inside, watching a grand skyship reduced to nothing but scraps as it drifted. More saddening was the state of the sea surrounding the hole: the waters were drying, leaving just a barren desert in its wake. It was their destination.

“Commander, I think it’s time we get to that mineshaft,” Meredith said. Amelia was in full agreement, waving her hair behind her, but stopping at the man right outside the door to the skyship’s interior. She cocked her hips.

“So, you came to fight, Benny?”

“You think I’d let my kids come on this mission while I sit at home?” Benjamin said, the Lacardian professor smiling to her. Meredith slid her eyes to Conrad, the two of them barely restraining their laughter at the reunion in the most awkward of times. “Sometimes we have to show these kids how it’s done.”

“Couldn’t agree more.”

“Mm, save the grandstanding for another time. Mera, you said we need to get to the hole in the ground?” Matthew asked for clarification. Meredith nodded, and her teacher grunted. “Then let’s get a move on. The other Corps ship and the Home Guard will hold off the enemy, and we’ll sail straight on thr-”

An inexorable pull was upon their souls. Meredith could feel it, though it took the longest to reach her. She felt her knees nearly buckle, and a few feet from her, Rico gripped his head to shut out the invading thoughts that were clawing their way inside him. The others weren’t affected in the same way.

They simply stood there, their eyes blank, like dolls.

Cannon fire could still be heard, a shot managing to pierce the front of the ship where Captain Clive and his men were engaging with the Defender. They could do nothing against the attack, as Meredith could see they had stopped moving, too.

“We should…stop fighting…” Vivian’s voice sounded wrong. Meredith turned to look at her friend, the glassy eyes reflecting nothingness. The sound of the skyship’s engines was the only thing audible on the air, even with the scores of monsters. Meredith approached, beginning to shake the blonde roughly. “This fighting is selfish. We must work to-”

“Wake the hell up, Viv!” She slapped Vivian, and the girl’s eyes became clear again, blinking as she wondered where she was. That resounding slap caused all of those on the ship’s deck to come back to their senses.

“It looks like Marcus is hard at work,” Rico announced, close to the edge. He wringed the railing, every muscle in his face twitching while he stared to the mineshaft below them. “Now or never.”

“Conrad, man the cannons below,” Benjamin ordered. The boy obeyed his teacher, his hand brushing past Meredith’s with a grin before he disappeared inside the ship. While the door remained open, the current communication with Captain Clive and the Home Guard was on full display.

“...took heavy damage. Help us get all non-essential personnel off.”

“Don’t worry. The Home Guard has your back. Can someone get that stupid skyship off our back?” Brynn’s request was heard. Jay cracked his knuckles.

“Hey Sal, Kenny? Want to get our baby back?” he asked. His grin was self-assured, and Sal dropped her usual combat with the man to take his hand. When they’d let go, Jay created multiple blades of wind, solid enough for the pilot and engineer to stand upon them. Felix flapped by them, still holding on to Autumn.

“We’ll help out!” the head of A-Class proclaimed. Jay smirked to him. “Summer, you’re on guard duty. Get them to that mineshaft!”

Summer didn’t say anything, but Felix trusted her implicitly. Their teams were like racers at the starting line, gathering energies before they were flying through the sky towards the skyship that was once theirs. The Defender fired at the near-defenseless ship, finding the assault blocked by Max’s explosion. The Home Guard ship pulled up, and without delay, Victor Lacroix pulled Max and the other non-essential personnel to their rescuers.

“I’ll get our pilot to bring us right towards that hole in the ground, so all of you better get ready to jump,” Benjamin expressed. His gaze towards Summer reminded her of her own role in helping them out. The professor turned to the now closed door, but stopped with his hand on the knob. He looked back to the group, ready to plunge into the depths. A rocking explosion sounded from one of the Defender’s cannons. “Amelia, when you make it back…let’s get married, yeah?”

The effect of Benjamin’s words drowned the cannon fire for those on the skyship’s deck. Summer clapped her hands in joy while Emil’s mouth fell open. Meredith watched her commander, the woman unmoving as a blush rose to her face. Emily thumped her from behind, grinning at Amelia. Vivian, too, looked away with an unexpectant blush at such a suggestion. They didn’t know what to say to that, and Meredith was surprised for the first time to see Amelia almost crying. Her lip trembled, and while she didn’t run to him, the commander nodded wordlessly. Having her answer, Benjamin left the deck.

There was another reason to fight.

Meredith joined Rico at the railing, both soul-users looking to the source of the creatures and the outpouring of energy. They were of one mind: if Marcus had his way, they’d never be able to see things like that. There’d never be weddings like theirs would be. There’d never be love. There’d never be the kind of affection and true camaraderie that led Jay and his fellow squad mates to break inside the Defender and take it back, blowing away the members of Frost Squad and the Order that had commandeered it.

They had to win.

“All right, then, peons. Get ready to drop!” Amelia said, recovering from the unexpected proposal.

“I don’t think we’ll be getting down there without taking heavy damage, sir…” Bruce said, rubbing at his nose. He looked equally embarrassed at the prior scene, but Trent wasn’t.

“Hey, you control weather, right?” he asked from Summer. When she confirmed, the man grinned. The skyship began to descend as it moved towards the expanding desertification. More and more monsters swarmed the closer they came, prompting Felix and Autumn to fly away from the Defender and back into action. Cannon fire peppered the marauding beasts, coming from both Conrad and the Home Guard ship, cutting them as much of a path as they could to the bottom. “All right, I’ll create some water trails and you make it cold enough in the air to get us going downward.”

“Then gravity will take care of the rest,” Emil concurred, cracking his knuckles. The skyship shuddered, one of the wyverns from below attaching itself to the bottom of the ship. Felix and Autumn sailed in, giant roots slapping the creature across the face to send it plummeting. “Let’s do it! Take positions, everyone!”

On Meredith’s other side were Vivian and Emil, while Amelia, Emily, Bruce and Trent stood to the side of Rico. They each lifted their legs, climbing up to stand on the railing of the rocking skyship. It was a one-way trip down to the greatest fight of their lives, and Meredith was ready to take the plunge. She sucked in another breath, gripping Vivian and Rico’s hands.

From Trent, the trails of water were formed. They were thin, but thick enough to stand upon once frozen. The air grew colder, Summer’s magic creating a winter around them. The deck of the skyship began to ice up a little, but most important were the water rails, now becoming frozen slides to take them straight down to the ground, assuming no monster destroyed them first. Once the wind was howling, the disastrous duo and Emil prepared to make the first leap. As they did so, Summer gripped the back of Meredith’s shirt.

“You’re going to save him…aren’t you?” she whispered. Meredith looked back, offering her a smile full of both hope and farewell. Summer sniffled. “Tell him…tell him goodbye. From all of us. Please?”

There was only one way to answer that, and as Meredith joined the others in leaping off the ship, she gave the expected response. “Yes.”

The group of eight dropped, their feet landing on the rails one after another. The way to the ground seemed so far away that it was insurmountable, but Meredith steadied herself on one of the frozen rails, keeping her balance and momentum to ride on down. Bruce and Trent whooped from beneath them.

Another screech echoed, one of the monsters having sighted them. This one was a black bird of enormous girth, its claws big enough to tear their bodies apart. Its red eyes flashed as its wings stirred up a hurricane before it dove for them. Past its enormous form, Meredith could see the still-encroaching falls chewing up the northern edge of the nearest continent. She kept focus. The slide rattled, becoming unstable as it fragmented below, where Summer couldn’t reach. Emil’s gravity started to take over. Vivian wobbled behind Meredith, her fingers glowing with enchantment as she sent an air crescent towards the bird. Its beak was open with a deadly caw. The attack hit, but it kept soaring on a collision course for them.

Boom!

The cannon hit dead on, ripping a giant hole in the creature before it disappeared into black ash. A voice echoed from atop the newest intervening skyship.

“The Defender is ours!” Jay proclaimed, his fist raised to the sky. It was like a command to fire all the available cannons they had, Kenny’s “girls” pointing right at the monsters coming at them from the sides. It was a barrage of destruction that left nothing but black mist in its wake. Jay jumped from the top, riding down on his wind blades that cut through some of the smaller monsters. His blades provided a jumping point for all of them, just as the ice rail crumbled and melted. “There’s no way I’m letting you get to the captain without me smacking some sense into him, myself.”

With a manipulation of the wind from Amelia, Jay pointed the blades down, his hands constantly moving. A patina of sweat appeared from the exertion of using his magic. Going by the swathes that he cut away, making them a path to their destination, it was worth it. They were falling faster, and Meredith could finally see the details of the endpoint before them.

Deep within the earth, burrowing down to its very core was a multi-tiered mineshaft. Made of spectacular material that even today’s technology couldn’t match, Meredith could tell it was a construct well beyond its time of creation. Red, blue and white lights ringed the shaft that extended downwards, with multiple platforms on a spiral that dug into the center. Each ring of the mineshaft was large, but lacking any materials or signs that anyone had ever been allowed to touch it. Of course, Meredith reasoned, it had been sealed since the beginning of the world, more likely as not.

“Marcus must be waiting at the center and the very bottom of that thing!” Rico shouted, making himself heard over the howling wind. “We make a straight shot for that. Emil, can you handle it?”

“I’ll do everything I can!”

Whatever he was going to do was precluded by the most harrowing roar Meredith had ever heard in her life. The earth below them shuddered, the mineshaft shaking and vibrating as if Marcus had used the Weapons again. This time it wasn’t the case, as the source of the terror was very clear.

A large claw emerged from within the shaft, belonging to the most humongous dragon Meredith had ever seen (despite the fact that, until today, she’d not seen many dragons). Its wingspan could have blotted out the sun as it rose high, its trembling breath one of pitch-black darkness, and its horns belying its demonic nature. Caleb was certainly determined to stop them from ever reaching there.

“All skyships, fire! Fire!” That was Captain Clive’s voice, the skyship he’d arrived on listing to the side. It was falling slowly, out of power. Clicks and bangs sounded off, all three of the skyships that were up there, all on their side, firing at the king of dragons that was taking off. It brushed off the shots to its body without worry, though the skin of its wings was peppered and torn through. Jay and Amelia acted together, flinging piercing wind at the beast. Flecks of ash rose off, but it wasn’t enough.

“That thing’s gonna swallow us whole!” Bruce yelled, even if he wasn’t scared or panicked by it. The dragon opened wide, and Meredith could see the inky blackness preparing to fire and consume them all; rip them all to pieces. “Do you think focusing our attacks will work?”

There wasn’t much room to do any of it, and the dragon wasn’t budging from the cannons that broke upon it. It would destroy them and prevent them from reaching the surface, no matter what. Trent readied his own attack, as did Vivian. They had to try.

“Save your energy!” Clive screamed. Meredith looked to the side, to where his skyship was starting to accelerate, on the same level as the dragon. “The chief commander is below, and so are the others. You’ll need every ounce of magic energy you have to combat that! This is for us! We’re here to make sure you get there!”

Meredith, without knowing why, felt her blood run cold and her head start to shake. He couldn’t be doing what she thought. Her eyes widened and her Soul Vision came on, reading the contents of Clive’s soul. His stoic determination. His and his men’s intent. Their desire.

Their decision.

“No, captain! We can-”

“Little Meredith,” Clive called to her, his hand over his heart. He was close enough to see now, and the whining of the engine was painful enough to the ears that it almost made him inaudible. “You have become a great Guardian, and a most beautiful young woman.”

“Captain! Don’t!”

“You proved to us what a force for good in this world can do. What a Guardian is meant to do,” Clive continued. He was crying, she knew it. He didn’t want to do this. There was still so much more he wanted to make up for, but he sailed on nonetheless. The dragon began to slowly turn its head, catching the ship in its sights. “So, continue to prove it. We will do the same. The time we took for ourselves, using the Corps…that is over. I will always be proud to have been your captain. Until the end.”

“CAPTAIN!” Meredith screamed. She didn’t want to watch, or to look, because she’d know the result all the same. The ship carrying Captain Clive and his men, in one glorious moment, soared. The dragon turned its breath upon them, but their final act would not be denied. With the speed of a bullet, it took the brunt of that breath and rammed itself into the creature. A mighty wound appeared across its chest, but most importantly, the dragon was shoved aside, and the path below was clear. Meredith wiped the tears forming. “Emil, drop us now!”

She wasn’t going to waver, or hesitate. Even seeing their souls disappear, returning back to the world’s soul, she knew they’d done as they had wanted. Captain Clive gave them a chance to free those souls. Meredith wouldn’t waste it.

Their bodies grew heavy as Emil pressed his magic upon them. Each turned into a rock, hurtling towards the center of the world with unforgiving speed. Souls rushed past Meredith, their pain and anguish flooding into her, just as it had when she’d first seen the Gash. Rico’s fist was tightening next to her, also enduring that onslaught of emotion. They didn’t want to be used by Marcus. They wanted some of their burden released from them in holding the world up.

They wanted to be free.

Just a little longer, I promise…just a little longer…

Meredith closed her eyes at that promise, allowing her soul to filter out all of that which made them wail. The wall of souls through which they were descending soon passed, but they continued their freefall, the lights of the mineshaft piercing through the darkness of night.

A new force was exerted upon her body, just as she’d passed over the threshold of the shaft, and Meredith felt herself pushed to the side. She wasn’t alone, Emil and Vivian getting pulled back with her until all three hit a wall. The sudden collision made Meredith scream from the agony up and down her spine, but it faded in seconds. She tried to move, but found her body was restrained by something sticky. Just below her was a clicking…and then a cackling.

“Look what we caught in our web, Cario. Some annoying little flies,” Caleb said. His freckled face was distorted in its twisted glee, and the dog at his side barked at the trapped teens. Also next to him was a spider, its pincers clicking and its venom pooling on the first rung of the mineshaft, burning a hole right through it, a second at a time. “Oh, how I’ve waited to pay you back for your interferences. Feast upon them, my sweet…”

“Emil, drop us fast and get us out of here!” Vivian yelled, twisting back and forth in an attempt to free herself. Emil tried; Meredith could feel him trying. The webs were simply too strong, no matter how much gravity he exerted upon them. The spider began to climb for them, and Caleb rubbed his hands.

The first leg touched upon Vivian’s web, and then just as suddenly retracted, a cry of agony echoing. In its red eyes was a spear, gushing blackness as it hit the mineshaft’s platform. The spider twitched and cried and then curled in on itself before disappearing. Caleb blinked, his eyes traveling sideways to who approached him.

“Keep your eyes open, Beastmaster,” Rico said, swiping his spear from the ground and holding it aloft. He wasn’t alone, the members of Tempest Squad and Amelia emerging behind Caleb, their weapons out and threatening. “Your fight is with me.”