James motioned for Celeste and Kiri to follow him back the way they had come. He could hear the sound of feet shuffling and Captain Shamran’s enraged voice echoing down the hall from behind them. It wouldn’t be long before they caught up. The three of them sprinted down corridor after corridor until one brought them face to face with a stunned Jarl and Hyte.

“What the—”

Jarl didn’t give Hyte the time to finish his thought. Instead, he rammed his elbow into the side of Hyte’s temple. Jarl was in far from peak condition with his slender and lanky build, but the blow was enough to knock Hyte unconscious.

The four of them stood still, looking at Hyte’s body until the sound of approaching footsteps sent them back into motion. Jarl was the first to react, sprinting down the long corridor. James, Celeste, and Kiri followed behind, the sound of their breathing nearly overshadowing the footsteps and grunts coming from behind them. At the end of the corridor Jarl came to a halt, urging the rest of them forward. At the same time, James heard a deep voice bellow down the corridor from behind him.

“Stop! Don’t make me use this!”

The voice, of course, belonged to Shamran. James didn’t have time to look back, but he certainly wasn’t about to listen to his orders. Though, as he looked ahead, something caught his eye—the look on Jarl’s face. It was one of fear. Before James could even comprehend what was happening, Jarl had already dived behind them. A sudden bang ripped through the corridor, making James’s ears ring. Celeste and Kiri had instinctively brought their hands up to their ears, yet neither one stopped running. James was the only one that came to a halt, turning to face Jarl, who looked pale and tired.

“Go,” he said.

James looked down and noticed a puddle of blood forming on the floor beneath him. Drops of blood added to the puddle and disrupted its otherwise stillness. James followed the drops up to their source—Jarl’s gut, which he now gripped with one of his hands. James froze, a flood of emotions poking at his mind.

“Go! Now!”

James had never heard Jarl’s voice filled with so much force. James felt many things in that moment. He questioned whether he should leave Jarl behind. He questioned whether he should even care. This man, after all, had been part of his parents’ deaths. Fear, panic, hatred, worry, concern all flowed through him, but amongst the chaos one emotion stood out from the rest. In that moment, he was thankful.

James ground his teeth together, frustrated at his inability to do anything. He took a step backwards. “Thank you.”

“Do not thank me,” Jarl said through labored breaths.

James nodded, and turned to catch up with Celeste and Kiri. It didn’t take long for him to reach them as they had both stopped to wait for him.

“What about the older man?” Kiri asked as they began to run again.

James shook his head. “It’s just us now.”

Kiri must have understood because she gave a nod, perhaps with more sympathy than was necessary. James didn’t know anymore. Celeste, on the other hand, didn’t show any signs of emotion.

“Where are we running?” she asked over the shouts that still echoed behind them.

“Vessel Nine. I don’t think Shamran ever removed the rope. We might still be able to use that to get down. And if not, we can at least seek out Bron.”

James, Celeste, and Kiri were met with the first wisps of daylight as they emerged onto the deck. Their shadows danced across the ground as they sprinted to the bridge, which was thankfully still unoccupied. The wind pushed the ships slightly, causing the bridge to extend and retract. James and Celeste nearly lost their footing as it did so. Kiri, surprisingly, ran as if the plates beneath her feet weren’t at all. They stopped upon reaching the other side. James could hear shouting in the distance, though not from behind him. He squinted his eyes at Vessel Nine and saw a commotion on the bridge. The three of them inched closer to investigate and were surprised to find Vessel Nine in a full-scale revolt. Nearly a half dozen regulators blocked the bridge in an effort to detain the residents of Vessel Nine. From his vantage point, James could see that several people were already cuffed and a few others were knocked out. The regulators had taken casualties as well. James watched, more entertained than he should have been, as Bron struck a regulator across the head with a large pan. The man fell to the ground and was dragged away by some of the nearby regulators, most likely to receive first aid.

James felt a strong tug on his collar and turned to find Kiri pointing back the way they came. James followed the line of sight until his eyes rested on Shamran and a small squad of regulators. James cursed to himself and dragged Kiri and Celeste in a different direction.

“We won’t be able to get over that bridge. We’ll have to go to a different one,” James said.

“Vessel Seven?” Celeste asked.

James nodded and the two took off with a confused Kiri in tow. The shouts of Captain Shamran from behind only served to quicken their pace as they dashed from bridge to bridge. Even still, Shamran and the rest were slowly closing the distance. Before even reaching Vessel Seven, James could see that the bridge connecting it to Vessel Nine was undergoing the same amount of turmoil as the last bridge.

James felt his heart beating in his chest and his legs threatening to betray his will to push himself forward. He couldn’t think about where to run anymore, so he just ran, following the path of least resistance. It would seem that Celeste didn’t have any other ideas either as she simply ran behind him, silent except for her breathing. The scenery began to become repetitious, as if he were back climbing down the rope. Bridge, deck, bridge, deck, bridge. He barely noticed when a giant tower came into view, blocking out the sliver of the sun that was poking out above the horizon. They were on Vessel Twenty-nine. James couldn’t quite tell how he knew he was there and not on Vessel Twenty-four. Maybe it was the slight difference in the color of the metal, or the few scratches and dents that Vessel Twenty-nine had that Twenty-four didn’t. Regardless, he knew where he was, but that didn’t do much for him. They were still in the same predicament as before.

James looked behind him and immediately regretted it. Shamran and the regulators were only a couple dozen feet behind them. Celeste wore a look of exhaustion and James couldn’t blame her. Kiri, on the other hand, was looking up, her face painted in look of half confusion and half concentration.

“This way,” she yelled, and darted off towards the tower. James and Celeste followed. Part of James’s mind screamed at him that the tower led to a dead end, but the other larger part of him didn’t have the energy to face the logic of that concern, or perhaps he just trusted Kiri’s judgement.

The steps of the tower felt hollow beneath his feet, as if pushing on them too hard would cause them to snap in half. He could faintly hear the echo of his feet against them, but most of it was drowned out by the wind that whipped around them.

Kiri rushed up to the railing upon reaching the top platform. James and Celeste joined her. James felt drained of all energy now that he had finally stopped running. A feeling of defeat weighed heavily on his shoulders. Any second now, Shamran and the regulators would appear at the top of the stairs, trapping them up there. James looked to his side and was completely dumbfounded to find Kiri smiling.

“I can feel them… They’ll help. There is one among them that has gratitude for you, James.”

Before Celeste or James could form the words to ask what she was talking about, she turned to them and grabbed their hands. Celeste seemed mildly irritated by the gesture but was too exhausted to pull her hand away. James on the other hand felt a surge of adrenaline, or perhaps it was just blood from his rapidly beating heart.

“Do you trust me?” Kiri asked.

“Yes,” James said.

“No,” Celeste said at the same time.

“Good. We’re jumping.”

“We’re what!?” James and Celeste said together.

Kiri didn’t elaborate. She simply placed a foot onto the railing. “Ready?”

James and Celeste were certainly not ready, but the sound of shouting coming from the stairs forced their decision. They each put a foot on the railing, readying themselves to push off into the clouds below. James looked down and froze. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t jump off into the clouds. He quickly thought of his father descending the rope ladder into the mistiness of the clouds below. A look of determination on his face—

A sinking feeling hit his stomach as he realized it had never happened. His mother had never fallen, and his father had never climbed the ladder after her. It was all a fabrication of his mind. James suddenly felt his legs start to shake. He vaguely heard Kiri telling him to jump and feeling her tugging on his arm. His eyes danced along with the formless, curling shapes of the clouds as he took in his new realities. His father was dead—really dead. He had always assumed this, but there was always a small part of him that hoped against reason that his father had found a way to survive. That small part of him, crushed under reality, dragged the rest of him down with it. Suddenly, everything felt hopeless and unimportant. He heard the approaching shouts of the regulators. He felt that he should have a sense of urgency at that, but strangely found its place within him vacant.

He felt another strong jolt on his arm and looked over… and suddenly the meaning was back. Kiri’s worried eyes. Celeste’s concerned expression. It jolted him back to the moment. He didn’t need an image, false or true, to find his courage. He just needed to know that his actions could help others. They might be futile. They might be foolish, but they were something. With a surge of effort, James flung himself off the ship. Kiri followed and behind her, with clear reluctance, Celeste did the same.

James found himself plummeting towards the clouds. In an odd moment of serenity, he imagined his dad’s face. It was the same determined expression he normally pictured, but the setting had changed. His mother was there, wearing a similar expression. They were in the same interrogation room that James had visited before, standing tall despite the regulators around them. Their posture, their expressions, everything told one simple message: They would never back down. James smiled to himself. He had no idea if this had ever happened, but this is how he would remember them—standing and determined.

James felt something pulling on his clothes, gradually slowing his descent. He twisted his head and found a dozen jespers clinging to his clothes and flapping furiously towards the sky. He nearly swatted them away until he realized Celeste and Kiri were receiving the same treatment. He caught a glimpse of a wide-eyed and terrified Celeste before his vision was covered by a blanket of white. The deeper he fell the darker his surroundings became. He expected to see the faint glow that he had experienced before but nothing came. Instead, he emerged into a void of darkness.

Without the ability to judge distance, James simply raised his hands in front of his face. With a jolt of pain, he hit the ground. The jespers clearly hadn’t been able to slow him down as much as he hoped, but he had jumped off a ship and lived so he wasn’t complaining. He looked up and was barely able to see the jespers’ shadowy forms frantically flying upward. The fact that they were beneath other objects was clearly on their minds. He heard two other thumps as Celeste and Kiri hit the ground around them. They both simultaneously let out groans of pain and exhaustion.

It wasn’t hard for James to tell which impact Kiri had been and which had been Celeste. Kiri, for one, was the only source of light with her glowing eyes and fingernails. If that hadn’t made it obvious already, the wave of light pulsing out of her body and across the ground would have certainly given her away. James watched as pulses of blue light shot beneath his feet. The glow was muffled by the layer of ash on the ground, yet still visible. He followed its arcing motion across the ground and was surprised to see tiny specks start to glow through the ash. James walked forward and picked one of the glowing pieces up. It lit his hand up in a shade of purple that was just bright enough for him to see how much ash had gotten on his hands. He ran his fingers over the rough piece of debris and realized he was holding a piece of bark that hadn’t burned away. James directed his gaze outward at the hundreds of similar dots of light, giving him the illusion that he was walking on a colorful night sky. In the distance, trees started to glow as beacons in the darkness. James twisted his head in a circle, watching as trees started to glow in every direction. The fire had destroyed the entire village and much of the surrounding forest, but it had eventually stopped.

James turned to Celeste, who still lay in a heap on the ground.

“You okay?” he asked while reaching a hand down to her. Even in the darkness, he could see her eyes glaring up at him. “Right. Stupid question. Are you hurt?”

Celeste took his hand and allowed him to help her to her feet. “No. Just a few bruises.” Celeste took a moment to look around. “It’s incredible. Are those trees in the distance?” James nodded. “Well, if I didn’t believe you before, I certainly do now. This… this changes everything.” Celeste swept her eyes around the entire perimeter. “Though, I don’t see the village you were talking about.”

“You’re standing in it,” James said solemnly.

Celeste looked down and lifted her feet, as if her footprint added to the damage. “Oh… I see.”

James nodded and glanced aver at Kiri, who was staring absently at the field of ash. James walked up to her. He could see a faint line of tears running down her cheeks, reflecting the blue glow of her eyes.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” Kiri said. “It’s really gone. Burned away… taking my mother with it.” She fell to her knees. “Why. Why! Why did this have to happen!”

James knelt and put his hand on her shoulder. Her face snapped in his direction showing an expression midway between sorrow and anger.

“You did this! This is your fault!” Kiri yelled, tackling James to the ground.

She began to pound on his chest. A desperate anger, fueled by the loss of her mother and village, ran through her veins, forcing any rational thought out of her mind. James chose not to resist. How could he? Even with her beating on his chest, the only emotion he felt was sympathy. A snarl distracted him from her screams, and James cocked his head to see dozens of animals of various shapes and sizes emerging from the tree line. Their eyes all glowed various colors and their fur coats glistened in the darkness. Despite their differences, they had one thing in common. They were all very angry.

“You should have stopped your people sooner!” The creatures prowled closer to the three, releasing loud guttural noises from their throats. “You should have stopped the fire from happening!” James peered into the beasts’ eyes. He wasn’t met with the all-knowing stare that Kodama’s messenger gave. When he looked into their eyes he saw fire. He saw wrath. “You should have saved my mom!”

Kiri’s screams were beginning to disintegrate into sobs as she struck James in the chest. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Celeste charge over from where she was standing. Though, surprisingly, rather than tackling her off him, she crouched down and started to rub her back, soothing her. Kiri’s punches grew weaker until eventually she could only grip his jacket, white-knuckled. Then, exhausted and emotionally drained, she buried her face into his chest and began to cry. The beasts began to whimper. Their postures cowered, and they slowly walked back into the tree line.

James had descended a rope ladder onto a foreign land. He had escaped a fire and spoken to an all-knowing beast. He had fought against regulators and jumped off a ship into the clouds. Yet, it was this moment that he felt the most unequipped for. Not knowing what to do, he wrapped his arms around her. Celeste gave him a nod as Kiri continued to dampen his jacket with her tears.