"After that, we escaped," Arnold explained.

"Wait," Josh stopped him. "That's it? You just escaped? How? When? Did you have to fight your way out?"

Arnold let out a dry laugh. Josh sat next to him in the passenger's seat. In the back was Luce, who took care of Adelle, the latter having come down with a case of motion sickness having never ridden a motor vehicle before. The elf had been cursing and swearing for the earlier half of the ride about the cramped space, but eventually gave up and resigned to laying on the floor, trying not to puke.

"Honestly," Arnold continued. "I'd much rather hear of your adventures on the other side. It's a pretty big deal to be the first to travel across the Helm and back in two hundred years."

"Are you kidding?" Josh exclaimed. "You guys stole a Titan! Who in the world steals a Titan?"

"It's technically not stealing."

"Kidnapping doesn't make it any less amazing."

"Reggie chose to come with us."

"So your party eloped with a Titan?"

Arnold gave another laugh which turned into a yawn.

"Woah," Josh quickly said. "Getting sleepy? Don't fall asleep now."

"I'm fine," Arnold noted. "Just a shame none of you can drive. Could put this on auto for a few seconds and switch."

"It's Citi's restriction for civilian drivers. Not many outside of the military can even learn, let alone afford a car. I was there for years and I never managed to save up enough money for it."

They were on the sloped western coast, a steep 60 degrees angled plain that rolled straight over a cliff into burning hot ocean water. Stopping the truck at any time meant rolling off to the side into an uncontrollable tumble towards their deaths. Arnold's feet were not allowed to leave the accelerator, and he had to keep himself awake to steer. Due to constant landslides and cliff-side erosion, the road constantly shifted and changed. Aside from an expensive self-driving AI, no fixed driving algorithm existed for the path. The Long Slope was a begrudging 20 hours drive that circumvented most of the fighting from the war too unpredictable for even the military to use. The greatest enemy on the journey were boredom, gravity, impatience, and fatigue.

Josh asked, "How many times have you driven on The Long Slope?"

Arnold counted quickly. "Including this? Sixteen, I think. I get about two or three a year."

"Because The Long Slope is only dry enough to drive on during Summer and Sear, right?"

"Yup," the two Guides exchanged knowledge. "I've been doing this for about six years now. It's not the safest job, but it's good money, as I'm sure you know. The plan is that once we had enough saved to upgrade Reggie for The Walking Path, we'll make a run for the Helm."

"I would assume crossing The Walking Path on the back of a mech would make things easier."

"You'd think so, but a lot of the stealthier routes are close off. You'd have to basically charge through a war zone."

"Urp..." Came Adelle's ill voice from the back. "Are we there yet?"

"Almost. Just two more hours." He had been driving for 18 hours nonstop. There was a long nap back at Altaro, but nothing between since. The road simply did not allow for rest.

"This forsaken machine. Who even invented this?" the elf whined. "Going so fast is unnatural."

"You can teleport."

"That's completely natural to me. Urgh..."

"Hush now," Luce said to Adelle. "Keep whining and you'll bite your tongue."

"Screw you."

"You're literally not man enough to do that."

"I'll grow a penis just to screw you."

"You're delirious."

"Urgh... maybe."

Arnold scanned a glance to Josh. "Are they...?"

The latter shrugged. "As if I'd know. I think their idea of flirting is who's better at getting on each other's nerves."

"Well..." Arnold chuckled. "I know two other idiots who are like that."

"Hey..." Adelle sounded out, a sense of alertness in her voice. "You guys hear that?"

Arnold looked to the rear-view mirror. "Hear what?"

"It's like a rumbling."

Josh tensed in his seat and pointed out the window. "Landslide!"

It was the muddy colours and the motion blur of his own sights. The bland scenery blended together into brown nothingness at the speed of the driving. Sleepiness did not help either and he did not see the ground shift before them.

He took a hard turn, burning his wheels left and upslope, screeching into the void as he desperately tried to slow the truck down enough to avoid backsliding without losing acceleration. But it wasn't long before he felt control of his wheels losing out, the ground sliding forward as the truck slid sideways down the slope. They had missed the landslide but were unable to hold speed.

"We're not going to make it!" Arnold exclaimed.

"Turn around!" Luce yelled. "Do a one-eighty!"

"Are you crazy? We'll just fall faster."

"Trust us!"

He hit the brakes and all the wheels stopped spinning. The truck continued to slide backwards but he kept the turn. The vehicle slowed, the front of the truck twisting around to face the full brunt of the fall. Facing first towards the cliff, for a moment, the truck stopped. Then, the fall began. Arnold no longer had control. Gravity was doing the work of guiding the truck now and the only direction it knew was down.

Looking up at his mirror, he watched as Luce kicked opened the back door, holding onto the edge of the truck for dear life. Adelle rolled to the left side of the truck, pushing up against the wall.

Luce instructed, "Floor it!"

He hit the gas and the wheels spun, dirt specking the windshield and side windows as they plummeted.

"Adelle!" Luce shouted. "Do it!"

"Hang on!"

"What are you waiting for?"

"I can't see the road."

"What?"

"Stop talking to me, I need to concentrate!"

Was that it? He was about to die with three relative strangers in the back just two days away from his home and friends. Worse, he was about to plunge off the cliffs into literal hot water, trapped in a metal box to forever be stuck under the sea. At least he wasn't bald.

As the cliff edge came up, he braced himself. Then, all was quiet safe for the running of the truck's engines. He noticed they were facing south, the fire of the burning continent lighting red the horizon. But the horizon was slanted to the side as it had been when he drove on The Slope. He gripped the steering wheel tightly as a whiff of rust burnt his nose.

Behind him, Luce shouted, "Arnold!"

The wheels touched down onto the slope and whirred. There was a skid. He hard-turned right to course correct and quickly swerved back left to regain directions. He fought his instincts to hit the brakes. He knew that the loss of control was due to their forward momentum being faster than the spin of the wheels after Adelle teleported them. He just had to hold out long enough for the truck to naturally decelerate.

Josh pointed out, "Rock!"

The left wheel knocked into the obstacle and lifted off the ground, gravity pulling it off towards the cliff again in a tilt. Given their circumstances, it was less a rock and more of a small boulder.

Luce yelled, "Adelle!"

The elf grabbed Luce by the waist and the pair vanished from the back in a puff of brown smoke, reappearing in his side mirror mid-air. Luce aimed her gun and fired her grappling lance which slammed into the side of the truck. The lance opened up and hooked onto the metal. The line taut, and the combined weight of Luce and Adelle pulled at the truck, giving it just enough nudge to begin falling back onto the slope. The pair disappeared from the side and reappeared in the back, tumbling into the vehicle. The rope of the grappling lance flailed wildly behind, sliced off from its source.

There was a screech as the right wheels slipped under the vehicle's weight. The automobile slammed back onto the ground, slowing down enough to pull the vehicle up from the traction. Finally, their speed stabilised and they resumed their journey. It would be as if the whole incident had not happened, but their heavy breathing noted otherwise. Arnold let out a sigh. He was awake now.

Josh asked, "Is everyone okay?"

Luce replied, "Yes. Somehow. Adelle?"

"Hurk... urgh..." the elf rushed to the opened back and vomited out. Panting, she asked, "Please. Are we there yet?"