On the road once more, the ATV thumped along the sea of giant roots, crossing through a fusion of metal and wood. From all the cars that were scattered around, they must be on what’s left of a highway. These cars were easy pushed away or ran over by the might of the Diver’s ATV. Its reinforced front ideal for ramming. Casper and Rakkan were trying to get a few more hours of sleep; in Rakkan’s case, he was successful, dozing through the reckless driving. Casper, not so much. Vramosa drove with a great deal of recklessness, resulting in a jerky and pulse pounding ride, despite it being a simple drive home. Casper found himself either being strangled by his seat belt, gripping his seat to stay put, or sandwiched between the wall and the sleeping Lion. The others, Sprag and Cho, were taking this quite well, all things considered. With Cho remaining completely calm in the passenger’s side and Sprag staying balanced on the top of the ATV, still holding on tight to the minigun. “You’re crushing me…” Casper said, trying to push Rakkan’s sleeping body over a few inches.

“Sprag.” Vram said in her usual quiet tone, tapping the intercom button, as she ramped over a small incline. “Patrol up ahead. Come down so they don’t get hostile.”

“Rodger dodger!” Sprag shouted, as her seat lowered into the inside of the van, with a loud whirring sound. Both her and the massive gun were now in the center of the small room. Once both gun and gunner were inside, the hatch where they came from closed up.

Casper pressed his back against the wall, caught off guard by the sight of the giant belt fed gun now being an arms length or two in front of him.

“Chill out.” Sprag laughed, brushing her tail against Casper’s furless face. “It can’t fire when it’s inside here. Besides, it’s pointed at Vrammy and Cho.” With a bit of gallows humor, she smiled, “Worst thing that’d happen to you is cleaning them off the walls.”

“Be nice, Sprag…” Vram reminded her friend, with another quiet sigh, eyes still on the road as they passed by an Imperial Patrol. A large ATV, similar to the one they were in now, flanked by several smaller vehicles. Stark white and marked with the Empire’s heptagonal logo. A scouting party most likely.

“I am!” Sprag argued, pouting like a small child, as she propped her feet up on the minigun’s barrel. “Did you have to use that tone?” Without a moment’s pause, she looked back to Casper, “Come to think of it, funny thing is, I mistook you for Gray Ham when I first saw you.”

“Gray Ham…?” Casper asked.

“Pronouced ‘grayam,’ he’s our boss. Spelled Grayham though. Sprag just thinks it’s funny to mispronounce his name because it bothers him.” Vramosa explained. “He’s a Sphynx like you.”

“He doesn’t have the markings on his face like you do.” Sprag pointed a finger at Casper, directed at the white patch on the center of his face, over his mouth and nose.

“I see…” Casper nodded, guess that meant there was someone he could relate to, despite it being such a small thing. “I’ll say hi to him when I see him.”

Rakkan continued to sleep.

As more and more time passed, Casper wondered how far the two traveled to get here. With minimal ways to entertain himself, boredom set it. So he took to staring out the window at the sights. Trees, trees, and more trees. Most buildings, swallowed whole by roots, or partially covered. Out in the Sea of Trees, time didn’t exist. In the distance, Casper could see what looked like a large rectangular building, jutting over the horizon. “Is that it?” Casper said, raising in his seat to possibly get little bit to get a better look.

At this distance, and through a reinforced glass window, it was hard to tell. Definitely looked like something that was made after the Bloom.

“Terminus on the horizon!” Vram shouted in a rare moment of her raising her voice, “Taking shortcut, hold on to something!” Without any further warning, she swiftly turned and crashed through a forest of thin, brittle Jinmenju; the world destroying trees took on many forms, the most common being the building sized trees, with their multitude of crawling roots. But, what they were now driving through, was a forest of thin, purple colored trees. More like very tall grass instead of trees, all of them were crushed and pushed aside by the might of the ATV. The ride wasn’t any more frantic or chaotic, but not it had the addition of a consistent crunching sound. Casper, like a scared and annoyed child, clung to Rakkan’s shirt to keep himself from, once again, being through asunder. Rakkan stayed put, a stalwart anchor even in his sleep.

“Who taught you to drive…?” Casper groaned.

Sprag, now with her seatbelt on, jittered up and down rapidly, enjoying the bumpiness of the ride. “She taught herself! Been behind a wheel since she was out of the womb!”

“Vramosa, you could have just taken the path you took to get here? You don’t have to go through the forest!” Cho finally spoke up, scolding the Bear.

Vramosa had the same calm, sleepy smile on her face, navigating the brittle forest. Not taking her eyes off the road, she hummed, taking a hand off the wheel to place it to her mouth as she quietly laughed, “I could yes.” The dashboard in front of her had a multitude of switches and buttons. The ATV lacked a rearview mirror, instead going for a camera on various angles to give the driver an optimal view of their surroundings. Vram took a look at it, then shouted to Sprag, “Sprag? We got company. An Amalgamate on our tail.”

“You’re working me to the bone today, aren’t you?” Sprag complained in jest. She removed her seatbelt and began to rummage through a lockbox just below her chair. “Alright, Sphynx! You can stay comfy and keep that gun of yours nice and cold! I got this!” The Squirrel finally pulled out a large rifle, a grenade launcher to be more specific. Possessing a large revolver styled chamber. Stuck to it were several stickers and decals. “Now this is a real gun! 6 chambers, custom built stock for a small girl like me! Energy magic based power system! Armament based ammo provided by yours truly!” Sprag held her hand to the chamber, her hand crackling with magic energy. The Squirrel lovingly caressed the gun. “Oh Theodore~ How you turn me on!”

“Open the back door and let the pint sized idiot do her thing!” Cho said to Vramosa, doing his best to restrain his insults.

With a nod, Vramosa pressed a button on the dashboard and the back of the ATV opened up. With Vramosa’s driving, the thinforest had a massive empty line behind them. Like a combine through a field of wheat, there was nothing but torn down trees. Then, there it was, first appearing as a non-descript green blob, its details grew more apparent as it grew closer. A large, car sized Amalgamate, resembling a sickly green jellyfish. Several long tentacles lined its body. “Looks like we must’ve disturbed its hunting grounds. I was sure we cleared the Amalgamates out of the area when Terminus parked. Guess we missed a spot.”

“Hunting grounds?” Casper asked.

“Doesn’t matter! I shoot! Cover your ears everyone!” Sprag screeched as she fired a shot from her grenade launcher without any more hesitation. A manic grin was spread on her face. The launcher fired a small, oblong projectile with a subtle thump sound. Then, on impact with the Amalgamate’s center of mass, it exploded in a bright, particularly loud, multicolored explosion. The Amalgamate made a loud, but quieter than the explosion, warbling sound. Even the trees around the explosion were bent and pushed by the force. The passengers of the car could feel the sheer force in their chests and ears. “Haha! Hells yeah! I added a bit of extra flair to it, what do you think, new guy?” Sprag said, looking to the Sphynx.

Casper had briefly removed his seatbelt and moved past the sleeping Rakkan; the most reaction the explosion warranted from him was a grunt in his sleep. “Are you normally like this?” Casper said, putting a finger to his ringing ear.

“No off switch? Yes.” Cho said, answering Sprag for him.

“We’re nearing Terminus. Forest is coming to a close.” Vramosa said, with a yawn. “The Amalgamate…”

The smoke cleared, to reveal the final results in the distance, nothing but green gibs. The Squirrel scoffed, resting her gun on her shoulder. “Just a lousy C-rank! Didn’t even need that much firepower.” She went back to sit down, gun rested in her lap. “What I would’ve given to use Theodore against the Artist. But you guys already took care of that.”

As the group collectively relaxed and took it easy, with the immediate threat gone, the ATV made it to the end of the small woodland. A small, steady incline was their last stretch of road. There it was. Looking over a small town, a towering bulwark of metal. Shaped similarly to the ATV, blocky and simplistic, but as big as cruise ships of old; if cruise ships were land bound that is. It was no ordinary building, with its gigantic treads that dug into the ground, each of them as large a house. The mobile base of the Sleepless Sky Coalition, Terminus, in all its glory.

“Wow…” Casper said, finally laying his eyes on the marvel of engineering. Never had he thought he’d be seeing it this close. If the world was a Sea of Trees, then Terminus was a battleship.

Steadily, for the first time since she started driving, Vramaso made her way towards the town beside Terminus. One of the Coalition’s many territories that they looked over. Providing protection from Amalgamates and ensuring the Empire couldn’t lay claim to the area. Rows and rows of cozy abodes, painted different colors. Their simple wooden appearances contrasted with the modern day, high tech appearance of Terminus.

“There’s another.” Cho bluntly spoke, looking out the window, then, his voice raised to the shout. “Hunter Killer! It’s in the sky!” There, in the sky, far above the ATV, was a simple white cone. No visible means of locomotion or propulsion. Just a simple shape, flying through the sky. The group, other than the sleeping Lion, took to a window to see it. Sprag in particular looked like she was edging towards the minigun in the center of the room. “…It’s flying away?”

On the lavender sky, the creature was nearly camouflaged. Sprag grumbled, smacking her seat, “We’ll get it next time. It’s out of range of us and Terminus.”

“Headed for the Weald most likely. What was it doing out here?” Vram sighed, then looked to the confused Casper. “It’s a… Hunter Killer is a recurring target of ours. Don’t worry. Hunting Amalgamates is our specialty.” She explained as she came closer and closer to the villages. Finally, she was driving at a normal pace. The streets were thankfully big enough for the car to go on through, with citizens making room for them. “What do you think Casper? About the town and Terminus that is. Not the Amalgamate.”

“Pretty incredible.” He said, watching the houses go by. But then his eyes locked onto Terminus.

He was finally here. His new home and his final destination. Where the Coalition made their home. To live their own life, away from the Empire’s rule. Many groups that shared a common goal. Terminus.