Lissa opened her eyes and sat straight up as the door to her room burst open. “Lis! Are you, oh, you are alright,” Mera and Mela exclaimed together while their eyes darted around the room. Lissa blinked the rapidly diminishing sleep from her mind, “What time is it?” Mera and Mela both blinked and then looked at her.

“That's the first question you ask? Not why we just barged into your room?” Mela asked while Mera giggled. “I assumed you would tell me, considering I just woke up,” Lissa countered while sitting up. She saw Mera and Mela both tense, ready to catch her. It was then that Lissa noticed her vertigo was much less intense than before. Lissa saw them both again flinch forward.

A wave of her hand stopped them, “I’m fine. That medicine really helped.” Mera and Mela looked at each other. “Umm, how much did you take?” Mela asked tentatively while Mera leaned out the doorway and waved someone off. “The entire flask Almios gave me, why?” Lissa answered, slightly confused. Mela cupped her face in her hands, “I told him only a quarter, only a quarter.” Mela sighed loudly and walked over to Lissa, slowly muttering under her breath the entire way.

As Mela came to rest in front of Lissa, she heard the door close, and Mera came over as well. “Alright, let’s do some tests. Follow my finger,” Mela said while holding out one finger and moving it slowly left, right, up, and then down. “Arms out, pull me towards you, and then push me away,” Mela said while gripping Lissa’s outstretched hands.

Lissa sighed and did as asked. Following a few more tests, Mela nodded, smiling, “Well, I don’t know whether I should thank that dunderhead or hit him for giving you the wrong dose. Either way, you are much better than before.” Lissa let out a contented sigh and looked to Mera and Mela, “So why did you barge into my room?”

Mera and Mela blinked, seemingly both forgot the original reason for being here until now. “Umm, well, a bit ago, one of the sentries reported a large flash of light coming from your window to your room. We suspected something happened, either you got hurt, were attacked, something bad at least,” Mela said while Lissa noticed both her and Mera had their breastplates on.“So you came running to make sure if I needed help, you could help me,” Lissa smiled and slid off the bed to the floor. Level with both Mera and Mela, she wrapped an arm around each and squeezed.

They both squeaked and let Lissa’s increasingly tighter hug hold them before Mera tapped out. “Need…to…breathe!” She wheezed out, and Lissa relented her grip sheepishly. Both gasped loudly for breath, “Sorry, didn’t mean to squeeze the life out of you both.” Mela waved off the apology, “It's alright. I probably would do the same thing if overnight the world stopped wobbling.” Mera glared at her sister, opened her mouth, and then shut it quickly, sighing.

“So, how far from the Capital are we?” Lissa asked while getting up to stretch. “We should be there in a few more hours, right?” Mela said while turning to Mera, who nodded. Lissa blinked, “Wait, what? How long was I asleep? How are we that close?” Mera smirked, “You do realize we are on an airship, right? We don’t need to stop and rest, plus they go a lot faster than horses or normal boats. But to answer your question, you slept about ten hours or so.”

Lissa took a deep breath before speaking, “Okay, where is our equipment? Where are we landing? What is the situation? Who….” Mela poked Lissa hard in the side, stopping her ramblings. “Enough, you need to eat, bathe, and then dress in that order. We don’t know any of that as the Captain is speaking with the Academy via mirror right now.” Mera took Lissa’s left hand and gingerly pulled her towards the door,” Let’s get you all taken care of now, okay?”

================================================================

It only took an hour for Lissa to become a person once more. Days of a near-constant stupor due to medicines and injuries will cause nearly anyone to be a bit neglectful. Clean, armed, and armored, Lissa stood with the others facing the wheelhouse of the ship. Captain Virstus stood appraising the seven-by-seven block of Emissaries. “We will be reaching the city shortly and landing in the parade grounds of the academy,” His eyes swept all of them. “Except for my crew, you are all to disembark immediately. We shall take care of any equipment or animals you brought onboard. I will now give you your orders.” What followed were confusing orders to Lissa’s mind.

Two groups were to immediately head to the Silverhelm Palace to rescue the remaining family. Three more were to reinforce the last remaining gate being used to evacuate the city. The last remaining group would immediately begin evacuating students to the ship. Lissa and the others were told to report directly to Commander Syan for orders. “Any questions?” Virstus asked after finishing. Lissa’s hand shot up immediately.

“What is your question, Emissary Callista?” Virstus said while nodding to her. “Sir, has the army been deployed to surround the city?” Quickly she put her hand down and saw a few others shoot down as well. “Yes, the army has been deployed, and so has the Imperial Legion. At least eight cohorts, from what I have been told,” Virstus’ answer took the breath from everyone. They all knew that one legionnaire could easily defeat an experienced team of Emissaries. What possible reason could eight hundred of them be doing in the city?

“The city is going to be purged, isn’t it, sir?” A squeaky-voiced Emissary asked. Lissa’s eyes locked on Virstus, and she knew everyone else was doing the same. Virstus pursed his lips, closed his eyes, and took a deep, slow breath, “Unless this outbreak is contained, more than likely it will be.”

“Sir, that is insane! This isn’t just some village. This is….!” Someone began to shout before Virstus glared at them. “This is not our call! We will do as ordered! We are not part of our birth nations anymore!” Virstus shouted, staring at each of them. “When you were chosen, you gave up those rights and obligations to become something more! Citizens of the Dominion as a whole! Do you want to fail your fellows and allow more needless deaths!?!”

They all stood quietly while Virstus paced, “You all have your tasks and are dismissed! We should be landing shortly.” Virstus walked down to the main deck and into his cabin, shutting the door loudly.

They all stood dumbstruck for a moment before someone broke the silence, “Gods above.” With the reverie broken, each group split off, forming their own cliques. Lissa and the others congregated around Micah, standing awkwardly to the ship’s port side.

“Well, should I stay on the ship?” He asked with a half-hearted chuckle. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Saida responded while leaning over the side of the ship. Lissa saw one hand reach up and rub her eyes. Darvick saw Lissa looking and came over while the others listened to Mera and Mela berate Micah on how stupid an idea staying on the ship was.

“She still hasn’t slept much,” Darvick said, just loud enough for Lissa to hear. “Do you think she will be okay?” Lissa asked while crossing her arms and glancing sidelong to Darvick. He shrugged, “She should be fine. I have seen her with less sleep, though I think she will get a lot better now that you are back to normal.”

Lissa snorted, “Normal by whose standards?” Darvick smirked, “Well, I don’t see you stumbling around and vomiting everywhere. So by my standards, that’s not normal. And here you are not doing any of those, so you are normal now.” Lissa turned her head to look at him directly. Darvick’s smile was ear to ear. “I hate you for being right,” Lissa said while tapping him on the head with a knuckle.

“I aim to please, though I have to ask you seriously about Micah,” Darvick said while his expression became grim. “I’m not sure. He won’t be taken back on the ship, and if the city does get purged, it won’t be safe for him to stay in the academy,” Lissa looked at the quickly passing clouds. “I don’t think he really has anywhere else to go besides wherever we go. At least then we can keep an eye on him.”

Darvick looked at her incredulously, “Protecting him from monsters, bandits, and other lowlifes is one thing but Gloomed? Are you insane?” Lissa looked back to Darvick, “What other choice do we have? If we leave him alone, who knows what will happen? I don’t! And I would rather not have to worry about my cousin being killed by Legionnaires!”

Lissa blinked. She didn’t realize she had been shouting until now. Turning to look, she saw everyone staring. “Lis, I’ll be fine,” Micah began while talking towards her. “Besides, I would only slow you down or get in the way of whatever you are doing.” Lissa knew he was right, but it didn’t make her feel any better.

“I know that, Micah, but I don’t think I would be able to live with myself if you died or got hurt where I couldn’t have done something,” She began to protest before someone put their hand on her shoulder.

“How about this then. We wait until we get our mission from Syan and then decide from there what to do?” Saida spoke from behind Lissa. Lissa nodded, “Probably would be the best thing to do.” She eyed everyone around her, “Sorry for yelling.” She saw Almios shrug, “It happens. If it were my family I would be worried too.” Everyone agreed they would do the same thing in short order. It was a relief that everyone understood her reaction, but it felt a bit overstated.

“Probably the enchantments being messed with,” Lissa whispered to herself. The pain that came from that statement and the accompanying thoughts wasn’t debilitating, but it was enough to make her wince. “You alright?” Saida asked while guiding Lissa to lean on the rail. “Yeah, just a spike of pain. I’m not back to full strength just yet, but getting better,” Lissa responded and leaned over and looked down to the speeding land below them.

“Copper for your thoughts?” Saida asked after a few moments of silence. Lissa turned to look at her and saw a sincere smile on Saida’s face. “I am just wondering what we are going to be doing. The others already have their assignments, but why not us?” Lissa said while absentmindedly running her finger along the railing. Saida shrugged, “Probably has to do with Syan thinking you are still in somewhat bad shape. Maybe she wants to assess you before sending us out?” Lissa nodded. It made sense, after all.

Saida took in a deep breath and opened her mouth but stopped confusion settling on her face. She took another deep breath and then another, “Do you smell that?” Lissa was confused for a moment and took a deep breath as well. A faint scent came to the fore. It smelled like smoke, “Yes? Maybe there is a fire below us somewhere?” Lissa’s mind went back to what Inalize showed her. Parts of the city in flames, the death all around, maybe it was genuine.

Before either of them could say anything further, the lookout on the bow whistled sharply and called out, “Fetch the Captain!” Another crewman heeded the call and ran towards Virstus’ quarters. Meanwhile, everyone still on the deck ran towards the bow. Lissa came to a halt a meter from the railing and strained to see what the lookout spotted. Virstus arrived a moment later and snatched the spyglass from the lookout. His angry expression turned to shock as he found what he was looking for. Lissa noticed a faint glow from the spyglass’ eyepiece. Without another word, she knew what had been seen. The city was burning.

================================================================

Virstus quickly ordered everyone to get ready for landing immediately. It didn’t take long for nearly everyone to have their gear sitting within reach on the deck. The weather seemed to match the dark mood that fell over everyone. The clouds grew thick and black as the city grew closer. It hadn’t taken long for people to make out the lights of fires without a spyglass.

Soon without anything to do but sit and wait, Lissa decided to practice and loosen her muscles. This led to others joining her in a pseudo formation—hand-to-hand combat drills, weapon drills, and stretches. The exercises came to a screeching halt as the distant flapping of wings caught everyone’s attention.

Lissa knew what the flapping meant. Wyverns were coming. Virstus strode across the deck, “I want all your weapons stowed away now! I do not want any reason for the wyverns or their riders to immolate us, understood!?!” The chorus of acknowledgments nearly drowned out the humming of the crystals for a moment.

Lissa watched the group of six wyverns approaching two flew below deck and out of sight. Three circled the ship itself, the beasts and their riders eyeing everyone warily. The last one, most likely the leader, made to land on the deck itself. Everyone scrambled to get out of the way while the massive beast touched down. The ship lurched and fell for a moment as the weight settled onto it.

“What do I owe the pleasure of a visit by the Wyvern Corp?” Virstus asked while calmly walking towards the landed Wyvern. “The air above Silvercrest has been declared a no-fly zone to general traffic. What is your purpose here, captain?” The rider replied coldly. Their armored covered face turned to look at Virstus. “I am here as ordered by the Commander of the Academy to deliver reinforcements and begin evacuation procedures.”

Lissa saw some of the tension in the rider’s shoulders leave. “Good, in that case, we shall escort you down to the landing site in the parade grounds,” The rider looked at Virstus, and even though Lissa couldn’t see their eyes, she knew they were glaring. “Do not attempt to break away from us, or we will be forced to destroy this ship. Understood, Captain?” Virstus nodded, “Completely, shall we be underway?” The rider didn’t acknowledge Virstus’ words but spurned the beast to take off. Lissa saw a few others along with herself breathe a sigh of relief. Virstus turned to the wheelhouse, “You heard them follow them into our landing site!”

================================================================

The journey to the Academy grounds was grim. It hadn’t taken long to get within the thick of the smoke from the fires in the city. Occasionally massive explosions could be seen in presumably overrun districts as holdouts immolated themselves and their attackers.

What she had been shown by Inalize was only a tiny fracture of the magnitude of this disaster. The districts closest to the river were smoldering ash, and burned-out ship hulks sat listlessly in the docks. The central east to west road running through the city was clogged with debris and bodies. “This is horrible,” Mela said, her voice nearly drowned out by the rushing air around the ship as it descended.

Lissa agreed, but the sights in front of her stole her words. The academy itself was a hive of activity as students, apprentices, faculty, and other emissaries ran about completing various tasks. OWLs hovered around the walls and entrances to the Academy grounds, their glowing aquamarine eyes sweeping everywhere. Occasionally one would screech and fly to the ground, having spotted someone that was infected. Soon enough, their target would be killed, and then they would return to their position.

Lissa watched the reactions of those below in the academy as the ship started its descent properly. The children and a few apprentices gawked until their caregivers shepherded them along. The faculty and other emissaries meanwhile glanced at the ship once before going about their business once more.

The ship’s escorts quickly broke off and headed away from the academy grounds. “Brace for landing!” one of the crewmen shouted as the ship neared the ground. Lissa quickly bent her knees just enough to absorb the mild shock as the flat keel hit the dirt.

Lissa narrowly avoided being shoved by the crew. Who rushed both to port and starboard sides of the ship to drop the ramps and open the holds. It took less than a minute for the first ramp to fall, and everyone flooded off the ship. The groups with their assignments already peeling off to complete their tasks. Lissa and the others, meanwhile, ambled to the Academy itself. They knew where Syan’s office was and were in no rush to get inside.

Lissa eyed the guards at the entrance and gave them a nod of acknowledgment as they passed. Lissa saw she wasn’t the only one to do a double-take as they walked through the doors into the entrance hall. Barricades were erected, blocking direct access to each wing and hallway. OWLs were embedded into the walls above each barrier, their eyes locking onto everyone for a moment before passing them over.

“Wow, didn’t expect this,” Mera muttered while heading towards Syan’s office. “I don’t think you will have to worry about my safety, Lis,” Micah added a moment later, trailing behind everyone. Lissa was silent as she thought about the situation. She understood why the Academy building was fortified as it had the portal to Volamire inside. But the level of security was absurd. Why have all these OWLs on the inside? It would be rather apparent if a Gloomed person got into the building. Lissa shook her head and sighed. Whoever made the decision obviously had a reason.

The walk to Syan’s office was short, and they all stopped a few meters from the door. Two fully armed Legionnaires stood on either side—their fully armored bodies not allowing anyone to guess their gender, race, or emotional state. “State your business,” The one on the left side said in a monotone. “We were told to report to Commander Syan by Captain Virstus,” Lissa replied while trying to get a read on each of the Legionnaires. “One moment,” The one on the right side while quickly disappearing through the door. The one on the left stepped in front of the door and stood impassively while they waited.

Thankfully the wait wasn’t long, and soon enough, the other Legionnaire stepped back out and held the door for them. “She is waiting,” They said again in that monotone voice. As they all shuffled into Syan’s surprisingly cramped office, Lissa couldn’t help but reflexively flinch away from them. She knew given the correct orders, they would quickly kill all of them.

Syan stood hunched over her desk, reports and drawn on maps littered it. “Good you have arrived. I was told your monster hunt was successful but not without severe injuries. Do you believe yourselves able to perform tasks at this time?” Her question came without her even glancing to look at them.

Lissa stepped forward, “I believe so, ma’am.” Syan looked up at Lissa appraisingly, “Callista Narto, weren’t you heavily injured on your mission?” Lissa nodded, “I was indeed, ma’am. But due to the wonderfully trained Healers in my group, I made a speedy and full recovery.” Syan glanced at Mera and Mela, “So it seems. You can all relax for a moment. I just need to finish reading this report before I inform you of your assignment.”

Lissa blinked and looked at the others. They were just as confused as she was. The awkward situation stretched on before Syan pushed the report aside and walked around her table. “My first question to all of you is, do you know the extent of this situation?” Syan asked while putting her hands behind her back. “Just the basics, ma’am. A very different sort of Gloom outbreak has occurred, and we are struggling to contain it,” Darvick responded, and Syan gave a slight nod.

“That is indeed the basics. But a crucial missing piece was there are, for lack of a better term, ‘powered’ Gloomed among the infected. They are highly dangerous, heal grievous injuries in mere moments, and manipulate Aether in a way that mimics most enhancements we have.” Syan pursed her lips. “We have managed to kill most of these ‘powered’ Gloomed with only one that we know of remaining.” Syan stared at each of them for a moment before continuing.

“This ‘powered’ individual is a little girl who has thus far killed every team sent after her,” Syan said while her face went grim. “What? Ma’am, with all due respect, how can a little girl kill Emissaries?” Saida asked incredulously. “Quite easily when she can throw a brick with enough force to put a hole through a wyvern’s hide,” Syan said, staring at Saida. Lissa looked down, her mind going back again to what she saw with Inalize. That girl smiling after killing a wyvern with the pillar. Syan stepped in front of Lissa, “Do you have something to add?”

Lissa shook her head, “No, ma’am, I was just surprised by this information. I don’t believe any of us were trained to deal with this.” Syan sighed in possible relief, “After the casualties, we have suffered, you won’t be dealing with them. Your task is to find this little girl and then send up a signal light to allow Legionnaires to come and eliminate this threat.” Syan’s gaze swept over them all once again, “Do you understand?”

“We understand, ma’am,” Lissa responded along with the others. “Though I do have a question, ma’am, we have an adjutant with us,” Lissa added quickly while gesturing to Micah. “I see,” Syan said while stepping towards Micah, “Adjutant do you see yourself capable of assisting them in this matter?” Micah, caught off guard by the sudden attention, stammered, “I...I believe so, ma’am.”

“Are you capable of following the instructions of this group to the letter?” Syan asked while stepping even closer. “I...Yes ma’am. I have worked with them before and will do whatever they ask of me.” Micah again stammered out. Growing increasingly uncomfortable with the further attention. Syan turned abruptly, causing Micah to step back in surprise.

“Then Callista, I see no reason why he couldn’t accompany you and provide support. If you disagree with my assessment, tell me now, and I shall find something for him to do,” Syan said while stepping back in front of the group. Lissa looked to Saida and then to the rest, “I don’t believe that will be a problem, ma’am.” Syan nodded, “Good, in that case, back to business.” Syan strode back to her desk and beckoned them all towards her. While they gathered around Lissa. She saw for just a moment a casualty report that shocked her. Dozens of Emissaries had already died. Syan quickly covered it up and brought out a map of Silvercrest.

Half a dozen districts were covered in black hashes. Some were marked in red, others yellow, and then finally, a scant few were white. “Black denotes fully destroyed districts, red districts are overrun, yellow is contested, and white is firmly in our control, and no Gloomed is present,” Syan said, pointing to each in turn. “The little girl was last seen near the temples in the northwestern-most district. Initially, we were worried she would attempt to scale the wall and break out. But that hasn’t occurred as of yet, but Legionnaires are waiting near that area to intercept if that happens.”

Syan looked up at them, “Another disturbing but unconfirmed report is that for whatever reason, they are storing uninfected in one of the temples in that district, so your best bet is to check those first.” Lissa blinked a few times before meeting Syan’s gaze. Before she could respond, Garza beat her to it, “Wait, they aren’t infecting people? Why? That has never happened before.” Syan shrugged, “As I said, unconfirmed if that is the case or if they are just dragging them off to be infected elsewhere. Though why they would do that when this strain corrupts you within minutes of infection are unknown.”

“How would you advise us getting to this district, ma’am? It is deep in the red.” Almios asked while studying the map. “I suggest using the rooftops and the district walls to reach this area. But ultimately, how you get there is up to you. Any further questions?” Syan replied while standing straight. They all shook their heads. “Good, in that case, you are dismissed and may leave as soon as you are ready.”