“What was that?” Scara asks, shivering as she clutches the table as the ship rocks beneath us.

“Either an attack, or that sandstorm spits lasers. Which I suppose could also be considered an attack,” I reply, watching as another series of energetic flashes fly right for us, the ship shudders with every hit. They might look like laser blasts, but they sure aren’t storm troopers shooting at us.

“Attack? Beasts?” Scara asks.

“An ambush, they were hiding in the storm.” Vii says, her voice grave but her eyes shining, not even blinking as if to capture every second of this moment.

Three distant silhouettes race out of the storm, barely visible from our altitude, they move so fast that I’m not even sure if their feet touch the ground as they approach far faster that should be possible. The three quickly separate as spears and arrows come flying at them from the deck above us, but even then, they do not slow.

Even in their advance, dodging and blocking arrows and spears, they don’t stop their own attack. Flashes of red light bursting up at us from the central figure, rocking the ship with each powerful hit.

Another fires some form of bright green lance at us, sending tremendous quakes through the floor beneath our feet, though these attacks come less frequently.

The third figure, easily lost in the deadly light show, doesn’t seem to be attacking yet.

“They’re powerful,” Vii whispers in worry, as the rest of the enemies show themselves, sending gasps through those watching beside us.

Behind the three figures comes marching an army, creatures diverse as they are numerous, all charging right for us. Countless attacks sent flying towards the ship from this giant blob of enemies, but the attacks are slower and weaker than those of the two that they follow. Most of the attacks don’t glow with the same energy, arrows, spears, spikes, fireballs, ice, and all other sorts of projectiles scatter upon the shimmering barrier before even nearing the hull of the ship.

“At least the ship seems well defended,” Vii says, her voice cracking slightly.

“I somehow doubt that they came here without expecting this much resistance,” I reply, watching the three figures getting closer, they seem far more dangerous than the army that follows them.

“What should we do? What do we do?” Scara asks.

“Nothing to do. We’re not fighters.” Vaunt is finishing off his meal without seeming much bothered, his feet made of twisted roots holding sturdy to the ground where the rest of us are struggling to hold our balance.

Around the room students are panicking, running around, hiding under tables, and shouting with manic energy. Even the staff of the café are showing signs of concern now, as unaffected as they seemed to be up until now.

“Settle down.” A tall elvish man, armband labelling him a teacher, tries to calm the group, largely unsuccessfully. “The defensive enchantments will hold.”

“What about the students down there?” I ask quietly, looking down at the students who are cowering below, with how the ship stalled at its current height, they’re not going to board in the next few minutes.

“There’s a teacher down there with them…” Vii says, looking down the same as I.

“Would a teacher be able to handle that?” Just as I ask another attack slams into the side of the ship sending us rocking, tables and chairs sliding into screaming students and struggling teachers.

I try to ignore it, clutching at the window as I watch the three figures close in on us.

A grey, rocky humanoid, the one that hadn’t been shooting at us, disappears underneath the ship before I can even get a good look at him. A few moments later the floor disappears from under my feet, falling so fast that we can’t catch up to it for a few seconds, all as the world outside races up at us.

Then, the freefall stops.

I hit hard against the ground, like the rest of the room. Vii, is almost an exception, her wings spread wide to catch herself before a chair falls and hits her shoulder sending her sprawling beside me. The sound of everyone and everything suddenly slamming into the ground again is enough to cover the screams of those crushed in the chaos.

“Vii, you okay?” I ask, throwing the chair aside.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m okay.” She repeats, hugging her wings close and shuffling her feathers in irritation. The others nearby seem to be alright, though Scara seems more panicked now that she doesn’t have a table to support her.

Whatever magic or engine it is that’s keeping this ship flying, I pray to whichever alien gods are listening that it doesn’t break. Before we have chance to properly settle in, the second of those dangerous figures makes itself known outside our window.

The shimmering defences that were defending against the attacks of the army pops like a bubble as she bursts through it.

A red skinned woman, wearing clothes made of leather and fur, and with large, curled horns rising from a little above her brow. At least a foot in length, even twisted as they are, the white horns don’t seem to bother her at all, her chin raised high as she looks down at us from an even height.

She, a crimson ogre according to my brain chip, calmly hovers in the air just a little shy of our window.

“Hello, younglings.” She calls out to us as she flicks away a few glowing arrows. The speed and energy of the attacks are beyond anything I’d expected, striking into the earth with massive explosions. Yet, she’s unharmed.

“My, my. How truly civilised of you.” She lifts a handful of knives, each glowing with such power that to compare them to the earlier arrows would be like holding a candle to the sun. Quick as a flash she throws them at the defenders above us, the knives turning into red lasers as I watch. A few screams tell that the defenders haven’t made it through uninjured.

“I’m just here to make an invitation of my own.” She says, floating over to the closed entrance to our deck. “Rock, if you would.”

Wood isn’t meant to tear, yet, as those giant stone fingers pry open the door to our little room, I hear just that. Little by little, the wood splits and splinters. I stare, blinkingly at the chiselled face that’s soon revealed.

“Good work.” The woman says, giving him a pat on the back.

The two enter through the splintered entrance, as the ramp is casually tossed to the ground, now not so distant below us. Hot air washes in through the room no longer sealed shut.

Behind them a battle rages, some defenders from the ship having leapt down to engage the army. Yet, for some reason, we’ve been left to our own devices.

At first, I expect the teachers to intercept them, defend us, or maybe try and get us out of here. Instead, they shift about, looking as frightened as their students. The café staff seem the most unaffected as they rush about righting tables and aiding the wounded.

No one seems ready to stand up to the intruders.

“So, as I was saying. I’m here to invite you to a far superior institution.” Says the woman, herby known as Horny Red. “The education you’ll be getting from these fools won’t do you any good. Come with me if you want to become strong.”

The students are all frozen, eyes locked on the strange pair that has forced their way into the ship.

So, more kidnappers, kidnapping us from the kidnappers? I don’t have room in my head for another brain chip.

Sometimes the best plan is to keep your head down. While I’m not particularly fond of the faction that has picked us up, the way this peculiar pair is acting has me hesitating to go throwing my lot in with them.

“No one?” The woman asks, looking through us for reaction. “Well, I suppose we could just grab a few of you, kill the rest, maybe. What do you think, Rock?”

Well, this isn’t looking good. I look between the other students, teachers, and staff, trying to figure out whether anyone is going to act.

They aren’t.

Before the strange assailants can start picking people off, I drastically change plans.

My new objective: Stalling for time.

The fighting outside suggests that there are still some defenders that might come to help us out. Maybe.

At this point a tough gamble is still better than rolling over obediently. I am not a pet, even if I’ve been chipped, and probably registered.

“Ah, hello,” I say politely, taking a few steps nearer, “Do you mind if I ask a few questions?”

If they’re going to act like there isn’t a war going on outside, then heck, I might as well play pretend with them.

“Oh, volunteering?” She asks.

“Uh, not quite.” I shake the ‘device’ mark on my hand, “This thing translating properly?”

“Yes, yes, I un-der-stand you.” She rolls her eyes, speaking slowly.

“Well then, my name is Kyra.” I smile and wave my hand towards her, overly exaggeratedly, “You are?”

She blinks at me, glancing back to the massive fight going on outside. I don’t move, watching her closely.

“No?” Stay as ‘Horny Red’ then bitch, “Well, I don’t know about anyone else here, but I don’t know your name, I don’t know why you’re fighting, and I’m not even quite sure if you’re threatening us or not.”

“Huh? You don’t know much, do you?”

“Nope.” I reply, meeting her eyes, “So, what are you offering exactly? What have you got against… these guys?”

“Freshman to the realms,” Horny Red says with a smile, “Okay, nice and simple then. The Unified States time is over, they’ve grown weak and complacent, unable to protect their people from the threats around us. I am here to offer you, instead, a place among us, to grow strong, and to stand on your own amongst peers the same.”

“Aaand, if we don’t want to free dive off of a ship in flight, and into a battlefield?” I ask, gesturing to the ongoing fight, and the 100 m fall, “I don’t have wings, and I’m also rather fragile.”

“You’ll be fine, besides, it’s better a free fall than crushed in the crash.” She shrugs, “You guys are just a bonus, we came to crush the ship. We lose nothing if you all want to stay and die.”

“So, death or death. Great.”

“What? You want me to carry you down like a princess?” Horny Red replies sarcastically, “If you want to be strong sometimes you’ve got to jump, unless you want to end up as a soulless slave like the rest of these idiots.”

“Slave, huh?” I can’t quite hide my expression as I gently touch at the mark on the back of my hand.

“You can only have true freedom if you gain the strength to take it.” She says, lifting a closed fist and looking over us with a fire in her eyes, “So, who here wants to be free?”

“That guy, probably” I shrug, pointing to the third of the attackers while thanking my lucky stars.

During our conversation, the battle outside had become decided. A tall, black-scaled lizardman fighting against the attackers has managed to corner the last of the three elites, holding him up by the throat, and digging a dagger works through his guts.

“Damnit, Grant!” The red skinned woman throws a knife at the lizardman but it bounces off of his scales leaving only a small smoking mark.

“Rock, help Grant. I’ll deal with the ship.” The stone skinned man is already charging before she can finish. Red doesn’t even look back at us before leaping out and flying up.

Grant, either dead or seriously wounded, is thrown to the ground as the lizardman turns to meet the stone man. I have no clue which one is more likely to win, but I’m not in position to help in any case.

“Well, they seemed nice.” I say, righting my seat and watching the fight through the window. A searing heat continues washing in through the busted door and sand starts to fly in as the storm nears.

“Why? Why did you do that?” Asks Scara, her eyes open wide as she stares at the battle.

The rock man throws punches and tries to get in close to grapple the black scaled lizardman, however the fight doesn’t go so easy. The lizardman kicks himself away, throwing a few blades of ice at the rock man, while summoning a frozen spear.

Without the same reach, the rock man struggles to approach.

“Better than waiting for them to choose our fates,” I reply, “Though, we’re lucky he’s here. He is on our side, right?”

“I think so,” Cheri says, looking only slightly dishevelled. The quickness of his hands, and the flickering motion of his eyes showing that he too has been unsettled by all this.

“Weren’t you scared?” Scara asks, her eyes still wide with shock.

“Between the general buzz in the air, the anxiety of getting on this ship, the pain of the ‘realm shifts’, and my general confusion, I’m not entirely sure what I’m feeling at the moment. I’m just going with the flow and pretending that everything is just fine.” I say, suppressing the shaking in my hands by leaning against the window.

A few seconds more pass and the sirens play throughout the ship again.

“Oh, looks like we’re leaving.” I say, the battle outside still lively as the freeze consumes my insides.

“I hope everyone left behind will be okay.” I say, looking over at Vii who’s madly scribbling something in a little red notebook.

Of course, it is this moment that the ship begins to sink again. Slowly at first, just a slight dip in my stomach followed by the ground falling out from under me again.

“Well, shitballs.”

Tables and people start floating into the air as we fall, a brief glance out the window tells me that we are near to the surface of whatever planet we’ve jumped to. It takes me only a few moments to kick myself over to the shattered door of the ship and dive out of the doomed vessel into the new world and a freefall that will probably kill me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Classes & Skills

~Fire Magic: Grade 1

Current Goal: Complete a mana-fire conversion.

Warning: Your mana form is too underdeveloped to take the next step in this class.

~Mana Form: Grade 1

Current goal: Develop your mana form.

Current mana density: 0 units