Against the clock : Part one
“Better start talking and I mean fast, fore I start punching some holes.” The barrel of Senarre’s gun was digging into the man's chin, accompanied by a hastily manifested jagged black crystalline blade digging into his throat. The man said calmly, “Such a hostile response.” Senarre, nearing a shouting pitch, “What did you do to Paulida? Why do you have his sword guard!” The man, still speaking calmly, “I personally did not do anything to the one you call Paulida.” Senarre said back, “Enough cryptic bullshit, start speaking clearly, and I mean clear as fuckin’ day.” The man smiled maliciously, “Your friend is in a precarious situation as we speak. I can help you.” He looked over to Rosario, “You cast no shadow, Peculiar.” The man looked back at Senarre and said, “Your friend is at an undead spawning ground about 70 kilometers southwest of here.” The man mimicked looking down at a nonexistent watch and said, “From the looks of it, you've got a couple of hours before y'know." He stopped speaking and smiled, saying, “Bye-bye,” and disappeared into a cloud of black smoke. Rosario proceeded to hold his hand in front of his face, a pale glow lit his face, and the pair jumped out of their seats at the bar and ran out of the restaurant and onto the street.
“Call Vina!” Senarre shouted to Rosario as they ran towards the inn, “I'm already on it.” He ran with two fingers on his neck. A tired voice filled his ears, “Hello, Lorea, to what do I owe the pleasure this late in the night?” he shouted, “I need a ship, parasite, or something, anything that can get me somewhere fast.” The voice on the radio said, “I won't be able to pilot it for you, but there's one that's set to be scrapped in the EHI shipbreakers yard by the drydocks, shouldn't be locked, no one will miss it, its hull code should be 17-02 .” Rosario yelled back over the radio, “Thank you, I'll put in a good word with King Lorea or whatever the hell he calls himself.” The pair ran into the inn, almost trampling a person walking into the establishment. They burst into the room. Senarre threw on her jacket and grabbed her other pistol and backpack before sliding the shotgun into its main bag and pulling the bandage-covered rifle over her shoulder. Rosario threw on the patchwork jacket and grabbed his sword from the edge of the bed.
Rosario threw his jacket over the barbed wire on the fence and climbed over. Senarre tossed her rifle and backpack over to him before climbing up and over herself. They ran feet, crunching on packed snow through a series of ship hulls in various stages of disassembly. A large hull, the top of its deck about 12 meters off the ground, came into view, a rope ladder hung from the side, and in large bolded letters painted on the side was “17-02.” Rosario stopped running and pointed at the ship and said, “This one.” They hastily scrambled up the ladder and onto the deck. They ran for the door, descending the four steps down into the cabin, a seat with dials and gauges in front of it sat in front of a large domed window. “Can you fly, Lorea?” He ran over and clicked on a button that began spooling the engines. “I can promise you a takeoff but not a landing,” his voice bore a slight tremble. She said, throwing all of her stuff onto the floor. “Good enough, we'll solve that problem when we get there.” A whirring shook the ship, and the lights flickered and then stayed turned on. Rosario pulled out the seat in front of the window, and it slid back on a track. He pointed to a seat folded in and attached directly to the wall. He climbed into the seat on a track and slid it forward. A row of buttons in front of him lit up. He pressed the one that said “Disconnect GRND,” followed immediately by the one that said “IGN L,” followed by the one that read “IGN R.” The whirring of the engines sped up again. He tapped the little gauge that read “COOLANT %.” The little needle rose and then fell before settling at 37%. He yelled, “Batteries shot, I have to start it on its own power. Hold on.” Thumbed a series of buttons and yelled out, “Sit down.” He flicked a switch on the right-hand side that read T-O-L and eased the throttle forward with his right hand while pulling on the halfwheel that was attached to the floor between his legs. The ship whined like bending metal and woke up fully lit with all sorts lit up within the hull, revealing a small kitchenette at the back of the tube in which they were. And a ladder down a small hatch. He eased up on the Halfwheel, and the ship pulled upwards, jolting like an elevator. The ship pivoted upwards, pointing the glass cockpit window to the sky, and he said, “Let's do this then.” The ship lurched forward with speed. He took his hand off the throttle and put them both on the halfwheel, leveling out the craft after a short while. Senarre said, “Are we in the air yet?” He turned to look at her. She looked quite dreadful.
“Are you okay?” Rosario said to her, she said back, trying not to throw up, “All good, just a new experience.” They were gliding over the city smoothly. He said, “It's beautiful from here.” The lights stretched as far as the eye could see. He looked to the compass mounted on the instrument panel and turned the wheel, orienting the ship to the northwest. A small panel with a spinning green needle lit up, showing all the other air traffic in the immediate vicinity. A crackling on a radio said, “Attention unauthorized aircraft, please ground immediately for inspection.” Rosario ignored it, then a banging came from the entrance hatch, a gentle knock at first, followed by rapid pounding. Senarre undid her seatbelt uneasily, getting to her feet and drawing one of her guns before Rosario said, “What's that?” She said cockily, “Visitors.” She climbed up the stairs and placed one hand on the handle of the door, and readied the weapon in the other. She opened the door, and a small figure ran in and buried its face in her chest and began hugging her. “Big sis, I thought I was gonna die,” cried Kian. She said under her breath, “Shit.” She stowed her pistol back beneath her jacket and said, “We got visitors all right.” Rosario turned around to see her and Kian standing there. Kian meekly squeezed out a “Hi.” Rosario turned back around and said, “shit, Vina is gonna kill us.” A voice on the radio said in a stern voice, “Land or you will be fired upon.” He picked up the mouthpiece of the radio and said, “Sorry, officer, I can't understand you, too much interference.” The voice on the radio said, “You will be fired upon.” The little spinner that displayed all of the nearby traffic lit up with two smaller dots moving fast towards the tag read 17-02 Rosario pushed down on the Halfwheel, bringing the ship closer to the ground, causing a small speaker embedded in the instrument panel to begin saying in a monotone voice “TERRAIN TERRAIN TERRAIN PULL UP.” Sennare said, “Why are we going down?” He said, speaking fast, “I'm lowering it cause they won't shoot if they can cause collateral damage.” Another voice came clicking on the radio, “Attention recreational 17-02, this is Col. Hernandez on behalf of Dreynas Carrier. Imperfect Answer. This is your final warning; you will be fired upon by fighters if you do not heed this warning.”
Tracer fire arced past the window. After a few seconds, it repeated another pause, more fire. This time, the ship shook violently. “They hit us, do they not care about the damn people beneath us?” Rosario shouted, and another stream of fire came. The ship shook violently once more. Senarre said, “Let me try something.” Rosario shouted back, “Put on one of those and hook it to the hull if you're going out there.” He briefly pointed to a box on the side of the wall that said Harnesses. Senarre pulled one out and slid her legs into the leg holes before pulling it up and putting her arms through the holes, and snapping together the harness on her abdomen with a buckle. A small stretchy piece of cord hung from the front with a hook to connect to the tracks outside of the ship. She grabbed the white bandaged rifle and threw it over her arm. She turned the handle and opened it, and stepped out, hooking the track on the ground with the hook from the harness. Another string of tracer fire rang out, flashes illuminating the two aircraft giving chase to the 17-02. The craft shifted under Senarre's feet, taking evasive motion. She assumed a shooting stance and ran a finger along the rifle, and said, “Let's see how you talk, little one.” She undid the knot holding the bandages on, causing them to flutter in the wind like a battle standard. She slid the bolt back, sending a round into the chamber, and looked down the sight. She said, “cmon, cmon show me where you are.” The pursuing crafts fired again, the muzzle flash revealing their bearings to Senarre. She aimed up from where the muzzle flash was located and pulled the trigger and said, “Dame Fortuna.” One of the pursuing suddenly went into a nose-dive, crashing into a ball of fire in an empty lot below. She pulled the bolt back again and prepared another shot. The muzzle flashes gave away the second opponent. The rounds from the pursuing craft plinked off the hull, causing her to lose footing for a moment.
She regained her footing and fired again; a shower of sparks flew out of the second pursuing craft, which consequently pulled up and broke off the chase. She pulled the rifle up the brake on the end of the barrel, steaming in the cold air, she ran two fingers across the body of the weapon and said “thank you, friend” before turning back and re-entering the cabin. She walked down the steps. Rosario, sitting in the pilot's seat, said more calmly now, “They broke off the chase, but we'll have to change the identifiers on the ship next time we go anywhere in Dreynas. Odds are they are going to file us as a stolen craft.” he pulled up on the Halfwheel, gently raising the ship. Kian sat there watching him intently. Senarre pulled down another Jump seat and sat down and said, “Where did you learn to fly an airship, some sort of thing they teach all nobles?” He turned back to her and wiped sweat off his forehead. “No, I'm deathly terrified of flying. I learned this shit from a damn reference book… well, the starting and takeoffs.” Kian spoke up meekly, saying, “You did well, but you handled the ship like a child playing with a toy.” Rosario turned to him, “Can you do better?” He shook his head and said, “Likely, big sis Vina makes me sit and learn everything for hours on end, even makes me do simulator flights… she's mean whenever I can't pull off a flawless landing, she makes me eat double the vegetables for the day.” Rosario clicked a button on the instrument panel and slid the seat back, and stood up, his legs trembling Senarre said “if you're terrified of flying why did you pull this off” Rosario slightly flustered said "I've only been with you and Paulida for like what two weeks, tops, but I've really come to like you both to the point of something bad happening to one of you was more terrifying than flying” She paused unsure how to respond to his comment before she cleared her throat and said “what should we do about our stowaway?” they both turned to look at kian sitting on his jumpseat in unison they said “Why are you here” Kian Bashfully said "I've been following you guys since you left the facility… What was that spell you used, big bro Rouge?” Rosario visibly cringed and said, “ok, so three things first, my name is not Rouge, second, my name is Rosario, and third, it was detoxification.” Kian smiled and said, “said you are Lorea, are you not?” Rosario shook his head, affirming yes, and Kian said, “Lord Lorea speaks very highly of you.” he thought for a moment, “Lord Lorea?” Rosario said shortly, “Just call me Rosario.” Kian, still smiling, said, “You and Lord Lorea are very much alike.”
“You've met him?” Kian nodded and pulled the short sword from his back. “He gave me this,” he pulled the blade slightly from the sheath, and it glinted in the electric lights. “May I?” Rosario held out his hand, and Kian handed over the sword. Rosario pulled it all the way out of the sheath. A small carving on the base of the blade had a crest carved into it, a laurel wreath with a flower in the center. Rosario held up the blade to the light and held out his hand. He created a small layer of black shards in the palm of his hand. Senarre said, “Is that?” He smiled at her and looked back at the blade. The black crystals, despite being held slightly away from the blade, jumped to it, and they immediately took the form of the edge “silversteel.” Both Rosario and Senarre said in unison. “Big sis Vina told him not to encourage me, but he had the forgemasters make it for me anyway.” Rosario leaned back in his jump seat. “Yeah, that sounds like Ryvr to me. I need to remember to grill him about giving us probably the worst fake names of all time.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
He pressed on the ring at his neck and said, “Hello, Vina? Hello?” he heard only static. “Looks like we're out of range.” Rosario stood up and went to look at the instrument panel again, the little dial that read “COOLANT.” Read out 32% before dropping to 31%. He held his hand over his face and said, “shit.” Senarre said, “What's wrong?” he frowned and said, “Coolant is leaking. I'd bet we got shot in some line or something. He leaned over and lowered the throttle control a little bit. “We'll be able to fly, but we have to be slower. If we run everything too hot, we will boil off the rest of our coolant and probably either melt in here when the reactor melts through its casing, or just explode when the engines can't take the heat anymore.” She was rhythmically tapping her foot on the floor and said “we dont have time for this” Rosario said back “dont worry we’ll make it if my math is correct we should be there in less than 6 hours” He reached back over the instrumentation panel and the pushed the red button that said “HEATER” he walked back over to the jumpseat and said “I turned off the heater so its gonna get cold in here but hopefully the colder temperatures should extend the amount of time our coolant can hold out for”
Kian leaned over and said, “Big bro Lore- Rosario, let me fly when we get to wherever you need to go, and I'll find some water to refill the coolant. It won't fix the damaged lines, but after you do what you need to do, we can try to fix it.” Rosario exhaled deeply, “If you can land it, yeah, go crazy. I took off, but I don't think I can land it.” Senarre spoke up and said, “So if you're here, why is the ship holding itself steady in one direction?” He stood up and began walking about the cabin. “Most crafts have a pseudo autopilot that just holds them going in one direction. Another fun fact about Airships is that, before the advent of sealstone-based power solutions, they used an actual Mage to fly them, powering it with their own mana and acting as a pilot.” He walked back to the small kitchenette at the back of the cabin, past the stairs leading up and out onto the deck, and opened a small Refrigerator and turned his head upwards to see a small glowing blue circle resembling a snowflake “Fridge still works” he turned to the side seeing a small stove and oven combo four circles comprised of interlocking wave like patterns stood intact. He turned a dial attached to the stove, and one of the little circles produced a small red flame. “Stove works too.” He looked over to Senarre and said, “Wanna check out what's in the lower cabin?” Kian interjected and said, “I volunteer.” Rosario said back to him shortly, “I want you to stay up here and watch the flight from the mana sensation I felt Vina gave off, and yours. I feel like I can trust you to get us where we need to go.” Kian craned his head like a housecat and said, “Mana sensation?” Senarre said back to him while turning the hatch, “It's a thing we can do, don't know why or how, I think I was born this way, but he’s only got it recently so maybe its a prerequisite to be met or something id imagine a doctor or perhaps someone who knows more about the body could probably explain it better”
She slid down the ladder and yelled up so Rosario could hear her, “Check this out.” He slid down the ladder after her. He saw the observation window to one side, a large homogeneous piece of glass that also made up the pilot's viewport above them, a hardwood table mounted to the floor, sat in front of it with four chairs magnetically attached to the floor, covered in dust behind them, a dusty cloth couch and rug with a record player sat with shelves lined with black discs. Behind that still lay a small hallway bearing the shoulder-to-shoulder space large enough for one person, two doors on either side of the hall. Rosario walked over and turned the knob on one of the doors and pushed it inward. He stepped into a small room with a dark lightbulb and a small chain hanging from the ceiling. He tugged at it, and the light turned on, revealing from the darkness three staggered beds. He walked over and sat on the end of one of them before lying down. He coughed as the dust caught him. “Senarre, there are beds back here!” he shouted out. She walked over and turned the handle of the door opposite his and opened it. She stepped inside, turning on the light. She shouted back, “You're gonna get jealous.” he shouted back, “What?” and pulled himself to his feet and walked over to where she was. He stepped into the room, and as he did, she said, “I call this one.” She lay flat on her back on a small plush bed attached to the ground.
Rosario dusted off the table with the sleeve of his jacket and laid his sword down on it, and said, “Time to take inventory.” Sennare nodded her head and pulled a repeating pistol from her hip, and thumbed the small safety switch on it before laying it on the table. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a revolver, using her thumb to carefully remove the hammer from the firing position, and repeated it with the other revolver. She then laid the rifle wrapped in bandages on the table, resting it on its bipod, followed by the Blued steel shotgun. Rosario said, “How many bullets you got?” She reached into her jacket and dropped three speed loaders onto the table, three by six of .38, totalling eighteen. She placed a handful of 10x25s on the table and said, "Seven ten by twenty-fives.” She placed five large brass shells on the table and said, “Five eight-gauge shotshells.” She proceeded to place five bottlenecked casings on the table and said, “Five plus three .338s totalling 8 rounds.” Rosario said, “Don't have much or much time to get more, so it will have to do. I learned a while back from a book that the undead favor tight corridors or caves, so odds are the place we're looking for is either a cave or a castle from back in the Great Demon War era, which means that the rifle will be of minimal use, like taking a longsword into a cave do you have a knife or something ?” she pulled a hunting knife from the holster on her hip” he frowned and yelled out “Kian!” he peaked his head in through the hatch on the ceiling “yes, Big bro Rosario” he looked up at Kian and said “can big sis Senarre borrow your sword for a little bit?” he said hastily “sure but if it breaks you have to be the one to tell Lord Lorea that you broke it” he handed down the sword still in its leather sheath. Rosario grabbed it and gently set it down on the table.
“Take the pistols and the shotgun probably the best setup cause were walking into an unknown situation” she re stowed the revolvers and threw the shotguns sling around her back she reached down unbuttoning where the holster on her leg sat attached to her belt and pulled it off then proceeding to unclick the buttons holding it steady around her thigh she held the holster limp and handed it over to Rosario “Take this and the repeating one because were walking into an unknown situation” she slid the repeating pistol on the table to him he said “thank you” and proceeded to loop the holster on his right side repeating the process she just did in reverse before sliding the the Repeating pistol into it and picking up the casings on the table and throwing them into the breast pocket of his jacket before zipping it shut.
Kian called out, “Is that what we're looking for?” He was now sitting in the pilot's seat, leaning over the instrument panel and pointing out over it at an overgrown castle nestled in the forest. A lake sat in the shadow of the fortress. Rosario leaned over his shoulder and said, “That's the textbook definition of an undead spawning ground.”Do undead really spawn in places like that?” asked Senarre. “If I remember correctly, undead usually form from either someone using necromancy intentionally creating them, or from the mana of formerly living beings seeping into a place where there are lots of bones, causing it to congeal into a pseudo-organism kind of like how silversteel swords that are in a family for a long time can form basic personalities to some extent.” Kian said, “I'm going to set her down in the water there,” he pointed to the lake, “there should be an inflatable raft in one of the containers on the deck outside.” He set the ship down gently, coming to a soft rest in the water.” They walked out onto the deck. Rosario's face bore an expression of fear. Senarre looked over at him and said, “You okay?” he said back, a slight tremble in his voice, “Yeah, yeah, I'm ok, let's do this.” Senarre pulled open a cabinet that said “RAFT” and threw out a little yellow colored rubber assembly and pushed a button on it. A magic circle on it began spinning rapidly, and the raft began to slowly inflate. She threw it into the water and jumped in, extending out a hand for Rosario. He took her hand and climbed in unsteadily. She handed him a paddle and said, “Let's get moving.”
The pair paddled to the shore, the morning sun beginning to cut through the trees, illuminating the lake. The warmth from the sun cut through the sensation of anxiety both of them held. A small hiss emanated from the raft, growing over time as the bottom began to fill with water. Senarre shouted, “You bail, I'll paddle!” Rosario began throwing cold water overboard into the lake as she began to paddle faster. He said, panicked, “We're sinking too fast!” Senarre shouted back, “Guess we'll swim to the shore then.” She pulled off her boots and jumped over the edge of the raft, and began swimming to the shore. Rosario shouted, “Wait!” He took off his boots as well and jumped into the water, but instead of swimming, he began to flounder in the water. Fear set in, causing him to try to breathe, inhaling a mouthful of water, he shouted “help” before slipping under the water. Senarre turned around and said “shit” and dove under. She went under for a few seconds, and she emerged with him in her arms, both inhaling deeply. She pulled him to the shore, and they both lay on their backs on the graveled shoreline side by side, struggling to catch their breath. He said between breaths, “I can't…effin… swim.” She said back between equally spaced breaths, “you.. could've … started with that.” They lay there for a moment, staring at the sky before recollecting themselves and putting their boots back on.
They walked through the forest with every gust or breeze causing them to shudder. The pair walked up the trail to the castle overlooking the lake. A large door stood partially agape, covered in vines, and assorted moss growth on the floor, sat large bootprints were dug into the dirt. Senarre knelt and looked at it carefully. “It's gotta be his.” They walked into a room with a chandelier sitting in the center. Rosario said, “What's the strategy then?” Senarre whispered, “Talk quietly. I would say split up and cover more ground, but we don't know what's in here, so I'd say we stay together, you cover the front, I'll get your back.” She stepped aside to inspect a door that looked more intact than the rest of the room. She tapped it with the barrel of her shotgun, to no reaction, she reached out her left hand, keeping the weapon ready in her right. She pushed it open to no reaction, she turned back to Rosario and tried to walk over to him, but stopped. A shimmer in the air between them, she knelt and picked up a small chunk of stone from the floor, and yelled out, “Lorea, catch!” He prepared to catch the rock, but it bounced off the shimmer. “Shit barrier,” Rosario drew his sword, wreathing the blade in a fine layer of black stone, and with both hands swung it in a downward arc at the shimmer. He made contact with the shimmer, and the shimmer sparked an ethereal blue before sending him flying into a wall. She shouted, “Lorea!” He sat up, coughing from the dust. “I'm all good, nothing's broken, just some ego damage.” he got up to his feet and said, “Defensive barriers are expensive to cast, especially one being up seemingly automatically, like there's a Sealstone dynamo somewhere nearby. We cut its connection, we cut the barrier.” Senarre said back, “We've got no choice but to split up, then right?” He shook his head and turned and pointed at a door on his side of the barrier, “This one's got stairs heading down, I'll check that way out you go through your door.” She shouted “Wait!” and stopped for a second, debating “what am I looking for?” Rosario turned back to her and, with his sword still in his hand, made a rectangular shape with his hands, “should look like a briefcase, kinda like the one from yesterday if you find it open the briefcase and there should be a crystal-like structure inside you have the silversteel sword so if you find it try to bring the blade down on it if you can it should sap the mana from the crystal therefore deactivating the barrier” she said back “And what if you find it?” He replied cockily, “I'll do it the old-fashioned way”.