FireBound

Chapter 2

The sun seemed to die, devoured by a soundless night. It'd all happened in mere seconds, then a thundering roar shook the sky. A warning of some kind no doubt. The air was starting to change too, the sails now full of wind where starting to disobey the Liberty.

I turned around, searching with my eyes Captain Lecky- sure to find him in his usual spot behind the helm of the ship. Dread crept in my bones as I realized there was no Captain Lecky commanding the ship- there was no one at all behind the steering wheel.

Then who was piloting this goddamn ship?

Another scream was brought by the wind. Confirming one of my hypothesis- that we were not alone in these skies.

That by itself was not a problem- there was no way our ship was the only Sky Cruiser crossing the sky. Many airways that got used daily to transport good between the three great isles- Cargo Cruisers filled to the brink with silks, metals of all kind and. regional goods that varied on which isle you were on were part of the daily life.

The problem here lied somewhere else- to who did the screams brought by the wind belong to? To a friend in distress? Or perhaps to a foe taking his last breath?

For the first I would have gladly tried to help- but I had no way of knowing- there was nothing I could do in a situation such as this one.

I had a mission to complete, and that was to escort Ambassador Toroys back to Arcane so that the Three High Commissions could finally come up with a plan to counter the continuous attacks the Abyssal Raiders where throwing at the various ports in the outskirts of the main cities. Every single attack up until now had been meticulously planned- first thing they always did was to take out the sentinels before plunging without remorse. The only witness that had ever been found alive had been a kid watching from afar the destruction of his village.

No word had come out of his lips when he'd been asked to explain thought- only scorching tears filled with a voidness regret. I remembered taking his petite hand into my own as he spilled his tears on my shoulders, wetting my uniform with all the untold words that would have never met the light of the world.

I then started moving towards the helm of the ship, steading myself with each footstep I took. More than half of the crew it'd seen before the situation had gone off the rails was nowhere to be found. Whoever was left on board was either unconscious or too scared to move a single finger to save themselves.

Good thing we humans were supposed to have self-preservation tucked somewhere inside us.

The cruiser shook a few times before I was finally able to reach the stern of the ship, my hands quickly lacing themselves with the helm as I tried scouting something in the darkness of the night. I had to thank whoever had placed in advance the faelights on the main deck- otherwise I would have never gotten here without falling offboard a second time.

For a second time I searched for Captain Lecky. Screaming his name at the four winds as I tried keeping the Cruiser on the correct route.

A couple of drops of water hit my nose. My head snapping upwards as another droplet found my eyes.

First the darkness, now the rain, and by the rumble of the approaching thunders I could only expect a thunderstorm coming at us at full force. Or maybe it was already here, and I just wasn't able to see it for the time being.

Lightening illuminated the sky at last- showing me the reason behind the darkness around me. A confused flock of shadows were flying daringly over our heads. I couldn't make out what exactly was happening up there- but one thing for sure was that I had to get out of their fire range as quick as possible.