Sky's Fall

Chapter 3

T Y L E R

Cornered, lost on the last existing airship of the Sky Army. That's where Tyler was. Having just seen the hopes and dreams of the last survivng members of the now decimated Sky Army jump off the last airship in possession of the armada, he was questioning everything. His blade lay halfway across the ship, the squids ambushing them, right when they thought they were safe. They should of known, they were above water. But nowadays land was as dangerous as water.

Tyler had two options. Option one was to be tormented, experimented on, and slowly killed painfully, or option two, end it himself by jumping off the ship. Sky had been lost, and thought to be dead. He shouldn't be alone, Tyler thought. Stepping up onto the railing, or rather clawing his way up, as he was rather short compared to others. Standing up, Tyler faced the squids, and saluting them before he shouted out his last words.

"Hosta la Vista fuckers!"

°

Tyler had a lot to deal with, even though he wasn't the main general. Taking care of patients, writing and giving speeches, though they were quite crass, and dealing with things in general. Slipping past a public food stand, Tyler grabbed an apple, thanking the stand manager. Resources were quite limited, so every bit of food was gathered and distributed. Bare essentials only. This apple was Tyler's lunch, quite literally.

Tyler bit into the apple, smiling despite the situation. He waved a newly promoted pair of Sargents towards him, by the name of Sub and Ethan. Both lacking the gift of speech, they had taught Tyler sign language. As they walked over, Tyler beckoned his crude reply.

"You fuckers got a plan for the latest raid?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in question. Sub nodded, explaining how they were going to take a team of five, for stealth, into the nearest unraided town, Drahrn de Ville, and look for survivors. Sub was a good kid, he had a large assortment of skills, useful, and so trustworthy. Ethan was a different story.

He was a troublemaker. He had a knack at getting into dangerous situations, but always dragged Sub in there all the while. Sub always got him out of trouble, but he seemed to enjoy it too. Not like Tyler didn't get into shit.

"So we're taking Eth, Sub, Seto, Ty, and I?" Tyler sugessted. Sub thought for a moment, then nodded. Ethan headed off after saluting Tyler, to gather Seto and Ty. Sub stuck around, chatting through hand symbols and motions. They discussed the layout of the town, until Ethan came back with Seto and Ty, weapons, gear, and potions.

The gear and armor were light, stealth being the purpose of the black chain mail cloaking. The swords were diamond, a luxury these days. Taking the potions and rationing them out, Seto fitted each person with adequate amounts of each handcrafted concoction, explaining portions for different effects. After about half an hour they were ready, slipping out of the outer walls.

°

At the beginning of the mission Tyler was ridiculously nervous, but as things progressed, house after house, they managed to go undetected while collecting food, seeds, and other miscellaneous items. But the peace of being undetected that they had was soon broken, as the squids spotted a gleam of chainmail. That's when chaos spread.

Everyman for themselves, Tyler raced through the wheat fields of the town, avoiding the invasive spotlights the squids were somehow able to build. Being caught in one would cause eye damage, because they were so bright. Tyler had to avoid any chance of being caught, as Sky would be devastated at his capture, and the Sky Army might even fall apart. And he couldn't risk that.

Tripping in his thought process, Tyler was mortified, scrambling away from the nearing spotlight, that was already hurting his eyes. After managing to scramble to his feet, Tyler refrained from screaming bloody murder in curses, afraid he'd give the others away if he did. Tyler was booking it, as fast as he could. But his best wasn't good enough if it meant risking lives.

"Those motherfuckers!" Tyler seethed under his breath, pulling out one of the potions Seto had handed him.

"Smash it on the ground to cause a smoke bomb," Seto had said. Tyler, for once followed directions, forcing the bottle to the ground, hearing it shatter into millions of fractals of deadly glass. Tyler could feel the cool chill of the smoke caress his back, as he pushed himself faster in fear of being ripped limb from limb. You never know with the squids. They were crafty motherfuckers.

Tyler heard the stomping of a foot as he raced towards it, finding Ethan and Sub working on a complicated Redstone device, or what looked like Redstone. It could be blood, because Seto was there in the background too, charging a spell. Tyler couldn't identify the substance because of his deformed vision, but by the color Seto's eyes were glowing, which was bright red, Tyler guessed it was some sort of dark magic.

"Where's that motherfucker Ty at again?!" Tyler whispered through his labored breath, forcing him against the nearest house's walls. He managed to avoid the bright beam of radiating light, unsure of his safety. His vision burnt, his throat on fire, and his limbs flimsy, Tyler was unable to push himself much farther.

Ethan and Sub shook their heads, looking at the pavement. Seto had tears streaming down his face. Had they really lost Ty? Tyler's thoughts were interrupted as a sprinting figure in a black coat stumbled into the small alcove they possessed.

"I'm back shitheads." Ty grinned.

°

After abruptly an hour of waiting, Tyler sat, ready to spring into the action with a speed enhanced sprint. He was waiting for the go ahead from Sub, who gave the signal briefly after Tyler had thought about it. He took off, not looking behind himself as he chugged half of the potion, crashing the bottle to the ground as he felt a new power surge through his veins, as a smirk took over his look of desperation.

His legs moved twice as fast, as everything else moved in slow motion. Unsheathing his sword, he screamed at the top of his lungs, racing toward the vehicle supporting the baker's dozen of spotlights, and popping one of its tires. It started crashing down, as Tyler stepped out of the way. He leapt on top of the slowly falling vehicle, stabbing the main driver, and cutting through the copilot.

He soon removed himself from the top of the vehicle where flames vigorously sprung from the grave. He raced towards the other houses as he raided them as quick as he could until he had most of his caring capacity reached.

Sprinting towards Seto and the others, he saw Ty carrying the dead squids, also enchanted with Seto's powerful swiftness potion. Seto chanted under his breath, floating as the squid bodies disappeared, a void portal relaxing their existence. Seto fell to his feet as Tyler and the others rushed through the portal, arriving in the middle of camp.