Skye City: The Darkness of Emmilyn

The Flying Fortress

The phoenix elemental guides us through old town where the snow on most roads has been reduced to grey slush. Walking through this feels less exhausting but still presents its own problems. Firstly my feet feel cold and soaking wet, and secondly the ground has become so slippery.
Our mechanoid escort fails to make the journey feel any safer, quite the opposite, in fact. As well as the risk posed by the crazy pilot, there is the fact we are now a tempting target, and our fiery orange glow surely stands out, even from long range. I can only hope the phoenix guides us away from trouble, rather than attracts attention. This journey could be our most dangerous yet because we have lost the ability of camouflage.
We walk through the desolate streets for an hour or so, and we never hear more than distant gunfire, never spot a single crazy. We navigate a housing estate with mostly terraces and the occasional apartment block. Anyone peering through their window will definitely be freaked out by our fiery guide and this war is hardly without its WTF moments.
I cannot help wondering how long our journey will last, whether Dynah will be just around the next corner, what stories she will have to tell, who will be with her. I need everything to have worked out perfectly. I need several miracles because even one or two miracles would still mean a devastating loss.
In the middle of the street, the phoenix elemental flies straight up into the air, hovering several storeys high and grows and brightens like an intense beacon, making me intensely nervous because any soldier in the area will surely see. But then our guide simply vanishes, fading to nothingness.
'Er, what now?' Scoop says.
'We, er, wait... I've no idea actually... Dynah, are you there?' I scan every house, garden, parked vehicle, and fork in the road, but I see no figure emerge and receive no reply. 'Well, the firebird led us here for a reason, surely.'
'Maybe it just ran out of energy. It's generated by psychic power and that doesn't last forever. It needs to be recharged,' Oscar says.
'So maybe we need to find a hiding place until it recharges,' I say and then a dark shadow consumes the housing estate like the spread of night as the air cools. I tilt my head back and gawp at a colossal flying machine, roughly the size of a sports stadium, blocking out the midday sun. 'Is that a–'
'Yup, it's a flying fortress,' Smig says as I analyse a huge cannon on the underbelly which could reduce the entire estate to dust.
As the flying fortress cruises past and the air warms slightly, hatches open on its rear-end which has no thrusters, and jets emerge, soaring into the dazzling sky. My eyes readjust, only to be dazzled again by an explosion, and then an aerial battle unfolds as foreign jets meet them head-on. Seconds ago, the skies were calm and it feels alarming how suddenly things can change, how suddenly conflict can arrive.
'Shit, we need to get out of here,' I yell over sonic booms. 'Smig, you'll have to ditch the mech. If their sensors detect it, they'll blast the shit out of us!'
'There's no chance of me giving up this baby. Let's keep going,' Smig says and I slow my pace, allowing a gulf to form as I estimate the blast radius.
The flying fortress sails into the distance, no doubt heading to the next combat zone to drop off more fighter jets. The aerial battle rages with jets zooming into the distance in a matter of seconds, only to be replaced by more coming the other way. Some rockets appear to head towards ground-based targets and the loudness of explosions seems to confirm this. We could so easily become one of those targets.
A fighter jet spins downwards with smoke trailing and then the pilot ejects from the cockpit, parachuting to the ground. The jet vanishes beyond the buildings and I gulp as orange light blooms and a mushroom cloud rises. The ensuing explosion makes me stagger sideways.
The pilot slowly descends and vanishes beyond the houses, somewhere in the general direction we are heading. We proceed through the streets and my body stiffens every time a sonic boom hits my eardrums.

A few streets later, we come to an unarmed man in a military uniform, roaming the housing estate alone. He freezes upon spotting us, and I rejoin the mechanoid's side, noticing what looks like a detached parachute farther down the road. He is not wearing a helmet, but his messy blonde hair suggests he recently was. Water is welling in his eyes and his stubbly mouth is gawping. I guess he is coming to terms with the fact he is still alive, while considering how best to keep himself that way.
'H-hello there,' the pilot says, probably wondering whether we are rebels. Ordinarily we would hardly look like a threatening bunch, but how else would teens get their hands on a combat mechanoid? 'Don't worry, I'm one of the good guys,' he says as though we are the worried ones in this equation.
'San Terian Airforce?' Smig yells from the cockpit. 'Good to find one of our own. Why don't you come here? You can use the mech to contact base, then help me escort these kids home.'
The pilot slowly approaches the mechanoid, his gaze shifting nervously, and as he comes close, a huge metallic leg flicks out at lightning speed. The pilot explodes, splattering the mechanoid and the gang with blood and gore. Smig laughs maniacally as I wipe my face with my sleeve and step over chunks of flesh.