"You're still quite the distance away..." I found myself saying as I held out a claw before me. Its digits stretched out as far as they could, but I could not even touch the stone of the mountains. We had spotted Tobaballe days ago but we were still headed towards it. But, I suppose that is what happens in featureless environments.
Distant things seem closer than they actually are...
"Nin, can you come here, please?" Vadei then asked me as she stuck her head out the door of the bridge.
"What do you want to show me?" I asked her, even if I had a sneaking suspicion she wanted to talk about a certain topic.
"This." she told me as she tried to tap the holographic screen that just appeared. It was the mapping systems of the airship that I was being shown.
"I see the Civil Mountains, what about them?" I asked before she then zoomed in on a certain spot.
"I think I have found a place we can drop you off at. You won't waste time climbing for long and you can just get straight into the confines of the mountain range."
"Right." I said quickly before I began to stare intensely at the spot she had highlighted. It was rather peculiar for a mountain area. It looked just like a pathway one could use to walk in and out of the area I called home.
"So, as we discussed before, I can keep an eye on you using these, and then I can get a good idea of when to move on to saving my family." she then explained as more screens appeared. I ignored those ones, however, and just moved my gaze towards her.
"That's fine, get them out as quick as you can and be on your way. Of course, if you find the others, give them a lift back, too." I told her as my gaze moved towards my palms. Palms that constricted slightly as I still could not stomach the idea of it. Maybe I would once this was all over, but not right now at all.
She then sighed, "Are you sure about that, Nin? Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
And then I groaned, "We've been over this, Vadei..." I frustratedly let out at her.
"Yes, and each time you make yourself angry and never finish the discussion! Nin, you are talking about abandoning your friends in favour of a life as a criminal. You can't seriously expect me to be on board with it!?"
"What I get up to is none of your concern!" I snapped at her after my head jolted up.
"It is when I care about you, Nin! You are my friend and I refuse to just leave you behind like that!" she told me with cheeks flushed red with frustration.
I looked away initially before speaking, "No you're not, I'm just a means to an end for you. A way to get your family back. Now quit arguing the point and just do as I say."
"Excuse me? I beg your pardon? I do not think of you like that at all you rotten liar! You are my friend and I sincerely consider you to be one!" Vadei nearly yells at me as she suddenly becomes aggressive. Her weaker, slimmer form tried to then push me around, but she couldn't move me slightly.
I couldn't even look her in the eye, no matter how much she tried to position herself before me, "Just do as you're told, Vadei. Get me to that point, and think of a farewell in the mean time." I told her with a dismissive gesture. Something that only angered her more.
"No, I will not!" she nearly yelled at me as I walked out the door. Her frustrated screaming was barely heard above the winds I now felt and heard. But, it was there. She was shouting at the door, calling me all sorts of names.
And, if I had to be honest, now might have been the time to get moving. Because what point was there in me staying here? Me and Vadei were not on good terms right now and my goal was so close. That one, single goal I have had since I spent my first night in that camp with Vadei and the others.
All the way back before I met even Rose and discovered what her people were like. Back when I was still human and still had human elements... It felt so long ago when I thought on it. But, it was only about a year or so ago when this all started.
"If I find out that Thunder is not being celebrated, then I guess I can say it took me under a year, then." I tried to joke to myself to at least lighten the mood. One little, bad joke, however, was not enough to change my mind. It was not enough to just get me thinking differently. I was still ladened with regrets and anger and sadness about what I had done...
But now was not the time to mope about or to cry, it was to finally get back home! So I steadily climbed over the railing and leaned forwards while my arms went back. I tried to smile at what I was about to do, but nothing came. The only thing that did come was the rush of wind and that familiar noise once I let go.
And then, all of sudden, I was surrounded by a mighty explosion. Its bang reverberated about me louder than usual and the ground was scarred. Scarred more in a single moment than it would ever be without my involvement. Then, once the bluish-purple explosion died down, I brought my forward right knee out of the earth.
Childishly admiring the destruction my drop had caused before getting back on track. I had a goal I needed to keep in mind and so I ran. I let the land behind me feel my newfound power as I went back to my birthplace. I outrun the devastation and launched myself towards the nearest mountain when I was close enough.
"I will need to be very careful!" I nearly screamed in excitement as I saw the damage my magic was causing. Rather than just digging into the mountain, I made it and its neighbours tremble and crumble. An avalanche of grey appeared above me and it surged past me with no damage being applied to me. Once I might have been terrified by that, the power I had being so alien.
But now? I was enjoying it as much as I could. Because, unless I made it a habit to run about these wastes every now and then. I would never get to use my magic again as I would destroy my home. But, that was fine, if I used it up playing about, I could soon reintegrate into my home.
Vadei feared for her family because they had spent too long in a magic-free environment... So, logically speaking, if I spent some time here too, I would see the same fears come to my mind. Or, I could just mess around on the outer side of the Civil Mountains and drain my magic now. Yet, that also provided one problem, what if I needed my magic to cross the mountains?
If I used it all up now then I might not be able to make the journey! Yet, my current body did offer one advantage of note. It was built of sturdier stuff and it was stronger! Even if I did use up my magic then surely I would make it anyway!
"It would also keep her from following me..." I then mumbled once I saw the airship again. The last of the rubble I created had slammed past me. She was shepherding me carefully even if from a great distance. If her tools measured me by using my magic as a point of reference, then I just needed to remove it!
So, I let go of the mountain and ran down it like I would a steep hill when I was young. I laughed and cackled as the running freed my mind briefly. Each step was catastrophic to the mountain as well! I left deep, gashing craters in the weak stone and more and more fell down after me.
Then, when I felt the ground below explode once more, I looked up in anticipation. Laughing the whole time until I began to think of a toilet of all things. How it flushed away all of the waste with a sudden burst of water. And at that moment, the sky lit up in a magical firestorm as I just let it all out.
Screaming with eager anticipation as I just felt all that power come out of me until I felt exhausted. No boulders from above hit me and nothing touched me. I was destroying it all as it travelled while also going deeper into the earth. And as my screams came to an end, I collapsed while laughing, staying there for a bit.
"Much better..." I said with heavy breaths as my body ached and grew tired. Far more tired than I had ever been since coming to Jherikra as some called it. I tried to use one of my spells, but I could just not get it to form no matter how hard I tried. And it made me smile like a maniac.
But, I also regretted it slightly as it was a painful experience getting back up. I was now covered in aches and sore body parts and stuck in a hole. My magic had blown apart a vast crater during that little show. Thankfully, it was so vast as to reasonably steep for most of it, the only sudden dips were the very edge.
Once again, however, I was very thankful for the fact I had a bit of magic left. Like that last bit of energy you have before you go to bed that only exist to get you in it. So I roughly flew out of that hole and headed to the mountain. Barely reaching its base before I collapsed with a smile.
"We're nearly there, so nearly there." I said as I looked behind me. That path was still there and it stuck out quite a bit. It was also, however, completely messed up by my fun. I could still see it, but it would be harder to use it.
But I was fine with a challenge, especially when the reward was me finally getting back home! I might never be able to walk the streets again, granted... But at least it was all familiar to me. Who knows, maybe I could even rob someone for their carpets and blend in a little easier!
Of course, that was if I could stop giggling at the potential fun I would have being the tallest bug alive. The small things like that are what I would have to learn to enjoy. Having a drink or going out for a meal was just not possible anymore. Not that I did them at all, to be entirely honest.
Now was the time, however, so I stopped thinking about fun and slowly got up. It was almost nostalgic in a way, dragging yourself out of bed to get to work. Having just exhausted yourself the day prior doing what you were about to go do. That is what moving at the moment felt like.
It hurt, it was annoying, it would ruin my mood and I wanted to complain for hours on end. But, I kept on moving and I kept on climbing and using what magic I could to help me. Then, soon, after spending a lot of time getting used to mountain climbing... I got to that pathway, a bit I hadn't destroyed, that is.
"Make the clock bang its bells loudly, Tobaballe. Nin Urtuan has returned." I triumphantly said to myself as I began to follow the path. Keeping my hand on what seemed like a random metal railing as I walked. Not really putting much thought into why it was there or why this path was clearly man-made. I just walked and walked until I found something.
At least, until I once again found myself needing to sit down. It turns out, suddenly flushing all my magic out in order to safely travel into my home was a bad idea. But, well, I also had yet to see anything bad come from it. I was just moaning about how much I ached.
"Oh, hello?" I then said when I noticed something in the immediate distance. Confusion fueled my curiosity and I dragged myself over to what I saw. It was some kind of hidden mountain complex. A very active one by the looks of it going by all the staff walking about.
Staff that was now suddenly terrified when the guards began to shout and bark orders. Confident in my magic, however, I sort of just stood there as the guards sorted themselves out. But, I was quickly on the move again when I felt a dull pain spread throughout my scalp. They had just shot a bullet at me and it was made of gold?
"Ah, so it's going to be like Tryhpeltzweig again..." I worriedly commentated as I tried to run away from the gunfire. Yet, even now as I received a reason to move as fast as I could. My adrenaline did nothing to lower the aches I was feeling in my body. So I was less so running and more like hobbling about as if I hurt my leg or foot.
"Escaped Gladiator located, moving in." I heard someone say before a goldhand suddenly appeared before me. A speed that seemed to surprise everyone else but oddly enough, they seemed slow. And now that I had trained my ability to sense magic, they really did not seem all that impressive. In fact, I was willing to go with the idea I could just sort of slap them aside.
"Ah, shit!" I then moaned out in pain as my body began to experience some kind of cramps. Sudden and growing fields of stiff muscle began to lock me in place. And, it wasn't the goldhand or a guard doing it. It was just my body giving up and now I had a fist coming towards me.
All most as if to mock me, this fist was coming in very slow from my perspective. But, that did not mean it did not hurt in the slightest as that definitely hurt more than the bullets! My cramps, however, prevented me from swearing out my pain and I was instead trembling in pain while loudly groaning.
"Target is secure, it has seemed to have immobilised itself." the goldhand explained to someone over a large blocky radio. Something that felt so... Dated to my eyes now, especially given the fact I have seen and used magic-based tech.
"Make sure it is restrained by us as well and bring it to me." a woman ordered him in response. And then, well, he followed his orders and put me in a set of large cuffs that left me numb. Something about them seemed to make it so they interfered with my magic... Which, perplexed me because Heiya said these things didn't exist.
So why did my homeland have them if magic was not really a thing here? Did this lack of magic play a role in their development? Did it allow them to understand how to shield themselves from it? I was willing to bet that was the case.
"Move neck, move!" I demanded of my locked up body as thankfully, my tongue could still move. But, my words were muffled, unfortunately. And, to make it all worse, this locked jaw I had was giving me an itch. As if my body needed to make its little annoying chitters that I despised so much.
And then, as another goldhand came over to me, I saw her, I saw the one who caused everything, "This is new." she comments with a frown as she crosses her arms in front of me. Not right in front of me, but enough to make it seem like she was in control... Now, see, if my magic wasn't drained...
Oh, ho, ho... I'd tear her apart and then rebuild her just to tear her apart again. For now, however, I would have to settle with violent trembles and muffled growls. My locked up body prevented me from doing anything. To say absolutely nothing about these cuffs and the goldhands restraining me.
"What is this creature? This isn't registered in Project Gladiator!" a scientist of some description then commented from a catwalk above as his footsteps echoed about.
"Is this likely what was picked up then?" Iishar asks the scientist as she decided to pace about me.
"Does this look several dozen metres in size?" the scientist asked back with some snark as he got up in my face. A small light of some kind was shoved straight into my eyes afterwards.
"Was it at least the thing responsible for those recent tremours?" Iishar then asked with much less patience as she intimidated the scientist away.
"Possibly? It has only just happened, we have had no opportunity to collect data!"
"Whatever, get this thing to the Gladiator facility. We need to be able to see if we just got lucky or if we can truly fight these things off should more appear." she ordered the others while I just seethed with rage. But, as she turned away from me, I couldn't hold it in anymore. I just had to at least scream that one word...
"IISHAR!" I roared out before flinching about in pain as I had just forced my jaws to open up. And it left her eyes wide with shock along with everyone else's.
"Gladiator, now!" she then repeated sternly with my feet grinding along the stone path as I was pulled away. My eyes locked on an unnerved Iishar Ho the entire time before we turned a corner. And from then on, I just growled to myself and put up with it. I needed to let my body recover from whatever this problem was...