I stood at the top of a rather wide crater reveling in the cold night wind rushing by, scattering my long black hair behind me. The starry sky above seemed to keep the surroundings well-lit with the help of a large crescent moon. Behind me, in the depths of a long-dormant volcano was the now vacated garden sitting in its fairy-like beauty.
The white dress I wore fluttered slightly at my feet, its frilly edges brushing my toes as I looked at the landscape below. Countless tall rock towers covered the land as far as the eye could see. It was a rather marvelous sight.
The towers were of varying heights with some looking to be barely 3 meters while some of them rose even higher than the volcano's crater.
I sighed as I marveled at the wonders of nature. Who knew how much time and how many natural phenomena were needed to create such a thing? The bronze-skinned man's ability to utilize his mind seemed to pale in comparison to nature's abilities in the end.
I turned my gaze to look at the said person beside me, he seemed to be communicating to the magpie that was perched on his shoulder. Even though no words were coming out of his lips. The magpie seemed to be listening attentively as it cocked its head from side to side. A few seconds later, it took off silently into the distance.
I looked at the direction it headed and found out that kilometers away, towards the horizon was a stretch of land that seemed to be devoid of stone towers and occupied by a building seemingly made from pale blue bricks. Even from this distance, I could tell the building was rather large.
It had a tall tower in the middle that seemed to compete with the tallest stone tower around and the length of the walls rivaled the tower in height. Long bridges made of the same pale blue material extended from different levels of the tower to the ground within the walls like they were tying the tower down. I could only imagine how grandiose the view would be up close.
Although I was curious about the building, I held it to myself as the bronze-skinned man gestured to me.
"Shall we go, miss?" His voice rang in my head.
I nodded before turning my gaze to the other side where the white swan sat preening her feathers with a rather listless expression…... if swans could look listless.
She had previously taken me to one of the numerous rooms within the volcano which held a multitude of wardrobes and drawers. And without even doing as much as searching for anything suitable, reached into one of them and tossed me the white dress that fitted me perfectly.
I was amazed, to say the least, but didn't waste her time trying to satisfy my curiosity. I dressed up quickly with her help and we left the room, meeting a grumbling well dressed goat along the way complaining about property misappropriation, and took a flight of stairs I hadn't noticed before that was carved into the volcano walls.
The bronze-skinned man was waiting for us at the top by then, communicating with the little magpie.
"Milady?" The bronze-skinned man's voice echoed out once more.
The swan blinked to attention and looked at him. She then let out a smile before flapping her large wings. My eyes widened slightly as I watched the swan's already large body become even larger until I felt I was standing next to a large feathered cow.
She lowered a wing politely and smiled at me.
"Come on up my dear, let's not dally around now. Those Order bastards are rather quick on their toes you know?"
"Order?" I asked as I stepped gingerly on her wing feathers, nimbly climbing on her wide back.
"Of course, The Order! Those group of degenerate madmen!"
The swan huffed in anger as she flapped her wings. Without waiting for the bronze-skinned man, she leaped off the crater's edge and dove below.
The wind rushing past me filled my lungs with cold air and blew into my hair. I closed my eyes to reduce the stinging feeling and calmed my mind to lessen the sense of vertigo I felt from falling so quickly.
It didn't last for long though as the swan raised her wings to catch a passing draft which pushed us up slightly before she flapped them calmly.
She flew far more quickly than I anticipated, maneuvering through the stone towers like a seasoned pilot as she swerved about and dove around the rocky pillars. I found it very impressive even by my standards, I doubt I could make some of the turns she did if I was piloting my ship.
'Nature ultimately beats us in the end.' I sighed to myself
Not long after, we reached a part of the rocky forest where a number of them seemed to be knocked down for quite some distance.
Amidst the rubble was a patch of stone that looked relatively new to the 'knocked over experience'. I sighted my black spacecraft laying askew in the ground, showered with bits of rocks here and there.
A part of me ached at the sight, I had spent more time with this craft than any other thing or person in my life. The pointed nose seemed to have been smashed in, the belly had a huge hole in the middle and both wings had been lost somewhere far behind, not that I could find them. The paint was all scratched up and the glass pane in front was all but shattered.
The white swan landed gracefully before the wreckage and folded her wings. I proceeded to leap down immediately, thanking her as I did, before slowly approaching what was left of my precious craft.
"Hah…" I sighed once more.
"Does your heart ache?" a low voice came from within my head.
I knew it was the bronze-skinned man so without feeling startled, I silently shook my head.
"It is rather unfortunate I'll admit, but that's just it, I guess. I no longer need it anyway."
The voice of the bronze-skinned man didn't reply until a few seconds after.
"You really don't feel any sort of sentiment towards it at all, do you?" I could sense a touch of wariness and bewilderment in his voice.
I didn't answer his question and just silently looked at the wreckage. He stayed quiet for much longer this time around before I heard his voice again.
"I see…" his voice had a hint of melancholy in it.
"I have much to learn from you."
I turned my gaze only to see the swan shaking her head with a sigh. Before I could ask a question of my own, a low rumbling sound in the sky made me turn my gaze upwards.
It was a bit difficult to see at first but slowly, the source of the rumbling came into view. A giant circular platform with a diameter that seemed to be at least a hundred meters wide was slowly approaching our location from the direction of the blue tower.
Squinting my eyes to take a closer look, I found out that the platform had a metallic sheen that glowed slightly. About nine concentric circles were drawn at the center of the platform which all glowed with a faint light of their own.
The feeling of the platform being slow seemed to be an illusion caused by its massive size. It crossed a very large distance before I could blink, swiftly appearing above our heads to cover the sky and cast a large shadow over our location.
I watched curiously as the platform slowly stopped, the nine concentric circles spinning slowly with a faint white glow, thousands of carved-out symbols that I couldn't see previously lit up at that moment.
"Get down!" a voice roared in my head.
The white swan swooped toward me in one swift movement and used her wings as a large shield. Just before she did though, I saw a figure rush into the sky with a loud thump and raise its arms wide open.
The bronze-skinned man with his white hair fluttering back launched himself into the sky with a posture looking like he was about to hug the platform. Through a gap in the swan's feathers, I saw the numerous carved inscriptions lighting up with a far more intense light before a series of crackling sounds rang out like thunder before a storm.
And then it descended.
A pure blinding light.
BOOM!!!
The earth around me shook vigorously and I could feel a wave of heat through the feathers of the swan that burned into my skin. I squinted my eyes as I withstood the pain before turning my neck to look at the face of the swan that was just beside mine.
I was worried about the seemingly dangerous ambush but she seemed rather calm as if the wave of heat didn't affect her at all. Seeing my gaze, she cocked her neck quizzically.
"Are you alright, young lady?"
I squeezed out a smile in response.
She seemed to take it as a positive answer as she extended her head out to check if it was safe before lowering her wings. Before I could look at the damage caused by the burst of light, I heard a voice in my head.
"Take out anything that can still be of value on the ship as quickly as possible. These people are not to be allowed to take anything that might benefit them from this place."
I could feel a sense of urgency in his voice so I ignored the urge to look around and rushed to the destroyed craft.
A loud bang followed by a sharp crack resounded above me as I got to work removing the craft's main systems and storage drives. I picked out a chunk of destroyed metal from the side and ignoring its somewhat warm temperature, used it to smash into the piloting interface.
I was not only a veteran officer but was also skilled in the mechanical and software engineering of various military class vehicles and equipment. Needless to say, I was very familiar with my craft and often serviced it myself. I knew exactly what to do.
Pushing my hands through the wires and circuits, I pulled out the necessary parts I felt were useful and ignored the rest. The loud yell of a man roared out at this moment.
"You fucking albino freak! Stop interfering with the business of the tower!" the voice of the man sounded thoroughly enraged.
A short reply echoed in the mind of everybody present.
"Hehe"
My eyes roamed around the inside of the craft as I sought something else. A large metal box that was supposed to be under my seat had been flung to the back of the craft.
"Come on young lady, aren't you done yet?" the swan said with a bit of urgency that didn't match her rather calm facial expression.
I shook my head before jumping to the back of the craft to retrieve the half-open box that had some of its contents spilling out. Some were damaged unfortunately so I had no choice but to ignore them but the important things were still there.
I tossed the things I pulled out of the piloting interface into the metal box before closing it shut and picking it up.
Climbing out of the craft I quickly turned to the white swan and smiled.
"I'm done milady. I don't think we should be taking our time around here now."
"Why the hurry? He seems to be having fun." She waved a wing at the sky and I turned my head up.
The bronze-skinned man was engaging in a furious battle with multiple figures dressed in pale blue around the platform. Every once in a while, I could see bursts of flames sweeping towards him before disappearing with a puff as if they lacked sufficient fuel to burn.
'Ah…. People just fight against each other no matter the world I'm in.' I thought to myself.
Ignoring the seemingly fantastic scene above me, I approached the large swan as I explained to her.
"Well let's just say that I did something to the craft that will make it go up in flames in about a minute or so. It is going to be incredibly explosive." I said in a deadpan tone.
The swan looked at me for a second before chuckling to herself. She lowered her wing for me to get on and I scrambled on top while pulling the metal box with me.
With a light jump, we were in the sky once more, leaving the shadow cast by the massive platform and rushing towards the dormant volcano in the distance.
Turning my face to look back, I could vaguely see the figures fighting around the platform unaware of the impending explosion.
"What about him?" I asked the swan.
"He will be just fine" she answered with a loud chuckle.
The idea of me setting the craft to explode seemed to greatly amuse her. It didn't take long for it to set off though. Just as we reached half the distance from the volcano, the explosion erupted.
It started with a low humming sound that wasn't audible at first due to the loud rumbling of the circular platform but soon, we could hear it even from our far-off distance. Before I could tell the white feathered swan to brace for impact, it happened.
BOOOOOMMM!!!