34 kilometers away from the outpost, within a dilapidated cave, DEEP within a dilapidated cave, was what appeared to be a very large, 3 story tall, train. Though calling it a mere train would be an understatement.
Despite it's humongous size, it hovered meters above it's tracks, coupled with a sleek look reminiscent of an earthen bullet train, the Lienus Rail was a marvel of old-world ingenuity.
What was even more of a marvel however, was what stepped out of the was a rather short figure, with an excessive skirt. Adorned with a white armor, it almost seemed as if it was carved out of marble. Intricate engravings all around it, especially on the right arm, which, unlike the other arm that had a long embroidered sleeve, was heavily armored. The asymmetry to the design brought a certain kind of aura. That's right-
It felt as it belonged to the Outworldly. The aura however, was shattered, when the figure started bickering with what seemed to be, apparently thin air.
"Argos, we're late"
[On the contrary sire, we are early. 7 minutes before the estimated ETA. I'd say it's a job well done for Mender back at base]
"Well, I'll give him that, getting this hunk of junk moving in such little time really speaks for his prowess doesn't it?"
[Affirmative]
"Alright enough bickering, we need to get moving. Pull up the map, we need to see where we're heading"
Argos displayed a map within Aedhira's head's up display. It showed 3 dimensional, topographical map of the surroundings, however...
"This doesn't seem very accurate, does it?"
[Affirmative]
The map had a blue dot, displaying Aedhira's position. And according to the map, he was meant to be at the floor of the valley, or rather, the gorge. Instead, he was in a humid, and likely horrid smelling cave.
He sighed helplessly, before the black visor lit up like a floodlight, illuminating the way ahead.
"Lets move out, faster we get out of here, the faster we can get to the outpost"
[Affirmative]
And so Aedhira strode off into the the darkness, navigating by what appeared to be a literal head-light, and guess work. This worked very well....
For about 14 minutes before he lost his patience.
"We're never getting out of here, are we?"
[Negative. The probability of being stuck in this cave is less than 2%-]
"Really?!"
[-If the sire spends the next 314 system hours searching for an searching for an exit]
"F*BLEEP* you man. That wasn't nice."
This was taking too long for his liking. Far too long. He needed to get out within the next 20 minutes if he wanted to make it to the outpost before the 5-hour mark. This was the amount of time Monitor had predicted the horde of Fyrraths would take to reach the immediate 10 kilometer radius.
Navigating these caves was turning out to be inefficient. So....he thought of something else.
"Argos, scan the walls, give me composition and thickness"
[Scanning...]
The walls of the cave were a mixture of limestone, shale, and sandstone, with varying degrees of thickness ranging from several meters to just a few centimeters in some places.
[Composition: 40% limestone, 30% shale, 25% sandstone. Thickness: Varies from 2 meters to 5 centimeters.]
Aedhira frowned at the results. While the composition of the walls could provide some clues about potential weaknesses or passages, the varying thickness made it difficult to determine the best course of action.
"Any signs of weak points or possible exits?" he asked, his voice tinged with frustration.
[Negative. The cave appears to be structurally sound, with no obvious weak points or openings.]
Aedhira cursed under his breath, feeling the weight of their situation pressing down on him. Time was running out, and they were no closer to finding a way out of the cave than they were when they first arrived.
He glanced around, searching for any sign of a hidden passage or opening that they might have missed. But the walls of the cave remained stubbornly solid, offering no clues as to their escape.
"Looks like we're going to have to find another way out," he said, his voice heavy with resignation.
"OR....we can MAKE a way out..."
He got on one knee, his palm pressing against the floor. His heart thrummed, as ether began to exude from it.
From his heart, to his hand, to the ground. Yet the moment it made contact with the ground, it began to glow. Not the warm, fuzzy glow.
Explosive. The part where he had pressed his palm was about to blow.
He quickly withdrew his hand, to find a red hot hand print. It clearly didn't go as he planned.
"What happened? I thought that was going to work?"
[If by work, sire meant explode, then it was going to work.]
....
[I sense otherwise it seems. Sire, you must realize, that your heart, is called the Ether Heart for a reason. It exudes, pure, unadulterated energy. Pure Ether.]
[And pure Ether is extremely volatile, and very corrosive]
"Corrosive to what?"
[To everything]
"What?"
[Everything, air, water....matter, space, even time, if you managed to gather enough. In order to use the energy from your heart, you must dilute it heavily, turn it into Mana]
"Like a highly inefficient filter"
[Affirmative]
Aedhira nodded to his words. He hadn't read about this in the archives, and it seems for good reason. He was lucky he didn't blow up the Fort when he was practicing his runes last time around.
Probably for the best, now that he thought about it.
"But how do I do that?"
[Ah, you can't, not yet anyway]
"Why not?"
[If you tried, you'd violently implode, taking out a quarter of Lokir with you. And those are optimistic odds]
"....."
[I will place a limiter on your output. When you AND your body grows to adapt to the output, I will increase it, marginally. Again, implosion is optimistic]
"...."
[Current Output Limiter- 0.3%]
"....I don't feel anything"
[That is because, your limiter is always active]
"....Even since I wo-"
[Affirmative]
"....I see"
But then he had a thought
"Then why was the ground about to blow when I had my hand on it? Wasn't the limiter active?"
[I was feeling funny]
"...."
It was going to be a long day.
[Sire, the Meynel Observer has picked up movement]
"Where?"
[13 kilometers to the 56th degree bearing]
"What? Language?"
[To your right]
"Ah...that's not good. It's early. Earlier than I thought" he thought, as he got back on one knee, with his hand against the floor.
The ether, a pure white tether of energy, crept from his heart, then, almost as if passing through a grinder, it became much more faint. More manageable. It flowed from his hand and into the ground. He probed the surroundings, as an image took form in his display. A map, a vague one, of the maze this cave was.
He looked dead ahead of himself, almost as if he saw through the walls.
"Argos, you see that?"
[Affirmative]
"Then you know what I'm going to ask?"
[Affirmative. You would need 41 kilonewtons of force to punch through all those walls]
He drew in a sharp breath.
Not that it did anything as the helmet was in the way. Coupled with the fact that he didn't actually need to breathe, it was just a gesture. He felt the anxiety leave him, as anticipation took it's place.
"Ignite Impulse Jets in 3"
[Affirmative, Initiating Ignition sequence in 3]
[2]
Aedhira hand both his hands on the ground. He took the stance of a sprinter about to launch. The skirt and his sleeve flapped gently, as more force began to accumulate.
Slits opened at that back of the Arstra, revealing, 4 thruster-like protrusions, 2 on each side of his back. They glowed white hot, igniting, as the space behind him began to blur.
[1]
"Lets go"
[0. Firing Impulse Jets at 10% capacity]
*FWOOM*
The cave rocked about, as the ground behind him glowed a fiery, hot color. The ground beneath him cracked under pressure, as he launched. He shot forward like a missile propelled by flame.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
One wall after another, he penetrated them like a truck ramming a mountain. And soon-
*BOOM*
He saw the familiar, glittery, starlit sky of Lokir.
He was out.
"aah...Ah..AHHHH....AAAAHHAHAHHAAAA"
A short, marble white figure with a excessively large skirt streaked though the sky like a shooting star.
This high up, looking down as the ground got smaller and smaller. He had no other way to describe it but as...Liberating
"...hahHAhHAA, I LOVE THIS" he said, laughing like a child who had learned to walk.
And perhaps in a sense, he had.
"Increase altitude, Increase thrust capacity to 15%!"
[Increasing to 15%]
"LET'S F*BLEEP*ING GOOOOO!!"
The blaze behind him grew fiercer as he pierced through starry sky, heading for the outpost at breakneck speed. This was the home stretch, and he wasn't going to stop now.