We knew it would have to happen. The uncertainty from creating a portal to the nether within the Sanctuary, our ever growing need for more materials, the actual need for exploration, all atop the risks of unleashing a raid. We knew that we would have to leave the Sanctuary at some point. We had though we would be able to stay a little longer after our next raid. As much as the need to explore the nether has us stuck for the quests completions, there were still a few things we could have done, if only to increase our current equipment and abilities.

  Sadly, our last venture showed us how dangerous we could be for our hosts. And so, we would have to leave.

  We cannot stop advancing the quests. Our very existence is linked to them. We have to continue, we have to advance further. We will need to continue with the thaumaturgic experiments, and even if we were to be careful, we will still produce flux.

  So we come to a decision: we will leave.

  We still have an entire day, and we dedicate it to preparations.

  I gather as many seeds, berries and a saplings as I can. The seeds will allow for a varied diet, which will be useful for me and beneficial for Mewtwo, as will the berries will be. As I can grow them with the bonsai pot chip, I only need one to grow more.

  Mewtwo goes back to the caves to gather as much resources as he can. With his speed, he is able to cover much more ground than me. He also challenges Eziakophael one last time, easily emerging victorious. The Forest Defenders training did make us grow.

  I also collect every installations we have made, giving Mewtwo an apology as I collect his handmade ones. As I had suspected, getting them back out has them normalized, no longer unique but similar to one I would have made. We also sacrifice some diamonds to collect all the remaining mana within our mana pools by crafting mana tablets. The final tally is not much, as I only fill one and a half mana tablet, but still, it will give us a jump start in the wild if needed. I also still have my band of mana passively fill with my band of aura, so I always have some mana on me. Although it might get low quickly if I overuse my manasteel equipment and tools a bit too much.

  At the end of the afternoon, we go to the great tree to inform Princess of our decision. She is appalled at first, and try to have us stay, even becoming almost hostile when we bring up the subject of flux and our need to advance the quests. Yet in the end, she relents. I can see she still sees her old master in me, and within me, yet through the weeks we has spent within the Sanctuary, she has made her peace with her master final passing. Now she will only carry on his legacy, and protect those that would be abused by the horrors of this reality, may they be gods, monsters or humans.

  We thank her, for her hospitality, her understanding, and her generosity.

  Before we go, she asks one final thing from us, to go and assist the team she has working on her own botania set-up. We agree, and spend our final night working with the drowzee girl, Yellee, and a bunch of grass and fighting types into the intricacies of early botania development. I let them study some of the constructs they need to assemble, and share most of what we learned during the Trial of Knowledge.

  We return for our final night in the cottage late that night. Mewtwo rest soundly, and I finish rearranging as many things as we have displaced.

  When morning approaches, scratching sounds from the door gets my attention, and I open it only to be confronted by an army of green spiders. I observe them, as they observe me. Then a couple come forward and give me a pile of what I first assume to be balls of yarn. A quick glance through the WAYLA system tells me they are actually balls of high quality silk. Surprised, I thank them, and collect the gift. They thank me as well, and quickly disperse.

  Once I turn around, I realize the gang of spinaraks did not leave without a final prank, as slam head first into thick cobweb, getting myself fully entangled in it. As I sputter web out of my mouth and try to remain upright, I can hear the spinaraks chittering laughter echo among the trees. I smile, and collect the web for future use.

  The night passes, the sun rises, and Mewtwo awakes.

  We know we have to exit before noon or risk unleashing Eziakophael next raid within the Sanctuary, so we take a hearty breakfast, and make our final preparations.

  Armor? Check. Weapons? Check, I even made a new bow as well as arrows during the night. Supplies? Check, food is getting produced. All chips are made of manasteel and will repair themselves with mana. I have enough cobblestone blocks to make walls, stairs and bridges. Mewtwo is fully rested and ready to unleash hell on anyone or anything that got thrown at us.

  We are ready.

  We take a final tour of the cottage, leaving it almost as we have found it, and find something we had never noticed before.

  Behind it, on the wall, are seven signatures carved into the wood. Mewtwo and I look at each other, and nod. We both gently etch our own names upon the cottage. And finally, we leave the clearing, and make our way to the forest eastern edge. Why the eastern edge? Well supposedly, going south would have us go straight into League territories, north would deliver us upon the Hunters, and west would only have us backtrack toward Arrival plain, which would be a bad idea as going further west from the plain would have us reach the Taint.

  So our only safe way forward is east. Princess also indicates that, should we travel duly east for long enough, we would reach an ocean. The same ocean Aster sailed during his last life. The ocean where the island that once hosted Marble City is located. Although she does warns us that this could take us months of travel.

  Again someone mentions Marble City. We have heard of it multiple times, and it is the last goal Aster attempted to reach. All those that uttered the name also claimed it was destroyed, that its advancements lead to its downfall, yet, the more we hear about it, the more we feel drawn to it. For me, it is Aster's remnants that wish to see how close he had been, for Mewtwo, it is the curiosity of seeing if any traces of the city's advancements remains.

  As we near the foggy edge of the forest, we see Princess and her court are here to see us off.

  The florges thanks us once more for our aid in allowing her to truly own the Sanctuary. She also wishes us safe travel, even volunteering the forest defenders aid for our oncoming raid. The offer is tempting, but we partially decline it. We wish to test ourselves now that we have had the chance to grow and strengthen ourselves. All present nod and as noon approaches, surprisingly both within and outside the Sanctuary, we give our final goodbyes and step into fog covering the outer parts of the forest.

  The fog only remains briefly. A corridor quickly forms within, and we can see red eyes among all the trees around us. The trevenants have come to see us off.

  We walk for a couple minutes before spotting the true forest edge. From the distance, the blood red, electric blue, and bright orange reflections upon the intangible wall delimiting the Sanctuary gives it an oil spill aspect . Beyond it, we can see the outside world with its colors faded. Once we reach it, we stop.

  This is it then. Our last day of peace. Mewtwo comments nervously.

  "Yeah, but we are ready." I reassure him, and myself.

  Yes, we are. Mewtwo agrees.

  We steel ourselves, and walk forward. Passing through the barrier feels... strange. It is almost like trying to pass through a wall of gelatinous material. The barrier seems to stick to us, trying to stop us from leaving. Until it suddenly gives up, and we are out.

  We turn around, and look within the forest. From the outside, the barrier appears as gray gradient covering the entire forest. Within, things can be seen moving faster than should be possible.

  A nebulous shadow appears at the edge. It remains still for a second, letting us recognize one of the forest defenders, but quickly blurs as ten seconds passes for him in only one for us. They must be here to make sure we survive our raid.

  Satisfied with our curiosity, we turn our back to the forest, and behold our new surroundings. It is another plain, aptly named the Fanged plain due to many rock outcropping sprinkled all over it. Traversing it would take a normal human two weeks, but I am not a human, and neither is Mewtwo.

  We start walking away from the forest, trying to give ourselves some distance from the forest, so that the raid that will soon start appears away from it.

  On cue, the moment my clock announces noon, the sound of distant bells echo, only for me to hear. We look around, trying to locate the portal. Yet, even among the outcropping, we see nothing. It is only when a falls upon us that we look up.

  And freeze.

  The portal has opened high above the forest, yet far below the distant islands in the sky. The same bleeding sky can be seen beyond it, and from it, a massive airship is emerging.

  From below, the floating ship looks like an arrow head, with two fins extending form its back. Between the fins, a massive propeller turns, driving the ship forward. It slowly emerges from the portal and as soon as it is out, it positions itself above us. Beams of colors start striking all around us, forcing us to move. Flying creatures emerge from its hull and dive toward us.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "Are... are we supposed to take an entire ship down?" I ask in disbelief.

  Mewtwo is already smiling, orbs of elemental energy already forming around him. I am more than ready to try! He exclaims.

  I smile at his enthusiasm. "Well, get me up there, and I can try to do some damage as-" I do not get to finish my sentence.

  As I dodge a beam, one of the flying creatures strike me. From up close, tt looks like what a blue manta ray would look like if it turned into a zombie, with an added flat head and two shiny green eyes.

  Its strike knocks me off my feet.

  "OH FUCK OFF!" I scream out as I attempt to slash it in half with my sword. I only manage to tear parts of the fabric the creature seems to be made of.

  Let's get up there. Mewtwo says, catching me in a strong telekinetic grip.

  We blast off fast. Mewtwo expertly dodges the beams and soon pass above the airship. Now that we are above, more of its design comes into view. The ship is quite detailed, with curved architecture made of blue-green bricks, orange wood. Stubby wings made of gray wool extend from each sides of the ship.

  How the ship stays afloat without visible flotation devices, I could not say. But here it floats.

  Three decks are visible, all populated by knights in dark gray plate armor and crimson tabards as well as crimson robed men with hoods upon their heads. On the top deck, we see a figure that has Mewtwo freeze for a second, and fills me with dread. Heavier armor, more decorated surcoat, a sword pulsing with dark energy, visible even from that far. A crimson praetor. The first enemy we had to face for our first raid, here with his company of knights and cultists to defeat us.

  We get snapped out of our paralysis by two things. First, the flying monsters, that my system calls phantoms have caught up to us, and one clips Mewtwo, almost making him let me go. The second is the Praetor pointing his sword our way. I warn my psychic friend just in time for him to move us away from the resulting assault. A beam almost similar in color and texture to the dimensional rift tears the sky open momentarily, missing me by a breath.

  "Okay get me there NOW!" I cry out as another beam of shining black eldritch energy emanates from the Crimson Praetor and almost pierces Mewtwo.

  Brace yourself! Mewtwo warns me before I am sent hurtling at a terrific speed toward the flying boat.

  I barely manage to scream before I impact upon the wall beneath the lowest deck. As I do so, I crash through one of the robed cultist as well a couple of knights. Going through the ship's hull is what finally bleeds enough momentum for me to stop.

  "I'm good!" I shout, aware Mewtwo might not hear me.

  Perfect, I'll try to distract the Praetor and the aerial monsters! Try to get that ship down! My companion shouts back.

  I shout out an okay and and take a look around me. I am somewhere within the hull of the airship. Littering the gray interior floor, are barrels and chests. And cages.

  On my right, toward the bow of the ship are stairs going up. Already a knight is rushing down toward me, and a cultist, that my system label as a crimson cleric is entering through the hole I made with my landing. I take out my bow and quickly fire an arrow at the cleric, hitting his shoulder instead of his head. Still the impact has him reeling back, and whatever rune he was trying to conjure sputters out. I turn back toward the knight, ready to parry his attack, only to get struck by something behind me.

  I rush forward, making sure to distance myself from whatever is behind me. I feel myself heating up as my body starts to repair itself from something. I ignore it for now and smash into the oncoming knight. My weight combined with my speed is enough to send him flying right back at the stairs in a pile of limbs. Blood flows from the silts of his helmet as his his chestplate bends inward.

  I then turn around just in time to catch a golden axe. A tall skeletal figure made blackened bones looms over me, and rigth behind it, another is already approaching. It holds the large golden axe with one hand. A strange dark aura seems to be seeping from its blackened bones into his weapon. Said aura seeps into my left hand, making dark veins appear along the metal surface. My system starts heating up once more as it tries to repair damages caused by the withering aura. I kick the skeleton back, shattering it, even as more appear out of thin air to replace it.

  I realize I have misjudged some of the room content. What I first took for simple cages are spawners, and they are creating more of the black skeletons with each passing seconds. I quickly load torches to my builder tool and place them all around the room, trying to stave the oncoming wave of skeletal warriors.

  A searing ball of fire reminds me of the other crimson cultist present. The crimson cleric has recovered, and he is ready for round two. I send another arrow his way, but a honeycomb pattern shield pops into existence before him, stopping my projectile. Torn between securing the room and dealing with the cleric, I decide to secure the room first. I run around, placing torches all over, while avoiding the many attacks the cleric sends my way. Some still hit, but my armor manages to repel most of the damages, and my regeneration quickly restores any damages I take.

  My energy reserves are starting to take a toll however. A third of it is gone, and every time a skeleton manages to strike me, the consumption spikes.

  However my plan works. Soon the skeletons stop spawning, and only the cleric remains. It keeps screaming at me in a grating language and firing spells after spells my way. I zigzag toward him, and after striking his shield with my sword a few times, strike him down. Even then he continues to scream, only stopping once his lungs fill with blood and the screams turn into gurgles. I stab him a second time, to make sure.

  Once he is dead, I take stock of the situation. I barely cleared a room, and already I am at half power. Nothing that a quick snack can't fix, but I might need to be more careful.

  I go for the stairs, arriving in a triangular room. An open hatch faces the stairs, and as I turn around, I realize I have reached the nesting place of the phantoms. Two spawners on each sides of the room make sure more of the monsters appear and are sent out, possibly to fight Mewtwo.

  The phantoms take notice of me and swarm me. I punch, slash and kick at the mass of wings and maws, slowly thinning them out. Until something bounces off my side. I turn and find myself face to face with another crimson knight. He is so close I can see his maddened glare through his helmet. With the phantoms still appearing and impairing me, I try to fight off this new opponent, and I am barely able to keep the knight at bay.

  Although the phantoms are not doing too much damages, I can see the mana reserves I have are dwindling fast, as is my energy. This will become a problem soon if I cannot deal with this constant supply of phantoms.

  I parry the knight once more, and kick one of his legs, hearing a disturbing crunch. The knight screams in pain, and tries to strike me once more, but I move out of his range. I rush the closest spawner, and try to destroy it. I try with my sword first, then my hands, and then with a pickaxe. Surprisingly, the pickaxe makes short work of the cage, and once I pry it open. Ghostly figures rush out with bone chilling screams. No more phantoms seems to appear from it, and I move to the next one, even as the knight tries to limp after me.

  Once the second spawner is destroyed. I clear the remaining phantoms, and kill the knight. Just like the cleric, it seems to only think of one thing, and that is to kill me.

  Going through the only other exit beside the stairs, I enter a kitchen area, finding a robed cultist tending to a pot. It turns around as I enter and almost jumps the counter separating us. For the first time I can see what they look like, and the answer is, they are humans. This cultist is bald, with the diamond shaped eye of Eziakophael tattooed upon his forehead. His eyes are bloodshot and he screams in the same language as the other cultists I have met to this point. He tries to strike me with his ladle, and I bat it away with my sword. He tries again, and this time, I punch him in retaliation. His chest caves in and he vomits blood from the strike. He looks at me with nothing but spite in his eyes, and collapses on the ground, gurgling in his eldritch tongue.

  I feel nothing as I watch blood expand around the man, only cold calculation. Aster within me whispers his wisdom. the cultists are mad, drunk upon the words and power of Eziakophael. Their only goal is to kill any abductees they see, even if such task would be impossible. They have to, and nothing will stop them. He tried reasonning with them, many times. It never worked.

  A simple tsk escapes me as I turn to the exit of the kitchen area. Already cultists and a couple of knights are rushing in. The cultists only have daggers and small wooden shields, while the knights have broad swords. I try to thin the rushing cultists with arrows, dispatching a few before they reach me. Unlike the monsters, the cultists must have limited numbers right? I hope so at least.

  Punches shatter shields and sword strikes kill most of the cultists once they reach melee range. Enemies must be dispatched, echoes within my head. And I continue my slaughter. The knights fall quickly, and I enter the next room

  It is a small prayer room, with three rows of pews facing the aft of the ship. As I stand above the room on a slightly raised balcony, a cleric with slightly more voluptuous robes looks at me from behind a pulpit and points at me.

  Blackened skeletons appear at his side and rush for the balcony. They separate and start to climb the stairs from each side. Conflicted, I pick one side and meet the first half of the group midway up the stairs. Once more their withering aura affects me, eating at my integrity. I quickly dispatch them, only for another group to appear next to the cleric and rush me.

  This might be too much. I do not see the spawners, if they come form a spawners. Already the second half of the first group is clearing the top of the stairs and traversing the balcony my way. I turn around rush to another flight of stairs next to the kitchen access. It turns out to be leading to the first deck of the ship. I quickly place cobblestone blocks to stop the skeletons to reach me, only to realize too late there is another access right next to it. I rush to fill it, but knights and cultists swarm me.

  The follow-up battle is messy, gory, and almost leaves me dry of energy as the skeletons slowly pour upward from the ship's hold. I quickly gobble some cooked potatoes along with tomatoes and raw carrots once I am done fighting, and move to the second flight of stairs.

  Already another horde of animated skeletons are rushing up. I try to block them as much as I can, but a few manage to slip by and try to attack me. I try to trick them by running circle around the staircase access, while also attempting to finally fill the access with blocks.

  It works somewhat, and after a minute of circling and block placing, I succeed, and then turn to the skeletons. They are quickly dispatched, however, I realize that my sword durability is lowering. I have ran out of mana. My armor is also looking rather battered as well. Still, I can see it slowly knitting itself back together. I am still producing mana after all, thanks to my band of aura.

  With the staircases plugged, and a surprising lack of further attack, I look around the lowest opened deck. No more knights are visible, nor are spawners. Further back seems to be another room, from which I can make out a steady thumping sound.

  I start to make my way towards it, but the entire ship suddenly lurches sideways. I steady myself against a wall and look outside. A massive tornado is ripping apart most of the phantoms still flying outside. The hurricane is so strong it was able to affect the massive airship.

  However, it does not last long, a cresent of dark energy strikes it, and the tornado comes apart as Mewtwo escapes it. However its purpose has been served. Only a handful of phantoms remain, and Mewtwo is now the master of the skies. Beams of energy trail after him, but now he can fight back.

  "Get them Mewtwo!" I cry out, trying to cheer him up.

  He answers by sending a cone of flame into the deck above me. I can hear screams from above my head, and flames licks part of the ceiling above me. "Okay maybe not that hard while I'm still here." I mutter.

  Seeing as he is still handling himself, I continue toward the thumping sound.

  And I find the airship engine room.

  was inspired by All Ahead Full by Dan Terminus.