-Callen-

  Jumping off from a tree towards the river gave an easy and clear path for takeoff. I circled over Callia using the boosters to gain some more altitude while she gently picked her craft up off the ground. The glider was without a doubt much faster than the helicopter, but it couldn’t carry a similar payload yet. Honestly this trip would’ve been much easier if I had placed a greater priority on developing aircraft, but the utility of the helicopter in a local setting was the driving force for most of my work. In the end, I suppose it was just another project to set aside for later.

  As Callia’s helicopter clears the forest with Paul (the guard) dangling safely above the trees, I let Sis know that she was clear. Callia started moving down the coastline, but my vehicle was faster, letting me set off to check the path ahead. To my left the sun rose slowly, hitting the forest and casting long shadows over the river. From my view above, it looked like a line of shadow grass against the backdrop of the river. I gave myself a moment to smile and relax as I passed the memory over to Nightshade. It’s the kind of scenic natural perspective that she liked to share with me.

  Of course I made sure to loop back on occasion so that I wouldn’t get too far ahead of Callia. We could only go as fast as our slowest vehicle because it was better to stick together in case of trouble. I dipped a bit, flying relatively close to Paul to check on him. I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised to see the man clinging to the ropes, making his makeshift seat. His eyes were shut tight as his seat swayed in the wind and from the air resistance. I wanted to shout some encouragement, but I think saying anything might spook him more than he’s ready for.

  We continue to make our way south; sadly, the helicopter struggles to operate at speeds similar to the boat, and keeping those speeds requires more of Callia’s mana to go into recharging the battery than she naturally recovers. Therefore, to keep ourselves ready for trouble, her speed is slightly slower than the boat. I’m the one operating the glider because its tech is older. It doesn’t have a battery, instead relying on pure mana, which is far less efficient, but I have significantly more mana than my sister, so it won’t be an issue for me.

  I remain at ease as we proceed, given that the journey is expected to take approximately eight to twelve hours at our current pace. The big gap was mainly due to wind. There was a strong breeze flowing away from the river that required significant correction for us to keep our course. Still, we would likely finish our trip before darkness sets in.

  Peacefully the hours pass by, and Hew went from a nervous wreck in the beginning to appreciative of the experience. The most dramatic change, though, was Paul. At some point he overcame his fear of falling to the point where he was boldly standing in his seat, riding the currents of wind like it was some kind of game. Luckily the ropes showed no sign of strain when I checked in a flyby. Up above us a large white cloud moved between us and the sun, and with a shadow we got to see past the glare of the river.

  While the far side was too far to get a proper look at, our side dropped from shallows that we had navigated in our boat into a sudden cliff. While on a map the curves and flow of the river were reminiscent of a normal river, the massive crevice was a straight line, like someone had swung a sword trying to cut the world in half. The damage was unlike anything I had ever seen. When using skills for speed or hitting the ground hard with superhuman strength, there was always a muted effect, like the world was resisting the attack. Most damage never went beyond superficial; even The Great Bear, with its earthshaking attacks, only ripped apart the walls and the foundations of the town. It left no massive map-changing chasms, only small rifts that didn’t reflect just how much force the impact truly had.

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  My thoughts are interrupted as I catch sight of one of the deep-water fish. I can see the water rising into another wave as the large fish resembling some kind of trout passes near the surface. In the next moment it is snatched into the mouth of an even bigger fish. It rises from the dark, at first resembling an alligator until the fishlike body follows the head upward. The two crash back into the dark below, creating a massive splash that’s a functional tsunami. I’m forced to pull us further upward as the wave ripped out trees that had grown too close to the beach.

  Rising above the disaster, I look back at the water and see the river calming down as what would best be described as an alligator gar at least a mile long, maybe even more. Despite having evaded the wave, the problem wasn’t over yet. The wave had disturbed the entire region, and every bird had taken off to evade the wave and its aftershocks. The sky had gone from peaceful to a bloody free-for-all. I swung the glider around to get back to Callia as quickly as possible.

  Originally the plan in case of birds was to forcefully land as quickly as possible, but with the forest flooded, landing might result in getting swept out to the river by the backwash. Luckily we had a significant elevation advantage; unluckily we had me. Every bird near me immediately abandoned whatever prey they were after and started to pursue me. Even birds that were about to eat each other set aside eating their catch or being eaten to join the pursuit.

  I fed more mana into my glider to just barely keep ahead of the swarm as Callia’s craft came into view. Philip had taken the controls while Callia had her bow out, trying to intercept any bird getting near the propeller. The other guard was trying to fend off the swarms trying to attack the pilot and Callia from below, and Paul was laughing manically as he swung around on the last rope. His sword spinning with him like a lawnmower in the sky. I flew past the helicopter, drawing the ire of the angry birds, and started climbing as hard as I could straight into the sky.

  Birds started catching up, reaching only a few feet from our heels when I cut power to the glider and opened my mana zone. It took barely a moment for me to pull out the mobile shelter, dropping it into the bird swarm. Startled squawks of birds being hit with a falling building echoed back up to us. Meanwhile, I forcefully pulled the glider and pointed it straight down through the gap the shelter had torn through the swarm. Diving through the opening, I summoned multiple lightning runes, blasting the survivors and chaining the energy through the swarm.

  As we escaped, I pulled up from my dive, but despite my best efforts, there were still birds left, and I was dangerously low on mana. With the speed of our dive giving me some time, I angled and dove my way back towards Callia. This time everything seemed much more in control. Callia was still shooting, but now she was able to keep pace, and the propellers weren’t in imminent danger. The guard that had protected her was missing, but Paul had secured himself below, and Philip was still at the controls.

  I took the speed and energy from the earlier dive and began circling the helicopter, drawing any would-be threats into chasing me while Callia was able to focus her fire on keeping them off me. Sadly the speed generated from diving didn’t last long, and I didn’t have enough mana to outpace the birds. Even with Callia’s efforts, a bird managed to bite onto the wing before being shot, but it ripped out a chunk of the fabric from the wing. Without extra power the glider was done for.

  Gramit’s distraction

  Gramit was casually munching on a bit of jerky when suddenly reality came back into being. He tried to look around to register what was going on, but in the next moment he was covered in fishmen biting and tearing apart his flesh. On reflex he flared his spines, sending them flying all across the room, sticking into the flesh of the fishmen with poison, rapidly disabling them.

  With the majority of people attacking him paralyzed, he looked around to understand what had just happened. He was in a cave, and someone had run away, being chased by a bunch of fishmen. He wasn’t quite sure what to do from here, and he was even wondering who he was, but an important memory that had saved him came to mind: the boy he wanted for something. While he wasn’t sure what for, he was sure that he needed him for something. Still, finding the boy without resources would be difficult.

  At that he stopped and looked back at the fish people he had paralyzed. Then he looked at his own body with his tentacle legs and various animal appendages. A smile grew on his face until it grew unnaturally large. It seems the starting point for his new organization was readily subdued. Now he just needed some time to train them. Once that is handled, he will have his personal army of fish people to hunt down the boy.