Chain Melody 19

“Seriously? Isn’t this a little too crazy?”  

From his vantage point in a building that overlooked most of Aperture from one of the two cliff walls, Varen could not hide his disbelief at the developing circumstances. The sudden appearance of a floating temple and its surrounding complex exasperated Varen, but Kyte showed uncharacteristic concern.

“It couldn’t be… Why is that here…?”

“If it has anything to do with why the Builders have become fearful then perhaps you should deal with it Hero.”

Tinkering away on complex radio equipment Wherks seemed too irritable to want to consider the implications of Kyte’s reaction. What he heard from the Builders’ Song however made him every bit as worried as the Hero. The concern shown by the three who joined her made Mail uncomfortable in general as she watched explosions appear in the city around the floating temple.

“What do you think is going on?”

“There is only one thing in the history of Niol that could fill the Builders with fear Lady Mail. Considering the Hero’s reaction when can only presume it to be true.”

“Then that red ice….”

Varen noted the crimson ice that formed on the temple structure and was starting to spread into the city around it. Clenching his gauntlet clad left fist and teeth Varen felt powerless. Wherks’ next choice of words did little to make Varen feel better.

“Legends seem to have a horrible way of showing up when you least desire them to Varen. There can be no doubt as to what has joined us in Aperture. How utterly disrespectful of it though. My plan of manipulating the radio frequencies of Aperture to amplify my tuner to silence our troublesome Hero seems like an utter waste now.”

“I disagree fur ball. Silencing that witch is still probably the best idea right now. Just look at the state she’s left the city in. The people are thralls or otherwise unwilling puppets of her power and the city is just a twitch away from being pulled into the chasm. If she isn’t stopped then you can bet we won’t be able to do anything with our legendary problem.”

“Then perhaps you should meet up with the Hero who is disrupting the song around our common enemy.”

Wherks’ words were meant more to be disrespectful of Kyte, but the Hero instead lit up.

“Oh~! So the Commander is here are they? That’s absolutely perfect. I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather go fishing with. No offense either tall man, seeing as we’re practically blood brothers and all now, but the Commander’s ability to cancel out magical energy of any source makes them perfect for fishing out that witch.”

“None taken Hero, except for that whole blood brother routine.”

“Come on tall man, don’t be like that.”

“Seriously? After all the times you’ve kept trying to kill me?”

“I told you before it was just fulfilling my duty. But you lived through it and look how much closer we are now.”

“Seriously?”

“Maybe you two should meet up with them though.”

Mail introduced her own opinion in an attempt to get Kyte and Varen to stop their routine and earned looks even from Wherks.

“Why would you suggest such a thing Lady Mail? Are you trying to leave the two of us undefended?”

“It’s not what you think Master Rattama. This Hero has to have a limit. There’s no doubt she would recognize another Hero as a threat and we know she has at least some interest in Varen. If we give her two more powerful points of interest to focus on it will make it that much harder for her to refocus herself when you interrupt her power.”

“So where would I even be going?”

“Doesn’t matter tall man. The maid says to go out and make a commotion to test the limits of our witch and I say go for it. Just make sure to make a big enough ruckus so I know where to pick you up when’ it’s time to fish out our witch. For now, I’m going to commandeer an airship and meet up with the Commander.”

Not even waiting to see if anyone agreed with him Kyte suddenly hurled himself out the window to everyone’s disbelief.

“Seriously?! What is wrong with him?!”

“Impulsiveness seems to be what drives him Varen, but you best not let him out of your sight. Lady Mail’s suggestion has some merit but when I disrupt the Builders’ Singing of Heroes it will affect him as well which could result in his untimely demise.”

“Seriously?!

Varen’s continued repetition as he spoke his disbelief was accompanied by Mail looking as though she believed she made a mistake. Looking between her and the airship passing by well below the window that looked out from the cliff the building they occupied was built into the face of, Varen sighed extremely heavily.

“Look, just keep Master Wherks and yourself away from any doors or windows until you know that it’s safe to move from here.”

Taking Kyte’s lead Varen threw himself from the window and plummeted to the airship below. Gritting his teeth and squinting against the airflow that caused his eyes to water, Varen looked for some way to not kill himself as he approached the airship. As the airship was of typical Bright Rift design, a central zeppelin wrapped in catwalks and adorned with dangling gondola cars and exterior observation decks, there was any number of points that Varen could attempt to grab on to.

“Well, at least I should have my pick of how not to kill myself!”

Watching the airship below him explode into combat as Kyte made his presence known, Varen wryly commented on the opening he had to approach unnoticed however he chose. Not wanting to either waste his opportunity or die Varen spread his body out in a vain attempt to slow down. Watching the ship and praying silently not to mess up Varen reached out with his left hand as he neared the vessel and then snatched a catwalk railing as he passed. The construction of the vessel proved to be anything but of good quality however as the railing and entire catwalk pulled free of the vessel.

“SERIOUSLY~?!”

Varen practically screamed his disbelief but the absurdity of his situation had not yet ended. Though the catwalk pulled free it was only in part and Varen found himself swinging in a high speed arc as the freed section of catwalk pivoted on where it was still secured to the airship. Holding on for dear life Varen could not stop himself from screaming but in turn could not help but stop as the catwalk finally broke free. Having swung with enough force to put Varen in line of sight of the command deck of the airship the catwalk had finally given out and simply dangled in the air for a moment as the Zeppelin moved through the air straight at it and the wide-eyed Varen who wasn’t sure what do next. Reacting on instinct alone He let go of the catwalk and shielded himself with his left arm, the engravings of the gauntlet taking on a superheated red glow as the airship rammed him. Joining the splintered catwalk in the bridge Varen further surprised the old grizzled captain as he tumbled to his feet.

“Why is it that things keep getting crazier and crazier?!”

“Don’t lower your guard yet whoever you are. None us of are under our own control.”

“Seriously!”

Turning around to take in the command crew of the airship Varen eyed the various crew members trying to resist the movement of their bodies or simply charging at him with soulless black eyes. Faced with those whose eyes held no sign of their own selves first Varen pulled his sword and scabbard from his waist and wielded it as one weapon to defend himself. To his surprise, as the runes of his gauntlet raced down the scabbard anyone he struck with it was restored to their senses and freed of whatever force controlled them.

“Finally, something that’s going my way!”

Finding himself smiling Varen demonstrated his sword work and in a matter of seconds the command crew were once again themselves. A moment later Kyte burst through the door ready to fight and had to stop himself as he realized that no one in the crew was aiming to attack him. In that same moment he noticed Varen on the command deck and burst out laughing as he put a hand to his forehead.

“Oh~ that’s impressive tall man! We really are blood brothers now aren’t we? Leaping into the belly of a beast together and working together towards a common goal! How is it that you weren’t born in this great kingdom?!”

“Does that really matter right now?”

“It does, and we can talk about it while the kind captain here takes us to the Commander!”

“Who are you people?”

The captain of the airship was confused to no end as Varen grew irritated with Kyte who was smiling like he was having the time of his life. His question did not go unnoticed however and both Varen and Kyte turned to introduce themselves at the same time.

“Varen Elcourt. Adventurer by virtue, not licence.”

“Kyte Ardea. Humble fisherman of the great kingdom of Bright Rift.”

As the two spoke at the same the captain became as irritated as he was confused.

“How am I supposed to understand you when you’re talking at the same time?!”

Copyright © 2018 Joshua D Tarwater