A ringing sound pierced through his skull. The world swam in and out of focus, light and shadow saring together as though soone had dragged a wet brush through his vision.
For a mont, Ryn rembered he was standing, looking out...but the next, he was on the ground.
Cold stone pressed against his cheek, his cloak damp with water. He tried to inhale, but his breath caught halfway before he coughed it back out again.
With sheer will, he managed to push himself up. His arms trembled, not from weakness this ti but from the residual shock.
Ryn turned his head, trying to look for the others. A form to his right, Taylor, was half-sprawled against a broken crate, her clipboard just several feet away.
Jay was a bit closer, flat on his back, one arm thrown over his head to protect it from sothing. His glasses were askew, eyes barely open.
It seed like Jay was muttering sothing, but he couldn’t hear them. The ringing drowned everything.
He forced himself to sit upright fully. The docks were no longer orderly...it was a complete wreckage.
What had been a beautiful city by the sea had beco ruined. Wooden houses were half-collapsed in, broken chunks of stone laid out in the street, and glass fragnts had embedded themselves everywhere.
How did—What happened?
But his mind almost seed to answer itself instantly. His eyes cleared before the sight as he looked up. Where a large wall of ice had stretched above only monts ago...was now nothing but open, black sea.
Ryn stared at the absence, the realization settling in before the rest of his body caught up.
Strength returned to him as his eyes widened.
"The wall..." he muttered. "It’s gone."
Ryn lifted his gaze higher.
Leviathan towered beyond the ruined docks, its colossal body rising above the broken harbor as it just...stared.
Its tired?
The creature’s chest rose and fell, slow and deliberate, as though the previous assault had demanded sothing from it.
Fuck, I need to get it away. Now.
He pushed himself fully to his feet and strode toward Jay first, gripping the alchemist’s shoulder firmly.
"Jay."
Jay blinked sluggishly, the ringing clearly still clouding his senses.
"Jay, get up," Ryn said sharply, shaking him once. "We don’t have ti."
He moved to Taylor next, crouching and pulling her upright by the arm. Her eyes snapped open almost imdiately, sobering up faster than Jay.
"What—?" she asked under her breath. "What happened?"
"Leviathan," Ryn answered. "It destroyed the wall."
"But it’s tired," he added. "So I need you to get up, and we need to move now."
Jay was finally pushing himself upright, rubbing at his ears.
"What are we doing?" he asked hoarsely.
"We need to find Alia," Ryn replied imdiately. "After that, we need to drag it away from the city on our airship."
Taylor’s head snapped toward him. "You’re serious?"
"If it recovers before we reposition, Khaz Vordun’s finished," Ryn replied evenly. "This is the only window we’re getting."
Without further questions, they broke into a sprint. Ryn didn’t wait to see if Jay was steady enough or if Taylor was keeping pace. All he could think about was Alia.
He blitzed down the wreckage, weaving past shattered beams and jumping over splintered carts. The defense line had beco unrecognizable.
What had once been a field of battlents and reinforced platforms was now a wasteland of frozen debris. Massive shards of ice lay scattered everywhere, each fragnt the size of buildings, embedded deep into the ground.
After a while, they managed to reach the beach.
Ryn slowed instinctively as he looked at the scene in front of them. The only thing it could be considered as, was a forest of ice spires.
The sa chunks of ice but this ti, each were as tall as several story buildings, so even fell in chunks like full glaciers.
His heart began to pound harder.
"Alia—" he muttered under his breath, scanning desperately.
But what he found instead made his heart drop even more. Just as he turned the corner, the familiar shape burned into his eyes.
The Kraken.
Its once towering form was barely recognizable. The creature’s body had been crushed beneath the falling slabs, tentacles twisted and pinned beneath enormous blocks of ice. Black ichor seeped into the freezing water around it. It was completely dead.
If sothing that large had been obliterated so thoroughly—
Then what about—
"Over here!" Taylor shouted.
Ryn turned instantly toward the source of the sound and sprinted as fast as he could. Near the edge of the beach, partially buried beneath fallen shards, stood an iron do.
Its surface was dented, so parts even caved inward, but it was sohow still intact.
He ran toward it imdiately, leaping over splintered ice and sliding down the last incline of sand before reaching the structure. The tal was till warm under his palm, faintly glowing from whatever Essece had been used to sustain it.
"Braum!" he called out. "It’s ! Ryn!"
The do hissed, steam escaping the top before it opened up. Braum sat braced at the center, both hands planted against the ground. The veins on his arm were bulging from the strain, almost like they would pop.
But beside him...was Alia.
Her flas were gone, and she was kneeling now, but very much alive and well.
Ryn ran toward her imdiately and pulled her into a hug, words coming out before he could stop them.
"I’m sorry! My plan was reckless and—and I shouldn’t have—"
Alia stopped him before he could continue on, slowly patting him on the back of his armor.
"It’s alright..." she said softly. "We’re alive and that’s all that matters."
Behind them, Braum let out a low breath that almost sounded like a laugh.
"You two done?" the dwarf muttered hoarsely. "Because the big one’s still standin’."
"And you owe one, Captain."
Ryn exhaled a breath to calm himself before nodding. "Whatever you want, Braum."
"Alright," he hardened his eyes as he stood up straight. "We don’t have long."
Braum pushed himself fully upright, rolling one shoulder with a wince. Alia followed as they all stepped out of Braum’s do.
"What are you thinking?" she asked.
Ryn didn’t hesitate.
"I’m taking our airship and pulling it away from the city," he said. "It’s mindless right now, so it’ll follow any stimulation. We’ll get it to chase us."
Taylor stepped closer, already understanding. "And when it does?"
"Braum cos from behind with his ship," Ryn replied. "Full artillery, cannons at close range. Not to kill it, just to make it slow down."
Braum’s brows furrowed, but there was no hesitation in his stance. "Ye’ want a pinch."
"Sothing like that."
"We don’t have the firepower to destroy it outright," Ryn continued, eyes never leaving the creature. "But if we keep it occupied, if even just a few more minutes...Fritz gets the ti he needs."
The na hung in silence but nobody objected. The plan hinged on his solo mission. They couldn’t afford another plan if he failed.
No. He had to succeed at all costs.
Behind them, the broken docks creaked as seawater receded and surged again. Leviathan’s head shifted, once barely moving its head as it scanned the surroundings.
And without waiting for another word, Ryn started moving.
They moved quickly through the wreckage, the path toward the flagship was once again littered with all sorts of wreckage and ice. But the vessel itself still stood intact at the edge of the city.
Leviathan remained distant, its colossal shadow lood against Khaz Vordun, seawater swirling beneath it.
"Crew," he ordered as they reached the boarding ramp. "Who’s still operational?"
A handful of dwarves answered imdiately, shaking off lingering shock as they scrambled into position.
They were bleeding, so limped and others were still shocked, but they moved regardless. This was their hotown on the line, their culture, and their land.
Braum turned toward his own vessel further down the docks, already issuing rapid commands to the surviving artillery crew. His airship groaned as its anchor chains were loosened, steam blasting away as the engine roared to life.
Ryn stepped onto the deck of his own ship and gripped the railing, eyes locked on Leviathan the entire ti.
"Pull anchors," he ordered.
The wheel in the middle worked imdiately, reeling the anchor in as the ship began to hover.
"How far up, Ryn?" Jay called from behind him.
"Not much," he replied. "We need speed more than height, conserve energy as much as possible for now."
Across the harbor, Braum’s vessel followed suit, starting to hover at around the sa ti.
For one mont, it felt as though they might make it. But that was when they heard it.
ROARRRRRRRR!
The sound tore through Khaz Vordun, shattering what little calm remained. Waves crashed into shore just from the force alone.
But worst of all...Leviathan moved.
"Now!" Ryn shouted. "Full lift! Full speed ahead!"
Engines worked at full load as the ship tore upward. Across the harbor, Braum’s vessel followed right after them, cannons locked and loaded.
Below, Leviathan’s massive fra shifted, the ocean beginning to rise around it once more.
They had waited a second too long and the corrupted guardian had decided the pause was over.
Both ships blasted through the open sea as the roar echoed behind them. Ryn held out his fingers, condensing light into his hand as he activated a single skill.
[Orion]
"Co at us, you overgrown snake."
Reviews
All reviews (0)