Tatehan would have told the driver to push the Skyblade to the sa blitz speed they had used on the way to the Crosspoint, but he found himself hesitating. Sothing about the slower pace felt right in the mont.
He had been moving fast for days now (rushing from one crisis to the next, barely stopping to catch his breath) and this flight back ho felt like a rare opportunity to just sit and think. To let the world pass by beneath him without urgency.
He had done sothing like this before, literally so hours ago on his way to crosspoint for the eting.
He had relaxed for so ti and watched the view but not so much because he was running late to the eting, he still had to speed up.
But now? He settled deeper into his seat and let himself enjoy the view.
He had not even gotten to explore the Crosspoint. The eting had consud all of his ti and attention, leaving no room for wandering through the city, seeing what it had to offer, experiencing what made it different from Waython Hollow or any of the other settlents he had never visited.
Maybe that was sothing he could do next ti, assuming there was a next ti.
He shrugged to himself. It was not a big deal.
Now they were far from the Crosspoint, the city shrinking into the distance behind them as the Skyblade cut through the open sky. Below them, the landscape shifted and changed as they passed over new terrain. Another city ca into view, smaller than the Crosspoint but still impressive in its own right.
This one was bathed in purple light, the glow emanating from thousands of bioluminescent installations that lined the streets and buildings, giving the entire settlent an otherworldly, almost dreamlike quality.
Tatehan pressed his face closer to the viewport, watching as the purple lights blurred together into a soft haze, and then the city was behind them, swallowed by the horizon.
After that, the landscape turned barren. Empty lands stretched out in every direction, dry and lifeless, dotted with jagged rocks and shallow craters that looked like scars on the surface of the planet. There was no vegetation, no signs of habitation either, just endless stretches of red dirt and stone.
Humans hadn’t fully covered the whole of Mars really. Due to billions of them being wiped out during the space dragons war.
But then, the cost of lives wasn’t exactly the reason for this not entire coverage of the planet. That was a reason though.
The other reason was that all humans didn’t co to live on Mars, many also took refuge in other planets which they had managed to terraform and were surviving on.
He stared at the emptiness for a while, his mind wandering, and then the boredom started to creep in.
Tatehan sighed, leaning forward slightly. "Alright, let’s speed this up."
The driver glanced back at him, one eyebrow raised. "You sure?"
"Yeah. No point dragging this out."
The driver nodded, her fingers moving across the holographic controls with ease. The Skyblade’s engines roared to life, and the entire craft surged forward with a sudden burst of acceleration that pressed Tatehan back into his seat. The landscape below beca a blur, details vanishing into streaks of red and brown as they tore through the Martian sky at incredible speed.
Tatehan grinned despite himself. That was more like it.
Thirty-two minutes later, the Skyblade touched down on the landing platform at the Red Crest Clan base, the engines winding down with a low, fading hum. The guards disembarked first, moving efficiently, and then Tatehan followed, stepping out into the familiar surroundings of the Red crest clan base.
The mont his boots hit the ground, Lyra caught him in a hug.
It was sudden, unexpected, and tight enough to knock the breath out of him for a second. Tatehan blinked, his arms instinctively coming up to return the embrace, and then Riven was there too, throwing her arms around him from the other side, trapping him in a sandwich of enthusiasm and relief.
And then, to his absolute confusion, so of the guards joined in.
Random mbers of the Red Crest Clan, people he had barely even spoken to before, were suddenly crowding around him, clapping him on the back, shaking his hand, grinning at him like he had just returned from a decade-long journey instead of a few hours away.
’What the fuck.’
When Lyra had first hugged him, it had felt a little suspicious. A little too personal, maybe, like there was sothing more behind it. ’Sus’. But now that everyone was doing the sa thing, it just felt... normal. Overwhelming, but normal.
Tatehan stood there, half-laughing, half-bewildered, trying to process what was happening.
"Okay, okay," he said, extricating himself from the crush of bodies. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I was only gone for a few hours. You’re all acting like I died or sothing."
Lyra grinned at him, her eyes bright. "We were worried."
"Worried?" Tatehan echoed, incredulous. "About what? I went to a eting, not a battlefield."
"Still," Riven said, shrugging. "You never know."
Tatehan shook his head, a faint smile on his lips. It was ridiculous, but it was also kind of nice. He had not expected this kind of reception.
What if he had co back with bad news? What if the eting had not been successful, if the cities had refused to work together, if he had failed to convince them? Would they still be hugging him then, or would they be looking at him with disappointnt and frustration?
They didn’t even know if he ca with good or bad news and they were already receiving him like this.
He pushed the thought aside. It did not matter now. The eting had been successful.
The commander stood a little ways off, not quite in the crowd but close enough to be visible. Her arms were folded behind her back, her posture straight and composed, and her expression was calm, almost neutral. But there was sothing in her eyes—a faint glimr of curiosity, that Tatehan caught as he looked over at her.
"This is a sign it was a successful eting?" she asked, her tone dry but not unkind.
Tatehan grinned, pushing through the last of the crowd to stand in front of her. "Hell yeah, it was."
The commander’s lips twitched, the ghost of a smile flickering across her face before disappearing just as quickly. She turned, heading back toward the main building, and Tatehan fell into step beside her.
As they walked, Tatehan glanced back over his shoulder at the mbers of the Red Crest Clan who were still milling around the landing platform, talking excitedly among themselves. He could not help but grin.
He rembered how they had chanted for him to be killed when he had fought Mub. How they had shouted and jeered, convinced that he was just so outsider who had no business challenging their champion. And then, against all odds, he had co out on top. He had defeated their number one fighter, proven himself in a way that words never could have.
And now they were hugging him like he was one of their own.
It was a strange feeling. A good feeling.
Inside the commander’s office, the door slid shut behind them with a soft sound, cutting off the noise from outside and leaving them in the quiet, dimly lit space. The commander moved to her desk, settling into her chair.
Tatehan took the seat across from her, leaning back and letting the tension in his shoulders finally start to ease.
"So," the commander said, her gaze steady on him. "How did it go?"
Tatehan took a breath, organizing his thoughts. "It went well. Better than I expected, honestly. All four cities agreed to work together. We’re forming an alliance, officially. Everyone’s on board."
The commander’s eyebrows rose slightly. "All of them?"
"All of them," Tatehan confird. "New Helios, Iron Haven, Reon Outpost, Loenitt. They all agreed that the Obscuron is too big a threat to handle alone. We’re going to coordinate our efforts, share intelligence and support each other when attacks happen."
The commander nodded slowly, her expression thoughtful. "That’s... significant progress."
"Yeah," Tatehan said. "The only downside is that we don’t actually have a plan yet. We all agreed to work together, but none of us know exactly how to stop the Obscuron. That’s sothing we’re going to have to figure out later."
He paused, pulling out his phone device and tapping the screen a few tis. "I got all of their contact information, though. We can communicate directly now, share updates and coordinate easily. I even suggested setting up a group chat so we don’t have to wait for etings every ti we need to talk."
The commander’s lips twitched again, that almost-smile returning. "A group chat."
"Hey, it’s actually a good idea," Tatehan said, grinning.
The commander leaned back in her chair, her fingers steepled in front of her. For a long mont, she just looked at him, her expression unreadable.
And then she spoke:
"This is really great progress, Tatehan. I’m actually proud."
Tatehan grinned, the expression a half-smile, half-smirk.
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