“W-Why the hell are we in the air?!” Danny blurted out as he stepped back a few steps. The last thing he expected to see when he opened that door was the endless expanse of the sky and the floating clouds.
The others quickly rushed toward him, only to see the same thing. The door outside simply led them to nowhere.
“It seems this room isn’t as simple as expected,” Arthur muttered as he looked down from the edge. They were so high in the sky that he couldn’t see any land beneath them. Just cloud and nothingness. The wind was present yet not too strong.
“That would’ve been instant death if I didn’t grab you at the last moment.”
“…” Danny frowned. “Don’t expect me to be grateful.”
‘This bastard.’ Arthur held his breath so as not to lash out at the arrogant idiot, and instead focused on the door. He looked left and then to the right, that’s when he noticed something.
“Hm?”
Right to the side, attached to the wall was a broken wooden platform that led somewhere to the side of the room. The platform wasn’t that far away and could easily be accessed with a precise jump.
“I think I found our way out, guys.” He said as he signaled for them to take a look.
“Oh, that definitely looks like where we’re intended to go,” Emmy said as she peeked over his shoulder.
“Where does it lead though?” Herculia raised an eyebrow curiously.
“… We have to discover it ourselves it seems,” Isla replied.
“Who wants to go first?” Danny muttered. He still had a strong frown on his face as if he wasn’t happy with the situation at all.
“Haha, what? are you afraid, Danny?” Herculia laughed loudly.
“Shut up.”
“I forgot that you are afraid of heights. Sadly, this place doesn’t seem to be the perfect one for you.”
“He’s afraid of heights?” Arthur turned around with a smile.
“He’s scared shitless of heights. He had been from when we were kids. He couldn’t even get on amusement park rides if they go too high. Instead, he would start crying.” Herculia replied.
“Herculia! You bastard!” Danny growled with a strong glare.
“What? I’m just telling the truth. No shame in being afraid of heights.”
Arthur’s lips wiggled as he tried to hold his laughter back. He didn’t understand why he found this funny when he usually doesn’t judge people by these kinds of uncanny fears. However, since it was Danny, he didn’t feel any guilt about it.
‘So much for a tough front, huh, coward boy?’ Arthur mocked him with eyes. Danny saw that and could only clench his teeth in frustration. His eyes screamed ‘I will kill you if you say anything’.
“Anyway, I will go ahead first,” Arthur said. “Since I’m the experienced one here.”
Arthur wasn’t really afraid of heights or anything else people are usually afraid off. Not even insects. He was numb to that kind of horror.
“I will go after you,” Isla replied.
“Mm, got it.”
After that, the group stepped back so that Arthur had room to move. He looked at the wooden platform for a moment as if he was gouging the distance and what he should do. Then, he stepped back and ran forward at moderate speed.
With a small leap, Arthur swiftly landed on the platform. His body easily balanced itself upon impact. “Well, that’s wasn’t hard.”
“Ok, you can follow me. The platform is sturdy.” He said as he looked at the edge. Although there was a distance of at least one or two meters between him and imminent death, it didn’t look that terrifying. If anything, he felt quite thrilled standing there.
He was in the middle of the sky somewhere and that feeling was simply otherworldly.
‘I am the king of the world, hahaha!’ He mused as he started moving through the platform toward the other side.
At the same time, Isla followed suit, then Emmy, then Herculia. The only one left was Danny who was clearly hesitant about doing it.
“Come on, Danny. You can do it, brother.” The big man said.
“Give me a second, goddammit.” Danny grumbled as he looked at the fall. ‘Come on, I can do it. That bastard isn’t better than me!’
The sheer feeling of humiliation he suffered at that moment couldn’t be put into words. He couldn’t bear to see that smug face on his enemy so he decided to put his fear aside. With a deep breath, he took a step back and then ran forward before jumping.
“Woah!!!” He screamed mid-air as he landed on the edge of the platform. However, he quickly lost his balance and started falling back. “Grab me!!”
“I got you.” Herculia quickly caught him and pulled him up. “See? Wasn’t that hard, was it?”
“Tsk, I almost died again!” Danny grumbled and stepped forward, sticking to the wall as much as he could.
“Hahaha, wait for me.”
Meanwhile, ahead of them, Arthur and Isla were in a whole new place. The moment they reached the end of the platform, they found themselves in front of a considerably large area.
Wooden planks stretch underfoot, weathered and worn with years. They creaked and whistled under the constant wind.
Moving his eyes to the sides of the massive area, Arthur saw thick ropes dangling in the air, coiled and frayed at the edges. Scattered old barrels and crates riddled the entire place. The full scene instantly made sense.
“It’s a ship.” Isla walked beside him as she said. “A very old ship at that.”
“…” Arthur was still in a daze. “A flying ship… I didn’t even think these existed here.”
The concept of a flying ship wasn’t completely foreign to Arthur. He had seen them before in other forms of media. However, that still didn’t answer why they were there. As if the game heard his question, he received a notification that he had been waiting for.
[Ding!]
[Memory Fragment detected!]
[Location: The sky ship ‘Adula’.]
[Time: Unknown.]
[Memory: Pillar Islands Revolution.]
“Revolution?” Arthur frowned. Somehow, the information he was given made him even more confused. ‘What revolution? The entire ship is empty, there is nobody.’
“What the hell is going on here?” The others were as confused if not even more confused. “Is this a part of the test?”
“… It brought us back to some time in the past when a conflict of some sorts occured. This one seems to be the ‘Pillar Islands Revolution’.”
“Pillar islands sounds like a made-up name,” Herculia commented. “So, where are the enemies? I’m itching to fight.”
“There doesn’t seem to be anyone here. It’s completely abandoned as far as I can see.” Emmy replied while looking around her.
“And completely destroyed,” Isla added. “This had definitely gone through a battle. The damages are very heavy. Particularly the part where we came from. It looked like there was supposed to be a section of the deck right there but it’s gone.” She said.
Everyone quickly looked back and that’s when it clicked in their heads. The broken platform that protruded out of the side of the ship was in fact a missing part that was probably destroyed in the battle.
“That must’ve been one hell of a battle. This ship is in pieces.” Kicking a random barrel, in front of him, Arthur walked forward. “Well, there must be something we’re supposed to do. It should be an enemy that we must kill or maybe an objective we must accomplish.”
Seeing that Arthur didn’t seem to understand what was happening either, Isla decided to change their approach.
“Let’s spread across the deck and search.”
“For what exactly?”
“Anything that you might think is interesting or eye-catching.” She said. “We don’t have options he-”
*RNNNNNNG*
At that very moment, and out of nowhere, a very sharp sound assaulted their ears. The noise was akin to the creaking of old wood against each other. Thousands of these old planks just howling loudly as if they were living beasts.
“What the hell?!” Arthur and the others quickly covered their ears as they almost fell to the ground. The sound was simply too loud.
“What is happening?!”
“My ears!!”
They all struggled against the pain of the noise. It lasted for a few seconds and they were unable to move at all. However, upon regaining their composure, the source of their noise presented itself in the most horrifying way. Something was descending toward them.
After all, if they’re on a ship flying through the sky… There is nothing that should stop another ship from falling on their heads. Sky ships are after all… Sky ships.
A grandiose shadow loomed over their small bodies from above. Everyone instinctively looked up and for a moment, all they could see was nothing but darkness.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
