by Han Yang
She turned and left the room before I could respond, not that I really had anything to say. Corvo merely gave me a firm nod before he followed suit, leaving me alone with Joanna once Duke had walked out into the corridor and closed the door behind himself.
I hadn’t wanted her to have the casting vote, but it was clear winning over her father would have been an impossible task. The old man cared more about his daughter than the potential benefits toward Norn, or the faint hope of awakening Ginli from her slumber.
To be fair, it hadn’t been an easy choice on my end either.
Joanna’s pregnancy had crept along, and the due date wasn’t too far off into the future. Though our trip shouldn’t take long enough for me to miss the birth, the chance that I might not be able to see my son or daughter on the first day of their lives pained me more than I could say.
But Joanna understood why I had to do this.
“I- I’m sorry.” I moved over beside her chair and slowly lowered myself to one knee. Joanna merely stared at me as I took her hand and gave it a gentle, loving kiss. “If there was any other way-”
“I get it. Don’t worry.” Joanna took a deep, shuddering breath before she forced a smile onto her tear-stained face. “Ginli needs this, Norn needs this, we need this. I just don’t want you to go.”
I pulled Joanna into a rough hug as her tears overwhelmed her defenses again. I felt on the verge of crying myself but, after a few moments, I fought off the impulse as I pulled back from our embrace.
“I’ll bring you back a souvenir. Anything you want. Anything at all!”
Joanna giggled at my off-color joke, but at least it worked enough to see her smile a little. After several more minutes, her gloomy look had vanished, replaced instead by her usual cheerful demeanor as we talked and laughed together.
All the preparations for the voyage had already been completed, and we both knew time as of the essence. The sooner I left, the earlier I would arrive at the destination, and the quicker my return would be.
Still, I knew she didn’t want to let me go. Eventually, though, all good things need to come to an end.
“I’ll miss you.” She pulled me close for one final goodbye kiss before she pushed me away. “Go on, fly away! And don’t ya come back without something to show for it!”
After giving her one last cheery wave, I dashed out of the room and slid the door closed behind me. My chirpy mood only lasted until I reached the underground lair where Duke, and the Moonlit Goddess, awaited me.
Surprisingly, there was one final addition to the crew I hadn’t expected to see.
“There you are!” Leon shifted the shoulder strap for the loaded bag on his back as he greeted me with a quick nod. “I’m going to make sure you don’t mess around and get your head blown off. Let’s get this trip going, or my wife is going to figure out where I am, and you REALLY don’t want to see her when she’s in a bad mood!”
Chapter 24
I could tell it was a useless endeavor to try to persuade Leon to stay in Norn. He already took the chance to board the Moonlit Goddess before I even had time to welcome him to the team and, by the time I hopped up into the cabin myself, he’d already stored away his bag and was buckling himself into one of the passenger seats.
Several other members joined us not too long after. Delila had wanted to come on the trip once she heard about it, but I persuaded her to stay behind to oversee the bustling monster pens. She loved looking after the animals and beasts who had been tamed and brought into Norn, and I had to remind her that was the reason she had immigrated to our city from Hexpa.
She did make me promise to keep an eye out for any interesting young monsters in the wilds as we traveled, though I decided not to tell her about how we planned to journey to the temple itself.
Not much chance of finding a monster young enough to tame while we flew aboard the Moonlit Goddess.
Others took the chance to say their goodbyes before I managed to pull myself away. Becky, the young helper at the inn who had taken double shifts to also help at the animal sanctuary, forced me to say my farewells to Ben, Ren, and Jen, the three arctic bear cubs, though to use the word ‘cub’ for our previously tiny pets was an extreme exaggeration.
I had known they grew far faster than most other animals but seeing three adolescent bears whose heads reached up to my shoulders charging toward me did bring about a slight instinctual panic as my brain warned me to flee.
Luckily, I managed to ignore its calls as the three bears surrounded me. Their warm fur was coarse compared to their baby versions, but they still avoided using too much strength as they crowded around me on all sides. I could tell they also wanted to go on the adventure, but their sheer mass would take up a huge amount of the Moonlit Goddess’ carrying capacity.
Inefficient and risky.
So, I left them behind in Becky’s care.
I shook off the thoughts of my long-winded farewells as the final member of our excursion team made their way into the cabin. I noticed a few, like the Master Scout, or some warriors who had personally trained under Corvo, but the rest were unknown variables.
But I trusted Duke and my advisors’ recommendations. Some likely came from the adventurer’s guild under Leon and Lei and, while it might bring some slight issues with their loyalty if my orders clashed with their guild master, I expected that they would be more likely to listen to my words than his.
Hopefully.
I settled down into the copilot’s seat as Duke stomped over to the main command chair. Though I had the skill to fly the Moonlit Goddess in the open air, there was no way in hell I would even contemplate taking her through the exit tunnel from the underground lair.
I did look forward to the expressions on my fellow crew member’s faces, Leon especially, and the old man didn’t disappoint in the slightest.
As Duke activated the Moonlit Goddess’ main engine, everyone in the cabin tensed up as the floor beneath our feet shuddered and shook. After a moment, the rattling faded down to a subtle, distant purr as we lifted off.
But then the others spotted our apparent destination.
Duke’s flight path mirrored our first journey as he accelerated toward the distant wall. As our speed increased moment by moment, several members of the crew clenched their eyes shut and leaned back in their seats as though moving away from the oncoming wall might make the impact at least a little less painful.
Leon, however, remained stock still as he stared unblinkingly at the rapidly approaching stone and rock. His hands whitened as they clenched around the arm rests on his seat, to the point where the metal itself whined in protest at the pressure it was being put under.
But he didn’t scream or shout, not even when Duke swung the Moonlit Goddess around into the exit tunnel.
The others weren’t as brave as they let the world know how terrified they were.
Maybe I should have told them? …. Nah.
The escape route from the underground lair had been extended following the extension of Norn’s walls, so the pitch-black flight took slightly longer than usual. Even I felt a churning in my stomach as we skittered and juddered our way out into the open air.
But finally, after what likely seemed like hours to some of the crew, we were free.
As the others recuperated, I pulled out the small copy of our route map and laid it down on the console. We had more than enough Hydrox to power the Moonlit Goddess for the trip TO the temple, but the return journey needed some extra energy.
At best, we would loot it from the temple, and at worst, we would need to hunt some wild beasts and monsters to fill in the gaps.
Fortunately, just hovering above the destination didn’t use up much fuel at all. A single venturebot had been stored away for the trip, and it had been given a training module from Duke to allow it to pilot the Moonlit Goddess while we completed our expedition into the temple.
No matter what I tried, Duke refused to allow me to explore without him being by my side. Half of the
reason was likely his desire to investigate the wonders of Gearnix, but I suspected a certain white-haired Baroness had demanded he keep an eye on me as well, just in case.
But the trip to the temple would take a significant amount of time, far above the trip to Langshire. Everyone on the crew had been made fully aware of the estimated duration for our adventure so, after they gathered their wits and took the time to stare out of the port holes to marvel at the view, they all copied me as they leaned back in their chairs and prepared to take a long, bumpy rest.
Time passed slowly as our journey continued. I took turns with Duke to fly the Moonlit Goddess. Even though steam powered venturebots did not feel any need for sleep or rest, it was still worth trading places occasionally so I could get used to controlling the tiny blimp.
Someday it might come in handy, though I hoped that time would never come.
After a few days of travel, Leon calmed himself enough to move from his seat to come talk to me directly.
“Are you really sure this is worth it?”
I had expected the question, but that didn’t make it any easier to find an answer. On the one hand, I believed it was worth the risk. We needed resources, and no other method had been presented to save Ginli from her slumber.
But still, leaving Joanna and my city behind to go gallivanting into the deadly and brutal wilds did sting a little.
Anything could happen on our journey. We could be attacked midway by a pack of flying monsters, the Moonlit Goddess’ engine could fail, leaving us either stranding in the freezing sky, or in a smoldering heap in the middle of the forest.
Or the temple could be fake, a false hope set to waste our time.
Despite all the negatives, though, my mind was set.
“I think so, yeah.” I glanced back at the old man, whose expression didn’t falter in the slightest as he listened to my half-hearted response. “I know the dangers and so does Joanna, but this trip is important. Not just to us, but to everyone in Norn, whether they know it or not.”
“Hmmm.” Leon leaned on the back of my chair as a gravelly growl rang out from his throat. “Corvo gets it. Lei gets it. Damn, even Joanna understands. But I can’t see it as anything but a huge risk without any confirmed reward at the end.”
The rest of the crew had fallen silent as they heard the adventurer guild’s master speak his opinion. I knew he wasn’t trying to turn them against me, but it still annoyed me a little that he had decided to wait until we were on the way to the temple to speak his mind.
“You might be right.” I shook my head and spun my seat around so I could see the whole team, including Leon. “But no city is raised on what we are given. Every collection of humanity only exists because we reach out, we take, and we fight.”
I paused for a moment as I considered what to say next. The crew were silent as they hung from my every word, and even Leon’s grump face held a slightly thoughtful expression.
“And this is no different. Gearnix offers you choices every day you live on its surface. Live or die, wither or prosper. This is just another choice, and there is no way I will hide away from the call when there is a chance it can help those I care for. That’s just not happening. Ever.”
Several heads nodded at my impromptu speech. The crew clearly believed in my words, but they also knew the stories of what I had done and how it had happened.
From a man stranded in the wilds after a blimp crash to the leader of a flourishing city. Norn had changed its trajectory from a doomed blip on the map to a major player in the world, and that wasn’t even counting the fact we had seen off a cowardly assault from not one, but TWO other major cities not so long ago.
And then I had turned adversity on its head and used the very situation which should have left us destitute into a chance for greatness. Our coffers overflowed, to the point where several key pieces of infrastructure had been upgraded one after the other.
Compared to the piecemeal growth of most cities, Norn was far more than an outlier.
It was an example of what hard work and dedication could get you on Gearnix.
Leon didn’t ask any more questions as he made his way back to his seat. The other members of the expedition team looked like they had been persuaded by my words and thoughts, but I knew the results mattered more than any number of flowery speeches.
We needed to reach the temple, loot it for all we could find, and return home with our hold overflowing with riches and treasures.
“Well done.” Duke’s head ground against his metallic body as he turned it to glance in my direction. “I am with you, Baron Lord. This was the right decision.”
“I know.” I nodded confidently as I turned back to my map once more. Our journey would take a while longer yet, but with the potential second thoughts of the crew blown away like smoke in the breeze, I could focus on the primary issues facing our team.
First, landing.
The slow fall cubes had been upgraded, but no one else had ever used one before. On the way along I would need to train them on how to control their descents to make sure they didn’t end up flipping over and landing in the ground head first.
Second, the temple itself.
Though rumors abounded about the rewards held within its walls, no one knew how to actually enter the damn thing. It was too much to hope that the prior owners had just left the door open, so we had to plan on breaking into one of the legendary vaults Gearnix had created.
Sheer force we had in abundance. Duke had brought along several high explosive Hydrox containers which would easily blow a hole in a city wall, but…
Would they be enough to breach the temple?
“Screw it.” I grinned and rolled up the map. “If that doesn’t work, I’ll just kick the damn door down! How hard can it be?”
Chapter 25
The rest of our trip passed with relative ease.
We had to skirt around a few packs of steam wyverns and other assorted aerial threats, but none of them decided to attack the Moonlit Goddess as we drifted past their territories. It would have been tricky to fight off such an assault, but it wasn’t like we weren’t armed and ready to deal with any such attempts.
But finally, after many weeks stuffed in the small cabin, our destination was visible in the distance.
Or it should have been.
Instead of an enormous temple rising into the sky, I instead saw a large, mirror smooth lake. The morning sun glimmered from its surface as we crept closer, sending glints and shimmers up into the cabin as it reflected up in our direction.
But no signs of any buildings, temple, or otherwise.
“Well, maybe we could get some fishing done?” Leon chuckled as he leaned forward for a better look through the front screens of the Moonlit Goddess. “What’s the plan? Are we dropping into that stuff, or do you want to keep your clothes dry?”
“Falling from this height onto water is the same as hitting a solid stone floor, but then you drown if you do survive the drop.” I unbuckled myself from the copilot’s seat as Duke awakened the stand-in venturebot pilot from its cradle. “We’ll touch down on the edge of the lake and make camp before we explore.”
My confident tone blew away the concern on the team’s faces. It was obvious that reaching your destination only to find absolutely no sign that it existed would impact their morale, but there was no way I would give up that easily.
At worst, we still needed to go down into the wilds to hunt Hydrox from the monsters in the forest for our return trip, so why not explore the lake while we were at it.
“Baron Lord, please take this down with you.” Duke pulled out a roll of thick canvas. I could feel many long tubes stuck within the odd package but, after a moment of curiosity, I decided to not ask any questions.
It would all be explained in time, probably.
“Is everyone ready?” I strode over to my personal slow fall cube as the rest of the team locked their feet into the braces atop their own devices. Each one double and triple checked the c
onnectors before they took hold of the handles above their heads.
“Yes, Baron Lord!”
I waited for all of them to confirm before I followed suit and locked myself into place. The slow fall cubes had taken up a significant portion of our storage capacity but, seeing as the drop this time only consisted of humans rather than a team of insanely heavy venturebots, we had been able to redesign them to be far more streamlined and compact in both size and weight.
Duke’s took up more space than five of the others combined, but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
“Prepare to drop!”
Everyone’s grips tightened on the bars as the venturebot pilot slowly raised its finger toward the control panel. A moment later, it pushed the button, and the lower floor of the Moonlit Goddess split apart.
Compared to the last drop, this one turned my stomach to a far larger degree.
With no cloud cover, it was easy to see just how far we had to fall. The tree line didn’t reach up to the edge of the lake, so there was more than enough room for us to land, but the sheer distance between the ground and the Moonlit Goddess sent a shiver down my spine.
But I didn’t have the time to double think about my decision.
“Two by two! Me and Duke first, the rest follow at fifteen second intervals! Remember your training, and don’t land on my head!” A chuckle echoed through the cabin, though even that was drowned out by the rushing wind coming up through the open hatch below our dangling feet. “Okay, here we go! Three. Two. One. Drop!”
I fought my instincts as I released my grip on the handle above my head. Gravity took hold as I plunged out of the Moonlit Goddess’ cabin and into the cold, blustery sky. The wind took hold, threatening to push me off course before I corrected myself and leaned into its pressure.
The slow fall cube responded in kind, adding some gentle thrusts of steam as it corrected from the breeze. It thumped below my feet with each burst as we rapidly accelerated toward the forest clearing.
