“What are you waiting for? Let’s go!” Molly urged, pointing at the Clockwork city engulfed in flames. Fanrik and Juka both gave her wary looks, and she huffed in response, “Come on, it’s not like that party’s going to die down any time soon; we might as well get in on the fun before we find Fara.”
Fanrik sighed, “I don’t think running into a warzone is the best idea, but our destination is at the end of it. Probably. I haven’t seen any small forts moving around, so they could be somewhere else-” At that moment, a dragon rose from the city and spit fire below it, scorching an entire block of the pseudo city. When the thing below it was destroyed, it flew away, spitting fire through the streets. It then dived again, shaking the ground, “Okay, this might be a bit more dangerous than we can handle.”
“I don’t think so,” Juka replied, looking between Fanrik and Molly, “We can ride through it, I think.” Molly’s face lit up while Fanrik sighed, “We can wait here if you want; they will likely see us soon enough.”
“I don’t want to wait,” Molly replied, pouting, “Besides, we’ll be able to see what’ll be a historic moment! Why would we want to skip that?” she asked. Fanrik thought that her priorities were a bit off, as they would be going to where the gods lived before too long, but he could not fault her for not making the most of what was around her.
He contemplated it for a moment longer, then shrugged, “Fine, we can go through it. But we aren’t picking a fight with anything too big. Understood?” His two companions nodded, and they were off. The easiest way into the city was through one of the massive holes in the outer wall. When they got there, though, they could see that there was a large group of soldiers, patrolling around and showing a nearly neurotic level of nervousness. When the three came close enough, one of the nervous soldiers ran up to them, “Alright, I don’t know who you three are, but if you’re here to fight against those crazy Clockies, then I’ll let you through. If you need help, pray for an Immortal to show up, though.”
“Wait,” Fanrik interrupted, “Where is the skiff that houses the Immortals? We had a… deal with one of them,” he lied. He had a suspicion that they were not the most friendly towards Mori’s minions, despite their universal helpfulness, but he still needed to know where to go.
The man barely batted an eye to his statement, though, merely pointing at one of the many lines of flattened buildings, “It came into the Hive and started flattening whatever building was in its way. Just follow the lines of buildings and you’ll be fine. If that’s it, I don’t want to get blindsided by another wave of Clockworks,” he said, running back to his post on a makeshift wall, made of sandstone reinforced by clocksteel.
Fanrik turned back to Molly and Juka, shared a nod with them, and flooded the runes at the bottom of his daughter’s skiff with mana. The runes flared to life and pushed them forward on an invisible wave of movement. He banked to the left and followed the path of crushed buildings, dodging around flattened clocksteel and the corpses of the Clockworks. Molly laughed, leaning over the side and looking around at their high speeds while Juka held onto the skiff, Molly, and anything else she could get her hands, legs, or tail on. Fanrik had noticed that she did not enjoy going high speeds, but he had to make haste; there was no point in tempting fate and running into something like a Goliath.
And yet, he tempted fate by just thinking something like that.
From a side street, a large, spindly leg stepped out. Then another. Then a third. The bow of the skiff-like Clockwork emerged from between the buildings, turning to them and aiming its cannon. Fanrik had no clue how such a large Clockwork could avoid being discovered by the numerous forces running around, but he did not need to know such things to be able to not die from it. He pushed more mana into the skiff and hunched low. Juka and Molly both thought quickly on their feet, so Fanrik did not need to worry about them falling off or something similar.
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Instead of trying to turn around, he decided that going under the Goliath’s legs would give them a better chance to survive. As such, he sped forward, swerving around the obstacles in his path and being a pain to aim at by the Goliath. As opposed to what he expected, the Goliath charged forwards as well, smashing whatever was below its six legs. Fanrik did not chicken out, riding in a straight line until just before they were in smashing range.
In that moment, he felt something that he had never really felt before. Even during his years on the eastern front of the Sugal Empire. He felt, for lack of a better term, ‘in the zone.’ It was something that a few of his mechanic buddies said they felt when they were either making a machine or using it. They acted as if the state was divine-driven, but Fanrik had a feeling that it was more heightened concentration rather than divine inspiration. But in that moment, watching the leg of the Goliath fall towards him, he knew what they were getting at. It sure felt heavenly.
He swerved to the side, missing the leg’s strike by a foot, which was not much on the scale of a legged skiff. He had to swerve again to avoid another leg, thrown with the Clockwork equivalent of panic. He was able to dodge that one as well, though, and they were on the Goliath’s other side a moment later. Molly breathed hard, “That was close,” she said, giving a weary smile, “Maybe we shouldn’t have come here?”
“Why are you framing that as a question?” Juka, shivering and shaking, asked Molly, “But I agree. Bad idea. Probably.” Fanrik did not throw his hat into the rhetorical ring, as he had to figure out how to get away from the Goliath. He continued to swerve as he sailed on, not sticking to a rhythm so he could avoid being shot by the massive cannon on the Goliath’s deck.
He eventually found an alley small enough to block the Goliath, and took the opportunity with both hands. He swerved into the alley and kept going, swerving into another branch alley to avoid the Goliath’s cannon. Once they were in the second alley, Fanrik slid to a stop, slumped on the handlebars of the skiff, and sighed. His sigh was mirrored by the two behind him, one slumping onto his back and the other slumping onto the other’s. “That was not a good idea,” Molly eventually said, “We should have waited.”
“We survived, so there is no point in regretting the past,” Juka said, “But a rest is in order, I believe. Maybe one of the lichess’ undead will notice us. That will make our journey much easier.”
“It would,” Fanrik replied, “But there are no guarantees here. We might as well wait for them to notice us, since we can’t exactly run around out there, looking for them with the Goliath patrolling around.”
Molly hummed for a second, “Maybe we can just wait for one of the dragons to get it. I mean, it’s easy to spot, so they should be on it in no time.” Fanrik simply shrugged and slumped back down, feeling Molly do the same onto his back. He ignored it, though, and just rested up for a few moments. It was at that moment when he felt something off around him. He opened his eyes and looked around, but he saw nothing; just the shadows and the rays of sunlight high above them.
Before he could calm himself, though, a figure emerged from one of the shadows, waving, “Hey there, how’s it going?” it, or rather she, asked, “You’re that guy who’s Fara’s dad, aren’t you?”
They all stared at the Immortal who just spoke to them, “I am,” Fanrik answered, “We are a bit lost, so could you point us in the right direction?”
She chuckled a bit, “Of course I will! Come on, let’s go! I’m pretty sure that the big mean guy’s somewhere else right now, so we’ll be safe.” She nodded to them, then melted into the shadows. The shadows suddenly became darker before them, and Fanrik could already guess what the Immortal wanted them to do.
The path they took was very direct, with nothing but sandy ground before them. They crossed a few of the larger avenues throughout their small journey, but they were left unbothered by any Clockwork assailants. Twenty minutes of tight navigation later, they arrived at a large clearing in the middle of the city. In the center of the clearing, there was what Fanrik could only describe as a mountain. The Immortal appeared once more, gesturing at the mountain, “And we’re here! Don’t keep Fara waiting, alright?” she laughed, melting back into the shadows. Fanrik and his companions stared at the sight for a while longer before riding up to it. Molly had not seen her daughter for months, and she was ecstatic to see her again. Juka had no real reason to be happy, apart from the fact that their journey was over, and Fanrik was just as relieved. He had enough of traveling, he decided.