Blossoming Love in the Sky
Frein left the council room as soon as Kristel asked Xiv to be her bodyguard. At that point, as far as he was concerned, the gears began to turn in earnest. All odds were now in Xiv’s favor, and he shouldn’t let any chance slip by.
While Frein was excited to see how the relationship between a former Lord Knight of Vyndival and the most popular idol of Irista Nation would unfold, his attention was currently gripped by the Atlas Sid itself.
‘Idol’ was such a surprising word for Frein. He never thought the people of Irista Nation would use the term in the same way as his people did back on Earth, including all its nuances and meanings. It was sort of refreshing, albeit simultaneously jarring. In truth, the entire affair with the Atlas Sid still had him shellshocked. In a good way.
The level of coordination between all the people walking around the main bridge was on a level he only saw in movies. People report and relay information using hovering screen panels which he knew worked in similar mechanics with M.O.B.I.L.E.s. Some even utilized the device itself.
He would’ve had an easier time if this whole thing, as enormous as it was, traveled by sea. But no, this thing flew. An inverted mountain with a city traveling the skies.
“We don’t even have this level of technology back where I came from,” he thought out loud, expressing his amazement to Admiral Garm.
“Don’t tell me this is your first time flying, Son?” he asked while signing off a document on his hovering screen. He swiped it off casually and turned to Frein. “I’m afraid it’s a lot different compared to a yuma. You won’t feel anything as long as you’re inside our buildings.”
“Flown a few times,” Frein admitted. “We have airplanes, vehicles like your airships, but we don’t have as precise control as yours do. We need to use runways and have a running start in order to fly them. I think there’s been a few models, recent ones, that can take off and land without a runway, but those aren’t for commercial use as far as I’m aware. And we feel the gravity whichever we use. Oh, and we do have helicopters that can go up and down no problem, but they’re not as fast as planes and they’re extremely noisy.”
“Well, you’re in for an experience then, Son. This lady flies like a smooth whisperer, and she’ll take your breath away.”
“How high can she fly?”
“Well…” The question gave the Admiral pause. “It is law that we don’t fly any higher than a certain point, so we only flew her a little higher than that. Just in case it became necessary.”
“Because of that dragon legend?”
“Dragons rule the land of the skies, yes, that one.”
Frein turned to the Admiral fully. “Surely there are outliers? Even if it’s not Atlas Sid, someone must’ve flown higher than the clouds.”
“I’d say you’re right,” Garm sighed. “But I’d attribute it to the people who work in the Order of the Void. It’s part of their duties. Can’t say they went past the Sphere, though.”
“The Sphere?” Frein swam through his memories, through all the books and records he’s read, but none of them mentioned the Sphere. His curiosity overpowered his restraint, making him step a little closer than he intended.
Admiral Garm engaged his enthusiasm with a smile. “Not something you read in books, eh?” He deftly navigated through a couple of screens while mumbling to himself. “I guess we have time.”
A screen appeared in front of Frein. It depicted a planet, half of it at least. At first glance, it didn’t look any different from Earth, but he knew the entire point of this image was to show him how Brymeia looked from the outside.
It was intriguing to say the least. Blues, greens, and browns took up the majority of the moving image. But he also saw a few of red and black spots. One was particularly large, surrounded by sea. The lands around it were carved in such a smooth way that piecing them together could draw a circle, as if something massive detonated and pushed all those islands away.
“That place is called The Nothing,” Garm pointed out. “And, if you’re wondering, there’s absolutely nothing in it. Legend says it’s the epicenter where the lands were broken. The place where Zerax’thum fell when he was defeated. But then, every destroyed, desolate place in the Void Region is allegedly the place where the Fallen Dragon…fell.”
“It’s enormous!” It took Frein a while to gauge the size, but The Nothing could be compared to a continent. Not to mention the black trail in the middle of the sea that crossed it.
“It is. It contains the heaviest Nightmare influence. I wouldn’t recommend going to it without good reason. Even Katherine’s mother had a hard time going through such burdens.”
“Did Katherine go there?”
“No, she was too busy with Schrodie’s training regimens, and she eventually went to your world before she collected enough tenure.” Garm touched the image and moved it slightly downwards, revealing a smooth layer that surrounded the world. “But this is what I wanted to show you. The Sphere.”
The layer was like glass. It contained the entirety of Brymeia, including its clouds. Beyond it was darkness. Frein felt something odd about it. He tapped on the image and pulled it lower, dragging it until he saw the Shinemoon and Darkmoon.
“They’re not within the Sphere?”
“They’re not,” Garm confirmed. “Only Brymeia.”
Frein tried to pull further, but saw nothing else beyond what he’d already seen.
“This is a record copied from the Order of the Void. I’d say it’s proof that we haven’t pierced the Sphere, yet.”
Frein felt somewhat relieved that space exploration wasn’t something that existed here in Brymeia. He was filled by what he qualified as undeserved pride for Earth’s humanity and shoved it away at the same instant. At the same time, he felt frustrated that a world with this much advanced technology hadn’t done space exploration yet. If he compared meiyal power to fuel power, there wouldn’t even be a competition.
Then again, he wasn’t an expert in rocket science.
He sighed. He shouldn’t be comparing the two worlds. He won’t be coming back to the other one anyway.
Instead, he focused on the Sphere, dragging the screen back to it.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Someone tried to go through it before?” he asked.
“Not as far as I know,” Garm admitted. Frein appreciated the honesty. He’d rather be disappointed with facts than try to decipher actual information from people trying to be know-it-alls.
“What else do we know about it?” he asked, staring intently at the subject.
“Well, some experts say that the Sphere caused the five colors of the day. That the meiyal surrounding it shimmers in such a steady rhythm and with such density that it refracts the sunlight consistently.”
“It didn’t shift at all?”
“As far as recorded history is concerned, there hasn’t been a shift in the days.”
Before Frein could ask further questions, Maffelyne approached them.
“We just finalized all pre-launch procedures, Admiral. We’re all clear and good to go on your word.” She passed an acknowledging nod towards the Visitor.
In the short time that she spent with them, ushering him and his company to their rooms, Maffelyne shared her new duties as a second-in-command trainee. She was supposed to handle one of the smaller cruisers aboard the grand carrier, but apparently, her performance during the sparring with him garnered her enough favor to take an option for the main bridge. She nabbed the opportunity in a heartbeat and her friends were taken along as main operators.
“Good,” Admiral Garm said, standing up. “It was a good talk, Son. We’ll continue this some other time.”
Frein agreed, excitement filling him. “Where can I get the best view?”
“Right at the front,” Maffelyne replied. “I suggest bringing Lady Katherine along.”
“Frein!” A cheerful voice resonated from behind him, and he didn’t have to look to figure out it was Xiv. He slipped in between him and Admiral Garm, remembering only after the fact that he forgot his manners.
“I got a date!” he said in defense, obviously elated beyond proper decorum.
“I know,” Frein said, laughing and swinging an arm around his compadre lover-boy. “Congrats. I’ll hear all about it in a bit, but for now, let me go soak in this experience.”
Someone held his other arm in such a way that he instinctively recognized it. He opened it to let Katherine slip through.
“Oh, that’s right. It’s his first time,” she said. “We have the whole day to prepare for you, so let us take this moment for now.” She made a face to Xiv and her father and started pulling Frein by the arm.
He tapped Xiv by the shoulders and let Katherine lead him. The former Lord Knight wanted to protest, but Admiral Garm wrenched him into place.
“Leave them be, kid. Nothing feels more romantic than watching the skies grow larger and the lands growing smaller. ‘Together, they will conquer the world’ or something like that. If Frill miraculously reciprocates your confession—and yes, you can blame Frein for being a blabbermouth—I’d suggest you bring her to the same place. Maffelyne dear, the intercom, please.”
Admiral Garm’s voice echoed throughout the bridge and the entire Atlas Sid. Frein ignored them all as Katherine slowly led him towards the front of the main bridge. Her slender form and minimalistic fashion bounced with each step, and she smiled seductively at him.
A lot of eyes looked at them. At her. It could be her fame or the free and loose outfit, but neither of them cared. They only had eyes for each other.
They soon exited the main bridge and found themselves alone in front of the spire where a bench was conveniently placed for them. To call the edge of the circular platform the ‘front’ was an oddity. It wasn’t lost on him that this grand carrier could maneuver in all directions without turning. Any side could be the port or starboard or the helm. The only reason to call this place the front was because Admiral Garm’s chair faced that direction currently.
Not that it even mattered. This was a moment to be remembered. One he would only share with Katherine…and one other. The Lady of the Void remembered at the same time.
“Wake her up?” she asked.
Frein reached into the Tether and gently stirred Elizzel awake. As soon as she gained consciousness, he fed her information through their connection, and just like that, she was up to speed. The faunel appeared without hesitation and promptly sat in between them. She was still sleepy, but she was eager enough to join them. Together, they looked like one happy family. One that was hidden from prying eyes.
The large obelisk-type meiyal crystals on the edges of the grand carrier whirled to life. They slowly spun in place and resonated waves of meiyal. Frein’s Mesiffera-empowered eyes saw the formation of protective layers enveloping around Atlas Sid. There were initially three layers already stacked on each other, but seven more wrapped around them.
As soon as the tenth layer fully enveloped the grand carrier, the crystals stopped spinning. Instead, they slowly rotated, orbiting the entirety of Atlas Sid.
They slowly left the ground, lifting off at a steady pace. Like the others told him, there was no feedback from the inertia of moving upwards. No feeling of lift off or anything akin to even an elevator. He was there, seating neatly with Katherine at his side and Elizzel squeezed in between them.
He wrapped his arm around the both of them and pulled them closer. Katherine reciprocated and together they sandwiched the faunel. She groaned but didn’t complain, lazily looping her arms around the Lady’s waist and burying her small head in between breasts that snuggly fit her. She proceeded to turn left and right, bouncing her face on the firmness and fullness of those two luscious mounds.
“You feisty little opportunist,” Frein said as Katherine suppressed a moan.
“It’s what you want to do to her right now,” Elizzel said in a muffled voice. The echoes she made resonated at Katherine’s sensitivity. “But unlike you, I’m nicely hidden here.”
“Are you getting aroused? At this moment?” Frein asked Katherine.
“My mind’s in the gutter,” she admitted. “There’s two of you and one of me. What you did to me last night, I still can’t get enough of it. I was white! I have to admit, my imagination’s going crazy.”
Elizzel reacted to that by becoming more aggressive. Frein had to calm her down by reaching into her tummy and feeling her just low enough to jolt her out of her agenda. She squirmed in shock, releasing her hold to pull his hand away.
“We’re outside, Eli. And Kat’s in heat. Don’t do something she’ll regret,” he reprimanded his—at this point, he had to admit—other self.
Anyone else would’ve gotten a beating. Not just from him, but from Katherine herself. Even back then, those that tried to be her suitors, and those that tried to take advantage of her when she was still starting out her career, retreated like whimpering dogs not long after. There was even that one case when a head officer from a different department went into great lengths to get her attention, so much that he even intended to cheat on his wife and force—
Frein realized Katherine was smiling at him.
“I know exactly what you’re thinking,” she said. “I really don’t even need Heart’s Will on you anymore. That’s your jealous face. The I’ll-kill-anyone-who-dares-touch-Katherine-face. You always wear that when I’m working with guys you don’t trust back on Earth. Even Elizzel’s wearing it now.”
He and the faunel looked at each other and couldn’t help but laugh. They looked exactly the same. Stern face with evil looking eyes, as if they’ll pounce on anyone who tried to even graze Katherine’s fingernails or pluck a strand of her hair.
“I can’t get enough of that.” Her eyes called to him. Called to them.
“You know I have to be the better man in this case, Kat,” Frein said.
Her eyes pleaded, but she smiled. “I know. I can let myself go if it’s you, because I know you can reign me in.”
“Besides, I don’t want to waste this view.” Frein pried his eyes away from Katherine and saw the clouds. The magical shine of Blueday spread sparkling glitters at the sea below them painting different shades of blue on ebbing and churning canvas.
They were fully airborne. The land below, Minaveil Province, looked small and distant, and the Great Sea Dividyr was imposing and everlasting in contrast.
Short static slipped out of the speakers and Admiral Garm’s voice quickly took over. He said something about their flight destination and estimated arrival time, as well as including some household rules that Frein totally ignored.
He was looking back at Katherine, she was now more expectant than ever. Even Elizzel leaned on him to nudge him on.
“Just kiss her already,” she said. “We’re not on that level yet.”
“Molesting my breasts is a level lower than kissing?” Katherine asked.
“She has weird standards,” Frein commented, leaning close and locking lips with the love of his life. A deep kiss that stepped over sexual. It took every bit of his sanity to stop himself from undressing her right then and there. To forget everything and everyone else and just lay waste and destroy each other, to drown each other in all their perverse desires. No one else was there. A quick one wouldn’t hurt.
Frein pulled himself away. Katherine chased her, but Elizzel bit her neck. The Lady gasped as she pulled the faunel closer, but even she managed to slip away from those desperate clutches.
“Fuck,” Katherine said, breathing hard.
“Tonight,” Frein said while Elizzel leaned on him, smiling at the Lady’s ragged, pained, and insatiable expressions. “I promise.”
Admiral Garm was right.
With Katherine, and with Elizzel, they could conquer the world.
And no Nightmare could stand in his way.
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