“Caw!” Akaka sputtered to life. The last thing he remembered was praying for his fellow death row inmate, but he clearly wasn’t in the afterlife. No, he felt too much like himself for that. When he fully came to, he realized that he was running alongside his fellow prisoner through the large halls of the local lord. “What?”
“H-hey, something happened and now we’re running and stuff and do you know the way out?” There was desperation in Echidna’s eyes as they looked to Akaka for advice and instructions. The crow who continued to insist they weren’t old quickly picked up what was happening and looked around, trying to test their memory to see if they knew anything.
“Yes, yes, perhaps we may find respite in that.”
“Yeah? Sure, whatever, where are we going?”
“Look out the window.”
“Sure.” She did so and only then did she notice where the keep of the draconic lord was located. They were in a pretty big city and as such, the keep of the lord was located high up. As in, it was literally flying. “What the-!?” She knew of the flying building but didn’t know they were in it!
“Yes, yes, it would be very hard to go down. There are many methods, but most are limited by experience or security. But there is one way to descend: The waterfalls.”
“Huh!?”
“Below this fort is a lake, larger than even this entire complex and the floating land it was built on. From that lake, water is drawn for the sake of the plants. They rise like a reversed waterfall.”
“Wouldn’t there be guards?”
“Yes! Guards are aplenty in this place! But they are there to prevent anyone from rising, not descending. If we dive into the waters with a weight of sorts, we shall fall fast enough to prevent anyone from catching up, but slow enough to not kill us when we land!” Akaka quickly came up with the plan and looked around. “Perhaps some armor? If we wear enough, we should be heavy enough to negate the force of the rising water.”
“Y-yeah, sure, let’s find some armor.”
“Yes, yes, follow me. I was once an accomplished thief, so do as I.” Akaka proved he wasn’t lying soon enough as they snuck through the halls of the castle. They only had so much time before either one of the fallen woke up or they were found and subsequently woken up. When that happened, the alarms would be rung, and they’d be hunted down swiftly and mercilessly.
Until then, Akaka and Echidna snuck through the halls. They avoided patrols and sentries, with Akaka even forgoing thieving habits in lieu of helping the person who saved his life.
“Well, this is quite the adventure.” In Echidna’s mind, Faffy spoke.
“Yes, yes, it is. Not the start I would’ve preferred, but suitable for someone such as I!” In her mind, it was easier to maintain the gravitas without wincing at how dry her throat was.
“What? Get thrown in jail and have to bust out with a mentor?” Faffy was blase about the whole thing, but quickly added, “Don’t let him die, alright? He seems pretty cool and probably could help us after we get out as well.”
“Of course! What destroyer of worlds would let their faithful fall? That is the folly of so many frauds and posers, for they know not the worth of the loyal!”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Faffy wasn’t fond of Echidna’s theatrics, as they shared a body and indirectly gave her a bad name, but in this instance she wouldn’t chastise or try to argue.
“These shackles are irritating.” Akaka let out a grunt of irritation as their bonds both prevented moving much of their arms and also rattled with every step they took, giving away their position. “Here!” Inside of an armory there was a pile of cannonballs, free for the taking. “Grab one of your own.”
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“Oomph!” Echidna winced at how heavy it was, but it would be better than breaking every bone in her body on the fall down or somehow rising up with the waters to a bloody death. “Alright, let’s go!”
“Onwards, friend!” They continued to run, Akaka taking the lead still. They ran down stairs and slipped past guards until they reached the very base of the fort, where the rivers were largest. They couldn’t just walk upstream the entire way, they had to slowly trek their way to the base, where it was blocked by a gridded gate. “Irritating.”
“Here! I saw them go in there!” Distant cries alerted them to the fact that they had been spotted. They couldn’t try and find another path, they were far slower. They couldn’t fight, they were in chains. But they couldn’t go forward.
At least, not yet.
“Please, please, please, open, open!” Echidna cried and tried to force whatever happened before to happen again, asking for a miracle. Suddenly, a burst of power shot out of her eye, blew off the eyepatch, and pried the gate from the bricks, letting them go free. “Yes! YES! I KNEW IT! I AM ECHIDNA VON TYRANICUS! AND I AM-” Whatever she would’ve said next was cut off as Akaka grabbed her as he jumped down the reverse waterfall.
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“Ok, so would someone like to tell me why Echidna is not here?” Teacher had come back with a bit of information. In the time they were separated, he mostly just walked around asking basic questions to anyone who’d answer. He got bits and pieces that he stuck together to form a rudimentary picture of the world.
Essentially, the land was split up by many different dynasties, called Dracontonies, which were all united in claiming descent from some dragon gods from ages ago. Of course, these Dracontonies ruled over many different peoples. Just to name a few, there were Orcs, Felines, Gargants, Satyrs, Aviana, and even straight up Fairies.
Magic was also a thing, the flying island in the sky probably should’ve cemented that but it didn’t hurt to have confirmation. He saw a street wizard doing tricks for tips, making wooden spoons float and other such things. It wasn’t very impressive to most, but to him it was quite surreal seeing such a paranormal feat being treated as subpar.
Anyways, when he came back, he didn’t expect the students to immediately tell him that, while they did get some money and bought some food, that came at the cost of having an argument with Echidna and for her to run off, with none of them able to find her afterwards.
He felt a heart attack coming on but resolved to power through and was starting to organize a search party, splitting up the class so nobody would be alone. At least, he was starting to do that in his head, physically speaking, he was currently chastising a few of his students.
“First of all. While I understand that you’re also on edge about everything, that is not a reason to antagonize a classmate.” Carmen didn’t really do all that much. She acted a bit jerkish, but it was a minor slight.
“Second of all, don’t use things without someone’s permission.” He turned to Yolk, who nodded glumly as they took off their sunglasses to face the music.
“Third of all, don’t steal someone’s stuff and sell it without asking!” He didn’t know why Pin or Aurum thought it was a good idea in the slightest to do such a thing. Sure, they needed money, but they could’ve at least made a case for the sale instead of resorting to thievery!
“And finally, you guys should’ve done something instead of watching it go on.” He turned to the rest of his students, refusing to let them go without being addressed. “We’ll apologize to Echidna when we find her and I’ll tell her to not make up information, because we really don’t need any misunderstandings here. Alright?” The class collectively mumbled various ascents. “Alright, now let’s start-”
“Teach, Teach!” Everyone looked to where the crowd was parting to see Echidna in soggy clothes and manacles running towards them with a similarly bound Aviana. “We have to run, now!”
“Wait, what?” Teacher was a bit confused, what was happening?
“Get them!” Suddenly, guards appeared, racing around the corner that Echidna and the Aviana appeared from.
“Oh.” He could guess what had happened. While he didn’t know exactly what she did, he knew enough to say that he’d trust his student over some people he didn’t know at all. “Alright class, nevermind, we’re running!” But standing with his student came with a cost. Namely, being guilty by association. The students caught on quickly and immediately began running, though some began lagging behind.
The guards were gaining ground and their weapons were sharp. Teach winced as he imagined being run through by a rapidly approaching halberd. Suddenly, the Aviana stopped and turned around, placing their hands forward and letting the halberd hook into the chain, and snapped it.
“Run, friends of an esteemed friend! I will hold them off, flee as far as you can!” With free hands, he ripped the rusty manacles off his wrists and stretched his talons. “Now, let us fight!” He swung his arm and suddenly, an otherworldly power emanated from them in the form of black strings. Suddenly, in their hands was the halberd of the enemy guard,
The class of 13 and their teacher would flee from the city on foot, managing to hide from their pursuers and escape.