Odinsphere was massive, and even Light felt small as she landed on the platform on its outside. That she pretty much took up the entirety of the platform though did make her feel better. It was exactly as Merianne had described, a huge black sphere floating in the sky, crafted from metal by techniques long lost and still glinting in the sun despite its age. It was located to the north east of the city ruins where Velvet had turned up, which Merianne told her was named Shusoku back in the day, and was easily the size of the city and then some. Why she hadn’t given Velvet the name of the city earlier was a mystery in itself, but not a real concern. Odinsphere was both awe inspiring and terrifying, and Velvet did wonder how on earth it managed to stay afloat. Should it fall it would take out the countryside with it, and while Shusoku was some distance away it wouldn’t escape unscathed. Falling cities would do that.
Feeling well enough to move around and certain that she’d be able to hold her own in combat again, Velvet had let Merianne and Clocky know that she was looking at leaving soon. She had done enough experimenting, and was itching to get back. Every day away from Myne was another day too long. However she still intended to make good on her end, as thanks for all the aid that they had provided to a stranger, and so she let them know that she could take them to look at Odinsphere as Merianne had asked. She had been stunned, seeing it for the first time in the distance as she stood on the rooftop of the building in which she had been staying, the bout of bad weather having finally broken a few days previous, and as per usual Merianne and Clocky had been more than a little surprised when Light took on her full form, even though Velvet had given them prior warning.
The flight to the floating city was short, and Velvet could see why it had largely remained untouched. At its height there was no easy way to get to it without a dragon. Well any flying mount or similar thing would do, but Dragon Familiars were the only thing that Velvet was aware of, and it appeared the Outerlands didn’t have any equivalent. Odinsphere was still largely intact, a few panels showing a small amount of tarnishing, but otherwise all present. There were a dozen platforms located on the outside of the sphere at various heights, most having become nesting sites to various species of birds that flew away in fright as Light approached. They ended up choosing the one on the side facing Shusoku, mostly because it was unoccupied. There was a pair of doors at the end of the platform, sealed tight, with no obvious way of opening them. Eyes glinting in excitement and a smile on her face, Merianne poked around, examining every inch of it that she could reach, till she found what she was looking for, a small glowing screen hidden underneath a sliding panel that she had to convince to move.
“It’s still operational,” she stated, as she poked at it a bit, pushing various buttons and reading the responses that came up. “Well, that was obvious I guess since it’s still here, but...”
“The residual magic from the leyline is weak up here,” she then added. “We’re quite far above the ground, and the Odinsphere is consuming most of it itself.”
She punched a few more buttons, before then pausing, placing both of her hands against it, eyes closed as her bracelets started to glow. The screen then glowed green, and with a loud clunk and hiss the doors unsealed and opened.
“But just enough?” queried Clocky of his mother.
“Just enough,” she smiled.
The door opened up to a large chamber on the inside, the middle of it empty while lined up along the edges were a number of strange contraptions, similar but different to the metal bodies that Velvet had seen on the building level that she had arrived to in the Outerlands.
“Skimmers!” Merianne declared excitedly, as Clocky rushed towards one to have a look. “They really did exist.”
Her elation was short lived as the entire chamber was suddenly filled with red flashing lights, a lifeless voice screaming out at them from somewhere in the chamber.
“INTRUDERS DETECTED AT HANGER SIX. ACTIVATE TEST PROTOCOL ALPHA.”
“Get back here Clocky,” Merianne yelled at her son, her bracelets glowing again as she took a defensive stance. “It appears that this place is still very much alive.”
Clocky raced back to his mum as the voice repeated its message over and over, two constructs in amongst the skimmers coming to life and standing up, red beams of light emanating from then and scanning over everything. They looked really odd, like someone had tried to make a humanoid shape out of square boxes, that somehow worked but looked terrible to the senses at the same time.
“What are those?” Velvet asked of Merianne, as she reinforced herself to the basic levels. She couldn’t sense a threat from them, so they weren’t magical at all in nature. Technology perhaps? She wouldn’t need to go all out against them she was sure, her weapon and shield would suffice.
“Defence bots,” Merianne replied. “They’ll be equipped with guns I suspect.”
“Guns?”
“Like bows and arrows, but faster and nastier. Shoot bullets. Chosen weapon of the old world.”
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Not wanting to take too many chances, Velvet summoned her new shield, the rune on her arm glowing bright as the air shimmered in front of her.
“Get behind me,” Velvet commanded, as the defence bots plodded closer. They really did look ungainly.
Merianne and Clocky scampered behind Velvet just as the lights of the defence bots got in range of her, passing over her and notifying the bots of her presence.
“ENGAGING HOSTILE,” the bot intoned lifelessly, its stubby arms starting to spin as sparks flew from them and a hail of bullets rained down upon Velvet, and while her shield stopped the bullets, a shower of metal falling to the ground in a crescendo of tinkling, she could feel herself being pushed back by the force. Merianne had been right when she said this place had been built as an answer to the Demon King invasion. A weapon like that could even hurt Light, and certainly would damage a demon.
She waited, biding her time, for the attack to cease, hoping it would stop before the second one got too close. Fighting in places like this was a pain, as there wasn’t enough space for Light to take her full form, so she wasn’t able to participate. Then just as suddenly the whirring quietened down as the arms slowed their spinning, the attack ceasing.
“Retreat now,” she yelled, as she activated all of her reinforcements and called her scythe to her, her hair and body glowing. She sprinted towards the bot that hadn’t attacked yet, dodging around its searching light and sliding right underneath it, scythe swiping at its legs and severing both at the knee. While they were powerful machines, they were slow and at close range she had the advantage. Jumping on top of it as its momentum caused it to topple over she then took aim at what she assumed was its head, shearing it clean off, and then launched herself at the first one, her scythe cutting clean through its left arm as the guns starting to spin up again. The resulting explosion threw them both back, Velvet slamming into the side of a skimmer as a stream of bullets narrowly missed her, the bot then suddenly stopping as fire burned away at its side.
“SECONDARY DEFENCE INITIATED.”
“REPAIRS INITIATED.”
“INTRUDERS DETECTED AT HANGER SIX. ACTIVATE TEST PROTOCOL BETA.”
Velvet sprinted back to the entrance, racing onto the platform as Merianne held her hands to the screen again, channelling magic from the leyline, the door hissing to life again and closing behind her with a somewhat peaceful thunk.
“We leave know,” Velvet declared, Merianne nodding in agreement.
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“We were underprepared for what was there. I knew it was untouched, but this is more than what I could have hoped for,” Merianne said once they had returned to the city, landing on the roof they had left from. Even given what had happened she seemed surprisingly happy. “If we could get a hold of one of those skimmers, then we’d have an easy way to get in and out, but that is a task for another time.”
She turned, giving Velvet a quick bow.
“Thank you for your help. You certainly are a powerful warrior, so I fear what it is your are going to be returning to face. May your Gods, whatever ones you have, be with you.” She then smiled at Velvet.
“No, it is I who should be thanking you for all that you have done for me,” Velvet said, smiling back. “When all is done, I shall try and return, this time not alone, and we can tackle Odinsphere again.”
“That would be awesome.” Merianne looked appreciative, especially since she hadn’t needed to ask.
“I will need something personal from you though, so that we can find you again. That’s how her magic works.”
Merianne nodded, and opening up her jacket she took off the locket that was hanging off her neck, handing it over to Velvet.
“That’ll work,” Velvet stated, hanging it around her own neck. The chain was sturdy, so she wouldn’t lose it easily, and she’d give it to Myne as soon as she got back.
“Who’s her?” Clocky queried, obviously curious.
“Myne, my lover. If you think I’m beautiful then wait till you see her. She’s also more deadly as well.” Velvet grinned.
“Oh.” That wasn’t quite the answer he had expected.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep my eyes open for you too,” Velvet said. He seemed like a good kid.
Light lifted off again from the roof of the building, this time heading due east. Merianne had given her directions as to where she wanted to go, warning her again that the crossing would be rough. Given Light’s size, she did agree that they should be able to make the crossing, with the dragon in their history books having been smaller than her, but even so it wouldn’t be easy. Velvet felt in good spirits. Her training had paid off, and she was finally heading back towards Myne and the others. Towards home. Life wasn’t going to be easy on her return, and she was really hoping that nothing bad had happened in her absence, but right now the most important thing was that soon she would be back with Myne.
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The crossing wasn’t hard. It was brutal. By the time Light and Velvet had made it through the strongest of the winds they were both exhausted. The trip across the remainder of the Outerlands itself had been peaceful and uneventful. The directions that Merianne had given her to get to the Circle Sea had been deliberately mapped so that she would stay out of sight of any major settlements, and she had also provided her with enough supplies so that she wouldn’t be forced to detour. The first part of the journey across the water had also been pleasant, and Velvet had begun to wonder if the magically infused natural barrier was just a myth. Then the wall of winds had risen up in front of them, their strength clearly visible, and their progress had become a slog. Light went as high as she dared, the winds weakening the higher she went, but even she had an upper limit, so they had then dropped below that and tried to force their way through. The winds battled them at every beat of Light’s wings, trying to push her back and to throw Velvet off her, but she held on, using her magic to help protect them both. It worked, making their progress a little easier, but even still they had to fight hard, and the distance that they should have been able to travel in a few minutes took them over an hour.
Then suddenly they were through, the winds dropping away as if they were never there to begin with, though a glance behind them did confirm that they weren’t a dream. Drenched in sweat and dead tired, they had made it through unscathed, flying over the remainder of the Circle Sea, back towards the Innerlands.