The sun was about to set when Lieutenant Dragonfang finished explaining the situation and, after a short deliberation, the group decided to return to the group.

If the zeppelin lands and helps in the evacuation, they would simply go along with everybody else, but if it doesn't land or if the army goes through with their plan of sacrificing the weaker students, they would sneak out and camp in the wilderness for a couple days.

After all, whatever punishment the army can give them wouldn't be as harsh as certain death. Camping in the barrenlands was dangerous, but nothing can compare to facing the titanic beast Sam saw and now at least they had their traits.

After coming back to where the camp was located, they noticed that there weren't any tents and they were already burning the trash along with the few pieces of furniture the army brought with them. This was a standard army practice to avoid leaving behind any traces of their passing since some of the cryptids were smart and cunning and they didn't want to risk anything they could possibly use.

The low spirits everyone was in gave way to a cheerful mood once the army revealed the presence of the zeppelin. Everyone who knew about the gigantic creature that was blocking their path was even more excited about it and, thankfully, the zeppelin was a lot faster and it wouldn't be long until its arrival.

Students hugged each other in joyful tears and even soldiers expressed their relief out loud, even those who didn't know anything about the creature or the plan, because after the slaughter they survived, all they wanted was to be back home safe as soon as possible.

Colonel Windfire gave the command to shoot flares up the sky as soon as the zeppelin was on sight and, to their surprise, the zeppelin shot a flare towards them signalling that their rescue was on its way.

All Uriel could see, besides the flares, was a few dim lights blinking in the distance. His eyesight wasn't that good and he was too poor to buy glasses, as if that wasn't enough, the constant strain of reading everyday at every hour had taken a toll on him and his eyesight was getting even worse.

"They're coming for us! we're saved!" Cried Sam as he hugged Medusa. The girl seemed taken aback by his sudden self confidence, but she too was in a joyful mood and let herself be embraced awkwardly by the usually cowardly Sam.

The zeppelin hovered over the group for a couple minutes before starting its descent and... it was a slow process, much slower than they would have liked. It was almost as if it didn't move at all.

In the mean time, the army made a circle around the students to protect the students from possible threats and secure the landing zone.

There were a few encounters with cryptids during the time it took for the zeppelin to land, but the soldiers made quick work of them without a single casualty. Although Uriel's unit was able to perceive only gunshots and occasional explosions at a distance, sometimes there were flashes of light and strange noises that they guessed were due to the different traits the soldiers were using.

After touching ground, the zeppelin's loading platform on its back opened and fell heavily to the ground. Several students gasped in awe when they were able to see the immensity of the ship in front of them, Uriel too was gaping at it. It reminded him of an alien ship with all the bright lights and strange technology appliances on its sides.

Without wasting a second, colonel Windifre entered along with his units comprised of all the rich students and only after they were safe inside did the other units start moving.

Lieutenant Dragonfang's unit would have been one of the firsts to enter, if not for the delay caused by their strategy meeting.

Once inside the zeppelin students were separated according to the power of their traits and each of them were handed an arm band with different colors.

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Uriel received a red band which meant he was an evolved, while the rest of his unit excluding Shaker all received cyan colored bands meaning they were of the ascended rank.

The difference in power among those ranks was like heaven and earth, those with red colored bands had traits that gave them access to weak skills in the best cases, while in the worst cases like Uriel's their bodies were slightly modified.

Still, Uriel was thankful once he noticed that there were some of those who didn't even receive an arm band because they weren't able to acquire a trait at all. Some of them weren't compatible while others simply didn't have the chance to.

Everyone was conducted towards a spacious room with a cafeteria, a lounge and windows to look at the scenery. The ship itself was huge, but only because the balloon on top needed to be immense to lift the weight of the rest of the ship. Or that's what Uriel thought, but only now that he was inside the lounge he could finally grasp how big the ship must be.

"This must be as big as a... I don't even have anything to compare it with." Uriel said.

"I do..." Sam shuddered at the thought of the titanic creature he saw before wishing for the zeppelin to take flight again.

There, in front of the crowd, a man in a business attire followed by other men dressed with long coats greeted colonel Windfire. Despite the student's shock after being rescued in such an amazing vessel, the lounge was so silent you could heard a pin drop on the floor.

"Mister Flanagan! Thank goodness! You saved us." The young colonel extended his hand towards the man who just arrived.

"Ethan, good graces look at you! you're all grown up now, last time I saw you, you were this high." Flanagan said pointing at his hip. "Tell me, how is Matt doing these days?"

"He's busy as always..." He turned towards Tina besides him and then continued. "Nevermind that, I'm so glad you came for us, I'll make sure to mention your deed to him so he'll he able to thank you properly."

Mister Flanagan was one of his father's business partners, he belonged to one of the biggest, if not the biggest, corporations in the world: The feared and respected Mapple corporation. It was an international conglomerate and it started as mostly a tech company before the arrival of the cryptids, but now its power and influence was so immense it may as well be considered a country on its own.

"Actually, we have been informed of a certain VIP that might be in your group here and that's the reason why we came, I didn't know I would meet you here." Flanagan said.

"A VIP? do you know his name?" Colonel Ethan asked, to which Flanagan shook his head.

"I don't, maybe it's you!" He laughed heartily.

"Wow! your family must really be amazing!" Tina said as she tugged on Ethan's sleeve. The students gasped in surprise too and murmurs broke wildly all over the lounge.

"Colonel Windifire is something else entirely!"

"Even my family is nothing compared to the Jacobs..." One of the rich students nearby muttered.

"We're only saved because colonel Windfire was sent to watch us" A girl cried with teary eyes.

During all the commotion Uriel was unimpressed. He didn't miss the jokingly tone mister Flanagan used and he wondered just who the real VIP was, what kind of power and influence can a person possess to mobilize a ship like that.

"I don't think it's because of him..." Medusa said.

"Don't be silly babe, It's obvious this is because of him. Just who among us could be more important than him? He's a colonel in the army and he's the second son of one of the most important companies in the whole country." Sam said as he attempted to grab her hand.

"First, why are you acting so weird? Call me that again and I'll knock you out cold. Second, I don't think it's because of him because..." She lingered for a few seconds and then continued in a dismissive tone. "Just because!"

Sam blushed up after being confronted by Medusa, but he was saved from further embarrassment when the ship started moving.

The ship's take off came unannounced, but everyone noticed the slight tremble accompanied by the strange feeling of taking flight. Although it was perceived as slow in the distance, it was only because of the ship's proportions.

In reality, the ship was swiftly moving upwards and onward at the same time propelled by huge hasps on its sides.

After the whole situation with colonel Windfire, yet another one started when someone noticed a different colored arm band on one of the student's arms.

"I know what red and cyan mean, but what does yellow mean?" Uriel asked pointing towards a girl with white hair much like Luna's.

"No way! It's a heavenly rank!" Sam shouted in excitement. "She's on the same level as the colonel!"

"Hang on a second, I know that girl..." Uriel placed his hand over his chin pondering for a few seconds. Her aloof expression, her cute but intimidating face, she looked a bit different after acquiring her trait, but there was no doubt. "She's Cassandra! She's on professor Pangeotis' class with me!"

"Oh man, you're so lucky! I wish she was on my class" Sam sighed. "Is it me or she's coming toward us? Hey Sage, how well do you know her?"

"It's not because of me, I never spoke to her." Uriel shook his head.

"It's because of me... she's my sister." Luna said in a somber tone.