“Rex!” Tim strains to call out under the immense pressure of gravity.

“Aye, captain!” Rex appears between the handlebars with a flash of light. Instead of the usual ball or bubble of light, a small falcon-esque bird with four eyes and metallic-looking feathers forms before Tim. “Ready to launch, sir!” The Rex bird saluted with one wing before doing a small hop to spin around.

“Do it!” Tim grunts as he holds the controls steady, his tunnel vision slowly losing color.

“Launch!” Rex screeches while opening his wingspan. The magical tether vanishes as the spell is cut off. The Raptor, free from its leash, soars towards the StormWall with a trail of magical light in its wake. “Launch successful, captain!” Rex proudly spins around while folding up his wings.

“Alright, the easy part is over. Time for the challenging bit.” Tim took a few deep breaths as his helmet fed him a supply of magically enhanced air. “Wings.” He says while twisting the handles until they both make a clicking noise.

“Wings out!” Rex begins to hover his bird form before Tim’s eye level. His translucent wings spread out as Tim pulls the control bars to the sides before turning the handles to click them in place. The peddles holding his feet slid on the ground to rest in front. Testing them slightly with a slight toe tap, Tim confirms the movement of Rex’s tail feathers.

“Status of the flock?” Tim asks while flipping a few switches, changing the interior data displays.

“Windling airship squadron is holding steady, we will join the formation shortly.” Rex reports as he slightly flaps his wings as if he is flying instead of floating in place.

“How are the Raptor’s Spirit Coils?” Tim asks while getting ready for the next flight maneuver.

“Ready to fly, sir!” Rex shouts with pride as the airship’s engine hums with him in response.

“Good. Have Lewin start the spell release chants, we only have one chance to pull this off.” Tim takes a deep breath before letting out a stress-filled sigh. “Wingling 1, Raptor.” Tim taps a button on the handlebars to open a comm link.

“Rpator, Wingling 1. We see you.” Wingling’s pilot replies over the comms. “We saved you the best seat for the Run!” The pilot chuckles as the formation of the magically glowing birds moves to allow the Raptor space to fly to the front of the flock.

“Don’t mind if I do, just remember to keep up.” Tim cuts the comm before the other pilot can argue back.

“Lewin is ready with the spell releases, sir!” Rex reports to Tim, as a small screen pops up for him to view the mage chanting some spells in the passenger cabin.

“Why does she look upset?” Tim squints at her image before it vanishes from his view.

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“Tanner is unconscious, and the situation required multiple cleanses…” Rex awkwardly tries to look away.

“I told you those auxiliary spell slots would come in handy.” Tim gives the floating spirit bird a look before slightly shaking his head. “Have her sync us up with the flock once we are within range.” He gives Rex an order while pressing a few buttons as the airship’s speed slightly slows down, while the exterior gains a significant shiny glow. “Please let this work…” Tim silently whispers under his breath as he pushes the control bars forward.

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“Nick, ugh… Ya dick… blregh!” Jack hurled onto the floor, out of sight, while trying to yell at the mage.

“Why didn’t you, ugh… Switch the feed sooner?!” Yue’s green complexion grows worse as Jack continues to lose his dinner. “Ugh! Clean that up!” She yells while turning away in disgust.

“Urph! Hol-ugh… Hold on, bleugh!” Nicolas tries to stand up to cast a cleaning spell but ends up joining Jack on the floor. “I’m gonn- ugh, going to kil-urp! I’m going to kill him!” Nicolas screams while trying not to hurl once more.

“Just be glad we only saw it, imagine how your poor disciple feels actually expecting that.” Yue slightly shivers at the thought of being a passenger aboard the Raptor after what she just saw. “You still alive, Jack?” Yue asks with a mocking tone.

“Screw off hag!” Jack’s gruff response from off-screen makes Nicolas laugh a bit before he bends over his cane trying not to vomit. Jack hobbles back into view, a bit wobbly and looking down right seasick. “Never thought a moving picture would get me seasick…” He says before taking out a flask from his shirt and taking a long swig from it.

“Note to self, make the view from Seer Orb screen size, filling the room can cause nausea or other negative effects.” Nicolas mumbles off to the side as a large binder is written on with a magical pen.

“You should have tested this before we were live.” Yue hisses at him through a strained smile.

“He never flew it like that in the trail runs!” He hisses back at her with a mean stare.

“Kids are watching, enough flirting ya two.” Jack shakes his head while taking one more sip of his flask. “Nick, why are the ships covered in a glowing bird? He points to the airship squadron, which resembles a flock of large glowing birds of magical light. “For the people watching…” He jerks his head towards the glowing Seer Orb under the angry glares of the other two.

“Ahem!” Nicolas coughs to calm himself, nearly forgetting the world was watching them. “For those who know about the Airship, this new magical version makes use of what we call Spirit Coils.” Nicolas taps his glowing cane on the ground as a still image of the Raptor sitting in the carrier’s hanger bay appears on screen for all to see. “These spherical bumps on the wings are the Coils themselves.” He points out the coils for everyone. “These function similarly to the airship’s main magical engines, but they power the Spirit Overlay onto the airship itself instead of powering the ship.” As he seems to be about to start a whole lecture, Jack pushes a button to close the screen.

“So the birds are spirits?” Jack asks while pointing at the live feed, showing a large predatorial bird soar between a flock of smaller birds it preys on. “How did we get the spirits of monsters to cover our airships?” He was genuinely curious when asking.

“This is all thanks to our most hated pilot’s personal sprite which he somehow got to grow to the point it naturally evolved into a spirit!” Nicolas says with a slightly angry tone.

“Is that the other’s seem… smaller?” Jack asks while noticing the other airships don’t have as large of a Spirit Overlay as the Raptor.

“Yes, the other ships are all equipped with our most advanced sprites. We hope this Storm Run can help give them the push they need to grow into spirits like Rex.” Nicolas answers with a hopeful smile on his bushy face. He chuckles as the Raptor seems to screech out a battle cry in response.