Simon sat down in the seat of the cockpit, and placed his hands on the two control sticks that he would use to steer the Zailiens. He tilted each of them, to the right, to the left, up and down, not to move the ship but to get a feel for them. He leaned over to the left, and pushed the first two buttons. A hum sang throughout the ship, and the lights flickered briefly.

“What was that?” Simon asked.

“The Zailiens is currently… recovering, from its extended period without maintenance. Expect a significant amount of turbulence during takeoff.”

“Got it…” Simon shook his head. He didn’t really get all of this, but something about getting to fly the machine was incredibly exciting.

“The rest of you,” the voice said, “please proceed to your quarters and enter the resting chambers for the takeoff process.”

“Me too?” Lawrence asked, taking his hand off the block of steel.

“Yes,” the voice answered, “you have successfully given the Zailiens 7.2383 days of fuel.”

“Seriously?”

“Indeed.”

The other three dashed down the ladder, and each chose a room. They mulled about in their rooms, not knowing what to do.

“Please enter the resting chambers,” the voice reiterated.

“The whats?” Dianna asked.

Lights flashed around the glass tubes.

“Why?”

“It is the safest location for takeoff.”

“If you say so…” Dianna slowly and begrudgingly entered into the glass tube. Unbeknownst to her, the other two did the same. At once, fluid began to fill the tubes.

“What the hell is this?!” Dianna screamed.

Mina screamed as well.

“Oh. Neat.” Lawrence smiled.

“Please relax,” the voice explained. “The fluid will be oxygenated to allow you to breathe. Please allow the fluid to fill your lungs.”

Lawrence readily accepted the fluid, giving him a familiar experience to when he usually breathes underwater. Mina and Dianna held their breaths as long as they could, before at last running out and letting the fluid in. They were surprised by how easily they could breathe, and how comfortable it felt.

“Now relax, and sleep if you feel so inclined,” the voice stated. “Simon,” it continued, “begin takeoff stage one.”

Simon nodded, and flicked the first switch on his left. A terrible tremor gripped the ship, so great that Simon was nearly flung from his seat. It continued and continued, causing great fear in the four heroes.

“What’s going on?” Simon shouted over the rumbling.

“The engine is currently being flushed of debris,” the voice explained. “Please allow it some time.”

The rumbling continued for a good time, before at last concluding. Once tremors had subsided, all that was left was a loud, roaring hum.

“Please begin stage two,” the voice continued.

“On it,” Simon said. He flipped the next switch, and the hum disappeared. “Uh… did I do it wrong?”

“No,” the voice replied. “The engine is now ignited. The sound was shut off as the fuel supply was cut. Once you accelerate, the sound will continue.”

“Got it…” Simon said, barely understanding. “Do I move to stage three now?”

“No,” the voice replied. “Please insert the Igneolus Key to move to stage three.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“The what?”

“Do you not possess the Igneolus Key?”

“...No…” Simon realized this was probably the piece that Novos and Remus were currently after.

“That is no problem,” the voice insisted. “You will still be able to use the secondary engine. Without the primary engine, however, your speed will be limited to thirty miles per hour.”

“Thirty miles?!” Simon shouted. “That’s… insanely fast!”

“Maybe for you,” the voice said smugly, “but the top speed of the Zailiens is two hundred.”

“Two hundred- I could travel around all of Hoenheim in half a day!”

“Indeed. Prioritize the retrieval of the Igneolus Key.”

“Will do. Now what do I do to take off, though?”

“Please engage the shields.”

Simon pressed the third button, and a sphere of blue energy began to expand from the whale. It pressed outwards in all directions, crushing the bismuth crystal below it, and eventually expanded to cover the entire ship.

“Wow…” Simon said, awestruck. “How do these work?”

“They are shields powered by magic,” the voice explained, “and while it takes no magic to maintain or expand them, magic is consumed to repair damage to the shields. However, you should have no worries, as you have provided enough magic to maintain the shields for a good amount of damage.”

“I see…”

“Usually,” the voice continued, “you would not expand the shields while still grounded. However, it is important that the shields be tested before flight. Now prepare to take off.”

“On it,” Simon said, and pressed the sixth button.

With the sound of a roaring crash of thunder, the ship lurched forward. It then began to, slowly but surely, hover off the ground, lifting ever so slightly higher and higher off the bed of bismuth below. Simon pulled back on the sticks, and pulled the nose of the Zailiens up. It pointed straight up, at the roof of the cave.

“And you’re sure the shields will hold out?” Simon asked.

“Positive, with 1.429 plus or minus 0.065 days of magical energy remaining.”

“Well, here we fucking go!” Simon shouted. He twisted the knob all the way until it reached the limit, which was notably not even one-sixth of its maximum rotation.

At once, the hum of the ship begun again, roaring loudly enough to fill the ship. With a sudden burst of speed, the ship sailed straight up, barrelling through the solid stone wall as the shields disintegrated all matter that passed through them. Up and up the ship sailed, until at last the stone gave way to soil, and the soil gave way to sky. Onwards and upwards the whale flew into the sky, until the forest below became a tiny patch of green, and upwards still until Ad Limosa became a tiny dot of black, and upwards still until the blue of the sky gave way to the black of night, and all around the Zailiens was stars and the whole of Hoenheim below. Simon smiled, and turned the ship back down. He spiraled downwards and downwards, plummeting through the altitude until at last arriving back down above Ad Limosa.

“You are now free to exit your chambers,” the voice said to the other three.

“Wow…” Mina said, taking in the whole of the land beneath her, so far in the air that she could see the curvature of Hoenheim below.

“This is… something else,” Lawrence laughed. “Never once in my life did I think I’d be this far from the sea.”

“And in the wrong direction, too.” Dianna added. “Not inland, but up.”

“It’s… a lot to take in.” Mina said. “How small we all are.”

“Not anymore,” Simon laughed, “at least not us specifically.”

“Yeah…” Dianna said. “Not us. Not anymore.”

“...Now what?” Lawrence asked.

“Whaddya mean now what?” Simon replied.

“I mean, we can go anywhere we want to now, right? So, where first?”

“The Church!” Dianna quickly replied. “They absolutely must know of this machine- think about how far and wide the word of Deruthmoryx could spread!”

“No offense,” Lawrence retorted, “but we just got this kickass flying whale, and the last thing I want to do is hand it over to some church stuckups.”

“We are not stuckups! Besides, we wouldn’t be turning it over- we’d be the ones privileged enough to use it, to spread the good word!”

“Dianna, I’ve heard some pretty nasty things about that church,” Lawrence groaned. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they killed us in our sleep and took the ship for themselves.”

“Nonsense,” Dianna replied, “they would only do that if we violated the trust of Deruthmoryx!”

“But you don’t deny they’d kill us…”

“How about we drop into Ad Limosa first?” Mina asked. “We could grab our things, and Shamus, too!”

“That sounds great,” Simon said, ready to get the topic off Dianna and her church as quick as possible. He pulled the sticks around, and pointed the ship towards the city.

“Wait…” Dianna said, and ran over to the window that faced out of the bridge. “What’s that?”

The four stared in horror at a great whirlpool, easily three hundred feet across, stormed its way through the docks of Ad Limosa. The entirety of the docks, and all the ships moored there, were being reduced to wreckage and flotsam as the whirlpool destroyed everything in its path. Occasionally, a slithering form of a great serpent poked out of the whirlpool.

“...Hey, ship?” Simon asked.

“You may refer to me as Cetus,” Cetus said.

“Cetus? Does this ship have any weapons?”

“Negative,” Cetus replied.

“Well, we’re gonna have to make do, then,” Simon swallowed fearfully, and flew the Zailiens towards the whirlpool.