Two long lanes of fighter jets and other craft floated high in the sky, far too high for some of them, Ingrid assumed. The high-magnification telescope was somewhat hard to use, prone to blacking out her vision at some angles when peering through the lens. Those lanes were unmistakable however, she had seen them in the Plane of Wind.

"Do we know what they want?" she asked.

"They seem to be traveling back and forth between the portal and a nearby inverted pyramid," Vaska said, pressed up against Ingrid in the cramped lookout room at the top of the command tower.

"I see airplanes with propellers. How high is that pyramid?" Ingrid asked.

"We estimate they are about forty thousand feet above the metal oceans," Vaska said. "I know what you are thinking, that it should be impossible."

"Nothing about these places surprises me anymore," Ingrid said. "I should have wondered how the people up in those cities can breathe." She pulled away from the viewer and brushed past Vaska towards the tiny ladder in the center of the circular room. Her boots clanked on the metal grating.

"Thank you for letting us know," Vaska said to the lookout by the door after they both descended the ladder.

The command deck waited for them just beyond that door. Ingrid saw a flashing light through the porthole. Taisian airships dotted the horizon.

"Admiral," the communications officer said. "The Taisian Air Navy wishes to express their deepest regrets, however this airspace is reserved for their use. They are asking us to close the portal and leave."

"Tell them that we are engaged in sanctioned military activities," Elizabeth said.

"It will be done Admiral," the Captain of the Fleet said. He was a graying man with a beard and unlike Elizabeth he wore the formal uniform of the Order.

"When will we get our invasion?" Ingrid whispered to Vaska.

"The Taisians are preparing about eight hundred fighter jets to lead an air raid on Jelka. Our intelligence reports mention surface-to-air missile stations inside new military sectors recently constructed in the city."

"Dark-Three missiles launched from the ground?" Ingrid asked. Vaska nodded. "What are the Taisians going to do about it?"

"The same thing they always do. Ignore the problem, then neglect to tell their soldiers about the danger."

"Vaska," Elizabeth said. "What do you make of the visual reports?"

"Me and Ingrid are in agreement. The unique properties of the Elemental Plane may make it possible to fly heavier-than-air aircraft much higher than their normal service ceilings."

"We should send the scouts inside to verify," Elizabeth said.

"I will give the order," the Captain of the Fleet said. "The scouts are prepared to take off immediately."

"Captain," Vaska said. "Please send for Lieutenant Reese, have her meet us at the brig."

Through the narrow hallways and over the bulkheads they walked. Military engineers were still busy repairing some of the damage to the airship caused by the sudden reversal of direction the day before, when they fled the portal. Metal Elementals were very good at finding and fixing overstressed load-bearing structures.

When they arrived at the brig Reese was already waiting for them. The three women walked between the empty cells to a large cell at the far end. A single woman was sitting on the floor inside the cell, making childish drawings on construction paper with crayons.

"Ingrid, do not get too close," Vaska warned.

"Who is this?" Ingrid asked.

"Glenice picked this one up in the Plane of Wind," Vaska said. "I sent for her after we found Reese, however I have had other priorities. The Ayaruan interest in that pyramid... shifted those priorities."

"Oh, right. She was wearing a mask so I could not see her face."

"Our linguist failed to find out anything about her language. Some types of Elemental will translate the thoughts of two people who cannot otherwise speak, however they refuse to translate this specific language for some reason. Reese, can you please try asking this woman her name?"

Reese began speaking in a language that Ingrid had never heard before. It was a fluid and beautiful way of speaking, Ingrid thought. Poetic, with stressed and unstressed syllables. The woman suddenly became very animated. She started speaking in the same language.

Kill her! Kill her! Titania protested.

"Please translate it for us," Vaska said.

"She says that the time of suffering has ended," Reese said. "She said that everything was a lie. They had suffered long enough for the Goddess to return."

Oath breaker! Oath breaker!

"Ask her how she knows that 'the time of suffering has ended.'"

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Once again Reese conversed with the woman. "She says that the sight of the flying men outside her home was proof that the priests were lying to them all."

"Why were the Ayaruans attacking them?"

"She says the young people like herself began to rebel. They refused to serve as sacrifices anymore until they had a chance to visit the outside world. Then the outsiders arrived to punish them."

The young oath breaker admits her crime! Ingrid, get closer. Let me kill her PLEASE! PLEASE!

"I think you broke poor Titania again," Ingrid said.

"Then we know why they are going up to the pyramid," Vaska said.

"We need to save them," Ingrid said. "We can bring Reese with us, and use Wind Elementals to broadcast a message to the people. We tell them that we can save them."

"You will need to stay in the sky. Titania would start murdering them if you got too close."

The woman slipped one hand through the bars and pointed at Ingrid, shouting something in her language.

"What is she saying?" Vaska asked.

"She is saying something very complex, it roughly translates to 'fire in the right hand, ice in the left'"

Vaska's eyes went wide as she turned to Ingrid briefly. Then she said "Ask her why she thinks that is true."

"She says that her Wind Elemental told her. Her Elemental cannot hear what she says, but it speaks often, for as long as she can remember."

The woman pointed to Vaska and began to speak again.

"She says that the Firstborn is known to her."

"She has a bonded Elemental," Vaska said. "This entire time, she was bonded to a Wind Elemental."

"Except other people can summon it with a crystal," Ingrid said. "That must be true of all the sacrifices."

A soldier appeared at the door to the brig. "Message for Vaska!" he said.

"You may remain and speak with the woman for as long as you like," Vaska said to Reese. Ingrid and Vaska approached the soldier. "Is this about the scouts?"

"Yes Princess. The scouts say that above twenty thousand feet, the altimeter starts falling. The vertical speed indicator switches to the opposite direction as well."

"Forty thousand feet would be at sea-level atmosphere then," Vaska said. "The service ceiling of the tilt-rotors is twenty-five thousand feet, which means they can make it through the inversion without any problems. Soldier, tell the Admiral that we are going to that pyramid. We will fight the Ayaruans and keep them from getting what they want."

----------------------------------------

The sky was filled with explosions. Long, angry black arcs of smoke falling towards the eerie chrome giants below. Even at forty thousand feet, or sea level indicated, those giants were still quite impressive, as tall as volcanos. The Order of the Ten Skies had arrived in force and decimated the Ayaruan airplanes. For a brief moment the door of the tilt-rotor was opened to the sky as they approached the edge of the pyramid, allowing Ingrid to see the carnage.

A stray enemy fighter jet was approaching. Its dark shape was clearly visible against the white metal ocean-hurricane far below. Ingrid panicked for a brief moment. If that thing targets us we are dead. It helped that there were a few dozen other tilt rotors in the sky, and the probability of survival was quite good.

A long white streak and a glowing light flew straight at the airplane. Ingrid knew he was dead. Indeed, the impact ripped both wings off the enemy fighter and it fell in three pieces, two flaming wings and a pointed tube that quickly vanished from sight against the rusty mountaintops.

"Good kill!" the Marines began to shout. "Good kill! Good kill!" It took a brave man to fly into this hellstorm, Ingrid knew. Or a stupid one.

The threshold of the pyramid passed them, an ominous blue-gray metal edge followed by the blur of green parks and lawns. The rotors finished their tilting and the pilot masterfully set the craft down in the tall grass. The Marines hurried out with their rifles to clear the area. Ingrid took the opportunity to visit the lavatory.

When she was finished she stepped out of the door onto the ground. She quickly realized this was a mistake because it was more of a marsh than a lawn, and she almost sank into it. One of the Marines was waiting for her outside. "Lady Ghost," the young man said. "The area is clear."

The top surface of the inverted pyramid was completely flat, and an entire city had been built not far from the rim. Buildings a hundred feet tall lined the horizon in front of her, with wide metal streets between them, polished like mirrors. As she walked down those streets she could see herself below, as if walking past puddles in the rain. All around her were the bodies of Ayaruan soldiers, with the occasional Marine being carried away to safety. People in masks looked down upon her from the windows.

"They got no weapons, Lady Ghost," her escort said. "But if one of those 'Ruans is hiding up in the windows, it could be bad."

"My Elemental can stop bullets," Ingrid said. "I do not fear assassins inside the city."

She reached a fountain in a town square. All around her the sheer, glassy buildings rose up in all their harsh verticality. The sky was a rusty red color, the opposite side of the cylinder, dotted with shiny silver specks. People began to walk into the street, first a trickle and then a crowd. Her lone Marine shouted at them to leave her, however they seemed wise enough to remain out of range of Titania's attacks. They wore robes and two-color masks, as had the others. They watched her with interest.

"Fire, my own fire, I ask to summon you here," Ingrid said, "at my right hand."

I will partake of your spirit, a hissing campfire voice replied. Your spirit is still weak. You will fall into a deep sleep.

"Water of my spirit, I summon you as well, at my left hand."

Sip, do not consume, just savor, and allow her this moment, the watery voice from before said.

Ingrid raised both hands. This brought a hush from the crowd.

Two brilliant lights appeared beside her, one red and one blue. The red one materialized first, forming into a nude woman made of flames, twenty feet tall. Her features were indistinct, as were all the Fire Elementals, however she wore a mask over her eyes and a crown studded with dark rubies of flame. The blue light formed into a second nude woman made of water, also indistinct, and also wearing a mask and a crown studded in dark sapphires of water. These things loomed over the fountain the the town square, the Fire Elemental on the right and the Water Elemental on the left.

Ingrid instantly began to feel something being taken from her. Her identity, her resolve, her willpower, her very soul, being drained away slowly. She shuttered.

"Lady Ghost you look unwell," the Marine said.

"Soldier," Ingrid said. "I will fall asleep and you will need to rescue me."

"Um... yes Lady Ghost. I will keep you safe." He finally looked up, dutifully watching her even as she summoned the Elementals. His face was awestruck.

"Can you translate something for me?" Ingrid asked.

It is forbidden, the Water Elemental said. Of course it was forbidden.

The masked people prostrated themselves on the ground before her. Not just a few, but the entire city must have shuffled out to see her and throw themselves upon the mirrored streets. Even the Marine was kneeling.

Something struck her, as if her lungs and heart were ripped out of her body. She looked down at herself, noting that she was perfectly intact. Her knees felt weak.

"Lady Ghost I have you," the young man said. Just a boy really. Probably my age, she realized.

She collapsed into his arms. The world began to fade.

"I'll get you back to the airship," the Marine said. "You can count on me!"

As the darkness consumed her vision Ingrid heard one last voice.

I hate you, Titania said. I so wish that man would let me kill you.