Vaska gave Ingrid a kiss on the cheek before turning and opening a portal to the Plane of Darkness. "No making any sharp turns!" she commanded. "And no burning kerosene!"
"I know!" Ingrid said. "I'm not an idiot."
"That is debatable," Ashe said.
Vaska stepped through the portal and it began to collapse.
Ingrid slipped her leather helmet over her head, and dropped the brass-rimmed glass goggles over her eyes. Her new fighter jet, the HY-12 Burning Leaf, was parked just in front of her on the edge of the runway. The deck of the Blade of Empire was alive with activity. HY-9 Skinny Meg fighters were being directed for takeoff. The former sacrifices who piloted those jets refused to use contracts, and therefore had no way of communicating. The command tower needed to install a system of colored lights to issue orders to those pilots.
The new Burning Leaf airplane was exactly like the Falling Leaf, Vaska insisted, with the exception that it had tanks to hold kerosene in the wings. The fuel could be slowly bled into the engine to produce a burst of speed. It could easily fly faster than the speed of sound at the maximum rate of kerosene bleed.
"Spirit!" Ingrid whispered, "fortify me against the demands of my bonds!" She felt it then, like a physical weight on her entire body, coupled with an alertness and a feeling of energy. Nobody was around to hear her command. In fact, nobody seemed to know that Vaska and herself had drawn a sixth goddess into the world and bisected her into two new Elemental Planes. Not even the Emperor knew. "High Daughter of Fire! Allow me to summon two lesser Elementals to power the engines! High Daughter of Water, allow me to summon a lesser elemental to provide hydraulics! High Daughter of Lightning! Allow me to summon Colored Orbs for communication, aerodynamic stability, and radar!"
The fighter jet began to shutter and hum as the two engines began to spin. Soldiers arrived with a ladder and fixed it against the side of the fighter jet. Ashe shrank and flew up onto Ingrid's shoulder. Ingrid grasped her leather pack as she climbed up the ladder with one hand. It contained six keystones, enough to open two portals. The first trio had been recently stolen by Vaska, and they could be used to open a portal to the Elemental Plane of Heaven. The second trio of keystones had been the first Ingrid ever acquired. Those crystals could open a portal to the Plane of Wind.
"Blade Tower this is Ghost requesting takeoff to open two portals," Ingrid said to her magenta Orb. The two engines just behind her were loud even at idle speeds. She slipped earplugs into her ears and then heavy earmuffs under her leather helmet.
"Lady Ghost, you have priority on the taxiway and the runway, cleared for takeoff."
Ingrid was very tempted to bleed some kerosene, just to see what it was like, as she ran down the runway and pulled the nose up. The deck dropped away below, and then vanished as she passed over the edge into open sky. The snowfields of Taisia had given way to green forests as the weather turned warmer. It was almost midsummer, and the foothills just below were covered in colorful flowers. Ingrid was very limited in how high she could fly, because she had no oxygen system and no Air Elementals. She also needed to limit the engine sound, so she deployed the flaps to approach level and reduced the throttle.
"Heaven! Open a portal to the Plane of Heaven!" she cried. The first set of keystones activated, creating a trio of deep indigo lights. They vanished from within the cabin, and began the process of forming a portal just ahead of the fleet. In spite of the losses in the Plane of Fire, the fleet had managed to grow by absorbing several airships and a few hundred fighter jets from the Imperial Air Navy. More long runways had been built in Taisia for the Imperial Air Force to operate their bombers and ground-based fighter jets.
In the three mirrors overhead, Ingrid saw a brilliant flash of indigo light, forming into a solid plate. However, she could not loop around, not quickly. Even small turns in a fighter jet could produce intense G-forces that would draw blood away from the brain and cause unconsciousness. She rolled the wings over slightly and very, very gently pulled on the stick to perform the biggest, slowest turn in the history of fighter jets. The G-force indicator on her console indicated two times normal gravity.
"Wind! Open a portal to the Plane of Wind!" The second trio of keystones began to glow turquoise. The familiar sight of the portal to the Plane of Wind appeared just behind her as she flew through the triangle of turquoise light. A handful of Marine tilt-rotors, as well as the entire White Raven demonstration team, formed up around her as she continued her long arc through the sky.
The magenta Colored Orbs began to flash. Ingrid did not activate them, however, because of her reduced hearing. It was likely the Marines chatting about their mission in the Plane of Wind. A second, longer arc through the sky brought the turquoise portal into view as it shattered and revealed the dark sky of the Plane of Wind. Ingrid resumed her slow flight into that place, with its chaotic winds, sand dunes, inverted oceans, and colorful nebulas. As she crossed the threshold her nose began to jerk around.
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"Titania, try to contact your mother again," she said.
We hear you mortal, a breathy voice said. Mother says she saw you once before, when the sixth joined this world. You carry bonds with new High Daughters, which only you know about. No enemy would contemplate to deceive us this way. Mother knows exactly who you are.
"Then you know what I seek, to bond a High Daughter of this realm."
As you wish, do you accept this bond?
"I do accept it."
And I wish to bond with you as well, a second voice said. She sounded remarkably cute. Similar to Vaska, in fact, like a woman talking to a baby or a cat. I am a High Daughter of the Queen of Stone. Perhaps I cannot aid you in your quest, however I wish to witness the mending of the Queen of Light.
"I accept your bond as well," Ingrid said. "High Daughter of Wind! Allow me to summon a lesser Air Elemental temporarily to protect my ears and pressurize the cabin."
Ingrid felt the familiar rush of air into the cabin, followed by a dulling of the sound of the engines. She punched the throttle in and raised the flaps after gaining airspeed. Then, she removed the earmuffs and plucked out the ear plugs.
"Well, that's two bonds, just two more to go." The magenta Orb was still blinking, so she activated it.
"... the mission. Airships use Wind Elementals to purify helium for the tanks," Glenice was saying. "We are authorized to recruit all of the sacrifices in this Plane, starting with the ones near Ayaru and then moving into the Federation of Kanti."
Ingrid began a very long, slow turn over the Plane of Wind, constantly adjusting with elevators and rudder in response to gusts of wind. The equipment inside the cabin seemed to vibrate and shutter. The tilt-rotors and escort fighter jets flew past, followed by the Skinny Meg Squadrons and finally the White Ravens. One of the tilt-rotors lagged behind and was flashing lights to give commands to the sacrifices. Ingrid flew back through the portal, leaving it open. Glenice carried a trio of crystals that could be used to reopen it, but in case plans changed it was scheduled to remain open for about an hour.
By the time she returned to the fleet the portal was already open and the scouts had already crossed the threshold.
"Air density is abnormal," the scout commander began to say. "Gravity is abnormal, we are still doing maneuvers to figure out how density and gravity work. No hostiles on this side, no radar contacts."
Ingrid lined up along the airship runways but stayed a thousand feet directly above. Fighters were busy taking off just below. Beyond the portal, the sky was a dark indigo color and filled with gleaming stars.
"I absolutely love this place," Reese said as her Fat Meg fighter jet crossed the threshold into the portal. "I saw it once in my youth and always longed to see it again."
Ingrid closed her eyes to avoid spoiling the sight. The air was clear just ahead, and her airplane was trimmed to fly perfectly straight. "Titania, tell me when I have crossed the portal," she said. After a brief pause she felt the airplane jolt and shutter. "Never mind!" she said as she opened her eyes and adjusted the trim.
The sky outside was dark indigo, and filled with starts, galaxies, and colorful planets. The planets were moving a little too quickly, and indeed appeared to be quite close. Directly under the portal, there was a red planet, a desert of crimson sand and stone, without any water or snow. The planet also appeared to be quite small. Ingrid estimated that it would take less than an hour to loop the entire planet in her fighter. The closest planet was another desert world, this one yellow and dotted with the occasional dark lake.
"The little planets of the Plane of Heaven," Reese said.
"Confirmed," the leader of the scouts said. Ingrid turned her head toward the nearby yellow planet and looked down at the arced horizon. Black arrowheads dotted the horizon. "Confirmed, we understand the physics here. The planets have their own gravity and atmosphere. There is a conduit of dense air connecting these two planets. It may be the same for others."
"Now Titania," Ingrid said.
We hear you, and we know of your bonds to the Daughters of Dreams and Spirit. Will you accept a bond with me, mortal? The High Daughter's voice sounded quite old, but smooth.
You have once been to my world, a second voice said, the voice deep and confident. It is a hostile place, and I know why you chose to come to this place instead. I also offer a bond.
"I will accept your bonds," she replied, and then immediately said: "High Daughter of Life! Fortify my body against the forces of flight!" She began to pull on the stick harder, watching the G-force meter on her dashboard increase. She pulled up to nine times the force of gravity, and it felt as it always had before. She grinned.
"I see you grinning," Ashe said.
"Time for fun!" Ingrid said. She began opening the red safety cases on the kerosene bleed switches, then flipped open all the switches themselves. One final release valve opened the sump tank access to the engines. Right next to throttle there was a second red lever. Ingrid slowly slid it forward a fraction of the way across the track.
CONSUME! CONSUME!
Both Fire Elementals began to shout excitedly in her mind. The fighter jet lurched forward, the airspeed indicator rapidly increasing. Ingrid felt herself being pressed back into her seat. Reese flew past, lagging behind even though her fighter also had two engines with the same power. The fuel gauge needle began to slowly rotate down.
"How are you going so fast?" Reese asked.
"Secret Imperial technology," Ingrid replied. She pulled on the red throttle until it cut off. No sense in wasting all that potential speed with no enemies nearby. The increased airspeed very, very slowly started to bleed off.
More tiny planets appeared below in the space between the red and yellow worlds. A green world nearby, covered in foliage, and a distant blue planet completely covered in water. The thin conduits of air between the planets was easier to see now that she knew what to look for.
"Heaven?" she asked.
Yes, mortal?
"Do you know where our enemies are? Other humans, perhaps they made a portal to this Plane a long time ago."
Yes, I do know where they are. I can help you navigate the small worlds to find them. There are places where you will face a choice between transitioning to one of several planets. Space here is different from what you are accustomed to. Just a few correct choices will lead you to your enemy.
"Excellent, tell me the path and I will relay it to the airships."