The command deck of the Luan was in chaos. Lieutenant Colonel Ervin Dren peered through a telescope out the porthole into the Plane of Wind. An enemy force of about a hundred fighter jets was approaching from the "north."

"Admiral, those are Imperial fighters," he said. "There is absolutely no question about that."

Admiral Zef looked genuinely disturbed. "Biagio," he said. "Does this appear to be a declaration of war?"

"I am uncertain," the advisor from the Federation of Kanti said. "The High Council will likely not see this as an act of direct aggression because it took place in one of the Elemental Planes. In addition, it would be difficult to justify a war with the Empire to the citizens of the Federation. They will wonder why we have invested precious funds into fighting a war in another Plane, instead of helping the poor in our own world."

"Dren," the Admiral said. "Take your men, go out there and fight. Score as many kills as you can. We need to save as many of our fighters as possible. I am ordering a full retreat back through the portal."

"As you command," Ervin said.

Biagio nodded. "That is very wise, if the Imperials follow us and attack our forces in Ayaru airspace, it will be a different matter altogether. They likely have orders not to attack once we cross the portal."

Ervin left the command center. Soldiers in drab olive uniforms and black berets stalked the halls with rifles and fire extinguishers. He needed to squeeze past many of them through the narrow bulkheads as he made his way to the deck. He walked out into the otherworldly sky, with its eerie darkness and turquoise moon. The wind was changing directions as the airship moved through the sky. The soldiers on deck saluted him.

"Summon my wingmen, and prepare the fighter that the Federation sent us."

The man's eyes went wide. "Yes sir!"

The Federation was stingy with their technology, but they did provide a single higher-quality fighter for emergencies. It was larger than the tiny rocket-tubes that they had sold to Ayaru. It had two tails, two engines, and a wider, flatter shape. He waited on the deck, watching the fires of the enemy fighters approach from far away, until a soldier drove the fighter to him with the canopy still open.

Ervin and his three wingmen took off in turn, flying in a large circle around the Luan before forming a tight diamond formation and facing the dark sky. At full throttle, his airplane was able to fly upwards at a rate of fifty thousand feet per minute, but his wingmen did not have two engines, and so he had to let off the throttle to keep the formation. Plus the dense air and the constantly shifting winds slowed down his ascent as well.

The enemy was still far away, but they had correctly positioned themselves at a high altitude. Two squadrons of Ayaru fighter jets were flying below, desperately trying to defend against missiles and escape. The pilots were failing to adapt and fell back on their training, trying to defend by flying down instead of up. They were dying by the dozens.

More lost lives.

Ervin had lost two friends already in this strange place. They had flown ahead of the fleet to follow behind the initial airship invasion of Taisia. The ocular demons reported that an enemy fighter entered into the portal and killed both of them. Alen had been killed instantly. Jadran, one of the fleet's most experienced pilots, had for some reason exploded without being hit by a missile. Then, the portal closed.

The men were beginning to murmur about the Ghost of Taisia.

Superstition of course. The forward airship must have had a bank spy on board that panicked when he saw a Taisian fighter fly into the portal. Maybe the banks summoned those crystals back to Kanti to prevent capture. Even Biagio had no idea what went wrong. But why would Jadran just explode like that?

Unless...no. Impossible.

"Report on the enemy," Ervin commanded to his ocular demon.

The enemy fighters number forty-two, the demon said. They are arranged in a long line. There are tilt-rotor aircraft landing inside the palace, most likely Imperial Marines. There is a larger fighter, of a type that is unknown to me, following far behind the others.

The assault on the palace had been a disaster. Admiral Zef had hoped to steal the crystals in the palace to open another portal. Crystals that the bank of Kanti had not bonded yet. The Federation had been an unreliable ally so far and the bungled assault on Taisia had shattered the Admiral's confidence in external support.

They seem to be forming a defensive formation around the larger fighter in the back.

"If they want to be defensive, then they will be doing our work for us," Ervin said. However he felt wrong.

Zef had given him clear orders: save as many men as he could. However, the Admiral was not here, he did not have the information that Ervin had. The Admiral prided himself on local autonomy, on the judgment of soldiers with "boots-on-the-ground." He was certain that in a direct conflict with Taisia, Ayaru would win because the local command was better.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Men," Ervin said into his Colored Orb. "We are going to try and engage with the fighter in the rear that the others are falling back to defend."

"Yes sir!" three voices responded in unison.

Ervin flew up, even higher than the line of enemies, which were lobbing more missiles down towards the retreating Ayaruans. As he flew up, his target also flew up.

She flies just like the Ghost of Taisia, the ocular demon said.

"That pilot is a she?" he asked.

I am certain. She is absolutely Taisian, not Imperial, with red hair and freckles.

Ervin shivered.

They continued their race into the sky. Ervin was uncertain about how high they could even fly. Did the air stay the same density all the way out to those turquoise nebulas in the sky beyond the moon? Could they just fly up forever, and then maybe open a portal on the real moon outside? Doubtful.

His question was answered after he flew higher than the top of the palace tower, at which his aircraft immediately stalled, and fell back down into the dense air below. The altimeter was violently spinning during the process.

A vacuum? He tried again, with the same result, and his wingmen wisely did not attempt to hold formation as he did. They were at the same level then, him and his target, with a hard ceiling just above. He was outnumbered, outgunned, and had no idea what the woman in the rear was capable of.

Thankfully, the wind was very calm just below the vacuum. That would make missile shots easier.

The enemy seemed to have also discovered the vacuum just over their heads, because they dropped down a few feet to prevent a stall. they were converging quickly, almost in missile range. They were still too far away to see in detail but the ocular demon gave constant reports.

"Men," Ervin said. "Spread out and target the defenders with your Soul Hunter missiles. Take out as many as you can, and they will certainly be shooting back at us. Be prepared to defend. Save your Fire Hunter missiles for the target. If we can't kill enough defenders we need to run away."

Missiles launched from both sides, and fighters on both sides diverted down and away in standard defensive maneuvers. One of the enemies attempted to defend by flying up, stalled in the vacuum, and ended up falling tail-first back into the missile. Poor fellow.

Ervin's men had been hand-picked, and they were able to defend against the enemy Soul Hunter missiles. Those missiles, which the Imperials had named Dark-Three, lost a great deal of energy flying through these violent winds below. The enemy pilots were not so lucky. Eight missiles had launched at the enemy, and seven of those missiles had struck home. The Taisian woman was still too far away to be targeted with Soul Hunter missiles.

There were still a few defenders left, however, and some of the enemy fighters below seemed to have noticed the battle at the edge of the vacuum and were flying up to help. A second volley of enemy Soul Hunter missiles rushed out towards Ervin and his men. This time Ervin defended by flying up, having lost altitude during his previous defense, and one of his three wingmen did the same. The other two, however, unfortunately continued to defend by flying down.

"Up!" Ervin yelled. "Alternate defending up and down!"

It was too late, one of the enemy missiles was tracking very well. His wingman dumped his two missiles hoping to defend better. Ervin closed his eyes. He didn't want to see another man lose his life.

"Launch one of your Fire Hunters!" Ervin commanded both of the living wingmen.

Two Fire Hunter missiles lanced out. The enemy had moved closer and the range should be just about right for them to track. Indeed, both missiles struck home and killed two enemy fighters. Ervin, having a larger airplane with two additional Soul Hunter missiles, launched both of them, killing the last of the defenders. The woman in the large Imperial airplane was much closer now.

Enemy Soul Hunter missile has targeted you, defend!

"Kill her with your Fire Hunters!"

His two wingmen, and Ervin himself, launched all their remaining Fire Hunter missiles. She defended just as Ervin began to defend as well. He craned his neck to look back at her. Dozens of brilliant orange lights began to erupt from her airplane.

The enemy is summoning Fire Elementals into canisters powered by chemical explosives and jettisoning those Elementals from her airplane! Genius!

"It's not a good thing, demon," Ervin said dryly. All the missiles started tracking those little glowing orange lights and veered off behind the woman, completely missing her.

Now he and his men were completely out of missiles. He had defended by flying down, but his men were still above him. Even though they did not have missiles, the men fell back on their training as they flew past the woman as if to merge with her.

Then they both exploded.

She did not shoot missiles at them, in fact she wasn't even facing them. They just exploded in the sky.

"The Ghost of Taisia," Ervin said. "We need to run, now."

The enemy still has missiles, the demon said.

"I know, but I have two engines. We'll see if she can run faster than me."

She could not run faster than he could, and she did not attempt to shoot more missiles at him. In fact, the way was clear ahead, and the surviving allied fighters had fled through the portal. The enemy fighters did not attempt to follow or intercept him. It was just that woman, heading straight for the portal.

She ignored him as he flew near the portal, watching her with suspicion. The woman flew in a vertical loop around the portal. Then the surface of the portal began to vanish.

The portal is closing! his demon warned.

Ervin pointed his nose at the portal and punched the throttle to full. Turquoise cracks began to appear in the surface of the portal, they spread like fractures in a glass plate. "No! No! No!" Ervin screamed as he passed through the portal.

It had collapsed an eye blink before his nose passed through it. He looked out upon a vast turquoise moon to the south. The portal was closed. He was stranded in the Elemental Plane of Wind, with no food, no water, and no weapons.

The Ghost of Taisia fell in behind him, pointing her nose at him. She rocked her wings. Ervin rocked his wings as well.

He followed her sheepishly back to her airship. After he landed, all of his gems vanished. A dozen marines pointed their rifles at him when he climbed out of his fighter.

The woman with the red hair approached him.

"You must be the one they call the Ghost of Taisia," he said. One of the Marines translated this to her. She said something in Taisian.

"She says that her name is Ingrid, Princess of the Ten Skies," the Marine said. "But she likes the name 'Ghost of Taisia.' She considers it very quaint."

The woman named Ingrid said something else. Then, in front of his eyes, a massive woman appeared, made of pure golden mother-of-pearl light, wearing the likeness of plate armor and carrying a sword and shield. A Light Elemental. He glanced at the sigil on her breastplate: an open hand holding a glowing star, surrounded by a darker sunburst.

No... impossible. The banks do not have access to a Light Elemental of this rank. The Queen's right hand has not been seen since the time of Ashe's imprisonment.

Ervin fell to his knees in front of the Elemental.

They had been betrayed.