When they had resumed walking, they just kept going. Arcturus couldn’t see anything in the vicinity. Does the supposed city exist?
“How much longer will it take for us to reach Sirius?” He took out a digital clock screen that showed him the current time.
“I think we can get there in another hour.” Nova stopped and suddenly knelt down, worrying Arcturus.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m just tired, Arc.” Nova was breathing rather heavily for someone who was just taking a short break.
“So, even immortals can get tired.”
“Even if I am immortal, I still have a weak constitution.” He placed a hand to his chest in order to calm himself down by taking soft, deep breaths.
“Shall we take a break, then?”
Nova shook his head. “We have to keep going.”
Nova was physically weak but his stubbornness was as strong as titanium. While it was a nice sight, Arcturus couldn’t help but to be worried. He didn’t want Nova to push himself too hard, but he knew it was impossible to change his mind. He reached a hand out for Nova to hold to help him get back up. Nova resumed walking, but his steps were a bit slower than usual.
Arcturus whispered, “Don’t push yourself too hard.”
Nova was at a distance where he couldn’t hear his words. Arcturus didn’t mind the lack of response as he followed him.
~
Arcturus had checked the clock from his bangle. An hour had passed since they last took a break. Nova’s pacing and breathing had reverted back to normal, but he hasn’t seemed to tire out again.
Nova suddenly stopped. Arcturus did the same, preparing to help Nova if he had knelt down again. Instead, Nova jumped on his back; he latched on tight. The fireball disappeared.
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“What’s going on?” Arcturus muttered as he thought about how unexpectedly light Nova was.
Nova whispered, “Stay still.”
He did as Nova commanded; in a few minutes, he saw small beams of light coming their way. Two tanks had passed through them, not noticing them in sight despite them sticking out like sore thumbs in the middle of the snow.
How odd.
“Why are tanks here?” Arcturus whispered.
“I didn’t expect the government to start sending out soldiers for investigation this soon. This is bad. It’s going to be a bit challenging for us to enter the city.”
“How were we supposed to enter the city?”
“I was thinking of using invisibility to sneak past the entrance, but I guess that plan is scrapped now.”
Invisibility? Could that be another of his many abilities? A realization came to Arcturus. The reason why the soldiers haven’t noticed us is because Nova must have made us invisible. That makes sense now.
Nova continued, “If there are tanks here, then there must be an airship.”
“Airship?”
“From Sayaka’s memories, I learned about how the military often uses airships in order to transport heavy cargo like vehicles; a tank is a vehicle, after all.”
Arcturus had thought about Sayaka. From what he had remembered, Kori had a tendency to utter her name at times. He always believed her to be an imaginary friend of sorts; to know that she was actually real felt absurd, but it was understandable given the things he had learned recently. Nothing was truly impossible.
“You want to sneak into an airship?” Arcturus remarked.
“If it’s possible.”
“Military airships will carry Shifties. Shifties are known to be able to detect even the smallest signs of life if it's caught within their vicinity. This is going to be some difficult plan to execute.”
“What should we do?”
An idea came to Arcturus. “Actually, you’re onto something with the airship. We can just take out everyone in the airship and then steal it for ourselves. You’re strong. I’m strong. We know how to defeat Shifties. I think this can work.”
“Then, let’s proceed. We can find the airship if we follow the direction the tanks came from.”
“Let’s go.” Arcturus did his best to find where Nova’s legs were. He quickly found his knees, straightened his own posture to get a better hold on Nova and proceeded to head towards the direction the tank came from.