“Oh, it’s this idiot. Can someone tell me why he’s here? And now, of all times?” Sweet’s irritated voice rang through the tavern as she downed a beer.
Kaen’s unconscious body twitched, prompting the others in the tavern to glance at him. When he continued to snore, though, they turned away and carried on with their discussion.
“I mean, it doesn’t matter too much that he’s here, right? It’s not like he can do anything. Besides, I kinda feel bad for the guy. I mean, we don’t even know if Kandy is…” Boom’s voice broke off as he watched his wife empty another mug.
“Tch. Fine. We’ll leave it up to Tiny as to how to handle him. We’re still leaving for the other side tomorrow, though. If we miss the opening, who knows how much longer we’ll have to wait? Even if we can live forever, who knows what those damn cats will have done to our friends by then,,” Sweet frowned, waiting for Blade to refill her mug.
“I think he should stay. After all, he made it past the first two rings of my baby plants. It may have been during the night, but that is no easy feat. He may be of use,” Tiny’s soft voice spoke up.
Sweet lifted her face up from her mug. “Well, it’s your funeral. Just make sure he doesn’t steal anything. He has to pay his fair share, just like the rest of us. Just because Fluffy’s on the other side at the moment doesn’t mean we don’t follow his decree.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of him.”
“Mhm.”
“Speaking of paying our fair share…” Blade looked pointedly at Sweet. “When are you going to pay your tab?”
“When you pay the rent.”
***
Tori’s colorful wings shone a particularly beautiful hue in the soft morning glow as he descended from the heavens, trailed by several other bird-gods of the Light faction.
On the ground waiting for them was the task force that had been assembled to traverse to the other side and rescue their fallen comrades—Boom, Sweet, Sanchi, Hugh, Lo, Toku, and Dario.
“‘Bout damn time. I was beginning to think we’d miss the window,” Hugh commented as he climbed on the owl god’s back and introduced himself.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Owl God. I’m Hugh.”
“Who?”
Likewise, the other legends clambered onto the backs of each of the bird gods, with Boom climbing onto Tori and nestling himself just behind Tori’s neck.
“There’s no time to waste! We have a lot of distance to cover!” Tori shouted as he took off.
A lot of distance, indeed. Even with how fast the bird gods could travel, the trip would take about a week.
To rest and refuel, they landed and made camp on several planets along the way, including a planet covered in blue-ish green jungles, inhabited by a strange race of mechanical beings.
If not for their primitive communication and ingloriously unrefined forms, the Boomtown residents might have mistaken them for Tin’s kin.
Alas, these strange machinations attacked them on sight with an army that rivaled the one present at the Battle of the Angelic Plains.
With several bird-gods and Boomtown residents present, though, the terrifying army was handled with ample time for supper.
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Even Dario and Toku, having suffered through several weeks of training under Sweet’s guidance, were able to contribute heavily to the decimation of the planet’s unfortunate inhabitants.
Amongst the flaming wreckages, the legends comfortably rested as they listened to Sanchi’s music, protected from the surrounding heat and smoke by Lo’s barriers. The two youngins labored—as they’d done for the entire trip—to prepare dinner for the rest of the group.
Toku had accepted the task quite quickly—it was common practice for the soldiers of the Kaita Kingdom to prepare both their own food and that of their superiors. In this case, he was willing to accept that the others were his superiors—especially after learning the identities of the various birds and the members of Boomtown.
Starstruck as he was, he even considered the task a privilege.
As for Dario, well, once a certain bard whispered the idea in his ear that preparing dinner for the rest of the group was the will of the Holy Truth, it was game over.
The two servants of the group had been set.
Not that it’d all gone smoothly. The first few times, they’d not managed to do much more than roast meat over a fire. But this strange jungle planet was their sixth stop, the last bit of rest they would have before charging into the other side, and they’d gotten pretty good with the seasonings.
As Sweet put it, “At least the food’s worth eating with a beer now.”
It was a tense night’s sleep, and as they flew through the dark space towards the edge of the myriad worlds, a terse silence awkwardly weighed upon the group.
From the rear of the flying formation, an uplifting tune began to play. The others turned to see that Sanchi, perched atop a massive puffin, had pulled out a set of bagpipes and was blowing to his heart’s content.
“What are you doing?” Lo, the nearest, questioned.
Sanchi leaned around his bagpipe and shouted, “Breathing some damn life into this trip. Come on, what the hells are you all doing, being so tense? The only thing to be worried about here is how fucking terrible you all look. Come on! How many get to go to the other side will still kickin’ and breathin’?
“This is the sort of adventure that will be sung from one side of the myriad worlds to the other for a thousand generations! The stuff that made us legends!”
Sanchi reassumed his playing position, but even with his mouth inches away from the bagpipe’s mouthpiece, his next words could still be heard.
“Boomtown legends, let’s ride!”
It was a dumb thing to say, and it sounded cringier than the hormone-laden shrieks of an inconvenienced teenager, but for some reason that last little line from Sanchi resonated with the other humans, bringing a new light to their eyes.
Boom, who had been snugly asleep on Tori’s back, was thrown a distance away as the bird gods flapped their wings with renewed vigor.
***
The only thing at the edge of the myriad worlds was a strange, ever-expanding violet ring. It was a mere stone’s throw from this ring that the humans and bird gods waited, eyes peeled, for a tear in the space.
They waited.
And waited.
…And waited.
“Dammit, how long is this going to take?! We’ve been here for hours!” Sweet shouted, frustrated.
“Patience, Sweet. I can feel the other side approaching. The pathway will appear soon enough.” Taka, the hawk god slowly elucidated as he peered into the distance.
“Who.” the owl added.
Sanchi, still perched atop the puffin, cleared his throat and said, “Well, I for one think that this is prime time for an ol’ story of mine. Have any of you heard the tragedy of Sir Magus the—”
“It’s opening!” Tori shouted. “Everyone, send them through!”
A section of the violet ring caved in, creating a hole devoid of light.
One by one, the humans pushed off of their perches atop each of the birds, who used their wings to push them forward, towards the hole.
The Boomtown legends didn’t really need the help—if anything, the push was just a send-off, as they were each capable of creating planes of mana to step off of to propel themselves forward.
Toku and Dario, though, were tossed towards the hole at full speed.
Each of the seven humans swiftly passed through the hole. Once inside, they found themselves floating through a dark tunnel of nothingness.
Boom tried to shout, “Are we sure this is what’s supposed to happen!?”, but despite his best efforts, no sound came out.
Frowning, Boom reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a cigar. When he tried to light it, though, he found himself unable to summon a flame.
Resigning himself, Boom placed the cigar back in his pocket and muttered, “It’s probably best that I save that one for later, anyway.”
Thankfully, their journey through the dark tunnel was short-lived. Despite that, though, flying through the pitch black tunnel was so disorienting that Toku, Dario, and even Lo immediately turned their head to the side and hurled when they hit the ground on the other side.
After doing so, they picked themselves up and raised their heads to an incredible sight.
They were standing at the base of a mountain made of floating disks. There were seven disks in total, with them standing at the edge of the largest.
“Alright, everyone still remember the plan?” Sweet asked.
A series of nods and glances gave her the answer she needed.
“Great. Don’t die. Move out.”