"The legends never said anything about this." I think grimly to myself as the cloud vortex continues to pull me back toward earth. I try to ignore the screaming of the bandits as they are swallowed up by the vortex, desperately struggling for their lives. I absentmindedly raise an arm to block a rain of plaster fragments, courtesy of the church disintegrating all around us.
"Most of you guys fell from the sky just a few minutes ago!" I shout at the bandits over the fracas, "Don't tell me you lot don't know how to land safely! I saw you manage it with my own eyes!"
More incoherent screaming is the only response I receive from the bandit horde. Come to think of it, the bandits stopped falling from the sky the moment the Logos activated and began showering the church with light. And the giant cloud vortex only formed after I had inadvertently knocked the Logos from its place in the floating Church. How is all of this connected together?
"That's not quite right." I bite my lip with consternation, "The bandits only landed safely once, after they first fell from the sky. They couldn't save themselves once I knocked them off the church."
Meaning that whatever protection the bandits had, it no longer applied once they were engaged in the mass scrum against me. And by extension, this leads to only one conclusion.
I am not covered by whatever protection that allowed the bandits to make their ridiculous appearance. In short, I am totally screwed.
No, this is not the time to be defeatist. If anything, the legends were clear about one thing. Enn, the first human, did manage to descend to earth from the heavens. So there must be a way to manage the descent safely. I just need to figure it out in the time available, before I crash land and go splat on what's left of Springvale. I spread my limbs out as wide as possible, hoping to slow my fall and buy myself a few precious extra moments. I rack my head, dredging up whatever knowledge I possess about Enn and his legend.
But all I come up with is a big fat nothing. Its not easy thinking under pressure, y'know?
The boom of the bell tower interrupts the fruitless wanderings of my mind and I turn my head up to see what's going on. Caught in the pull of the cloud vortex, the bell tower is well in the process of being torn apart, with a spiderweb of cracks spreading across the surface of the bell itself. Ramon hangs desperately onto the bell as it ceaselessly tolls in time to being thrown about within the vortex. There's a loud crack as the bell finally gives in to the abuse, shattering into multiple bronze pieces.
"MAAAAC!" Ramon howls in fear, still hanging on to a large bronze piece of the bell as it is twisted about remorselessly in the wind. Weighed down by the shard of the bell, Ramon's descent is much more rapid than mine and his downward plunge overtakes me in the race toward the heart of the vortex.
"Damn it. Hold on!" I yell back, straightening my limbs and turning myself into a human arrowhead. Angling myself at the bell shard Ramon is hanging on to, I let natural velocity to the rest of the work. My speed abruptly increases and I hit the bell shard hard, almost getting knocked away by the force of the impact.
"Gotcha!" Ramon grunts as one of his hands catches me by the shirt, straining to prevent me from falling off. My own hands quickly find purchase on the jagged edge of the shard, leaving both of us hanging precariously hanging on for our lives.
"What do we do now?" Ramon asks, sweating from every pore on his face.
"Don't rightly know." I reluctantly admit, shifting my hands on the bell shard to a more comfortable grip, "Know any legends that can help us?"
"Uh, Enn came down to earth this way?" Ramon begins, furrowing his brow.
"And? What happens next?" I shoot back, growing increasingly concerned as the vortex grows steadily larger.
"He was greeted by a bleak world, unsuitable for life." Ramon continues, "Ea, the creator, taking pity on him -"
"No, what I meant was," I nearly shriek from a combination of desperation and irritation, "how did Enn survive the drop from heaven?"
"I don't know?" Ramon shrugs helplessly, "Enn was sent down by Ea after all. That's like asking how birds fly. It just happens."
"Wonderful." I groan in defeat, "I don't suppose we could just ask Ea to help us out here?"
"Ea doesn't answer prayers." Ramon whispers sadly, "Not anymore. Even Pahlaver, the only god to really bother with humans, is gone. We've been left to fend for ourselves, Mac."
"Yeah." I shut my eyes, not wanting to let Ramon see me cry, "I know that. Everyone knows that."
The air grows denser, heavier as Ramon and I are swallowed by the cloud vortex. I feel moisture settling over my skin before almost instantly freezing into ice. Ramon's teeth audibly chatters as the full force of the chill bites hard into him. I open my mouth and draw a deep breath of the cold air. It would normally be invigorating, but all I experience is a dreadful shudder up my spine.
"What do we do Mac?" Ramon repeats himself plaintively.
I ignore my friend as I struggle to open my eyes again. If I'm going to die, the least I can do is face my death with some degree of dignity. Not crying and sobbing like a child.
The bell shard continues its plunge, piercing through the cloud cover. Rain has begun to pelt at our backs and a cursory glance over the side of the bell shard tells me that Ramon and I are currently high over Springvale. Intermittent fires flare up as the bandits tear their way through my village unhindered regardless of the rainstorm pounding away. In the distance I can see Granite Pass, rain water gathering in its base, the precursor of its annual flooding.
And streaking across the sky like a golden comet is the Logos, leaving a fiery trail in its wake. As the Logos passes overhead, the bandits attacking Springvale pause their rampage, gazing awestruck at the sight. The King of the Mountain sits atop his horse, the doppelganger of my childhood friend still struggling in his arms, the expression on his face a mixture of bewilderment and amazement.
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Then the tail of the comet illuminates the bandits falling to their doom, causing the King to blanch. A wave of confusion spreads within the ranks of the King's men, this situation obviously being so completely outside of their expectations and experience. But the sight of their fellow bandits slamming into the ground and turning into bloody smears spurs the King into action.
"Yeah. Ea's definitely not helping us here." I observe wryly as a wet stain begins to spread over Ramon's trousers.
"We could try praying anyway?" Ramon suggests as the King of the Mountain shouts a command to his men, ordering them to form up and retreat.
"Go ahead." I mutter, trying to ignore the sour scent coming from Ramon's soiled pants. An idea is forming in my head, a possible way for us to survive this absurdity we had been thrown into. Its a long shot, but it very well might be our only hope.
The King of the Mountain and his men ride hard, trying to outrun the incoming golden comet. A cloud of dust is stirred up on the road as the bandits drive their horses onward, looking to escape Springvale and make it back to Granite Pass. But the Logos is flying fast, easily drawing even with the bandit pack.
The King of the Mountain and his troop make it to the potato fields just as the Logos slams into the ground nearby. From my perch on the bell shard, I can see a visible shockwave ripple throughout Springvale and Granite Pass. The bandit pack's horses rear up in agitation, throwing many of the men off, but the King of the Mountain remains in control of his mount, forcing it back down to all fours after a brief struggle.
The shock wave flattens the potato fields and a powerful tremor seizes the land, causing large fissures to sunder the earth. Springvale begins sinking into itself, with houses being swallowed up by the widening gaps formed by the sudden earthquake. The land around the potato fields begins to tilt backward, forming an incline. Bandits try to scramble back to their feet in vain, but the land continues to tilt, turning into a slide that terminates in one of the fissures. The gaping maw of the fissure greedily devours any bandit unfortunate enough to lose the battle against gravity.
And with every life lost, the Logos glows brighter, nestled among the potato crops. The Word of God begins to fire off ever increasing pulses of energy, inciting the land to even more violent seizures. A few bandits rush up to the Logos, trying to seize it, but a pulse of energy sweeps over them, tearing their bodies apart into bloody chunks of meat. Now even the peaks that make up Granite Pass begin to shake in time to the pulsating glow of the Logos.
The King of the Mountain hefts the girl over one shoulder and jumps off his horse, abandoning it to whatever fate has in store. With powerful, magically enhanced strides he climbs the steep incline, escaping the beckoning maw of the fissure. As he crests the incline, struggling for balance, the peaks of Granite Pass shatter under pressure from the Logos, blanketing what's left of Springvale in a storm of rocks. Entire buildings are flattened by this bombardment and the few surviving bandits dashed to the ground. The King of the Mountain himself stands tall and weathers the storm, his augmented toughness shrugging off most of the damage. But a series of shallow wounds begin to form all over his body, flecks of blood staining his armor.
The water settling at the base of granite pass reacts to the pulses of energy released by the Logos, gurgling as the shock wave passes over.
"What's happening?" Ramon shouts in shock as the pulse stops half way, holding the water in place.
Before I can answer, the Logos retracts the pulse, physically pulling all the water gathered in Granite Pass toward Springvale. The water coils itself up, rushing forward and leaving Granite Pass bone dry. It might not be enough to flood the pass, but there's still enough water to form a massive tidal wave. The Logos blinks rapidly, yanking at the wave and directing it squarely at the village itself. The water needs no further urging, ripping through the potato fields and savaging Springvale's outskirts.
"The Logos." I respond anxiously, "It wants to destroy everything here."
"The what?" Ramon shouts back in confusion. By now the Logos's power has coiled itself around the wave, turning the water into a giant liquid rolling pin.
"I'll explain later." I reply curtly as the rolling pin begins pulverizing Springvale proper, leaving a rush of flood water behind it. Its almost time. Ramon and I need to make our move now if we want to survive, regardless of the risk.
"Cling on to me, as tightly as you can." I order, while shifting my feet so that they rest on the bell shard.
"What are you going to do, Mac?" Ramon asks, but complies with my direction regardless.
"What comes naturally." I say, taking a deep breath and moving one foot forward in preparation to quickstep. My eyes narrow as I focus on the flood water left behind by the rolling pin. There's a subtle tug as the invisible anchor wedges itself at the spot I'm focusing on.
Its working. My heart lifts at this realization. My plan to save both of us revolved around the fact that when I performed a quickstep, the technique affected whatever I was carrying on me as well. And if we're lucky, Ramon would count as one of my possessions if he hugged me tightly enough.
"Let's do this." I announce and exhale that pregnant breath.
The world blurs into motion and both Ramon and I are wrenched free of the bell shard, passing through it like a pair of ghosts. I hear Ramon's breath catch sharply, but he maintains his grip on my back. We sail through the air, overtaking the last of the bandits plummeting to their demise, guided to our destination by the inexorable pull of the invisible anchor.
The Logos unleashes another pulse and I mentally brace as the wave of golden energy rushes to meet us in midair. But the quickstep does not disappoint and the pulse washes over Ramon and I harmlessly. The invisible anchor forces us into a steep dive and soon I am making the final approach to our destination by surfing over the flood waters. Behind us, the rolling pin finishes demolishing the last of Springvale, leaving nothing behind it except wreckage and corpses. The Logos, apparently satisfied with its work, retracts its power, the divine light it had emitted growing dim before extinguishing itself entirely.
Our momentum comes to a harsh, sudden stop as the quickstep ends. As Ramon and I begin to blur back into physical existence, I note the bloated corpse of the King of the Mountain floating face down in the distance. The liquid rolling pin in the end proved too much for the bandit leader. But not for me.
"We did it." I cry out in exultation, "We survived!"
"Mac!" Ramon shouts in panic as a growing shadow coming from behind swallows both of us up.
"What now -" I curse and turn, only to be confronted by the rolling pin, now breaking apart and unfurling back into its original form. A tidal wave. And heading back to its point of origin, Granite Pass.
Right in our direction.
"Shit!" I take another deep breath and prepare to drop the invisible anchor again in order to perform another quickstep. But to my dawning horror, there's no safe place for me to quickstep to. The tidal wave is washing over the entire village again, just in reverse this time. I try to find a spot behind the wave I can drop the invisible anchor, but the wave blocks my line of sight, becoming an impenetrable wall as far as quickstepping is concerned.
"We'll have to outrun the wave!" I yell, shifting my attention to the road ahead of me and executing the quickstep.
Ramon and I shoot down the road, a phantom blur. I quickly lay anchor points as quickly as I can, but the wave is relentless, rapidly catching up. Without an overhead view of the terrain around me, I can't make full use of the technique.
And then the worst happens.
The wave overtakes us while I'm in the middle of completing a quickstep. Ramon and I are trapped behind a solid wall of water as we phase back into physical reality. Our bodies begin to blur back into existence as the wave pushes onward heedless of our presence. Weight begins to press down on both of us and a sudden impact throws me off my feet.
Then everything goes dark.