Chapter Fifty-Three
In the sky - Part 2
To EVE it seemed that several minutes had passed in which she had tried to control the ship by all means. The turbulence had increased and the darkness outside, due the overlay, did not allow her to see anything, even though she knew she was in the exact place where she should be. So, when a droid's voice echoed from behind her, she could not help but feel relieved.
[Target secured,] was what one of the droids in the rear said mentally to EVE.
There was a large bluish flash at the rear of the ship, but she didn't have time to see what it was at the moment. The two sun holograms had separated again.
"Time to get the hell out of here." Without a second thought EVE deactivated the antigravity flight. There was another jolt and the overlay phase was over. When it was deactivated, it was no longer occupying the space they shared with that plane and the ship fell several meters below.
The first thing she noticed was that the unpleasant sensation of oppression she felt in her body, due to the overlay, had disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, followed by finally feeling her lungs fill with air. She could see the cloudy sky and the storm instead of that semi-darkness of blurred objects.
She quickly activated the ship's protective shields and with the external batteries at full power she turned the engine back on. The energy levels for the flight were low, but that should have been more than enough.
It could have been over but, beyond feeling relieved, she still felt nervous. That feeling she had had at the base of Pyrene was still there. She knew that something she didn't want to encounter was near. Maybe it was the pilot or something aboard that other ship that was now over the plane on the right side. EVE had no idea what they might be doing up there, but she was thankful they hadn't intervened with her mission.
Before she shot out of the place she took one last look at the plane. It had only been a few minutes but it was tearing apart in the air and there was fire and smoke on the left wing. The paint had peeled off in several places and there were now some holes in the fuselage.
She had also seen how that kind of veins or roots suddenly disappeared from the fuselage of the plane, but it had puzzled her even more when she saw how something like a cloud of black smoke had started to attack the plane.
She didn't have time to find out if it had been caused by what she had taken out of the plane, but she didn't see how it could be possible. If she had to think about it, the most reasonable thing was that it was that other thing she felt.
The Manta took off like an arrow and was lost in the clouds.
Eve glanced to the rear and saw the sphere whose surface had become calm. Around it rested the inert bodies of those droids. She had no doubt that this thing seemed to have been absorbing energy from around it. That was the reason the ship was equipped with the backup equipment, but she would not have imagined it would be so violent.
But it didn't matter now. The target was secured and she had enough flight time for the next few minutes to get to where she had to deliver that thing. The nuclear research center located in Geneva, more precisely in Meyrin.
If EVE had been paying attention she would have noticed something else. Among those droid bodies on the sphere, two were missing. During the last seconds of the overlay, two droids had disappeared from the Manta. That simple touch had moved them. Those two droids, now also inert, had been left behind in the cargo hold of the plane. Due to the sudden movements the ULD's security systems had been released and now that a cargo unit had disappeared from its place and appeared inside the sphere, the two 3T-DS droids had been moved to the hold and trapped by the cargo.
***
Shin had reluctantly taken the passenger the old man had indicated to him. He had no idea who he might be and could barely see his face in the semi-darkness. He was struggling against that spears of particles that sought to pull him down at every second, but he had finally reached the contact part and sent the man down the tunnel. That old man was bigger than Lizbeth so she would surely have to drag him to safety in the ship.
The spears of dark particles had continued to attack him at the same time that the wind was blowing back and forth across the plane, carrying the particles like a sandstorm. Luckily he had what was left of his armor to protect him. Every time one of those spears impacted against the black particles of his own armor, the spear was released and the particles from them rejoined the central mass to attack back. Finally he reached the old man again.
"Let's go!!!" Shin shouted to Leteo Waters.
The old man was almost on his knees clutching a seat, but the look he gave Shin indicated otherwise. Shin recognized that look. He had seen it several times on many faces.
"G-get the hell out of here!!!"
"Come on! You're coming too!!!"
"No! I still have something to do!"
What the hell could an old man like that do in such a situation? Shin remembered. The scientist's body hadn't been found yet. Did it mean that there was a chance he would save him too? Or simply that his body had not yet been found?
***
Benu woke up bathed in a red light that covered everything. Did airplanes have that light?
He felt disoriented and a little dizzy. But when he took a better look around him, he had no doubt. That was not the plane.
He was in a seat with a mask and a seat belt. There were several seats there, and there were several people on them. Hadn't he seen some of those people in the seats of the plane moments ago? And many of them were young. Weren't they passengers? But the place didn't fit. That was not the plane where he had traveled with his mother.
Then he saw her.
There was a woman with long blonde hair, wearing a kind of transparent mask that revealed a mouth with pointed teeth and eyes that glowed in a terrifying way.
Benu looked at the woman in terror. That woman had not noticed that he was awake. Who was that monstrous woman and why did she have pointy teeth and eyes that glowed purple?
Then he took a better look at her and saw her ears. Pointy ears. He thought he had seen similar ones a long time ago, though he couldn't quite remember where.
When he looked around he noticed that the other people were also wearing masks like his and secured to their seats. But this was not the plane. It looked different. It almost looked like those science fiction ships from the movies or comic books. He was terrified and in his situation he looked for the first person who would bring him some calm.
His mother was not there either.
Was he dreaming? Had something happened on the plane after he lost consciousness? He remembered that he had secured his mother's seat belt. What had happened? How long had he been unconscious and what was that place? Everything seemed to be happening fast, but at the same time in slow motion in his mind.
He ripped off his mask and began to feel short of breath. He had to find his mother. He had just seen a tunnel of light coming from the ceiling and pointing to an open hatch in the floor of that place. Through that hatch had entered a large man that the blonde woman was having difficulty moving. Benu recognized him immediately. He was the man his mother had spoken to. His mother was down there?
Then he noticed something he hadn't seen at first. There was some kind of large window in the place that allowed him to look out. The sky outside was dark and there was a heavy storm, but that wasn't what caught his attention. He could see the plane, or at least the tail end of it. But the plane looked different, almost as if it had suffered an attack or the metal of the fuselage had corroded in several places. On the left turbine he could see intermittent fires.
Benu looked around quickly. His mother was not among those in the seats. She was undoubtedly still down below. Although he felt dizzy and confused he knew one thing he had to escape from there and save his mother. That blonde woman was strange, almost as if she wasn't human at all. No, he couldn't say for sure but, he knew she was not.
As the blonde woman dragged the man to a seat, Benu removed the seatbelt that held him in place and slid quickly into the mouth of that hatch.
"Liz!!!" Benu hadn't noticed, but there was someone piloting that ship but he didn't have time to look at her.
He slipped into the hatch and that blonde woman had let go of the man trying to grab him, but it was too late.
Benu left through that tunnel where the man had just entered. He ignored what was happening but he was not falling quickly, it was as if the jump was delayed. As soon as he stepped through the hatch the first thing he saw was the gray sky and the plane. He had just jumped out of some kind of ship. But he didn't care, he was descending towards the plane. But it looked very different from how he remembered it.
There were holes everywhere. In his slow fall he saw that he was entering through a hole in the fuselage. If he wasn't mistaken the place was only a few feet from the seat he had been in with his mother.
And finally he entered the cabin of the plane once again. The place he had just been rescued from, although he didn't know it.
***
"Listen to me! A-All you have to know is that you will need him in the future and nothing else!"
"Who is that guy I just sent?!"
"Never mind, just go! The p-people you and your t-team are looking for are in M-Meyrin!"
Shin heard that and looked at him with a frown. "What are you talking about?!!!"
The elder Leteo Waters almost fell down and Shin held him up, while with the shield he had repelled a new attack from those particle spears.
"Professor I-Ishijima Kanade, or Oxy, as you call her! She is in M-Meyrin! You can find her there. Don't worry about the s-ship, it'll be fine!"
How the hell could that man know that? What ship was he talking about? The Corvus? Shin was about to wonder when they heard a new scream in the room.
"Mom!"
Shin looked up at him. It was the boy he had just sent up. How the hell had he come down? Or rather, why was he awake?
Leteo Waters looked at him with astonished eyes. He hadn't tried to look at him when he had indicated to Shin where he was, but now their gazes had crossed.
The boy kept his mouth open as he looked at the two men. His gaze stopped when he saw the old man.
"So s-so it was like this... I thought... i-it would be otherwise." Leteo said.
What happened next completely confused Shin. Between the attacks he was suffering from those spears, the wind, the water and the turbulence, something unexpected was added to the confusion.
The old man pushed Shin. He pushed him forward, where the boy was looking at the scene, and who was already running in the direction from where Shin had taken him. He could understand that, the boy loved his mother. But he didn't understand why the old man had pushed him.
"Take hh-im away right now!!! Get out of here! Get out!"
Shin didn't need the order. He had to take the boy and send him down that tunnel again and then get the old man. There was no more time left.
The old man looked tired, but there was a strange expression on his face. It looked like resignation. Then he turned his head to the side. His gaze fell on the woman in the seat from which Shin had taken the child.
The old man smiled at the sight of her, but it was a sad smile.
Shin took the boy in his arms, while he struggled with kicks and punches trying to free himself.
And then it happened. The cloud of black particles and the spears stopped for some reason and then moved away. A good part of that concentration went out through the holes to the outside. Shin didn't think this was normal and looked back with a bad feeling.
Leteo continued to stare at the inert body of Hebe Bender and then turned his gaze to Benu.
Then then body of Leteo Waters seemed to lose consistency for a moment before the eyes of Shin and Benu. Then the whole image where he was standing became distorted and concentrated on a single point. The old man's body seemed to have been absorbed by something invisible.
The moment after the explosion seemed eternal to Shin.
There was a bluish flash where the old man had been that blinded them both and then an explosion. Shin, clutching the boy, tried to protect him, while the shockwave hit them. The turtle device, whose buckles had been slightly damaged when the armor was removed, caught on a piece of metal that sheared off the safety buckles and flew into the air. The shockwave sent them into the fuselage whose metal gave way as if it were a thin sheet of aluminum.
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/42dd80f9-5ac6-42d5-8ccc-bcea020b6152/dh4z05e-0f27b7a3-ae01-47c6-93b4-7c3d742a98eb.jpg/v1/fit/w_828,h_1170,q_70,strp/nevermore_enygma_vol_4_chapter_53_by_hasegawakein_dh4z05e-414w-2x.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTY4NCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzQyZGQ4MGY5LTVhYzYtNDJkNS04Y2NjLWJjZWEwMjBiNjE1MlwvZGg0ejA1ZS0wZjI3YjdhMy1hZTAxLTQ3YzYtOTNiNC03YzNkNzQyYTk4ZWIuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTExOTEifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.7G7_ixvFex5uH-Dkxr74_0cKanQLpmFTz16q_g3B48o [https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/42dd80f9-5ac6-42d5-8ccc-bcea020b6152/dh4z05e-0f27b7a3-ae01-47c6-93b4-7c3d742a98eb.jpg/v1/fit/w_828,h_1170,q_70,strp/nevermore_enygma_vol_4_chapter_53_by_hasegawakein_dh4z05e-414w-2x.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTY4NCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzQyZGQ4MGY5LTVhYzYtNDJkNS04Y2NjLWJjZWEwMjBiNjE1MlwvZGg0ejA1ZS0wZjI3YjdhMy1hZTAxLTQ3YzYtOTNiNC03YzNkNzQyYTk4ZWIuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTExOTEifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.7G7_ixvFex5uH-Dkxr74_0cKanQLpmFTz16q_g3B48o]
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Several pieces of metal from the plane flew skyward and larger holes appeared in the fuselage. Some of the passengers' bodies and luggage were blown away. On the cargo side, due to the structural failure, the door had been blown off and some of the containers were flying through the air at the same time as a couple of inert tactical droids.
Shin looked at the face of the boy whose nose was bleeding. He had been knocked unconscious again and they would be the same way in a short time, now that they were flying through the air.
At that very moment, grazing their heads, two of the plane's seats that had been ripped out had flown past. Farther away, amidst all the flying from the plane, Shin thought he saw a dark backpack that looked familiar.
He couldn't be sure, but he was convinced that those seats and that backpack were the same ones that were on the Corvus.
Where was the ship with Carissia and Lizbeth?
Shin looked up slightly. It was about six or seven meters away from them, moving away and disappearing into the clouds.
What's going on in there?
***
The explosion had caused the attractor tunnel to destabilize and the Corven-21 was waving dangerously in the air.
Carissia gritted her teeth while in the back Lizbeth had just hit something due to the turbulence and fell unconscious. Carissia saw that and immediately closed the hatch through which the passengers had been extracted. Due to the sudden movements she feared that Lizbeth or that last man who had entered the cabin might slide into the hatch and fall.
Something had just exploded inside the plane and the cloud that had penetrated inside had been expelled again. As if it had some kind of consciousness, it gathered again and headed towards the plane. At that precise moment, due to the turbulence and the explosion, in the Corven-21 Carissia had made a maneuver to maintain stability, but it was not fast enough. A part of that black cloud hit the back of the ship and had damaged one of the turbines and touched part of the mechanisms on the right side that kept the antigravity flight in control.
The ship made a couple of turns on itself as it destabilized again and moved away from the aircraft.
They were losing altitude again and the ship's batteries were only at five percent. Just a few seconds ago they were at forty. That that thing had touched the ship had been an oversight that could now cost them all their lives.
Carissia moved away from the plane trying to maintain control while she could feel herself losing strength. She would have to try to head for the water near the shore to land, but first she had to get out of that bubble.
It seemed like the most logical decision. Shin had the turtle backpack to use in case of emergency. In an emergency situation the backpack had an analog mechanism on one side, to deploy a parachute in case the thrust devices did not work electronically. In their case they had a much more dangerous situation with the ship out of control.
Shin sure has taken that child and escaped, hasn't he? That bastard can't die, right? Those were Carissia's thoughts. She could only hope that it really was so.
Although she had only known Shin for a few months, she liked him. While she was very close to Mai and Lizbeth she could understand to a certain extent that there was something they were hiding. But it was also true that she knew how much they loved each other. The last thing she wanted was for it to end in tragedy but first she had to make sure that the ship would be all right.
Yes... he would be fine, she though
***
The Corven-21 had disappeared into the clouds. And they were falling.
Shin couldn't be sure what had happened to the plane. Had the old man immolated himself? From what Mai had said he was a scientist and one of the first to postulate ideas to be implemented in the future. He did not fit the profile of a suicide. But that look in his eyes and that outburst. It didn't look like he had a bomb and he didn't know of a bomb that could absorb matter and then explode like that. That had happened after the boy and the old man had looked at each other and the old man had said something. Maybe the boy had something to do with it. Maybe some psychic ability? He didn't think that was likely. But how had he escaped from Lizbeth?
He could worry about that later. He was having another problem. The armor was destabilizing after that explosion. And that wasn't the worst of it. That cloud of particles of the plane was heading in his direction. It had already been complicated in the plane. How was he going to manage if that thing decided to tie him up now that he was carrying a child in his arms? He turned his back down to get a better view from above.
A spear was directed at greater speed towards him and reached at the right moment to form a small shield in his fist with the few nanoparticles that remained. At that instant a current of air destabilized him and he began to spin. He had adopted a crouching pose in the air trying to protect the child. He did it at just the right moment. The next second he felt a piercing pain in his back and chest. One of those spears had hit him.
Shin spat blood hoping that at any moment more spears would leave them like a sieve. But the attack never came.
***
The particle cloud stopped in its pursuit, almost as if it had detected something else or had a doubt. Then it shot off towards the plane again, which continued on its course as it tore itself apart in the air.
It entered through the various holes in the fuselage and suddenly moved more slowly.
No, it was more like everything had stopped, but the cloud was still moving, albeit at a much slower pace.
Time was moving slowly around it. The raindrops were almost stopped halfway and even the wind seemed to still be blowing slowly. The only movement, slow but sure, was that of the cloud coming through the holes and beginning to congregate at one point in the aisle of the plane.
The entire cloud was taking on a dense humanoid shape that almost looked like smoke at first.
But despite the slow movement around there was someone, or something, moving with sure, steady steps.
It was a man who had just appeared from the business class.
He had a long white beard and bushy eyebrows. Although he looked like an old man, his bearing was imposing. He was dressed entirely in black, with a suit and coat. A fedora hat almost hid his expression but not the sharp glint in his eyes. In spite of his ominous appearance, the truth was that he walked with a firm but calm step in that scenario where everything seemed to have stopped. Or maybe it was that there was nothing stopped. He was simply moving at a speed too fast for the environment.
The old man walked a few steps and stopped in front of some seats. In that seat was the late Hebe Bender. The life had faded from her eyes, but she still retained a certain beauty. Raindrops were slowly falling from her face.
The old man approached the corpse and bent down and as one who meets someone he had not seen in a long time, he bent down and carefully kissed Hebe Bender's forehead.
"I waited too long for this," said the man in a deep voice, though his tone was more melancholy and sad. A distant flash of lightning was left illuminating the scene, frozen in the scene. Under that hat it became apparent that the man had a scar on his right cheek. "Thank you for everything you gave me, Mom. I love you."
The man caressed Hebe Bender's face with his trembling hand, almost holding back his emotions, almost as if he wanted that moment to be frozen forever with the two of them. But he knew he was there for something else.
"Nothing really dies," the man said and kissed her forehead again.
He straightened up again and looked around the ship, which seemed to be about to slowly shatter in midair. There were some bodies floating in the air and being thrown around.
At that sight the man's expression changed. His features had hardened and he seemed to have a barely contained fury in his being. He walked slowly but surely towards the humanoid form that seemed more solid and stopped a meter away from that entity. It seemed that the entire body of that creature was now made of smoke, along with pieces of glass and metal together.
The form was slowly raising an arm with elongated fingers towards him.
The man spoke with the arm just inches away from touching him. "I never understood. For a long time on the Other Side I wondered, but now I understand. You should have vanished the moment the core was removed from the cargo side. But you didn't. Now I know why at least in part. I don't know who it was that kept you from dying but originally you should have died the moment your core was exposed in the war. But apparently you weren't quite dead when your core accessed human blood from that soldier. That explains this form. But well, I guess that doesn't matter anymore."
The man raised a hand and grasped that head that crackled under the pressure of the grip.
"For a long time I hated you, but I know perfectly well that there would be no world to go back to if this hadn't happened in the first place. For that alone I will give you the mercy of a quick death."
The man's hand began to glow with a ghostly blue glow and he squeezed the entity's head harder. It looked as if a mouth had formed on that featureless face and he was about to scream but did not quite manage to do so. There was a glow all around the ship that illuminated everything around.
The creature was completely destroyed as its parts and particles were disintegrated by that hand that wielded some power beyond human understanding. The man had an immutable gesture until it was completely disintegrated and the glow disappeared. He took a long sigh, as if taking a weight off his shoulders, and turned around, facing the seat where Hebe Bender was sitting. Then he looked down resignedly.
"Goodbye, mom," he muttered in an almost inaudible voice.
As mysteriously as he had appeared, he disappeared into the air and the time returned to normal on the ship. The furious wind, the rain, the detonations and the turbine fire that was spreading throughout the wing returned.
***
Shin held the boy tightly as he felt the pain that had pierced his lung. He coughed up some more blood, but he didn't care.
It looked bad everywhere he looked. They had escaped the plane and that thing, but they were falling at great speed. The clouds were everywhere and he couldn't see even a trace of the ship. Were Lizbeth and Carissia all right along with those he had just rescued? The ship had been damaged and there was a possibility that it could have crashed.
No. What had that man said? That it would be all right? How could he know? Hadn't he seen him reduced to nothing when the boy had looked at him? What did it all mean and the final warning?
Meyrin, to the west. Something else was going on. If this was indeed a Dark Event, it wasn't over, he had to warn the others, but first they had to land.
The boy was unconscious, but he was shivering. The cold of the altitude along with the low amount of oxygen could have caused something. Although he could feel the air entering his lungs, the fall was the worrying thing.
He felt tired and his strength was failing him. He didn't have the turtle backpack. The only salvation he could imagine was for them to land on the lake although that could kill the boy. If the wind blew them close to the forest and they landed in the trees, that was another option that could save them. Could he do it in his current state?
It was then that he saw the wall of water they were approaching.
They were approaching the edge of the bubble. Shin knew that even for a short time that bubble had been holding back the rainwater. Could they get out? If they hit the water, maybe that would slow down the speed of their fall, but only if they could get out. What had happened to the plane?
With his mind whirling he protected the boy as best he could when they hit that water barrier. It was only a few centimeters, but Shin could not imagine what would happen next.
The boy touched the barrier and stepped through. He was out.
As soon as he touched it, Shin felt a pain he had never felt in his whole life. The closest he had come was when he had died in that other plane. But it was a thousand times worse. It was as cold as ice and at the same time it burned. He felt like he hit something hard and his bones crunched and shattered on impact. There was no armor left, or if there was any, he could no longer use it.
He was crossing, but he was tearing himself apart and his flesh and blood was disappearing on the other side of the barrier. The vision of his one good eye disappeared as his brain sank into utter darkness.
There was nothing left of his body, it had vanished.
On the other side of the barrier only a small sphere had crossed over and continued descending towards the earth although it was being dragged by the wind.
That little sphere and the boy had crossed over, but to where? Or when?
***
Carissia had passed through the bubble with no problems. In fact she wasn't sure if the bubble was still there. The only certainty was that she had felt a water impact and on the radar that distortion had disappeared. The signal from the plane and the other phantom signal had disappeared as well.
She didn't have too much time to be happy about it. The wind was still blowing hard and it was raining cats and dogs. She didn't see any ships on the radar which was a relief. The only thing left to do was to crash into another ship in the mad descent.
At 10,000 feet she was out of the clouds and could see the lake and the forest. She thought she heard moaning from behind her and took a quick look around. Lizbeth was crawling and had hurt her head, but she was okay.
"Grab a seat now!!!" Carissia shouted .
Lizbeth complied and crawled into a seat as she felt like she was about to throw up all of her breakfast. The descent was proving violent even for Carissia.
The ship's batteries were at one percent. Only 5000 feet of altitude. Carissia banked close to the coast. She could see the near shore route but could not afford to try to land there. A splashdown near the coast was better. But by location they had left the Leman Forest behind. They were between Saint Gilgolph and Meillerie, somewhere closer to Locum. They were a little less than eight kilometers from where the plane had appeared over Port Valais and some more kilometers from Lugrin where the crash had been happened.
Carissia reflexively gripped the controls tightly and could almost feel that she had just broken some part of it with her grip. But they were finally touching the water. There was barely a forward thrust at the moment of impact. She had managed to glide in at the last second without any batteries.
Carissia sighed and looked back as her strength left her. "Give me a battery later...," she said toward Lizbeth before fading away.
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/42dd80f9-5ac6-42d5-8ccc-bcea020b6152/dh4z08s-5a6c5c2d-541c-4c33-a0ea-3762b2c59b46.jpg/v1/fit/w_828,h_1170,q_70,strp/nevermore_enygma_vol_4_chapter_53_2_by_hasegawakein_dh4z08s-414w-2x.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTY4NCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzQyZGQ4MGY5LTVhYzYtNDJkNS04Y2NjLWJjZWEwMjBiNjE1MlwvZGg0ejA4cy01YTZjNWMyZC01NDFjLTRjMzMtYTBlYS0zNzYyYjJjNTliNDYuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTExOTEifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.vbZ7toasfLyEFE6_Lf06Tuowq-PNcq5A45hWNkRrsZw [https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/42dd80f9-5ac6-42d5-8ccc-bcea020b6152/dh4z08s-5a6c5c2d-541c-4c33-a0ea-3762b2c59b46.jpg/v1/fit/w_828,h_1170,q_70,strp/nevermore_enygma_vol_4_chapter_53_2_by_hasegawakein_dh4z08s-414w-2x.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTY4NCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzQyZGQ4MGY5LTVhYzYtNDJkNS04Y2NjLWJjZWEwMjBiNjE1MlwvZGg0ejA4cy01YTZjNWMyZC01NDFjLTRjMzMtYTBlYS0zNzYyYjJjNTliNDYuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTExOTEifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.vbZ7toasfLyEFE6_Lf06Tuowq-PNcq5A45hWNkRrsZw]
Lizbeth unfastened her seatbelt and looked around. Shin was not there. All the passengers were unharmed and even the last old man was okay. "Where's Shin?" she wondered as she headed to the cockpit to check on Carissia, but the redhead was out of commission.
Outside several military vehicles of the French army were pulling into the road as the soldiers made their way towards the ship.
From their point of view it looked like that ship had been through hell. There was smoke coming out of some parts and it looked like something had eaten through some of the metal in the back.
The storm had not abated its fury but that sphere had disappeared from the skies. And with it the plane, Shin and that boy too.
***
March 20. Tuesday. 7PM. 125 S.A.
Lugrin, Lake Lemac. France
The clouds had disappeared by the time the plane crossed the bubble.
The plane was slowly descending through the evening sky, its former majesty now eclipsed by an atmosphere of desolation and death.
Inside the half-destroyed cabin, the silence of the dead reigned along with the whisper of the wind. No one was alive in that plane even though some things were moving, like the oxygen masks that kept moving from side to side without purpose. There were no lights and nothing electronic was working.
Instead the turbine fire illuminated the plane, casting ghostly shadows on the empty seats or those still holding the corpses of the passengers through the seat belts. Other passengers were ejected while others were caught by the fire from the turbines. Smoke traced a black line in the calm landscape.
The scenery outside slowly slid past the few windows that were still intact, a serene and tranquil view that contrasted cruelly with the tragedy that had unfolded on board.
As the plane approached its final destination, the weight of fate became increasingly palpable. Memories of past moments and unfulfilled dreams floated in the air, shrouded in a haze of ignorance and resignation for those who had boarded that plane without knowing what lay ahead.
The plane was descending towards the ground, like a wounded bird preparing for its final flight. The ground was rapidly approaching, a dark and ominous mass that seemed to pull the plane with an irresistible force
And then, with a final sigh, the plane touched down, its final fate sealed in an instant of silent resignation. The impact was like the cry of anguish of all those who had perished only moments before, a final note in the symphony of life that had come to an end. A symphony of explosions and fire rising into the night sky
On the ground were some families, whose children had been enjoying a friendly night soccer game until just seconds before. They had all fled into the forest when they saw that plane approaching. No one could imagine what had happened to that plane or how it had come from another time to that place. Only the distant echo of the wind recalled the final journey of the plane and those who had once been its passengers
At that moment the alarms were being triggered in the air and vehicle control centers in the near areas. No one knew what had happened but it was clear that something big had just appeared out of nowhere and crashed in the place.
It would not be until hours later when a perimeter fence would be set up to begin the investigation of the incident. And it would not be until the morning of the next day that members of Nevermore would arrive to assist in the investigation.
The rest was history for the archives.