“Why are the six not with us? I thought they follow you everywhere now?” Annie mentally asked. It was too loud for them to talk normally. Ray had even made her put on these ridiculous looking earmuffs to cancel some of the noise. They were comfortable but she did not know how she felt about being able to hear her own thoughts so well

“They did not want to fly so they left yesterday. We should catch up with them by tomorrow. I did not want to do all of this in a large group but they insisted. We may need them once we get where we are going. ” Ray said. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay!” Annie answered. She was really not okay, but she was not about to tell him that. This was her first time ever being this high up in the air and she was terrified but also weirdly excited. She had read about gliders before. They were similar to parachutes, where you were essentially falling but at a controlled pace. They didn’t drop in altitude however. Ray was doing something which caused the glider to rush forward through the air in a smooth and level flight path. Annie was having the time of her life.

“Explain to me again how we are not falling?” she thought to Ray.

“There is a large amount of physics and Aerodynamics involved. How detailed do you want me to go?” Ray thought.

“Anything to keep me distracted will work,” Annie said.

“There are four forces currently acting on us: Lift, weight, thrust, and drag. Gravity or weight is trying to make us go downward. In order to prevent that, we need to produce lift. The wings we have here help us do that. They are sometimes called a foil. So if you look at the wing from the side, it is curved in the front and angles downward. Air is a type of fluid. It has mass and pressure. Pretend we have tiny balls that we are flying through. The tiny air balls are going under and over the air foil. The balls on the top are going to go faster and the balls below the airfoil will go slower. This creates pressure. The faster balls create a lower pressure and the slower balls create a higher pressure. For some reason, high pressure wants to go to where the low pressure is. Mother nature does not like pressure differences. The high pressure below the wing is going to push upward on the wing in order to try and get to the lower pressure on the other side. Are you still following me?” Ray asked

“Yes! I understand that part. The moving from high to low is causing the push upward which is creating the lift. There are also the air molecules that are diverted downward to push us upward. I think I have even read somewhere about a special angle that the wings are positioned in to obtain the correct amount of lift. My question is, how are we producing the thrust necessary to make all of this work?”

“In short, a series of explosions.” Ray thought.

“Explain!” Annie mentally shouted. She frantically looked to the back to try and see what Ray was doing.

“By combining air and fire mana, I can shoot a blast of energy outward. I am using this to push us forward. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction so shooting the blast behind us is also applying a reverse force back on to us which pushes the glider forward. When I am standing on the ground, it doesn’t really push me, however while we are in the air, that reverse force is actually pushing us forward at a pretty steady pace. This is how we are creating thrust which is producing enough lift to fight the downward push on us due to gravity. I have also designed this glider to be as pointy or aerodynamic as possible in order to reduce drag. This increases the efficiency and allows me to maintain this for a longer period of time.”

“How have you not run out of mana yet? We have been at this for over an hour now?”

“The crystals behind me have tons of mana that I have been saving up for this. I also recover an above average amount of mana per minute. I should be able to sustain us at this current speed and altitude for another few hours before we need to stop.” Ray thought to Annie.

“Give it to me in numbers.” Annie thought.

“Let’s say it takes two units of fire mana and one unit of air to create a blast for ten minutes. I have the equivalent of five thousand units in the crystals behind me. My personal reservoir holds around three thousand units. In order for us to go the current speed, I am using triple the normal. So six fire units and three air units are being used every ten minutes. We have enough to go for four days without even touching my personal reservoir. “

“Do you have separate reservoirs for each of your mana affinities?”

“Many adept do it that way, however that method would be entirely too complicated and inefficient as I have multiple elemental affinities and no matrix to help regulate them all. Tonya and my secondary matrix are meant to be supplementary matrices. They are actually pretty limited since I do not have a primary to build off of. Instead, I have one main reservoir. If I need a unit of fire mana, then I convert one unit of my normal mana into fire and then use it.” Ray explained

“Did you learn all of this in the compound?” Annie asked.

“Most of it, Collin and I did not learn how to operate these gliders until after we were enlisted.” Ray said. “Fire and Air users were all but shoved into the glider program during the war. The King needed to cross the Regalian Sea. Water Users went to the boats. Fire and Air went to the Gliders.”

Annie looked out the side of the glider at the forest below. She could see for miles in all directions. Her sight followed the Maxwell River from the Goldenleaf Village all the way to the south where she thought she could see the outline of Simpson lake in the distance. Memories of the lake day and catching that large fish came to her mind and she smiled. In front of them Annie started to see the landscape change. The Forest blended into a flat grassland before transitioning to dirt and rock. She looked below to see a wasteland that transitioned into the sand covered hills of the Arkadian Desert.

“The books say we need to be careful around that wasteland. There are large mounds of dirt that have millions of venomous ants the size of Mace. There are also scavenger birds that might try and attack if we get too low.” Ray said. He increased his output and pitched the glider back. They began gaining altitude almost immediately

“Why is this wasteland here? Annie asked.

“The wasteland used to be a large swamp. The desert finally dried it out I guess.” Ray said. “Everything down there is poisonous, venomous, and wants to kill us slowly.”

“What should we watch out for once we hit the sand?” Annie asked. She was very glad they were thousands of feet in the air and not down there.

“Everything. There is hardly any life down there so if we do find something, we need to be careful.” Ray said. “According to the books, we need to find a large white tree at the edge where the desert and wasteland meet. Once we find that we will need to head northeast through the desert. Do you see the white tree?”

Annie looked around but could not see as it was too high up. “I think we need to go down a bit. I cannot see anything.”

Ray pitched the nose and they went into a dive. He leveled out around five hundred feet from the ground and Annie frantically searched ahead looking for the tree. She could see many smaller scrub trees and bushes but none that matched what the book had described. Ray decreased the speed and angled to the left hoping that they would be able to see something. They continued up and down the edge of the dessert for almost an hour before they finally found something.

“Look at that. Could someone have cut the white tree down?” Annie asked, pointing at an above average stump four hundred feet from the desert edge.

“That makes the most sense. There isn’t another tree for miles. We need to get back up to altitude. I do not like that we have been down here for this long.” Ray said. He increased his output and started to climb in steep circular motion around the tree stump.

“What is that coming towards us? Annie asked, pointing downward on the right. Ray banked and looked where she was pointing.

A group of black shapes seemed to be traveling towards them. The group reached the tree trunk and with a leap were in the air flying towards them. Ray still was unsure what they were but he had to act. He pitched forward and dove down to increase the speed of his glider. With a fire and water orb he blasted a smoke of steam towards the group and then banked left and leveled out entering the desert. Ray looked around and saw a sand storm developing in the distance. The group managed to avoid the steam cloud and were still on their tail. Ray angled upward and put a large concentration of air and fire mana into his rear cylinder. The glider shot upward and away from the group. He leveled out around five thousand feet. The group was much further away but were still in pursuit.

“Ray what do we do?” Annie thought frantically. She turned and stared at Ray who was trying to process what needed to happen.

Mace woke up from his nap and started growling at the group flying towards them. The glider was a few miles into the desert. The sand went for what seemed like an eternity. Ray began talking to himself again.

“The tower should be fifty miles to the northeast. We need to lose these, whatever they are and get through the sandstorm. The glider will not work well unless we get to a higher altitude. The sandstorm is going to tear us apart if we stay at this level but if we go any higher, We will not have enough air to breath and may succumb to hypoxia. We need to… WE NEED TO LAND!” Ray yelled and immediately pitched forward.

“What?! But the sandstorm.” Annie protested.

“Just trust me. I have an idea.” Ray said.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Mace, when we get close to the ground, I want you to teleport Annie off of the glider and into the sand. I will form a temporary shelter for y'all to hide in until I can deal with these monsters.” Ray mentally sent to Mace. The pup pouted a bit but then teleported to Annie's lap.

“Annie, stay with Mace. I will find you. I promise.” Ray said.

He leveled out at a hundred feet and then gently lowered the glider downward until they were rolling on the sand. With his Earth mana, he formed a sort of ramp in front of him, bringing up a slab of rock up from the hill with two sides and a small opening. Mace bit Annie’s hand and teleported into the opening.

Ray increased his thrust and brought the glider up the ramp and back into the sky. With his wind and earth mana, he doubled and tripled the amount of sand flying through the air to hide the mini cave he had created. He banked to the left in time to miss a volley of projectiles coming from the group. He turned and directed the glider to face the group flying towards him. He counted twelve dark figures in battered cloaks. They had long dark birdlike wings attached to their backs. Ray sent a wind blast through his front cylinder towards the beasts. One of their hoods fell back showing a narrow doglike face.

“Winged Jackals.” Ray whispered to himself. Half were armed with bows and arrows and the other held bronze scimitars. “Tonya, It’s time to take these things to the ground”. His eyes began to glow red and he launched himself off of the glider which tumbled down and crashed into the sand.

Berserker King’s Transformation Activated, Berserker King’s Armor Equipped, Berserker King’s Mount Deactivated. All Equipment sent to inventory.

Ray plummeted himself towards the shadowed beings. Upon reaching the first figure, he struck his sword downward connecting with the left shoulder of the jackal. They grappled while continuing to fall. The other dark cloaks followed after them. Ray kicked downward separating himself and his sword from the dead creature. With a burst of fire mana he projected himself to the next jackal which was twenty yards away to his right. He made a horizontal swing decapitating the jackal in two. He was only about a thousand feet from the ground. The yellow sand was getting closer and closer. He threw both arms downward sending fire and air blasts to lessen his speed. A blast hit him in the right shoulder causing him to lose his balance right before hitting the earth. Still in a daze, Ray looked up to see the remaining Jackals all circling and preparing to fire their weapons and abilities at him. Ray brought a wall of sand upward blocking them. Spinning the sand around he formed a sand pillar to block the incoming attacks. Ray looked to his left and saw the storm coming at a quicker pace. The wall of debris was on top of where he had sent Mace and Annie. The cloaked jackals charged forward unafraid of the sand and were swept outward and away. One managed to get through and brought its sword down striking Ray in the side. Ray took out his dagger and stabbed the beast in his left eye socket, twisting and turning it upward into its skull. The sand storm overtook Ray as the lifeless creature fell to the ground. Ray was brought upward and thrown back further away from Annie’s position.

Berserker King’s Transformation deactivated, Berserker King’s Armor unequipped

“Tonya, direct me to Annie.” Ray said. He was using his mana to form a barrier of air to protect him from the raging storm.

“Directly ahead. Their vitals are okay but you need to hurry. Another group of Jackals have just reached the edge of the desert. There seems to be something else close by also. I cannot detect what it is” Tonya said in his head

Ray ran as fast as he could. The sand weighed him down as he pushed through. A tracker appeared on the edge of his vision showing how far away they were from him. His senses were completely useless in all this sand. He could not see, he could not hear, and he could not smell anything around him but sand and earth.

“ Just a few hundred feet” Ray thought to himself

“Ray!” a female voice came to his mind

“Annie.” Ray said out loud. “I am coming Annie.”

“Ray! Someone is here!”

“Annie. I am coming!” Ray mentally projected while quickening his pace.

He cleared the top of the sand dune and was struck from behind. He fell downward rolling forward before hitting a rock at the bottom of the pit. He lost his sword somewhere in the fall. He put his hand up to his head feeling a clump of fluid mixed with sand. He put it up to his nose and smelled the metallic scent of blood. Ray drew his dagger and turned to see two figures rushing forward down the hill. These did not appear to be the jackals but two humanoids cloaked in brown cloth. The figure on the left struck out with some sort of object hitting Ray across the face before he could duck. The other figure seemed to throw something and suddenly a net was wrapping itself around Ray’s body. Ray heard a noise and turned to see a third figure deliver a finishing blow to his left temple. Pain overtook his senses, and an unconscious Ray fell downward onto the floor of sand. Three figures stood around him as the storm of sand raged on.

Annie

Annie landed in the soft sand. Her hand slightly hurting from Mace’s bite. She heard the roar of the glider as it flew upward in the sky. Mace stood next to her facing some sort of makeshift entryway. Where were they? A cave? Annie ran up to look out at the desert. To her left Ray was fighting a swarm of black creatures in dark hoods. To her right was a wall of sand seemingly coming towards them. In front of her was the edge of the desert where they had come from. Annie pulled her goggles tightly over her eyes and adjusted her scarf to keep the sand out of her face. She was unsure what to do in this situation. Mace kept close to her.

“Ray? Can you hear me? ” Annie thought

Nothing

“Tonya? Can you hear me?: She thought trying to force her consciousness towards the bracelet she wore.

“I am here sweetie. Ray went into his transformation state. He won’t be able to hear you until he.. Annie! You need to hide. Quickly, Get back in the cave!” Tonya said suddenly

Mace began growling towards something. Annie looked where he was pointing and saw five figures in tan cloaks stand up. Annie dropped to the ground behind the edge of the cave entrance. She prayed they had not seen her. Three of the figures broke off and began running towards the direction where Ray was fighting. The other two looked over in direction of the cave and started walking towards her.

“Ray” Annie thought as hard as she could.

“Ann…ie…I…Coming.” She thought she heard.

“Ray. Someone is here!” She thought before ducking back into the deepest part of the cave. Mace backed in behind her keeping between her and the entrance.

“Tonya, I need a weapon.” Annie thought. “Mace, Can you transform?”

Mace started glowing as he shifted into his dire wolf form a small sword landed on the ground and he picked it up with his mouth.

“I cannot send you any items. Ray or Collin would have to approve it. I am unable to reach either of them currently.” Tonya said.

“Tonya. We need help.” Annie said

“The six are one their way. They are five miles out.”

“How do I use this bracelet?” Annie asked

“Point your hand in the direction and say “Fireball” or “Water Shield”” Tonya said.

“Okay. Cool. Seems pretty straight forward” Annie thought. She took a deep breath and waited for the two to come into the cave. Mace stood perfectly still waiting to pounce.

“We got him. They are taking him to the hideout” A voice said. It was very dry and deep. There was a rich accent that Annie had not heard before.

“Where did the girl and his mutt go? Another voice said.

“I do not know. I saw him form this structure and then they teleported away. They might be in there.” The first voice replied

“Oh shit. They are coming.” Annie said

“Annie. When they come in. Shoot your fireball at the first one. Mace is going to strike the second one.” Tonya said.

“Wait. I am not ready.” Annie said frantically as a figure walked through the opening. He stood in front of her with a dagger in his right hand. The Second figure walked forward and stood on his left. Annie could not make out any distinct features as they both had goggles, scarves and a hood covering their face.

“Fu..fuu..furball.” Annie blurted out. Nothing happened.

“Furball?” the figure said, confused. He took a another step forward.

“Fireball!” Annie screamed.

Her hand shot up and pointed at the first figure. Annie felt the bracelet get really hot and a red sphere formed in front of her before shooting out and missing the two in front of her.

“Shit. He didn’t say it would recoil” Annie muttered

Mace ran forward and swung his sword with his mouth at the first figure. He parried and Mace dropped his sword mid air before dashed and tackled the second guy to the ground. He ripped and bit his sharp claws into the screaming man. The other guy ran up and tried to stab his dagger down on Mace.

“Fireball.” Annie yelled with more determination. This time she corrected for the recoil as her arm shot upward.

There was a scream and the first guy dropped his dagger. He ran out of the cave into the desert. Annie picked up the dagger and followed after him. Mace followed swiftly behind her. They saw the first guy lying there on the ground. He was burnt to a crisp. Annie looked up seeing what appeared to be a flying carriage. It was hovering just slightly above the sand and deeper into the desert.

“Tonya? What do we do?” Annie asked. Mace tried to teleport after but the storm was just too much for him. He sputtered forward before running back to Annie

“The…. si.. are….the way. Wai…fo….em.” Tonya’s muffled voice said.

“Why can’t I hear her?” Annie said out loud.

She looked around and saw a similar looking carriage stopped near the entryway to her cave. She ran over and climbed into it. The storm was still raging around her. Mace teleported in also. The canopy to her surprise was keeping all of the sand out.

“Rune magic.” Annie said. She looked around and found a series of symbols. There was what looked to be a control board full of different buttons. She clicked one and a screen lit up in front of her.

“This is Magitech. What in the world is magitech doing in the desert?” Annie said.

Magitech was a newly discovered type of technology that the Kingdom had been developing. It was first used towards the end of the Regalian War. Tanks, gliders, and boats were modified using runes and infused mana objects. The civilian applications were just now being developed. Annie only knew this because she had been forced to reorganize the shelves of the library one Saturday and had stumbled on an entire section of books explaining it. She still was not sure what these new runes meant. She was in the process of reading a particular section when Mace jumped up on the control panel and started sniffing around. He stepped on a button and the carriage came to life. Some Coordinates popped up on the screen revealing an entire map of the desert. A small blue dot blinked at the edge of the desert.

“This must be us, Mace.” Annie said.

She was familiar with these types of screens from working at the library. There was a red dot moving away from them heading deeper into the desert. Annie surmised that it was the other carriage she saw.

“This dot may have Ray.” Annie said. Mace looked up at the screen and moved forward to put his paws on the dot. He fell through the scream and clicked on another button.

“Mace don’t…” Annie tried to say but it was too late. The machine rushed forward causing Annie to fall back on the floor. She stood up and watched the map change. The blue dot started moving forward following the red dot deeper into the desert.