Aeolus' eyes shot open, as the building dust's now raged around him as a sandstorm, the coarse winds threatening to cut open his face. He scuffled up, almost slipping on the fine mixture of sand and broken metal.

"Scotty!" He screamed out, frantically spinning around, only blinding sand and the occasional shadow of a buggy or a tank to talk to. He spun around again to the split debris from the metal watch tower. Within the sharp destruction, the flaming ruins of the helicopter that crashed into them began spitting flames from it's engine. The heat of the fire mixed with the sharp sands made it impossible to approach. Aeolus ran around the wreckage, yelling for Scotty more, barely able to hear himself.

A final spurt from the ruins shot up, falling back into the engine. More flames engulfed the crash, only for the entire chassis to explode. Aeolus covered his face, but was still shot back ten feet, his back snapping as he landed on much less soft ground.

His vision scattered into piece's around him, with the vehicles speeding past him blowing more sand into is eyes, confusing the image even more. He tried to get to his feet, but his legs were shaking and his arms seemed to lose their strength. He tried rolling over on his stomach, pushing himself up with more leverage. A hand came out from behind him, grabbing him by the shoulder. Aeolus breathed a little sigh of relief, as he felt himself being lifted up. The sigh of relief was quickly replaced, as he felt himself being pulled a little too hard. He flew backwards onto his back again, spotting his assaulter. It was one of the guards from Vol. It was FEA.

The sight of the glass mask froze his muscles more than the shock, as the guard rushed towards him. He could recall there tone, the emotionless expression. His mind went back to the day before everything started to fall apart. Screams echoed through his head, but they were his screams. The guard threw his fist at the ground, and Aeolus quickly scuttled back. A rush came through his nerves as he shot up to his feet. Suddenly, mixed in with his anxiety, a dark red emotion washed over him.

That fucking Glassmask!

His eyesight got more sharp, the blowing sand hardly bothering him. He faced down the Glassmask, screaming as he started to rush him. He forced his eyes closed as he stuck out his shoulder.

The Glassmask tucked in his body as well, causing both to loose their balance at the impact. Aeolus fell to ground, but quickly rolled back up. He quickly jumped on the fallen guard, violently swinging his arms down at his foe. One of this swings hit directly on the mask, and Aeolus jolted back in pain, his right hand quickly covering in blood. He let out a scream, as he went into shock looking at his hand. He turned back to the Glassmask, whose cracked face was leaping towards Aeolus. He was now the one pinned on the ground, with thick black gloves tightly squeezing against his windpipe.

I never really thought much of it...

Aeolus sunk into his thoughts, the battlefield fading from his vision. Visions of the mines flashed across his eyes. The guards always beating on the other workers, their monotone voices yelling as they dished out their 'discipline.'

I never really thought about the things they did...

These visions were soon replaced with the quiet meadows of The Outer City. In his mind, Aeolus stood at the entrance arch, watching the trees and grass rustle in the wind. He was happy. He took a deep breath, the smell of oxygen-rich air sent chills throughout his whole body, and he happily fell to the grassy ground. A big smile formed across his face, as he spread his arms out, feeling around the ground.

But... Did it really matter?

Aeolus closed his eyes, feeling the grass flow through his arms and hands, taking deeper and deeper breaths. Time started lapsing. Nothing mattered. It was ok.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

It's not like I really did anything, anyway...

Just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard the echo of Scotty as she was thrown off the tower. His eyes shot open, before the echo of the screaming worker from A0L. It melded with his own screaming.

"No!" The voice echoed through his mind. Aeolus felt his veins slowly start to swell. "No I can't!" The voice got louder, as Aeolus hands started gripping the grass. Aeolus' breathing sped up, and his heart rate picked back up. The chills down his back crawled back up to his head, like hundreds of ants covering his skull. He loosened his grip on the grass, and began tapping around. He looked up into the sky, as peaceful clouds started to disappear, replaced by the feeling of a cold metal object in his hand.

The small debris wedged itself inside the cracks of the Glassmasks face, and the guard flew back and thick glass and blood splattered in front of him. Aeolus threw the metal shank to the side, coughing out the blood and sand building up in his throat as he gasped for cleaner air. Aeolus flung his head around, seeing a much larger piece of metal from the plane. He ran over and picked it up, holding it with two hands, holding it to his side. The Glassmask behind him let out a war cry, and he started running towards Aeolus.

"Come on!" Aeolus shouted, standing his ground. The Glassmask lifted his fist to swing at Aeolus. Aeolus began to turn his body, screaming enough to spit blood from his mouth. He nearly threw the large metal object at the Glassmask, sweeping him off his feet onto the ground, the blunt object landing on his body. A large amount of his mask had chipped off.

Aeolus' focus dropped. Though it was only one side, Aeolus saw it clearly. The eyes, the nose, the mouth. The slight discoloration of his skin. "No..." Aeolus whispered to himself. The Glassmasks face became more apparent as he threw the metal off his body and rose to his feet. Aeolus' legs began to give out, and he felt himself falling backwards as his heart sped up. He must have still been hallucinating. The glass must have been a mirror. Am I dead?

Before Aeolus could fall to the ground, the grill of the truck sped out of the sand towards them both. The truck impacted the Glassmask as the driver hit the breaks, sending him flying into the sandstorm. Aeolus' adrenaline vision turned back into blurry nearsightedness as the truck in front of him slowly blurred and blended into the background. Even Rhyder's bright red jacket even darkened by the storm, his voice barely breaking through. Wait, Rhyder?

"Scotty!" Rhyder yelled out the window of a large white truck, a thick slab of gold for a grill. "Aeolus, where's Scotty!?" He yelled out, eyeing the debris around them. He opened the door and put his arms around Aeolus' shoulders

Aeolus couldn't speak, but he slowly started to shake his head. Scotty was nowhere to be found. Rhyder's face tightened up, his lips pulling back, almost screaming into the storm. Aeolus' legs refused to work, Rhyder dragging him to the other side of the truck and stuffing him in the passenger seat. He vaulted over the hood of the car, and got into the drivers seat. He spun around the truck around and headed up the north hill.

"Aeolus!" Rhyder yelled, shuffling his hand over Aeolus' limp body. Aeolus was conscious, but he couldn't manage to get a word out. Rhyder pulled back his attempts seeing the state he was in. As they shot out of the sandstorm at the top of the hill, the sudden sunlight shocked Aeolus' system, as he coughed and convulsed. Rhyder glanced over at his, but continued with both hands on the wheel. He swung his head back every few seconds, seeing if FEA vehicles shot out as well.

"I'm sorry." Aeolus managed to whimper out, still hacking out all the dust from his lungs. Rhyder took a deep breath in, shaking his head.

"No, don't you worry. You did good." Rhyder looked back one last time. Explosions and a chorus of engines mixed in with the rising sandstorm. The storm was slowly moving towards them, but they'd have no issue outrunning it.

Aeolus labored to turn his head to the window. The entire horizon was clear, and the sand that once updraft the barren wasteland was grounded. He saw Vol, in its entirety. A shining metal hexagon in the distance. The Outer walls covered the lower part of the city, but the Inner City looked like one large mass, stretching up what little clouds populated the sky. The metal walls were a huge mirror, reflecting the blue skies and the yellow sands. Were it not for the massive towers inside the walls, the city would be camouflaged from this distance. "So am..." Aeolus coughed out one last time, before his eyes started closing. "I trustworthy?" Aeolus' head fell limp on the window sill.

Rhyder dug through his pocket, the glass container from before still intact. He swung his hand to the frame of the window, smashing the container, glass flying out behind the car. He started muttering to himself, grinding his teeth, shaking his head.

"Shit."