The workers at the air base fitted a heavy parachute onto my back, and I was forced to carry my M4 assault carbine in one hand. We lined up as the staff checked our parachutes and jumpsuits. I was standing next to Null and Kojiro, and they spoke to each other in Japanese as we waited. I didn’t understand any of what they were saying, but I heard them use the English word for “game” several times.

One of the workers made a thumbs up gesture, and Crow gestured for all of us to enter our respective cargo planes. Before we split up for the foreseeable future, Crow had one last thing to say to us.

“We’ll meet up again on November 10th. Just make sure to not die before then. Our goal is survival; remember that.”

On that uplifting note, I started to walk toward the vehicle that would ferry me to Rubigo. Katya, Null, Dendrite, Svenheim, Melkior, and I entered the cargo plane through a large boarding ramp at the back of the plane.

The interior of the cargo plane was filled with sharp corners and countless straps. Four seats lined each side of the plane, and three of the large metal crates occupied the center of the plane’s interior. I could tell that there had been many more seats previously, but they must have removed some of the seats to better handle the increased density of the Apostles. Other than the metal crates, the rear compartment of the plane was a lot more open than I would have otherwise expected. There must have been close to twenty feet between one row of seats and the other. In addition, the metal crates had been strapped to a long cord that was attached to the ceiling of our compartment.

The six of us got to our seats, and we quickly fastened the various harnesses that would hold us to the seat. Because I was part of the second pair to jump, I was seated in the middle seat between Melkior and Null. On the other side of the cargo plane sat Svenheim, Dendrite, and Katya.

The boarding ramp closed soon after we fastened our harnesses, and we began to taxi toward a runway with surprising speed. I gripped the harness with one hand and the carbine with my other.

“That thing’s on Safe, right?” Melkior asked with a smirk. He really had to be Mr. Comedian on that day.

“Yes, of course,” I said. Fear appeared in my tone. I couldn’t immediately recall what I was afraid of. The idea of deploying in a military aircraft was somewhat intimidating. The Revenants did have firearms, after all. It wasn’t that much of a stretch to think that they might have anti-air guns.

Before I could think about my fear any longer, the aircraft began to accelerate. I was pushed sideways by the Gs for about thirty seconds before the acceleration subsided.

When I was finally able to get my mind off of the motion sickness several minutes later, I looked out one of the windows. We were many thousands of feet in the air, and we were just about to hit the coastline. I could see all of southern Merkopia from the height we had reached. To the south I could see the discolored splotches that marked Ternarus and the surrounding environs. To the north I could see several other vaguely-outlined metropolitan areas and the beginnings of a mountain range.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Beyond the massive shape of Merkopia that dominated the view was an endless ocean. It completely surrounded the island, and nothing I saw suggested it would ever end.

We soon left Merkopia behind, and the view out the windows became nothing but endless water. An hour passed with nothing but boundless ocean under our feet. Null, Melkior, and I talked about nothing in particular for an hour before Melkior turned his head to the pilot’s compartment and asked, “Hey, pilot. What are you going to do after you drop us off? Are you going to return to Fort Durden, or what?”

A few seconds of silence passed before there was a buzz and a man’s voice came in through the intercom. “It is highly unlikely that I will be able to return to Merkopia safely. Once I finish my mission, I intend to parachute into an area that might hold an outpost of Cognoscenti who are still loyal to GM.”

“There are a lot of ‘mights’ in that plan,” Melkior called back. “Why don’t you just…? Wait.” Melkior grabbed his head as he remembered something. “We can bring people with us when we teleport with Shadow Magic. Why isn’t the plan for you to jump out with the girls and teleport back with Katya?”

“W-we didn’t want to impose on…” the pilot began to say sheepishly.

“It’s not an imposition,” Melkior sighed. “You can fly a plane; you’re a very valuable asset to us. We would very much prefer to be inconvenienced than lose such a valuable soldier. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” the pilot said. Even over the intercom, I could tell that he was tearing up. “Thank you, my Lord. I will remember this for the rest of my life.”

“You can call me Melkior, if you like. Otherwise, Kevin Avery works as well,” Melkior said with a smile.

“Kevin Avery? Are you telling a joke, Lord Melkior?” the pilot asked.

“Something like that,” Melkior said. He gestured a hand toward the pilot’s compartment, and the sound cut out.

“Your name is Kevin Avery?” Null asked with a slight giggle.

“Yeah, what about it?” Melkior responded cooly.

“That is funny,” Null said. “You have such a severe and threatening username, but your real name is so normal.”

“I just realized that I don’t know the real names of you two,” Melkior said to Null and I.

“I didn’t tell you?” I asked. I could have sworn I had told Melkior my name back in Osiris. Oh, right. He was already dead when I told everyone my name. “My real name is Geoffrey Lachlan; that’s ‘Geoffrey’ with a ‘G,’ by the way.”

“What about you?” Melkior looked toward Null.

“My name is Akari Sato,” Null said with a smile.

“Is that the American way or the Japanese way?” I gestured with my fingers, trying to tactfully ask if her first name was Akari or Sato.

Null laughed at my gestures. “The American way, of course. My first name is Akari.”

“Good, good,” I said.

I looked out the window and saw that the view had changed completely. Where there had once been nothing but endless water, there was a massive landmass, which was significantly larger than the last one I had seen. Mountain ranges, rivers, farmlands, and dozens of settlements could be seen on the landmass that had just entered view.

We had reached Rubigo.