“This be the base of where my pappy and his pappy before him operated from”

A boat dangling beneath a balloon of feathers floated over a green island stuck in midair, not unlike the rest of the floating islands around them.

“You actually are rich enough to own an island? I’m impressed”

Yuri nodded, impressed slightly.

“Well, i wouldn’t say we own it..we just been usin it as a family base for generations”

Ahab explained to her.

“Ah..right. Of course” She chuckled slightly while the boat floated below the island, rising into the island above them.

A large cavern, big enough to fit a boat or two, was their entrance inside the forested island.

Having flown up into the cavern, Ahab pulled on the lantern of the ship to stop them ascending, and floated along the cavern, deeper inside.

Their only source of light being the lantern keeping their boat afloat with hot air.

The inside of the cavern soon turned into caves, and then into dug out tunnels. The stones surrounding them were covered in sickly green moss, growing plentiful from the damp atmosphere inside.

“I don’t see how keeping a boat here would be a good idea..it’s probably been eaten away by the moss at this point”

Yuri reached out of the ship and touched a passing mossy rock. What she touched was something that certainly looked like a stone in the near complete darkness. Once touched however, this stone began moving as the ship slowly passed by it.

“Huh, that moss felt more furry than it should have”

Immediately after she said that, the rock fell, along with it, dozens more.

“Wha, is the tunnel collapsing!?”

She cried out while holding onto a calm Hikaru for support, the ship shaking slightly from the impact of the stones.

“It’s worse! Those aint rocks, those be rock crawlers!”

Ahab yelled out, pulling on the lanterns switch repeatedly, making it lift up and down in an attempt to shake off whatever had landed on the ship.

One of the stones landed inside the ship, it was a round mossy looking object.

Which slowly unraveled itself like a hedgehog, revealing a creature very akin to what Yuri knew as a spider. Except these were the size of her head.

“AHHH?!”

Yuri yelled in fear and grabbed into Hikaru.

“HIKARU KILL IT, KILL IT BEFORE IT LAYS EGGS IN OUR HEADS!!”

She screamed at the top of her lungs, the tunnel around them echoing her words so loud that they made the spider creature take a few steps back.

“Yuri calm down. They are harmless.”

Slowly separating the distressed Yuri away from him, Hikaru walked up and held his hand on the floor in front of the spider creature.

It cautiously crawled forward and onto his outstretched palm, resting snugly on it while its many legs dangled in the air.

“See? They are very friendly, i used to always feed them if they were around, they keep small pests away.”

He patted the big spider with his finger, while it rested on his hand.

“...You are not touching my head with that hand.” She glared at the spider, who stared back innocently at her.

“I don’t care how harmless they are, they’re still gross. and Ahab stop the ship moving around so much, these spider things are harmless, so why are you so worked up!”

She yelled at Ahab after almost falling due to the rocking of the ship.

“Yah fools! These bastards are harmless to people ayeh! But to a ship they’re the worst devil! What do you think these bastards eat! Bugs and birds!”

Ahab yelled at them while frantically moving the ship around as much as he could in the tight tunnel.

“I still don’t see how that affects us, we aren’t bugs or birds”

She dismissed his distress.

“...But the balloon is.” She realised. “It’s made of bird feathers!”

Looking back at the spider in Hikaru’s hand, she found it busy chewing on a feather it had somehow acquired.

“You little insect! Hikaru squash it!”

When Hikaru was about to do as he was told, the spider, realising it was now in danger, jumped back into the air. Something unfurling from it.

Two leathery bat-like wings.

“IT CAN FLY!? KILL IT HIKARU!”

She panicked as the winged spider flew a circle around her head before flying off into the dark, screeching loudly.

A mass of similar creatures detached themselves from the ship's balloon and flew off, likely realising they would be hunted.

“Yah did it! You saved the ship!”

Ahab exclaimed in relief. The same spider that Hikaru had held flew back, shrieking in something akin to laughter, it flew into the balloon and grabbed a handful of feathers out of it, likely for a later meal, before flying off again.

That last handful of feathers was likely all that kept together the ravaged balloon together, and it quickly began to deflate of its hot air.

“Hold yer heads!” Ahab warned as the ship landed roughly on the mossy stones of the tunnel, shaking them about.

“God damn critters!!”

Ahab cursed to himself while getting off the ship to inspect the damage.

“How does it look Ahab?” Hikaru helped Yuri get steady on her feet before getting off the ship.

“Aye..these darn critters. The balloons busted. I can likely fix it with some materials i have at the end of the tunnel. The balloon still got some air in it, so while we can't float in it, i can probably drag it along the ground. Ack this will scratch and lower the value of it..Darn critters!!”

Ahab continued to curse for a while before getting some rope from the ship and attaching it to the front of the ship.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Afraid from here on out, it’s walkin time”

“I knew spiders can’t be trusted.” Yuri shook her head at Hikaru while they walked ahead, leaving Ahab slightly behind them while he dragged the mostly floating ship through the tunnel.

“Usually, their thirst for feathers and bugs is a good thing.”

Eventually they arrived at their destination. They knew this by the fact that they could finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.

“Finally!”

Yuri ran forward into the light with Hikaru walking after her.

An expansive dug out space, lit up by glowing mushrooms and moss, unveiled before them. There were beds, shelves, workbenches and tools, all laying about in random places, giving it a very lived in atmosphere.

It would have been homely if there hadn’t been a ship double the size of Ahab's ship, parked in the middle of everything. And the fact that they were surrounded by rock and dirt from every direction.

“This ship..it’s in really good condition!”

Yuri was impressed when looking over the ship. It only barely had some patches of moss growing on it. Looking completely untouched by the dampness of its surroundings.

“Aye, i dunno why but that old ship has always stood good against rain. When everyone else had to pull back to not get their ships soaked, my old pappy would float around without a care!”

Loudly bragging from behind them, Ahab managed to drag the damaged boat to the end, breathing heavily due to the effort, or likely due to his old age.

“I think i understand why.”

Approaching the old ship, Hikaru inspected it closely, sliding his hand over the wood.

“You do?” Yuri appeared next to him.

“I believe so. This wood, that the ship is made from. It’s not like the other ships usually made here. Their wood is usually thin and light, thus requiring less strain from the balloon, meaning you didn’t need a lot of fuel in your lantern.”

Hikaru explained while pointing at the small lantern of Ahab’s now damaged ship.

“But this ship. It’s wood is thick and somewhat heavier. meaning it would require a large or several small lanterns. Although i can understand why this was the choice..This ship, it wasn’t built for this place. I believe it was built for withstanding rough weather, that much is clear from how sturdy it seems to be built. This choice of wood is also good if the ship would be planned to be used both in air and in water, it has good buoyancy. “

Finishing his explanation, Hikaru looked over at Ahab.

“Uhh..well i dunno about any of that, but yer probably right, my pappy bought it from some foreigner who had decided to try buildin a ship here. But as it turns out, his ship didnt look elegant, so no one bought it, ended up with my pappy buyin it at almost nothin”

“You should be thanking that foreigner then. Because he was likely the one who saved your fathers life.”

Hikaru patted the front of the ship.

“Huh, whatdya mean?”

“This ship. It was built incredibly sturdy. The reason none of the ships around here survive traveling down is because they are built so flimsily. Which is expected as they are only made to fly around the peaceful islands. This ship however. Was made in order to withstand storms and crashing waves. To withstand being swirled around in the air by a tornado. That’s why your father made it out alive from his encounter with the beast. Without this ship, your father would have crashed like everyone else who flew too low.”

“I knew it. I knew that mah pappy was savin this ship because it was special!”

Ahab walked up to the old ship and smacked it hard.

“This ship can survive an encounter with the beast! With this we can prove mah father wasn’t crazy!”

“Your father was even more lucky. The creator of this ship..” Hikaru cleaned off some moss, revealing a small dragon insignia.

“Was made by a master carpenter. Their ships are usually only afforded by nobles, only extremely wealthy ones at that. The fact that no one around here understood the true value of a dragon company ship, was why your father got it for so cheap. Some would kill for such a chance. Your father seemed to be born under a lucky star.”

“Aye, mah pappy always got into trouble, but he always somehow managed to make it out. Aint many people like that in the world”

Ahab sighed while reminiscing about his father.

“I wouldn't be so sure about that..” Hikaru glanced at Yuri “ But yes, he was one of the rare few favoured by the gods.”

“Mm?” Yuri tilted her head at Hikaru.

--

“....Let’s see here.”

Helgi was sitting on a luxurious cushioned seat at a large work desk, stacked neatly with papers and quills.

Looking over the stacks of papers, the bedroom was visible from where he was seated. In which the bed was a complete mess of covers.

“Hnn..not there..”A soft moan came from beneath the covers of the bed, moving and shifting, followed by a quiet snore.

“Mhm.” He looked back at the papers and began slowly rummaging through them.

After going through all of the papers, he had managed to find nothing but useless legal documents.

Not yet disheartened, he got up and started rummaging through the various cupboards and any storage space he could find inside this work room.

All of it were miscellaneous things, not relevant to anything he was looking for concerning any relic.

“...Guess this one was a bust, I’ll try again with another one tomorrow..so for now..i might as well enjoy myself..”

Smiling, he headed back to the bed where the sleeping figure of the woman he had spent the night with lay snoring blissfully.

A gust of wind from an ajar window made him cease his determined steps.

“Strangely chilly today..”

Shivering, due to not wearing anything other than his pants, Helgi quickly walked over to the window, grabbing a hanging coat to keep himself warm, which he threw over his shoulders.

“Much better..” Closing the window, he rested his hands in the pockets of the coat and was about to walk back to bed, when something caught his attention.

Pulling out his hand from the coat pocket, he found a small note resting in it.

When he unraveled the still sealed note, the first thing that caught his eyes was the big stamp that appeared to be from a high ranking official.

Going back inside the workroom to avoid detection, he began reading.

“...order of reinforcing ban on heavy weight airships...recent increase in bad weather causing ship makers to consider creating sturdier ships...fine the ship makers with the excuse of resource wastage..if forced to..permission to arrest or dismember granted....must make sure no one is able to get below the dark..no one must know..”

He finished reading while pocketing the letter inside his pants.

“..Interesting..what could be so important..seems i’ve done Yuri’s and Hikaru’s job for them. The government here is hiding something below the city. That’s why their ships are built so fragile..so no one can get down there.”

Putting his clothes on, Helgi went towards the exit.

“I can’t really call this a discovery though. But at least now i have a start. I might as well do their job for them until i stumble across any leads to the relic..if i’m lucky i might find out about both the secret below the city..and the relic, before Yuri even gets back to the inn.”

Helgi smiled, before remembering something, retracing his steps and grabbing a shiny military badge from beneath a discarded bra.

“This will prove useful”

He then disappeared through the door and out of this woman's life, just another intense one night adventure, like with so many other women. For her however, it would be something she would always remember with fondness.

--

“I’m sorry, but seems fixin the ship's balloon will take longer than expected..”

Ahab looked over the trashed feather balloon of his ship.

“How long?” Hikaru asked.

“About..A few days aye..”

He said awkwardly while scratching the back of his head.

“A few DAYS!?”

Yuri nearly jumped in shock.

“Aye..these feathers are tricky to put together..i have a stock but they ain’t put together”

“No way! I can’t stay here for several days, Hikaru grab that plank!”

She commanded Hikaru to fetch her a large plank that was lying near the old ship.

Drawing some runes on it, she activated them, granting them the familiar red glow.

“With this we can just fly our way from island to-”

The glowing of the runes stopped with only a tiny fizzle of air coming out of them.

“Huh. That’s weird.” She drew some runes again and activated them. But yet again, all it resulted in was a spell close to powerlessness compared to her usual explosive spells.

“I’m not sure what yer tryin to do, but most spells outsiders use here, usually end up not workin properly.”

Ahab explained to the perplexed Yuri.

“Huh? Why not?”

“Our government tryina stop outsiders from breakin our islands with magic, and keep up order better. Only weak spells used in everyday life seem to work properly”

“What! That’s terrible! How are we going to do anything then! Not to mention get off this damn island!”

Yuri disliked not being able to use magic since that was her most powerful tool, but more than anything she disliked being stuck unable to do anything.

“Don't worry, the food stocks should last for a few days”

Ahab reassured her.

“if yuh like pickled spiders that is”

“...Hikaru”

Yuri looked up at him with terrified eyes.

“Yes Yuri?”

“We need to get off this island. I’m not willing to starve to death.”

She looked at him with true fear in her eyes. Fear of having to eat something so horrible to survive.

“..Well i don’t think there is really anything..” Hikaru’s words trailed off when he looked at Yuri’s wide puppy dog eyes staring up at him pleadingly.

“...Alright i will think of something.”

“YAY! Thanks Hikaru you’re the best!”

She hugged and stared at him, waiting for a solution.

“...hm…” He was having a difficult time thinking of something, when he realised the answer was right under his nose.

“Ahab.”

“Hm?”

“How long would it take to get the old ship back in flying order?”

He pointed at the big sturdy ship behind them.

“I mean..it would take probably a few hours at best..since its balloon requires less fine wurk..but this ship aint flown in years..you really want to bet your life instead of waiting a few extra days..?”

Ahab asked with concern.

“Let’s do it.”

Yuri was determined.

“I’m not going to eat any spiders..! It’s worth risking our lives for..!”

“....How come she gets to decide what we risk our lives for..?” Ahab looked over at Hikaru, who could only answer him with an awkward reassuring smile.