“Where the hell are they flying, at this rate we will end up gliding back down to the bottom!”

Yuri snapped at no one in particular. her arms were getting tired from being held onto by two men much larger than her, while they glid softly through the air.

“Hey, i’m not the one who knows this crazy sea, i mean, air captain..! Ask Hikaru, he seemed close to him!”

Moving over the blame to Hikaru, Helgi concentrated on not letting go of Yuri and avoiding falling into the deep darkness below.

“I cannot say that i knew him. I did know his father however. Although i have never heard of there being any oppositionary groups in this country.”

Hikaru shrugged unknowingly.

“Neither did Ahab apparently..he looked as surprised as us. But still managed to go with the flow and abandoned us..that traitor..!”

She wanted to shake her fist but doing so would lead to one of her friends potentially falling to their deaths, so she held back and restrained her irritation.

“Wasn’t that exactly what you were doing to him though..”

Looking at her with a incredulous expression, Helgi raised both his eyebrows at Yuri.

“That was different! That was for the good of the team! It’s one for all! Not all for one! He was being selfish and left his team behind, he is so getting it when we finally reach him..”

Narrowing her eyes at the miniscule figure of the glider in the distance, Yuri concentrated her body for the most optimal position of increasing their gliding speed. Which was apparently her pretending to be a bird in the middle of flight.

“Yeah i bet you’d know all about being selfish..”

Helgi shook his head.

“What was that?” She asked.

“I said i bet you’d know all about being a bird, since you are one now.”

Helgi corrected himself for fear of being dropped to his death.

“Bird..? I’m not a bird Helgi, i’m a human, did you hit your head..?”

She looked slightly worryingly at Helgi.

“No, that’s what they call women in- ah never mind, yes i did, of course you’re a human, a short cute looking human.”

Helgi nodded.

“Call me short or cute again and i will drop you.”

She glared.

“Noted.”

He nodded again, a bit more stale this time.

After some time, they eventually saw the gliders fly onto something in the distance. A giant ship, that was floating near the edge of what would be considered dangerously low for normal airships.

It looked more like a floating castle with several balloons holding it up than an airship. Meant for housing, not transporting.

Yuri floated down onto the giant airship along with Hikaru and Helgi, and finally released her feather fall spell, granting her back her gravity.

“Hey where did Ahab disappear to..?”

Yuri noted his absence once she looked around.

They were surrounded by several guards. No, they weren’t guards, she realised. Despite their armour and weapons being nearly identical, the guards trademark red markings, were replaced with a deep blue.

“You followed us here. Please continue to do so. Follow.”

One of the blue armoured guards spoke.

“First of all, where’s Ahab, that bastard. And second of all. Who the hell are you idiots. Why would you build a floating home, when there are so many floating islands free for the taking. Trying to be unique without being useful is such a hipster thing to do”

Shaking her head in disapproval, Yuri folded her arms.

Helgi leaned in close to her ear.

“Yuri. See how their gear is essentially the guards gear but painted differently. I bet it used to be the guards gear before they got it. Also how their base is strangely hidden at the edge of what is suicidal for this kind of flimsy airship? To avoid detection by guards most likely. Yuri these are probably some sort of rebels or a similar organisation. Hell you should know. We’ve come across a fair few of those ourselves, haven’t we”

“Oh. Ohhhh. That makes sense now. I retract what i said about your base! It’s a cool base!”

She nodded while puckering her lips, as if seeing her surroundings in a new light.

Several crossbows were aimed at them.

“Please follow.”

“Hey, i’m sorry about calling you guys hipsters! You don’t need to take it that seriously!”

Yuri stepped back.

“We should probably just follow them for now.”

Hikaru advised.

“Alright, alright. We’re following”

They were led to a small room which looked like the reception area for a dentist. It had sofas, strange propaganda looking posters, and tables filled with miscellaneous reading material.

Yuri and Helgi sat down on the sofas, with Yuri laying down on the  sofa and grabbing some reading material.

“I hope this doesn’t take long. For Ahabs sake.”

She began reading through catalogues written in a language she obviously did not know.

“We must be patient. Their appearance did secure our escape safely. It would have been risky to escape otherwise. The least we can do is be patient.”

Hikaru chose to stand as was his habit. He did not look at Yuri while talking. Her laying down combined with his angle due to standing, made something too visible whenever she moved her legs.

“..Indeed.”

For some reason he felt an urge to glance. He managed to contain this strange urge successfully, and  made sure to concentrate his focus on a random piece of paper he picked up.

Some time passed, while Yuri and Helgi napped on the sofas. Hikaru was still reading through the mass of random papers while standing guard.

“Join the wall destroyers..free our nameless country and finally give it a name…?”

He read out loud.

“Quite so, Lad!”

The loud voice of Ahab woke up the sleeping duo.

“...you finally got here you lazy driver” Yuri yawned softly and stood up while stretching.

“Sorreh for the wait, aye’ve been busy listenin to what these people have been tellin meh”

Ahab walked into the room, his appearance having changed. His hair was cut slightly and fixed back with oil. His clothes had been exchanged with armour similar to what the guards wore, except his was a blue and golden colour.

“Seems to me like you’ve been doing more than just listening..”

She squinted.

“Aye, well i have to uphold mah new image of commander!”

He stood straight for the first time since Yuri had first met him.

“Yeah right. As if they would want some random airship driver to join them, much less lead them. Stop lying Ahab and tell me where you stole that armour!”

Yuri crumbled up a piece of paper and threw it at Ahab.

“I also want one!”

One of the blue armoured guards stepped in front of Ahab, shielding him from the small paper and drawing his frozen folded paper sword.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Oy! Calm down, won’t yah! It was just a piece of paper!”

Ahab hit the guard on the shoulder, motioning for him to sheathe his sword.

“Sorry bout that, they’re a bit jumpy, for some-”

His eyes widened when he found two fingers resting against his throat, and a sword pointed at the neck of the jumpy guard.

“Sorry about that. He’s a bit jumpy, for some reason”

Yuri finished Ahabs sentence and motioned for Hikaru to stand down and sheathe his sword.

“I may have befriended your father. But anyone that threatens Yuri even by association should be careful.” Hikaru warned Ahab and sheathed his sword while taking a few steps back from the terrified guard.

“Uh..yeah..it was just a misunderstanding..”

Ahab breathed out.

“A-anyway. You’re probably wondering who these people who saved us are!”

“Rebels.” Helgi and Hikaru said at the same time.

“Uh. Well yer correct. Their goal is-”

“Open up the borders of the country” Helgi finished his words for him.

“What? well yes, how did yah-”

“What Hikaru just mentioned earlier. It makes sense if you look at how restrictive this country’s contact with the outside world is. Any country which limits itself in this manner is bound to have internal struggles. I’ve read about many such cases”

Helgi explained.

“Alright fair enough. But the reason they want me as their commander is-”

“Because your father was the previous commander. I see..it now makes sense. The strange feeling surrounding him, combined with the reason for why you were so high up on the wanted listings of this country.”

Nodding understanding, Hikaru widened his eyes, surprised at having not figured out such an obvious thing.

Ahab felt annoyed at having his words constantly interrupted, so he took a deep breath and..

“Exactleh! He was the previous commander! But his rebel organisation the ‘wall destroyers’, were heavileh attacked and most of its members were captured! They didn’t have enough evidence to pin down anythin on my pappy! So he was released! He did however continue to try and get people to look into the strange things the government did, like the beast down below they made a deal with! That’s why he pretended to be crazeh and rambled about it all the time! So someone would look into it since his hands were tied! He had tried to prove it himself after the rebels were disbanded! But he barely survived and couldn’t afford the government gettin more suspicious of him! But now over the years, some of the members were released and came out of hidin! And now have rebuilt the ‘wall destroyers’ anew! And they want me to lead them in the place of my pappy!”

Ahab spoke as fast as his tongue would let him, carrying all that information over with only a single breath so as to not be interrupted again.

“Ahab i know you’re excited of being a commander to some weird wall obsessed rebels or something, but try and breathe alright?”

Yuri patted his shoulder.

“Right..yeah..” Ahab slowly breathed in and out.

“I wasn’t really listening to most of the stuff you were saying. However, now that you have the control of this organisation. You can give us a hand with blocking in the beast below, i needed some manpower after all, and now it’s conveniently here, luck does favour me so~”

She grinned.

“Now. Who said anythin about me helpin you.”

Ahab stepped back and a few more blue armoured rebels surrounded him.

“I just came by to brag about meh pappy and my new position. Now i would kindleh ask yuh to leave”

“Hey what’s up with that! after we helped you prove that the beast was real and everything! How can you refuse to help us!”

Yuri folded her arms.

“Oh i dunt know. Maybeh it was cause of yuh wantin to kill off everyone in my countreh, and also because of yuh abandonin me to die and tryin to escape without me!”

He held a grudge about the last part, balling up his fists angrily.

“..Hikaru. Helgi. Motivate him.”

She squinted at Ahab, her easy going attitude gone and replaced with the stern nature of someone willing to do unspeakable things to achieve what they want.

Hikaru drew his sword silently, swinging it lightly as if to test it. A small hair dangling in front of Ahabs eyes somehow getting cut cleanly in half.

“Huh..? Me too?” Helgi sounded surprised, but cleared his throat and quickly composed himself.

He took out a few card sized metal plates and activated them. Holding them between his fingers, each one began to react differently. One released tiny electrical sparks, while another had its edge set on fire.

With a flick of his wrist, one of the card flew straight for Ahab, embedding itself in the wall behind him. The metal cards electrical buzzing loud in Ahabs ear.

As a final touch, Yuri put on her metal gauntlet and partially activated one of the spells. The runes on the gauntlet lit up in a bright malicious red, awaiting the final touch to be activated and exploding into a torrent of mana.

She held up her gauntlet clad hand and stroked her chin.

“Sorry, Ahab. I didn’t quite hear what you said, could you repeat it again?”

She smiled at him, the red light from her gauntlet twisting her smile as it reflected off her face and eyes.

“...uh..”

Ahab slowly swallowed and breathed in.

“What i meant to say, is of course i would be glad to help yah out with whatever it is aye can!”

He smiled widely, which looked fairly disturbing on his usually sour face.

“After all, i owe yuh a debt for provin the beasts existence!”

Nodding exaggeratedly, Ahab slowly shuffled his way behind one of his guards, who were unsure of how to react.

Yuri nodded in satisfaction.

“Good! I thought i heard something else”

“...Aye..” Ahab sighed.

“Besides. This is a good opportunity for you and your rebellious club. If you help me out, wouldn’t your goal of tearing down the walls surrounding this city finally come true?”

She asked curiously.

“Ayeh. Yer correct. But what point is there if there ain’t no people to enjoy the freedom..they would all be dead..”

He slowly shook his head sadly.

“That’s what you’re worried about?”

Yuri almost snorted with laughter.

“If you’re that worried. Since i am a fair and wise thief. I won’t rob you completely. How about i lend you Hikaru and Helgi. With Helgi’s strength and Helgi’s people skills. You might be able to evacuate most of the people before i’m done.”

(And since i don’t really need them with me anyway, they might as well do something useful.)

“It might be possible to evacuate everyone to a small island on the edge if we had the help of the son of an previous god..”

Ahab nodded.

“Aye..better than nothin that. Very well.”

He seemed grateful despite his unenthusiastic tone.

“Great. Now lend me a few of your guards, i need some people to help me fly an airship.”

--

“Hm? What’s that in the distance..?”

A guard at the entrance to the outside world beyond the floating islands noted while squinting.

“Who cares. We aren’t allowed to let anyone exit until further notice anyway. We’ll just tell em to go away, so sit down and finish this drink with me”

Another guard clanked his metal mug against the rocky wall and motioned for it to be refilled.

“Guess you’re right..not like anyone ever passes by here”

A few minutes later, the guard couldn’t help but glance back due to curiosity.  The thing he spotted in the distance was much larger now. Enough that it was possible to finally perceive what it was.  It was easier to perceive it with each second that passed, due to how fast it moved towards them.

“Bob..bob..BOB!”

The guard called for his friend, a slight panic setting into his tone.

“What is it now. Just tell them to go away and bring a new bottle would you”

“BOB GET DOWN!”

The guard rushed forward and tackled his friend to the ground.

“Hey what the hell man! You made me spill my drink! You owe me-”

FWOOOOOSH!

A small airship flew just above them at an incredible speed.

“...It didn’t crash..?”

The guard stood up surprised after a few more seconds of laying belly flat on the ground.

“What the hell are you talking about! Did you have too much to drink you damn light weight!”

Shaking his head, the guard named Bob got up and began walking back to his seat.

He paused.

He blinked.

He blinked again.

He looked at his drink and back in front of him, blinking again and putting away his mug as far away as possible from him.

“...Maybe you’re not the only one who’s had a bit too much to drink.”

The guard named Bob turned back towards his friend and shook his head slightly.

The wall behind him, which was as tall as a mountain and as thick as a city, stood proudly, reaching for the sky.

In it was a perfectly circular hole which went straight through it, letting in the sunlight of the setting sun from the outside.

Meanwhile on the other side of the hole in the wall, on an airship that was still moving incredibly fast at a ridiculous speed.

“MISS SHOULD WE SLOW DOWN THE AIRSHIP NOW?”

A rebel guard piloting the airship asked loudly to be heard over the wind.

“IF YOU WANT US TO SLAM RIGHT BACK INTO THE WALL THEN SURE. OTHERWISE JUST KEEP GOING UNTIL THIS RUNS OUT!”

Yuri yelled out without looking back.

She stood at the front of the ship, holding her gauntlet as tight as she could while leaned up against the airships mast.

Her gauntlet was shooting out a pillar of water that likely had the power to defeat any enemy no matter how large or armoured. It was something that could have legends written about it, felling legendary immortal beasts.

Yet it was used to make a small tunnel through a mountain.

“I really shouldn’t have combined my remaining spells..that was really overkill...oh god it feels like my arm is going to snap..!”

The airship continued to fly through the desert in this manner, with a pillar of water in front of it larger than the ship itself, creating rain in the desert for the first time in hundreds of years.

This precious gigantic amount of water that made it to the desert would later lead to the this lifeless area filling with fauna to eventually become a forest of legend and beauty. Without anyone ever suspecting it had been so barren before.

Right now however. It was being made into a giant muddy puddle.

--

“I am worried about Yuri doing something overly extravagant again without any of us being there.”

Hikaru said quietly while he, Helgi, Ahab and several airships of rebel guards were heading to the main city of the nameless country of flying islands.

“What, shouldn’t you have learned that Yuri and over the top go hand in hand by now?”

Helgi shrugged.

“That is why i am worried.  I am afraid that without one of us there to reel her in at least a small bit. She will end up creating a catastrophe.”

Seeming worried, Hikaru leaned back and sighed.

“You mean like wanting to destroy an entire country for your sake?”

Helgi raised an eyebrow.

“Other than that of course..we are here to at least prevent too many casualties. However..it feels like she went alone so we wouldn’t argue against her decisions.”

Hikaru said with worry.

“You’re talking about Yuri here. She doesn’t think her plans through THAT far. You should be more worried about what she will do for you. Even without you wanting it. You’re a lucky guy Hikaru. But be afraid. Be very afraid.”

His tone was ominous and cold, Helgi wore a face of someone who had seen hell itself.

“I do not believe Yuri will do anything other than what she promised..hopefully. By that point we should have evacuated everyone. Nothing can surely go wrong.”

Trying to convince himself, Hikaru nodded slightly and rationalised Yuri’s actions.

“Murphy’s law my clueless friend. Things that can go wrong, when given the chance, will go wrong.”

Quoting a popular figure, Helgi tilted his head slightly and raised his eyebrow in a slight smirk.

“Who is this Murphy..?” Hikaru asked, but was ignored.

“And Yuri. Is the definition of clueless. She gives away chances with a two for one special.”

Helgi finished.

“..I should have followed along with her after all.”

“Too late for that now. So concentrate on getting as many people out of the way of the extra trouble Yuri is going to bring, and we should be golden”

Reassuring Hikaru, Helgi patted him on the back.

“Indeed. I will work to my utmost limit. My role is Yuri’s support and partner after all. I should be able to take care of this much.”

Hikaru nodded seriously, his muscles tightening with anticipation.

“Good!I’m sure everything will go fine then!”

Smiling, Helgi walked off slightly, walking up to Ahab.

“See? Now we will likely evacuate all the citizens. Forcefully if we have to, with Hikaru working his beast-like body to his limit. All your guys have to do is act as support”

He whispered to Ahab.

“Excellent job, yer one hell one of a manipulative lad, but i’m glad yuh are!”

Ahab whispered loudly to Helgi.

“If we do manage to save almost everyone, aye will make sure to get yuh whatever item they’re usin to keep the islands afloat as payment..!”

“I’m just glad to be of help.”

Helgi smiled with squinted eyes.

(Someone has to make sure we get what we came here for..Since Yuri seems to have completely forgotten about it.  Typical. She gets distracted and i end up finishing her job for her. Some things never change, despite being a literal world away..)