“Yes miss, the emergency protocols state that you have to follow along”

Helgi was speaking to an older woman who seemed to be stubborn about something.

“But my cats are still at home! I have to go get them!”

The old woman yelled at him, her teeth nearly falling out of her mouth.

“The fire training exercise won’t take more than a few hours, your cats will be fine”

Smiling, Helgi tried to usher the woman with him.

“But they’ll be lonely without me…!”

She spoke so loud that a bit of spit hit Helgi right in his eye.

“.....” He resisted the urge to shove this old woman off the edge of the island.

“What’dya mean i have to follow along? I don’t gotta do shit! The hell you taking us huh!? Where all the regular guards at? I want to speak to a higher rank guard about this!”

A burly man was causing a commotion close by, catching the attention of the bystanders who were being ushered away by rebels wearing the armour of the guards.

“What’s that loud one yelling about?” The old woman got curious.

Looking up at the sky, Helgi made a cutting motion at his own neck while nodding at the loud man.

“Ah! Could it be! your dentures are made of metal!?”

Helgi spoke as loudly as he could. The mention of metal in this country where the very notion of metal was taboo, turned all the heads toward him.

“What are you talking about young man! I’ll have you know, my teeth are of genuine deer teeth! I got new ones a few weeks ago, they still feel so fresh in my mouth”

The old woman removed her dentures and put them back into her mouth.

Taking half a step back in disgust, Helgi composed himself.

“Oh of course! That makes sense miss, of course they weren’t from metal!”

He said loudly, making the onlookers grow disinterested. The bystanders looked back toward the loud man, hoping for some slight entertainment, but he was gone like he was never there. The silence of the absence of his voice, not an unwelcome one.

(Good job Hikaru.)

Helgi thought while helping the old woman board one of the numerous airships prepared around the city for civilians to board.

“Oh look, there’s that loud man from before, snoring away so happily. Do i miss being young, moving so quickly and falling asleep equally quick..now my back pains don’t allow that..”

The old woman sat down next to the previously loud  man, who was now sitting unconscious in his seat.

“Sir, almost everyone has been documented to board, we should be able to leave soon for the..uh.Emergency fire drill training location.”

One the rebels disguised as a guard approached Helgi.

“You don’t seem enthusiastic. This is very important you know. Since the city is made entirely of wood, we need to be able to deal with a worst case scenario! We will be having a drill like this every year now, so be ready for it!”

Helgi addressed the fake guard, but spoke loud enough so that everyone around them clearly heard his voice.

“Of course sir.”The fake guard nodded. “It’s just..” He lowered his tone so only Helgi could hear. “What do we do with the real guards..they’re all still tied up at their headquarters from our ambush..luckily we had your metal sword wielding friend to take care of most of them..but they're still there..it will look very suspicious taking them with us on the airships..”

“Just leave them. They would be an annoying opposition for when the ‘wall destroyers’ take control. So getting rid of them now is perfect. If you’re lucky you can even pass it off as a big accident.”

Helgi smiled. Efficiency and being better safe than sorry, were things he had grown fond of after being near death so many times with the reckless Yuri.

“Alright i think that’s everyone. Let’s get the airships on their way”

After a few more minutes had passed, Helgi was beginning to send each airship out.

“Alright we will now send everyone to the practice island you should go to incase a fire spreads in the city! Make sure to remember the path there just incase!”

And with that, all the ships were out in the air, following a single slightly larger ship, manned by Ahab himself. Who insisted on driving the main airship. Since he had the most experience flying an airship quickly and efficiently. Although Helgi suspected it was something to do with having a sea of other ships following him, tickling his ego.

“It seems we were successful.”

Hikaru appeared next to Helgi.

“...Don’t scare me like that” Helgi breathed out tiredly.

“Yeah. I think so, with the commotion of people i doubt someone would have chosen to stay behind. Ugh..my throat hurts from all the yelling”

He rubbed his neck in pain.

“Here. Eat this, it should help with your throat.”

Hikaru handed him a leather pouch of something blue that smelled of excrement.

“I was lucky enough to find when i scoured the city for any left over people.”

“...What is that. If you’re trying to be funny for the first time since i met you. This is not a good start..”

Slightly distancing himself from the foul smelling pouch, Helgi held up his hands defensively.

“This is no joke? This is a common pain reliever and all purpose medicine. It’s made by collecting various small bugs which contain beneficial properties and letting them live inside a barrel filled with medicinal moss. After they eat all the moss, they process it and put it back out. That is why it is blue.”

Hikaru explained.

“..You want me to eat bug shit?”

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“Indeed. It is very powerful, it even temporarily boosts muscle efficiency and strength. It’s sometimes used by warriors by mixing it into potion which they drink during battle.”

The blue terrible smelling bag was pushed towards Helgi.

“I am not eating bug crap..”

“Very well. You may keep it incase you ever need it.”

Hikaru handed him the bag.

“You just don’t want to deal with the smell do you..”

Reluctantly accepting the bag, Helgi squinted at him.

“....Perhaps.”

Hikaru turned away and began slowly walking away.

“.....Great.”

Pocketing the bag, Helgi turned toward the edge of the city, watching the airships fly further and further away.

“You keep looking around the city and surrounding islands incase someone was left behind!”

Helgi headed off while saying this.

“Meanwhile i have to check if the information Ahab gave me was correct..”

Ahab had told him just before his departure. His rebel soldiers suspected that however the islands were staying afloat, likely had something to do with metal both being taboo and illegal.

“Though that didn’t stop them from using metal to reinforce their battleship in secret...so there is something to do with metal that might get them found out..?”

Testing his suspicions, Helgi walked to the center of the island. Picking out a small metal card, he activated the runes on it and flicked it onto the ground, while taking a few steps back.

The card exploded, creating a small crater in the ground.

“As i thought..this island. It’s interior is solid metal.”

Helgi looked at the hole in the ground that was much smaller than it should have been. The density of the material beneath the small layer of dirt, resisting the explosion.

Peeking out from the ground were rocks. Not just any rocks, but metal ore, very rich metal ore. It was likely close to being purified metal despite being in its raw state.

“I suspect all the other floating islands are similar..”

Picking out another metal card from his pocket, he threw it down onto the metal ore without activating it.

The card made a clanking sound when it hit the metal ore and bounced away. Except it never touched the ground again.

The metal card began to float around the ore, in a similar fashion to how the islands floated around each other.

“Some sort of magnetism...explains why it was taboo to mine for metal or even use it..that still doesn’t answer the question of what’s causing it though..”

He picked the floating card up while thinking.

Upon picking up the card, he noticed that once it was outside the magnetic range of the ore. It ceased wanting to float around it. Instead it now wanted to head in a different direction. A magnetic pull was sliding the metal card out of his hands.

“...It’s a longshot, but it might be where this card is getting pulled..?”

He pocketed the magnetised card in order for it to not slip away.

Just as he did so, Hikaru had finally finished up his sweep of the island, and landed next to Helgi, after he likely jumped from roof to roof.

A deep rumble that made the island shake, almost made them lose their footing.

“...You need to lose some weight”

Helgi joked through his confusion.

“...It was not me.”

Looking around, they easily found the source of the rumbling.

The giant mountains shaped like walls, that surrounded this country of floating islands completely. Which almost nearly blotted out the sun itself.

Those impenetrable wonders of nature. They were being slowly reduced to rubble bit by bit.

Starting from a single point, the mountain was slowly just..collapsing. Like a sandcastle that has a hole in its side.

Despite it looking like rubble. Due to the distance, if one was actually close to the mountains at this moment. One would know that those crumbling pieces of rubble were each larger than all the islands put together.

It was a magnificent sight, seeing such an awe inspiring structure,being reduced to mere pieces of itself.

It was comparable to the satisfaction of seeing dominos fall over in a line. The scene in front of them certainly looked very similar to that. Except this was taken to the extreme. This was dominoes on the scale of a god.

What everyone inside the collapsing walls did not see however, was the mad chaos being unleashed on the outside of these no longer steadfast mountains.

--

“FASTER! I SAID FASTER!”

Yuri was yelling at the top of her lungs.

An ever changing wall of rock was passing by her, fast enough that it looked like a completely flat surface.

“Miss, we can’t go any faster! The airships propeller is going as fast as it can..!”

A guard dressed in blue was shouting back from the steering wheel of the airship.

“You’re goddamn useless!”

Twirling her dagger, Yuri pressed it right into the passing wall.

The dagger sunk slightly into the softer outer layer of the rock, creating a deep scratch while letting out sparks and pieces of small rocks.

She continued sinking the dagger as deep into the rocks as much her strength allowed her. Holding back against the force caused by her speed made her grit her teeth.

“Now fly directly up..!”

She commanded without letting go of her dagger.

“But miss! If we do a sharp increase in latitude it might damage the balloon!”

The rebel guards protested.

“I SAID NOW!”

She hissed at them as sparks flew past her eyes, showing the guards a glimpse of the true colour of her eyes. Reflecting the red clay mountains they were flying along, her eyes shone in the shadow of the airship. It gave the illusion of her eyes glowing a deep red.

“Yes miss..”

The airship tilted itself so it faced the sky and continued its speeding flight. Flying upwards caused the ropes of the airship to strain and the wood to creak. Everyone was forced to hug some part of the ship in order to not fall down further than they wanted to think about.

Yuri only barely held onto the ship with one hand, her body hanging from the ship, while her other arm was still pushing the dagger deep into the passing mountain.

“Now LEFT!”

The driver of the ship somehow managed to make the airship turn to the left to a more normal angle, while barely holding onto the steering wheel.

This continued for a few minutes. Yuri creating several hundred meter long gashes in the mountain they passed by, while changing the direction of the airship. It was as though she was attempting to create some sort of pattern on the wall of the mountain.

“Alright! Now FLY AS FAR AWAY FROM THIS SPOT AS YOU CAN!”

She yelled. The gashes she created giving off a slowly brightening red glow.

“What’s going to happen!?”

The guards were  panicking while trying to stabilize the ship and steer it as far away as they could.

Once they were a fair distance away, Yuri could admire her work properly. A rune that spanned several hundred meters or perhaps kilometers in all directions. Despite being a single simple rune, the red light it gave off was powerful enough that it showered the entire desert with light. Cities well beyond the borders of the desert were able to see the peculiar red light, if they squinted a bit.

“And now...music..”

She began moving her hands around as if directing an orchestra.

“...Miss what are you doing..?”

One of the rebel guards asked.

“Oh nothing just trying to be dramatic”

She stopped briefly and looked back at the guard with a shrug.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The part of the mountain which the rune was on began collapsing on itself.

“The mountain which was the pride of our rulers..keeping us sealed away from the rest of the world..standing so impenetrable through the years…”

The guards sank to their knees.

“It’s...finally gone..!!!”

They began weeping like children, the tears flowing freely down their cheeks, in plentiful amounts.

“We..we finally did it..!”

They hugged each tearfully.

“Damn it...you made me miss my dramatic moment!”

Stomping her foot angrily, Yuri sighed exasperatedly,

“Sorry miss..but we are so grateful to you. I hope we can make this up for you somehow. You finally helped us achieve our dream of being free..of seeing the world with our own eyes at our own terms..!”

“Well..when you show this much gratitude i can let it slide..besides i can always just try again”

She shrugged.

“Try..again..miss..? We are finished no..? The mountain wall is torn though..?” One of the rebel guards wiped his tears in confusion.

“Finished..?”

Yuri smiled really broadly.

“I’m not finished with just this little part..I will be finished when the entire mountain wall surrounding your country rests in that giant pit of yours and covering it all up..”

She clenched her fist around her dagger.

“We are finished when i have had my fill of fireworks…!”

She laughed happily, looking forward to having some more fun with testing out different runes to take down the mountain. She was having so much fun that she forgot the original purpose of her doing this, and was just enjoying playing with metaphorical fire. Comparable to a child playing with the flame of a candle.

To the guards, whom Yuri looked like an angel sent down from the heavens to free and save them only moments before. Now seemed like a devil, Giving them what they desired in exchange for so much more.

“...Very well..we understand. If that is the price for the freedom of our country..we will help you destroy what remains of it...we will just have to build it all anew..!”

They stood up and nodded determinedly at each other. Their conviction was clear and their devotion and love to their country was unmatched.

Their wish was granted and they were now ready to repay their debt to the devil that granted it.

Yuri was of course completely unaware of the image these guards had of her, and continued laughing to herself, imagining the shocked expressions of Hikaru and Helgi inside the walls.