The black, night sky obscured us - as the machine's thick walls (forged from road) protected us from the nippy air. The city shrunk into a shining border around the river, which then bloomed into the Atlantic ocean, leading us home.

The turbines accelerated, Alix feeding them with more energy, and the enormous wings tilted upwards, shooting us into the clouds (0 carbon emissions bby!). With support squad 7 on my phone, I guided us in the right direction, and Ryan slowly expanded his energy - like a radar - to scan for danger. Glancing in the rear view mirror (that Alix borrowed from a security van), I could make out the Professor and Naomi chatting away about: "The Growth Path".

"I theorised that if you could increase the mana, the life energy, in a plant then you could encourage it to grow faster. I'll need to review its safety with my colleagues, but hopefully the 『Project』 can help to share the path with the world and stop anyone from going hungry."

Our journey progressed and the sun started to rise; its warm rays turned the sky into a fluffy pink expanse. A serene sight. Straight out of my dreams. But as I looked around, I started to feel a bit empty. A bit fake.

A tap on my shoulder caused me to avert my gaze from the mirror, and quickly I faked a soft smile.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"You good, dude?" Alix signed to me secretly - his caring, purple eyes making me feel welcome and relaxed.

I exhaled softly, and discretely formed, "Yeah. I'm just feeling a bit insecure."

"Oh. Wanna talk about it? You usually seem so carefree and... confident."

"I usually am, or at least, I try to be. Don't let any cracks show, you know. But... I've struggled with imposter syndrome my entire life, and when I see her like this," gesturing to my incredible girlfriend with the widest grin ever (engulfed in conversation with the Professor, exchanging notes, comparing grimoires, teaching each other spells), "I feel sort-of... unworthy.

I'm nothing like her: I left school at 16; I'm always starting fights; I've never had a long-term relationship; I-"

He scrunched up my monologue and threw it at my face, like a piece of paper, pulling me out of the hole I was digging myself into. Making me chuckle.

"You already know I'm terrible at dealing with self-hatred, right. And we both know it's a process, we can't solve it in a day. But that bull-shilk can polx right off!

If you asked her, you already know she'd shut that shilk straight down, yeah?"

"I know, but I just can't let her see that side of me, you know."

"Yeah, of course I do. But you do know that it's not the fear of confronting them, but the fear of confronting yourself, right?"

"..."

Solemnly, we took a moment to contemplate - collect our thoughts - but we were suddenly interrupted by a thick, yellow aura encompassing the plane. I instantly knew that Ryan must have felt something, and told Naomi to shield us. As I turned to read Ryan, he pointed to the side and his lips showed "two missiles, right wing." My girl's fists clenched and she braced for impact, while I ran to Riley, protecting us with an orb of spartan shields. Out of the cracks, I saw my angel writhe in pain.

I felt the ship fall. My mind filled with dread. The ship was going down. Straight for the deep, dark ocean.