My wings stretch wide, floating in the breeze high in the air. I look down at my team far below, bare pinpricks in the distance. I sail through the skies with nary a sound, waiting for my target to move within range.
These winged beasts have shown incredible hearing in my past attempts, but this time I plan to catch it by surprise.
It flies underneath me with its leathery black wings and I decide it’s now or never. My wings pull into my side and I fall into a nosedive. The wind whipping against me and the ground rushing toward me is exhilarating, but I focus myself on my target.
Ever so slightly, I spread my wings to angle myself toward the flying creature. It has yet to notice me, but my past attempts prove that it only needs a moment to twist the situation to its advantage.
Pull my talons forward just in time to slam into the creature’s back. A perfect landing, if I say so. My impact — right between the base of its wings — sends us spiralling, but I dig my sharp claws deep and clamp down with my beak.
The bat screeches, vibrating my flames right to the core. It disturbs my fire and threatens to rip my body back to ethereal, but I hold on. The first time I experienced their ultrasonic screams, I hadn’t expected it at all and dropped from the sky when my wings lost their corporeal form. I knew now to defend myself against their screeches, but it is still an extremely odd feeling to have your body try to ripple away from you.
The black wings spread out again as the creature tries to regain its stability. As it does, I reach out my flames and begin burning through the rubber-like wings. Another screech rings out, shaking my flames as it tries to twist on itself and bite at me.
I fail to pull my wing back in time, and it tears straight through it. Unfortunately for the bat, it hurts him more than it does me. I use the opportunity to shove my flames down into its gullet, careful to only push non-inner flame laced flames into it to avoid any burning its saliva might cause me. It’s not nearly as dangerous as water, but even the bodily fluids of creatures can sting somewhat.
It snaps its jaw closed, cutting off the flames within its maw. The bat slaps its wings back into me, knocking me just enough to dislodge me. My talons tear through the back of the creature and I let go with my beak. I’ve already burnt through its wings enough that it won’t be escaping this free fall.
My wings snap wide, immediately slowing my fall to a crawl.
The bat struggles to flap its wings and regain control, but the air does nothing but tear through the already damaged membrane. Another ultrasonic screech slams into me as the beast cries upon realising the inevitable. The noise only audible through the feeling it makes in my chest.
A thump is the only sound that comes from the bat’s unimpressive collision against the ground. Snow gets blown everywhere, but it doesn’t look like the creature will have died from the fall. Sure enough, the crippled bat crawls out of the snow crater.
I don’t have to worry about fighting it amongst the snow, fortunately. In moments, my team tears through the beast, leaving it no time to fight back.
These bats are another of the new beasts that have been descending the mountain since the cooling of the Titan’s path. Nowhere near as strong as the centipedes, but their flight has been a cause of worry for the Mercenary Order. It’s hard to stop creatures like these that can completely ignore the defensive choke-points set up to funnel the descending monsters.
I rejoin my team. Smoothly gliding onto Grímr as the others finish the bat. It went rather well this time. I wasn’t discovered until I’d already latched onto its back. Last time, my wings caught the wind a bit too audibly and it was enough for the bat to hear me coming. I’d been completely unable to catch the creature, even spreading my flames after it. Jav had to come and knock it out of the sky instead.
“Nice job, Solvei!” Grímr glances back at me before turning to the dead mammal. “What made the brass think that these creatures are coming from the Middle Elevation? There’s no chance they could survive long that high up, right?”
“Apparently it’s one of the older Beith mercs that believe they are coming from the Middle Elevation. It’s not too hard to understand why; there aren’t any known ecosystems in the Lower Elevation or on the Stepps that these creatures might be coming from. Mid and above are the only places unexplored enough that there might be some region we haven’t seen.”
“Sure, but if that’s the case, then do we even need to worry? If some previously enclosed ecosystem lost its barrier to the outside world, then why don’t we just let the mid-tier beast wipe them out?”
Remus casts an eye our way. “It’s rather rash to assume they are all weak because of the few we’ve seen. In any case, our job is investigation; even if they are overwhelmed by the surrounding species, we still need to confirm it.”
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Regardless of whether or not they originate from the Middle Elevation, we still need to move out of the Stepps. We are getting close now. What looks like a massive wall of ice extends far to the distant horizons, an obvious representation of the change between the ranked regions.
The air is thin now. At this height, not only is the air freezing, but it makes breathing far more difficult. It’s been fine for now, but whenever I fly at any significant altitude, I have to spread my flames wide to reach as much air as I can.
The others don’t consider the bat’s corpse to be worth the time it takes to perform the ritual, so I wrap it in my fire and take it for myself. I wonder if there’s a way to speed the process up? Not that I care too much; anything the others don’t want, I can take for myself.
With the bat eaten, I go to take to the skies once more. The more bats I knock out of the sky, the more I get to consume after all.
“Hold on, Solvei.” Remus stops my launch. “The skies get rather treacherous from here on. I want you to stick with us.”
“Okay.” My wings relax at my side. “Should I switch back?”
“No, being able to fly will make the transition between the Elevations easier.”
I peer up at the looming glacial wall. “Do we have to climb that?”
“Yep! But that’s not the tough part of making it into the Lower Elevation.”
I glance at him curiously, but his innocently smiling eyes give nothing away. I turn back to the massive wall ever so slowly getting higher above us. Despite their incredible pace this entire journey, they slow down the closer we get to the Lower Elevation. Right now, we are moving at half my maximum flight speed, which is far lower than what we’d been travelling for the last few days.
The Titan’s path cuts right through the glacial wall ahead of us. Unlike the rest of the path that we’ve followed until now, there is no black rock remnant creating an easy road for us. Instead, a forest of massive jagged, vertical shards of ice lies ahead, likely formed by the melting of the ice wall. It doesn’t look any easier to traverse than the frozen precipice.
I can’t help but stare in awe whenever I look at the incredible geographic change such a disaster has brought. Anywhere except where the Titan has passed, the glacial wall remains the same height. Nowhere else is there a blemish.
A powerful gust of freezing cold wind blows into me from the deep abyss below.
I vigorously beat my wings until I’m back amongst my team. A large chasm drops far into the earth before me. Nervously, I approach the edge once more. This time I fly only a few metres away from my team.
The extensive opening between the ground beneath me and the wall of ice ahead drops into nothingness. It is too dark to see how deep it is.
If not for the mound of black stone bridging the gap along the Titan’s path, I’d have no idea how my team might pass this crevasse. Actually, how did they? I cast a glance at my land-bound teammates strolling leisurely across the last stretch of black rock. They’ve said they usually hunt in the Lower Elevation, so how do they get across this chasm?
Flying away from the edge, I follow close behind the others. We move slowly across this auspicious igneous rock-pile of a bridge. Unlike before, we have slowed to almost a crawl as we move over the filled ravine.
The wind picks up the further we cross into the crevasse. Despite only flying a couple metres off the ground and the curved edge being far to each side, I find my flight buffeted almost to an uncontrollable degree. The chilly wind pelts my wings, threatening to send me far into the sky before I can resist.
I crash into Grímr’s back and warm myself from the cold. Grímr’s fur gives an appreciative shake at my warmth. If the wind was this bad here, covered by hundreds of metres of stone, what would it be like out over the chasm itself?
“The Alps become treacherous from this point on, Solvei.” I hear Remus call over the loud whistling of the wind. “We won’t be able to travel as fast as before. Make sure you are always beside us. Even teams as experienced as us need to be wary here.”
“How do you cross this thing normally?”
“The only way you can; down and back up again. It’s only something like a thousand metres down.” Remus is far too casual for the words he says. “Well, that’s how far down you need to go. You can usually find a fallen glacier shard bridging the gap. Below that, the ravine can go much further down.”
“Fortunately for us,” Jav cuts in. “There are many fractures and caves running through the glaciers. They’re hard to see from here, but there are always thousands of interconnected passages through the ice. They make the climb up much easier.”
Caves running through the ice? I do not like the sound of that. It definitely seems like something that’ll knock me back into another panic attack if I can’t see a way out.
I really need to tell them about my fear. I should. They deserve that much. But as I open my mouth to say something, doubts run through my mind. How can I tell them about something so debilitating? Will they think poorly of me for having such an unreasonable fear?
Even as I cling to Grímr’s back, being saved from a gust blowing me away, I can’t say it.
The unnatural bridge unfortunately doesn’t reach the entire length of the chasm. From where we are, it curves downward into the glacier. We got to skip most of the trip down, but it looks like it won’t be completely without a climb.
I struggle within myself to say something about my fears to my team as we walk the last stretch of igneous rock. I peer at Remus walking at the front. Jav, like me, clings to his ride. The wings of his suit stored away, but the wind still knocks around his light body.
I look down slightly and catch Remus watching me. I snap my head back into Grímr’s fur. Why was he watching me? Does he already know? He can’t read minds, right?
No Solvei. Stop being stupid. He was only looking at you. It means nothing.
“Oh? How convenient,” I hear Tetsu say. “Looks like we won’t be needing to climb today.”
I pull my head out of the thick fur and look forward. At the end of our bridge, in the wall of ice, is a cavern. Wide enough for each of us to pass through with ease, but I can’t help but feel apprehension at the sight of it. The glacial cave curves away from the entrance after only a few metres. There is no way I’ll be able to enter without falling into an involuntary panic.
I catch Remus’ eyes boring into mine. There is no doubt he knows something, and yet he hasn’t judged me poorly… I think. I don’t have a choice now. I have to swallow my doubts and just tell them.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you this earlier.”