by E. M. Hardy
Upon boarding, my suspicions were proven correct: the ship was exactly like an eighteenth or nineteenth century schooner. There were a few sailors here and there working on the lines and manning the sails, while others were busy cleaning the decks and quarters. It was all so surreal and yet so cool to experience at the same time.
We did get to meet the captain on our way in. Captain Klarg, a big hulking orc who carried himself with an air of elegance and style. Despite his crude appearance, he had his hair slicked back and neatly groomed, and he wore his long captain’s coat with pride. I did spot the rapier he had tucked underneath and the small hand-sized crossbow latched to his belt. I guessed that, even in the skies, one would have to beware of pirates and monsters.
Our cabin was even more impressive and it answered a lingering question I had in the back of my head – why did such a big ship only support up to thirty passengers and twenty crew members when it could easily handle more? The cabin was bigger than what I expected and, instead of double-deckers, we had our own beds and they were quite big at that. Most of the rooms had two beds, judging from what I had seen as we were led down the corridor leading to the passenger cabins.
Elia and I didn’t just stick to our cabin, though, and opted instead to head up to the upper deck to watch the ship depart. We stood up by the railings, alongside many of the other passengers, and let our jaws drop to the floor as the ship slowly rose up into the air. In just a few more moments, the ship was so high we were rising through the clouds.
The rush of air felt so natural, unlike that uncomfortable feeling one gets when taking off in an airplane. If I had to compare it to anything, it was like rising up in a hot air balloon, just much faster.
“Thank you,” Elia suddenly told me with a faint, almost shy whisper.
“What for?”
“For taking me with you on this journey,” she replied. “You could have done your own thing and pursued the Ascendants on your own, but you took this detour and brought me along with you.”
“You could have done the same,” I reminded her. “So maybe I should thank you too.”
She giggled and held my hand. “Well, to be completely honest with you, I’m enjoying your company.”
“Then, you must be sick or something,” I joked.
“Seriously, it’s good to have someone you can trust a hundred percent in this game.”
“Yeah, I know,” I surprised myself admitting to her. “I’m really glad I met you that day.”
“I’m glad you did,” she said. “You really saved my butt back then.”
We shared smiles and enjoyed the rest of the ship’s ascent in silence. Then, the good captain gave out a greeting speech, welcoming us all aboard, and wished us all good fortune. Several of the ship’s crew tended to our immediate needs, handing out snacks and touring the passengers around. It was during the tour that I learned these ships did work on some kind of magic: they moved around through the use of the sails, but the engine keeping them afloat was a magic-infused crystal.
By nightfall, we were all exhausted, and both Elia and I decided to have an early dinner and then call it a night. To make sure we could sleep without getting logged out, we both went to our Options menu and disabled the automatic log-out that activated once you had been resting for several hours.
Chapter Fourteen
I awoke to the sound of a horn blasting. When I opened my eyes, Elia was already up, her ear to the door. She raised a finger to her lips, signaling for me to remain silent as she tried to listen in. Even from my position on the bed, I could hear the horrified screams emanating from the corridors as well as the familiar clash of blades and fighting coming from the upper decks.
I slowly got up and picked up her armor. It would take a few moments to get her fully armored and I didn’t want to waste any time. We grabbed the table between our beds and used it to block the door.
She then began donning her armor as I seized my bow and arrows. I had to help her lock in her chest plate, greaves and gauntlets but, once we did, she had become a walking sentinel. She gripped her shield and mace, and she nodded to let me know she was ready.
Slowly and quietly, we removed the table and opened the door. I peeked out, checking to see if there was anyone in the corridor. To my utter shock, I found two passengers, an elf and a dwarf, down on the floor. They were wounded but not dead yet – if they had been, they would have dissolved and re-spawned back in town.
We quickly approached them and Elia got busy using her healing kit to mend their wounds. It wouldn’t heal their HP but it would stabilize them enough so they wouldn’t die. It would be such a waste if they ended back in Strovport and had to buy another ticket for a skyship ride.
“What happened?” I asked the dwarf.
He looked up at me as Elia was applying the kit on a large gash on his thorax. “We woke up to the sound of screaming, as I am sure you did too. When we looked out our rooms, there were armed men hacking their way through the crew and other passengers.”
“Can you still fight?” I asked.
He shook his head. “My friend here is already on the verge of dying. I have 2 HP left, so I don’t really think picking up a sword is an option for me right now.”
“We’re lucky the fighting has moved on from this section of the ship,” Elia noted as she finished treating them. “We have to get topside and deal with the real threat.”
I nodded in agreement and placed a hand on the dwarf’s shoulder. “Rest up. Find a place to hide. We’re going up to see what the heck’s going on.”
The injured elf finally spoke, “Take care out there. The men raiding this ship… they’re unlike any I’ve seen before. They’re rabid and virulent.”
Elia shot me a worried glance. Still, there was no other way but forward, so we went on, heading through the corridor and up the stairs to the upper deck. With all the battles I had waged, both in the army and as a civilian, I thought I had seen it all… But what we found up there left me speechless.
The upper deck was littered with crew and passengers struggling against an army of invaders clad entirely in black and silver. There was a second ship, a little smaller than our own, flying just beside ours with its cannons aimed directly at us. Up and all around were dragon-like creatures about nine feet in height, but they looked way more fragile and lithe than what I imagined dragons would be. Wings emerged from their forearms, like bats, instead of having four limbs and a pair of wings on their backs. Some of these creatures were ferrying pirates from their ship to the Obelisk Gallant.
“Wyverns,” Elia called them. “Come on, let’s help out.”
She didn’t even wait for me to agree. She simply ran up and smacked her mace against the closest pirate she could find. The enemy fell with the heavy blow and she reached out to aid one of the other adventuring passengers back to his feet. She then moved on and got right back into the thick of the skirmish.
That was when I noticed the slain pirate had dissolved into a blue mist and his belongings remained where the body once lay. It was at that moment we both came to the same conclusion: these pirates weren’t in-game enemies. This was not a scripted event. These foes were players intentionally raiding the ship!
I took my Elven Longbow and nocked an arrow. From the corner of my eye, I spotted a wyvern carrying a pirate over to our ship and aimed directly at it. My arrow pierced right through the creature’s wing which had to drop its load, sending the enemy to his death, thousands of feet below. The wyvern itself crashed onto the quarterdeck and slammed against the railings where it was then killed by another player wielding a big two-handed maul.
As I armed another arrow, I saw the captain in the stern cabin, battling two pirates. He had one pushed back against the door but the other was lunging at him with a rapier.
“Fire Shot,” I said to activate my ability, and I fired all three flaming arrows at the two enemies. Both went down in a blaze and, when the orc captain looked my way, I saluted
him and then ran up to join the fray.
I managed to hit another pirate on my way in. While the damage didn’t immediately kill him, I did see him stagger and he accidentally fell of the side of the ship, plummeting down into the abyss. I turned to my left and lashed out at a separate enemy who proved to be tougher than the others. Fortunately, Elia was on it and she took the chance to knock him down and smash his face in with her mace.
“Oof!” I groaned out in surprise when something slammed against my chest, knocking me back to the floor.
When I opened my eyes, a wyvern was right above me. It landed on the deck and crawled in my direction, snapping its maw at me. I kicked back and tried to creep out of its way. However, my spine soon banged against a mast, and I realized I had no more room to retreat.
“Damn it!” I ignored how powerful those beasts truly were, and I feared one of their bites would be enough to end me.
Just as the winged monster closed in on me, I reached for my dagger and shoved it forward, stabbing right into the wyvern’s open mouth. Blood spilled in all directions and I wedged the blade in even deeper, working my wrist around to make sure the damn thing couldn’t dig its teeth into me.
With my other hand, I pulled an arrow out of my quiver and drove it straight through the wyvern’s eyeball. The creature shrieked and, as it squirmed and fought against the pain, I managed to dig my blade in deeper. Soon enough, the wyvern crashed down, dead and cold.
Not losing a second, I sheathed the dagger and nocked the bloody arrow to shoot at a new adversary. That was when the enemy ship decided to open fire.
I meant to say something but, before the words could escape my lips, the impact of half a dozen cannon blasts shook the Obelisk Gallant. Shrapnel flew in every direction, damaging both friend and foe. One of the passengers, an orc warrior with a big two-handed sword, got hit directly and blew into a bloody mess before he dissolved and his equipment scattered away.
I managed to hang onto the mast and I embraced it tightly to keep my balance. When I turned around, I saw that Elia was hanging by rope tied to one of the sails.
Just when I thought we had weathered the storm, the Obelisk Gallant began to tip heavily on one side. Our ship dipped to the starboard side and people slid down the deck boards.
Elia lost her grip and she screamed as she started to fall. Just as she passed by, I reached out and tried to catch her but she was too far away. I watched in horror as she plummeted down to the edge.
“Elia! Grab onto something!”
She rolled into a ball and used her shield as a battering ram, allowing her to crash through most of the obstacles in her way. Just as she was about to go over the side of the ship, she unfolded and wedged her shield and mace through the side railings, using the weapon as an anchor to keep her in place.
“I c-can’t hold on much longer!” she yelled back.
I glanced around and saw several wyverns circling back, preparing to launch another assault. Even if she could hold on, Elia wouldn’t be able to defend herself and she’d die anyway, re-spawning all the way back in Strovport.
I cursed as I let go of the mast and began to slide down the angled deck. As I did, I took my arrows and fired as rapidly as I could at every wyvern flying towards Elia. I didn’t give a damn anymore about falling off – there was bound to be a way to just lean down on the railings.
One of the wyverns was about to rearrange her face. My arrow struck the beast right in the jugular. Vanquished, it plummeted down and crashed right onto the railings. For a moment, I thought I would be fine, but then the wood cracked and I knew my weight would betray me.
“Fhauste! It’s going to collapse!” Elia screamed when she saw the danger I was in.
Too late. Before I could regain my hold on the mast, the railing gave way. The wood snapped and I felt my body slip under. For a long second, I was free-falling, and I expected to continue my descent until I’d hit the ground, agonize and die. I’d re-spawn without my gear and back where I started.
But then a hand reached out and grabbed me by the strap of my leather armor.
It was Captain Klarg, hoisting me with both hands. His feet were planted on the railings, beyond the portion that had shattered.
“Come on boy, keep your spirits up,” he told me. “We’re not losing this battle just yet.”
I felt a sudden boost in confidence to see the captain so determined, even when his ship was turning sideways and numerous passengers and crew members had already bitten the dust. He helped me back up and, together, we skimmed along the railings to get to Elia.
“What do we do now, captain?” she asked the orc.
He signaled towards the enemy skyship. “There’s only a few of us left, and most of the others have run back inside the inner cabins where they won’t risk falling. In short, nobody else wants to fight, so it’s just you and me here. But we can beat these pirates. We just need to fight smarter, not harder.”
I agreed with that idea. “We’re outnumbered and out-gunned though. So, what do you have in mind, cap?”
“We need to get in there and blow the hell out of their Levitation Crystal,” he answered. “It won’t be easy. It’ll be heavily guarded and, even if we reach it, a crystal like that won’t easily crack.”
Elia’s face lit up. “I have an idea, but it’ll only work if the crystal functions the way I think it does.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. But I saw another swarm of wyverns circling around, and I knew we were running out of time to discuss our plans.
“I’ll explain when we get there. If the crystal isn’t connected the way I’m hoping it is, we’ll need to think of something else anyway.”
Klarg nodded and gripped his sword. “Let’s go then. Be careful and let’s make our way to the foremast. We’ll take one of the lines and swing our way to the enemy ship.”
That alone sounded like a crazy idea, and I loved it. We’d have to put a lot of energy just to swing far enough. If we let go and the momentum wasn’t sufficient, we’d fall straight down to our deaths. It didn’t look like we had any other choice though.
Elia led the way and she made sure we didn’t end up stepping on weak spots that could possibly yield. Klarg and I fought off the wyverns and pirates that came a bit too close for comfort, he with his crossbow and I with my bow and arrows. It didn’t take long for us to reach the foremast and grab onto the loose rope that hung from the now defunct sails.
“Give it your all,” the captain told us as he gripped onto his line. “We only have one shot at this. If you fall, it’s a long way down.”
“I’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Elia told us as she leapt before either the captain or I could protest. All we could do was watch in surprise as she swung between the two ships.
Just when I thought she was going to make it smoothly, I realized her trajectory wasn’t good enough. The momentum from her swing wouldn’t get her to land on the enemy ship’s upper deck.
It was a good thing she had figured that too. As she let go of the rope, she grabbed her shield and rolled into a ball, essentially turning herself into a big cannonball. With the force from her swing and the sheer weight of her armor and shield, she blew a hole right into the ship’s hull, two decks below the upper deck.
“She’s opened the way in,” Klarg said. “Not exactly what I had in mind but, hell, that will do!”
He swung forward and shot right into the hole Elia had created. I couldn’t see what they were up to, due to the distance, but if that ship was similar to the Obelisk Gallant then they were probably below the main sleeping cabins and closer to the ship’s cargo hold.
That meant there were fewer guards in there, but I couldn’t just wait to find out. I clutched my own rope, jumped and let go at the very peak of my swing. For a few seconds, I was flying through the air, with nothing to hold me, and I feared I wasn’t going to make the distance.
But then I crashed right through the hole and
rolled on the wooden deck floor. When I looked up, I found the corridor was on fire and I was pleased to see Klarg had already gotten to work by smashing several oil lamps to set the area ablaze.
“This will keep them busy,” he said.
Elia gestured for us to follow her. “Come on, let’s head down to the engine room, if that’s where the crystal is.”
Fortunately for us, most of the commotion was taking place on the decks above us. We slithered through the corridors and shadows, treading as silently as we could, to ensure no passerby would spot us.
One pirate eventually did, of course, but a heavy blow from Elia’s shield knocked him dizzy and I stabbed the man down with my dagger. Klarg took care of the guard watching over the engine room by rushing in like a berserker and bashing his head into the enemy. I heard a sickening crack from the pirate’s skull but, even then, Klarg wasn’t done; he took his rapier and shoved the pointy end through the guy’s sternum.
Reinforcements were expected to come. The engine wouldn’t be so lightly guarded, especially not during a skirmish like this. I signaled for Elia to enter the engine room as I turned off the lamps so I could move into the shadows and take out any incoming guards.
I looked back inside and asked, “What the heck do you have in mind anyway?”
Klarg shrugged when even he couldn’t figure out her plan.
Elia checked the design of the engine room and I did the same. The Levitation Crystal was much bigger than expected, at least twelve feet high. It was bright blue and embedded on a complex-looking machine that drew the crystal’s power to the bridge up top.
Without explaining a damn thing, Elia simply lifted her mace and started bashing down the floor. She kept on murdering the deck until there was a big enough hole to see the cargo hold below.