Most of the kids were awake before their alarm went off at six in the morning. A few were nervous about their first real assignment together, but the ones that needed to be confident were already showing it.

  “Boots, catch,” Lechi said to Rayna, whose bunk was next to hers. “They should be the right size this time.”

  Rayna, still in her pajamas, caught them and after batting away her long blond hair, compared their sole size to her feet.

  “They look better,” she moaned and fell back into her bed, her eyes drifting to the plethora of photos pinned to her wall, most of them from events and moments she shared with her friends and family in the burrow and during visits to C above. “Can we… delay another day?”

  “Trains have a schedule. And, hey, we’ll be fine out there.”

  “It’s not that… I just wish my cramps would be gone by now.”

  “Yeah, you’ll get used to that. I have something that’ll help.”

  “Thanks, commander.”

  Temki emerged from the youth squad barracks’ boys’ changing room, dressed handsomely as usual. He no longer needed a staff to control his powers—but he did recently start relying on a pair of glasses to see.

  “I can do this…” he huffed and pulled at his shirt cuffs.

  “We can do this, Temki,” Lechi assured him. “We’re a team.”

  “Y-yeah, of course. And it’s not like… it’ll even be that hard of a mission. It’s just… You know, it’s us, without the adults this time.”

  Brim, sitting on his bed on the boys’ side of the room and already in his uniform, slid his CD player headphones to uncover one ear and told Temki, “Aurrians our age pretty much are adults, Tem.”

  Eyeing Rayna, Temki replied, “Maybe if you got to live a full life.”

  “Rhys!” Lechi shouted at the bed in the back of the room. “Rhys, you seriously have to get out of bed and get changed.”

  The only response were a few mumbles.

  Norria then emerged from the girls’ changing room, her uniform the only one with some armor attached, albeit just a few small joint plates.

  “Room’s all yours, Rayna.” Norria then turned to Rhys’ bed and gave it a kick. “Hey, air head. Get up and get dressed.”

  Rhys made a snoring sound this time.

  Frustrated, Lechi went over to it, ready to yell at her subordinate. But then he suddenly threw off the covers himself and jolted straight up. He was wide awake and already in his uniform.

  Lechi sighed, “What the hell, Rhys?”

  “Sorry, sorry. I was up and dressed an hour ago, ready to go. Then I got tired of waiting and went back to sleep for a bit.”

  As Lechi, Norria, and Rhys had a small argument about his behavior, Rayna slipped into the changing room. When she re-emerged in her lengthy red jacket two sizes too big, they were still at it.

  Rhys Triston was the newest member of the squad, having arrived in City C just sixteen months ago after stowing away on an airship. Once he had proven himself skilled in watairre techniques that focused on speed, he was soon after inducted as an official Angel in the burrow. He was an orphan of the war, but that didn’t diminish his cavalier personality.

  After a knock on their door, Hilden, a maternal figure that was something of the youth squad’s den mother, came in to make sure that the team was ready to go. Rhys quickly jumped out of bed and tried to straighten his short black hair with his hands.

  Smiling, she said, “Oh, good, I was worried you’d all still be asleep. Come along, your breakfast is almost ready.”

  The six teenagers followed her out and into the mess hall, Brim bringing along his CD player. Inside the dining and kitchen area were several others that made up the burrow’s early risers—or had just pulled another all-nighter, like Colt. He didn’t look the least bit tired as he waited for Rayna’s parents to finish up the hash browns and eggs.

  “Morning, everyone,” Louis greeted them as he finished up the potatoes on a big skillet. “Big day, isn’t it?”

  “How are all of you feeling?” Phoebe asked, working on the eggs.

  “They’re worried,” Lechi said with a sigh, taking her seat with her squad mates. “But it’s nothing we can’t handle.”

  “Hey, I’m not worried,” Brim replied. “Just keeping lookout in the farm City. We’ll probably come home having seen nothing.”

  “I hope you aren’t listening to music all mission,” Norria said.

  Swaying lightly to his current tunes, Brim coolly replied, “Only if the burrow actually had more than fifty CDs to choose from.”

  “Keep filling out those requisition requests,” Rhys said jokingly. “I’m sure they’ll get you more Earth music as soon as they can.”

  “Hilden, please sit,” Phoebe said. “We have plenty of food.”

  “Oh, don’t worry, I was planning to,” she replied and took a seat, Lechi catching a glimpse of her growing belly as she did so.

  “You’re really starting to show,” she noted.

  She smiled and gave the bump a rub, “Yes. They’re getting bigger.”

  Hilden was a surrogate mother that had fled from a birthing ward in City U. After she was tipped off that she was carrying triplets for a senator known for supporting the war for personal profit, she escaped and having been a sympathizer of the Angels, found and joined them.

  “And here we go…” Phoebe said and started passing around the breakfast plates. “Colt, I doubled everything for you.”

  He took his meal. “Whew, thanks. I need it.”

  “Are you really still working on those silly rockets?” Norria asked him and cut her egg into pieces. “Why not add more weapons instead?”

  “It’s a noble pursuit, Nor’. Aurrians have never even been into their world’s orbit—or sub-orbit, for that matter. We have a ship that’s capable of doing it. Don’t you want to know what’s up there?”

  Brim backed him up, “Yes, and if we’re ever unable to teleport somewhere with it, it’d be cool to dive-bomb the Guard from outer space.”

  “Thanks, Brim. Your dad said pretty much the same thing.”

  Noticing that Rayna was flipping through the pages of an old tome as she ate, and coming very close to dropping food on it, Louis scolded her, “Rayna, how many times do I… Please, stop reading that at the table.”

  “Can’t you read from one of the transcribed records?” Phoebe added. “The museum in F is going to want that back. There are only a few original books on nova still in existence.”

  “I like that this was written by ancient mages who still remembered the words, waited a thousand years for me, and now here it is,” she argued.

  “Can you at least wear your bracelets while you memorize spells?” Louis sighed. “It makes me nervous, even in alchemagi-blocked rooms.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m not even reading spells. I’m in the parables section. All these old myths about nova are really interesting.”

  Temki spoke up, “Don’t worry, Mr. Carthy. I can sense when someone’s putting mental effort into a technique, remember?”

  Rhys replied in jest, “So, we get a two second warning before she blows us all up, huh?”

  “Morning, everyone,” Milla said with a yawn as she and Masayuki joined them, both fully dressed and ready to go. “We’ll move out in ten.”

  “I didn’t forget you two,” Phoebe said, handing them their plates.

  Masayuki thanked her, “Much appreciated, Mrs. Carthy.”

  Rayna’s parents took the last of the plates and seats, joining the ten other burrowers, all of whom they considered family.

  The Mezik L was no mere sling-ship. She was the Mezik in a smaller form, but currently lacked armaments. Capable of holding a dozen passengers and taking them anywhere in the world that the demirriage-engine operator could clearly remember, she had been proven useful and capable enough for most of the burrow’s specialized, small-team missions.

  Fueled and ready to go, Colt, with a thermos full of coffee, took his place in the cockpit with Milla. Masayuki kept watch of those seated in the back, who were checking their weapons before securing them while the ship’s systems warmed up. They all had their talents, not always chosen.

  Brim, the hood of his jacket covering his face down to his eyes, kept his Aurrian long-range rifle on his lap. The scoped weapon was almost as long as he was tall. Rhys had a pair of trench knives that were fitting for his high-agility combat style, while Norria, an earth adept, relied on two alchemagic crystal shields to provide defenses for her team. Lechi kept a malleable slab of iron that she could transform into any sharp weapon she needed depending on the situation, or multiple blades for her entire team.

  The other two didn’t really have weapons at all, aside from a basic sidearm and combat knife. Temki, like most mind adepts, already had everything he needed in his head. And in Rayna’s case, she was the weapon, and assuredly had taken the role of demolitions expert. Rather, she went into battle with an alchemagi restraint bracelet on each wrist, diminishing her dangerously potent nova capabilities by two-thirds; they were the only means of reducing her power into spells that wouldn’t destroy her squad.

  Norria asked, “Masa, how’s Shin? I haven’t seen her in some time.”

  “Unwell,” he replied plaintively. “I try not to think of her condition while on a mission, but that’s getting harder.”

  “I’m sorry. I had hoped Pangs could find an effective treatment.”

  “There’s nothing that can be done. My cousin knew and accepted the risks of remaining an active Holdian agent. She got to see through our vengeance on Lontonkon. Perhaps, after the war, I will try and revive our clan on my own… It’s what she would want, I believe.”

  “Get ready for a big drop,” Colt said over the speakers.

  The ship’s hover-rockets fired, bringing it into the air a few feet. Once the landing gear was retracted, Milla pushed her clear memory of V’s northwestern mountain range into the glowing orb by the throttle, bringing the ship into the space above the tallest peak.

  The Mezik L had small passenger windows, and the kids watched as mid-day sunlight and clouds suddenly replaced the warehouse-like bay they had left. Appearing near the peak kept their arrival hidden visually, but Colt had to drop fast along its side before Guardian radar picked them up.

  After the negative g-forces dissipated, Colt kept the Mezik L about fifty feet off the ground as it quietly traversed over rolling hills that were covered in sprawling farms, fields, and agricultural biodomes.

  “I still don’t really get why Aurra has a City dedicated to farming,” Rayna said as she watched the landscape outside pass by. “Don’t synthids just make food easier to make? Instead of all that growing and waiting?”

  Lechi answered, “Yeah, but not everyone wants to eat synthesized plant life all the time. It also helps keep the synthid market stable, so it doesn’t come crashing down overnight if there’s a shortage.”

  “Real crop tastes better, too,” Norria added. “More consistency. Master synthid chefs make great food, but sometimes you want a specific taste that only comes from a certain farm in V. This City provides… I think a fifth of all Aurrian food? You’ve had farm-grown Aurrian food, right?”

  Rayna shrugged. “Maybe not. Most of my meals in Aurra have been whatever the burrow’s serving each day.”

  “I could never be a farmer,” Rhys muttered. “Boring. And stuck in V for an Aurrian lifetime… Sheesh, what a punishment.”

  “It’s not all bad,” Brim said. “A lot of the master farmers take pride in their work, country life is a rare alternative in Aurra, and you get to say that you live near the largest sunsphere in existence.”

  That was indeed true; V’s sunsphere, which they could just make out on the horizon where the City center and its only tall buildings stood in silhouette, was a monstrous metal orb. The thousands of souls resting inside were able to spread V’s range over a hundred miles. Most of its land was flat and fertile past the mountains and foothills, sharing its space with central China. Though technically “punishment tier,” it had higher than expected living standards and often people who enjoyed farming in their Earth lives would move to it when able, even from higher-tier Cities.

  V was also one of the few Cities that had villages, dispersed among its vast swaths of farming land. They were towns by Earth standard, usually having around ten thousand people, but in Aurra, they were little more than hamlets. Seeing rows of single-story houses was an uncommon sight in a world where most neighborhoods consisted of skyscrapers.

  Kingland was one such village, resting along a small river and supporting around a thousand farms that surrounded it. As one village out of hundreds itself, it garnered no particular interest from the Guard, and the visiting burrowers sought to keep it that way for another year. They would be doing menial grunt work, but it was still important to the war effort. Safe but vital; two mutual aspects that gave Milla a chance to leave C.

  “We’re here,” Colt said from up front. “Time for some fresh air.”

  The kids kept hold of their weapons like they were ready to fight.

  They came down into the town square, the citizens making room for the ship. Colt then slowly guided it into a waiting warehouse to keep her hidden. The village, guided by local mayor and head agriculturalist Kletch, was fully supportive of the Angels and the burrow’s assistance.

  Colt shut off the engines as some of the mayor’s assistants closed the warehouse doors, and everyone disembarked. Kletch was waiting for them, and with a wave and a big smile, he led the new arrivals into the adjoining mayoral manor. He was an older man, but still retained the muscle he had built up from decades of back-breaking work.

  Once everyone was in the full light of his home’s dining room, he welcomed his guests boisterously, “Ah, a brand-new batch of recruits, eh?”

  Milla replied, “They’re our ‘youth squad.’ They’re all well-trained, and this is something of a practice mission for them.”

  “I see. Well, it isn’t that hard of a job. More about eyes in the right places. I don’t know how much you’ve been told, but Ms. Nolland and Mr. Xin here will be guiding my men in securing war rations meant for Tillethian Guardsmen. We don’t get greedy—we only attempt this twice a year, and it takes us some time to gather the intel in any case.”

  “They go by above-ground unmarked trains to the port far east of here, on the coast,” Masayuki explained. “On different rail lines each time. Makes it tough to map out with the confidence we’re looking for.”

  “Aren’t we stealing food from civilians though?” Rayna asked.

  “No, not at all. That’s the point of a lengthy planning process. We don’t want to take food from people we’re trying to win over.”

  Milla added, “Plus, we’re after war rations, not your standard household food. They’re preserved and tinned, and bolster our men’s supplies while making things tougher for those on the other side.”

  “They usually divert some civvy supply after we hit, but it would perish before it all got eaten anyway, and they don’t want to starve Cities, either. Both sides are always looking to retain support.”

  “Oh,” Rayna said. “I guess that makes sense. Still… I know this is a war and everything, but making people go hungry is a little… cruel.”

  Kletch chuckled. “The nature of conflict. I doubt any Guardsmen are actually starving to death, but supply disruptions lower morale, young lady. And across history, wars have been won or lost on morale.”

  He was handed a scroll from one of his assistants, which he unrolled and spread across his dining room table. It showed, in great detail, the railways surrounding V, a few of which ran out of its sunsphere’s influence and all the way to the harbor resting on the coast.

  Bored upon seeing that it was time to iron out the plans, Colt headed out. “Good luck, guys. I’m going to go do some shopping.”

  “Are you stocking up on beer and cheese again?” Milla asked him.

  “Hey, can’t beat the homegrown stuff. And you know how the burrowers appreciate the few weeks we have with a natural brew at the tavern. Just radio me when you’re ready to head out.”

  “Can I go help buy alcohol?” Rhys asked.

  None of the others dignified the remark with a response, and they got to work on the particulars of the mission.

  The kids’ assignment was the easy part. Working together, they would take up position in a watchtower on the outskirts of V, in a valley that an outbound rail line ran through. They were the forward lookout, and all they had to do was make sure the way out of the City was clear of any Guard forces—and if there was a presence, but it was minimal, they would work together to neutralize them. If the enemy force was substantial on this particular day, then those attempting to rob the train using scout buggies further back would have to abort and try again later.

  “We should get moving, then,” Kletch said, checking his watch. “The train is scheduled to depart in one hour. We’ve gone over the plan enough. This batch of recruits looks capable.”

  Masayuki took the transponder off of his belt and spoke into it, “Colt, you better be done loading up. We’re about to move.”

  “Just finishing up securing the precious cargo,” his voice replied.

  Milla led the youth squad back to the Mezik L. Colt was inside its small cargo hold behind the passenger seats, tying up the last of his four crates of procurements. Used to the warmth of the burrow and knowing they would be on the cold surface for a while, the kids dressed warmly in the jackets and coats they brought—Rayna’s a distinctive, big bold red one.

  “You’re all ready for this,” Milla told them as they buckled in. “You’re all about the age Garder and I were when we first set off.”

  “Yeah, but you two have been around,” Temki replied. “Half of us haven’t even had a full life yet, and Norria’s not much older in that way…”

  “And that’s why Lechi and Brim are in charge. Just rely on their judgment, listen to them, and work together.”

  “What if they both start fighting about a decision?” Rhys asked.

  “Then do what Lechi says,” Brim replied confidently.

  “Right, you’ll know she’ll win the argument in the end,” Milla said with a smile. “Just save yourselves the time. Good luck out there.”

  With that, she left the ship to rejoin Masayuki, ready to hit the departing train with Kletch and his men who also opposed the Guard. Colt returned to the cockpit, fired up the engines, and after a steady exit from the warehouse, he took the Mezik L to the sky. Following a short flight, he pulled up to a forested hillside on the side of the valley.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Radio me if there’s an emergency, and I’ll pull you out,” Colt said and opened the door. “Just… don’t expect me to come in guns blazing, since—as a reminder here—she doesn’t have any. If you’re in danger, call for Milla instead and hunker down. She’ll get to you.”

  The team headed out into the cold, and their ride took off back towards the village. Other than a few social outings during their visits to C, this was the first time the six of them had been together without an older officer or a teacher from the burrow with them.

  The valley, being towards the edge of V, only had a few farms dotting its landscape, most of their crops dormant for the harsh winter, though at the moment there were only a few patches of snow across the miles of dried grass. A standard Aurrian railway, nearly twice as wide as those on Earth, split through the notch. Up the hill were pine trees and the tall watch tower that they would need to quickly secure.

  Having little to say and few commands that needed to be given just yet, Lechi led the way up the smooth incline, everyone keeping alert until they arrived at the base of the vacant stone tower, some two-hundred feet high. All that was in their way: an oversized metal lock on the metal door.

  “Who wants to do the honors?” Lechi asked the others.

  “Looks too tough to just bash away at,” Brim said. “Norria, think you can break through with a big rock or something?”

  She got in close, studied it, and replied, “Mm, I see blue specks. It’s coated in alchemagi sealant. We need something physical, non-alchemagic.”

  “Temki, think you could work with Lechi to synthesize a real key?”

  He looked a little baffled and answered, “What? How would I… know what shape to make it? Also… synthesizing takes a lot out of me. Energy that’s better off going here.” He pointed to his head.

  “Welp…” Rhys said and turned towards Rayna.

  Steadily, and inevitably, the others did the same. Put on the spot, Rayna sighed and raised her right arm.

  “We should really start carrying explosives around,” she said and prepped a weak nova spell in her mind.

  Sardonic like he often could be, Rhys replied, “Aw, come on, we already have a walking bomb.”

  “I really wish you wouldn’t say things like that…”

  Upon execution, her “tiny spell” generated white curving streams which coalesced into a bright sphere in front of the door. Having stepped back for safety, her friends watched as the sphere compacted just before detonating with the power of several hand grenades, overwhelming the alchemagi sealant and blowing the door inward and off its hinges.

  “Good work, terrifyingly overpowered as usual,” Rhys said.

  Rayna rolled her eyes at the remark and headed into the stone tower with the others. There was little inside other than a spiral staircase with a thin guardrail and a few dim wall lights.

  “Well, I’m not walking that. See you at the top,” Rhys said, then exhaled and knelt into a leaping position.

  “Wait, Rhys, don’t—” Lechi tried to stop him.

  Using the flutter technique, he pushed away the air above him, turning the space into a vacuum. He rocketed himself upward at high speed, while the others, caught in a pillar with no air, felt their own get sucked right out of their lungs. The air returned to its place in seconds, but the sudden spell had left them gasping and coughing.

  “Son of a…” Brim muttered. “Does he ever think?”

  After a few hearty coughs, Norria replied, “Yeah, great, now we get to go up these stairs while my lungs feel like they were just seizing up.”

  “Temki, we’re pretty vulnerable here,” Lechi told him. “Make sure you keep on the lookout for any other minds approaching us.”

  “Always,” he assured. “That isn’t really something I can turn off.”

  After climbing for nearly five minutes, they joined Rhys at the top, their legs starting to ache. The top of the tower was covered in a canopy held up by wooden supports, leaving them nearly defenseless if they were spotted. Rhys was already looking across the landscape with his binoculars, and Brim set up his sniper rifle and quickly found the railway through his scope, which he followed back to the train station.

  “Nothing yet,” he reported.

  Norria, after looking across in the opposite direction, felt the stone below and began to morph and raise it up around them into a thin barrier. It wouldn’t really offer any further protection, but by closing up the open space save for a few small windows, she did at least hide everyone better.

  “It’s quiet out there,” Temki said. “I don’t sense anyone nearby.”

  “Let’s hope it stays this easy,” Lechi replied and checked her radio.

  Rayna, taking a spot on the floor where she tapped patiently on her right arm’s restraint bracelet, wondered aloud, “Is this really so important?”

  “Forward lookout is always important,” Brim replied, not taking his eye off of his scope as he surveyed the land.

  “You’ve been in a lot of battles, right?” Rhys asked him.

  “Mostly on Earth, yes. I’m no warmonger, but when you’re as old as I am, chances are you’ve seen your share of skirmishes.”

  “Wouldn’t know what it’s like to be an ancient.”

  “You will, one day.”

  “Suppose so.” Rhys lowered his binoculars and sighed. “But, really, if anything did come up, wouldn’t Masayuki and Milla just take care of it?”

  “They’re strong, but not destroy-an-entire battalion strong.”

  “I dunno, if Garder did it once, maybe Milla could, too.” Rhys looked over at Rayna and added, “Rayna, on the other hand…”

  Not one to like being compared to a weapon, she looked away.

  “Hey, I see them,” Brim said. “Looks like about a dozen guys, trying to chase down the train like in those old westerns.”

  Rhys put his eyes back in his binoculars to see for himself. “Whoa, Masa’s shooting off some bolts out there. So, how far do they have…” He turned to the east—and spotted something coming in their direction. “Ah, hell. Guys, we might have a problem. Brim, there’s an airship out there.”

  “What?” Brim swiveled his large rifle ninety degrees and quickly found the incoming and quite large solid white ship approaching.

  “Tell me it’s a pleasure cruise,” Lechi said.

  “Afraid not. It’s military. Looks like troop transport—not patrol. Just bad timing. It’s flying right above the rail line.”

  “Damn it… Guardsmen could come dropping down on them.” Lechi brought up her transponder and held the button. “Hey, you got a troop transport ship coming in! We might want to bug out.”

  Lechi waited for a response, but heard only static. She repeated her message, this time hearing a loud pop from the radio afterwards.

  “There’s some intense fighting out there,” Rhys said. “The rear train car is defended by Guardsmen, and Masa is causing interference.”

  Brim turned away from his scope and told the others, “Between the fighting and the lightning, they’re not going to hear a message before that ship’s already over them.”

  “I can sense some anxiety, eagerness coming from inside…” Temki said, concentrating. “It’s possible those onboard have been alerted.”

  “What should we do, Lechi?” Brim asked her.

  She looked out at her friends attacking the train, and the airship on the other side of the valley that would soon be in their view. “I… I, uh…”

  “I can take it out,” Brim said confidently.

  “Are you kidding?” Rhys replied. “You’ll get one shot before their cannons are bombing the hell out of us.”

  “Two,” Brim corrected him and returned to his scope.

  “What?”

  “You get two shots until they know your general location. And anyway, I’ll only need one. Lechi, if you can’t decide, I’m engaging.”

  She thought it over for another second, and trying her best to be a decisive leader, she told him, “Don’t miss.”

  He took out a crystal round, imbued it with some alchemagi to detonate remotely, took aim, and brought up three fingers on his left hand.

  “Lechi and Norria… be ready to put up a shield, just in case.”

  He exhaled and fired, the burst nearly deafening. His rifle and ammunition were designed to fire at a lower velocity, so that he would have the time to track the bullet and set off his alchemagi at the right moment.

  After counting to three and a half seconds in his head, he triggered his vector spell. A large mandala erupted from the bullet, going at the same speed and faster than a vector spell could usually be launched. The intricate shape made of glowing lines cut into the front of the ship’s envelope. There was a loud, fireless explosion that reverberated across the valley, and the vessel began to dip and come down at a soft angle.

  “Forward ballonet destroyed,” Brim said and loaded another round. “But the ship was too low—it’s not going to pitch down enough before it crashes. Going for the aft ballonet.”

  Brim took careful aim again and was about to fire—but his target responded first. They saw four barrel flashes from the gondola go off, and Norria and Lechi reacted before they heard the sound. Norria’s barrier, an earthen wall generated from her dual shields, appeared a split second before Lechi’s metal slab extended into a thin layer of tough iron.

  Two of the shots felt and sounded like they hit the surrounding pine trees, one exploded into the tower itself, and the last one smashed into the barrier, deforming it inwards but not quite puncturing through.

  “What happened to two shots, Brim?” Rhys exclaimed.

  “Damn it, they must’ve just assumed we were in the tower.”

  “Then it’s time to get out of here.”

  As quickly as he had jumped to the top, Rhys dropped himself like a rock to the bottom of the tower, stopping himself with an air cushion before he hit the ground. Following a second barrage that only hit the surrounding trees, Norria released her shield and jumped down with Brim.

  “It’s okay,” Lechi said to Rayna and Temki. “We’ll catch you.”

  “Uh, you first,” Temki told Rayna once they were alone.

  Before she jumped, she replied with a sigh, “I wish we weren’t stuck with just one element each…”

  Temki counted five seconds before doing the same. Above him, with the barrier gone, the top of the tower suddenly took a direct hit and exploded. He flailed about until he hit the pocket of air the others were maintaining, but he didn’t land gracefully and his glasses flew off.

  Lechi found the pair and as she handed them to him, she told Norria, “The airship’s probably about to crash, but just in case, keep your barriers up. We don’t want to be hit by tree splinters.”

  Norria looked around and grabbed hold of two loosened stone bricks for extra defense, and they headed out of the collapsing structure.

  Lechi’s guidance proved vital, as no sooner were they outside when a final and nearly straight-on barrage tore into the trees just ahead of them. Norria was able to put up a shrapnel-absorbing barrier in time, combining her shields, the tower stones, and a nearby boulder.

  Once the dust had settled and she dropped the protection, they could see through the trees—many now toppled—as the airship made a hard but survivable landing. The rear engine exploded and the deflating envelope caught fire as the mass of fabric settled onto the train tracks.

  “Lechi, come in!” Milla’s voice came in loudly.

  “Y-yes, I’m here,” she responded.

  “Did you just shoot down that airship?” she exclaimed

  “I authorized Brim. We couldn’t get through to you.”

  “Had a hell of time taking the train,” Masayuki came in. “They bolstered security. We probably can’t do this again with a force this small.”

  “We were worried about what would happen if…”

  “It’s okay,” Milla said, a little more calmly. “I think you made the right choice, just… a dangerous one. We’re in the cab now, about to bail out and let Kletch and the locals take over. Stay there, we’re coming.”

  “What about the airship?” Rhys asked, looking out with his binoculars again as it turned into an inferno and dozens of troops fled from the wreck. “It’s kind of a burning heap that’s covering the track.”

  “It’s too late to slow down. Kletch looked it over and his mind’s telling him he won’t battle self-preservation suppression, so he’ll power through it and hope for the best. Hunker down and wait for Colt to get us.”

  “Guys, we have a problem,” Brim reported, an eye down his scope. “Looks like they know they can’t stop the train, so now all those troops are charging towards us. We got maybe a minute until we’re in their range.”

  Lechi asked, “How many are we talking about?”

  “I sense about… thirty minds,” Temki answered.

  “That’s what I’m seeing, as well,” Rhys added, and then looked at Rayna. “Considering what we’re up against, maybe, Rayna, if you could just… take those bracelets off and blow them all up for us?”

  Her eyes widened. “What? I… I can’t just do that.”

  “Are you kidding? They’re probably going to kill us.”

  “It’s okay, Rayna,” Lechi said and turned her metal slab into six javelins that she kept hovering at her sides. “We won’t make you do that. We’ll take care of this, but you still have to protect yourself.”

  “I… I think I can do that. As long as it’s self-defense…”

  Brim switched to his regular rounds and was able to take down two of the coming Guardsmen before they were in alchemagi range, at which point he strapped his rifle to his back and prepped a strong vector spell.

  The surviving enemy regiment had with them several archers, riflemen, and swordsmen, along with three alchemagists. Norria created an earthen barrier to block the solid projectiles, but that was quickly sliced apart by an enemy vector beam that cut through several trees first, bringing them toppling down in their direction.

  Lechi fired off her javelins—four got stuck in trees while two hit archers—and then pulled them back into her range, where she combined the six spears into the familiar shape of her amorphous yet sharp and large sword, which she had named Galvan. As she rarely wielded it directly, its form was often a long, hiltless razor blade that she flung through the air.

  Seeing that the falling trees posed more of a danger at the moment, Brim and Lechi worked together to chop up and redirect the debris with sword and atomized beam before they were crushed. They then redirected their slicing attacks towards the enemy, cutting down the forest that the Guardsmen were running into. The youth squad having the high ground worked greatly to their advantage, as the trees not only fell but rolled downhill as well. With the Guard more focused on avoiding or blasting apart trees out to kill them, Norria dropped her defenses for a moment and began tossing down nearby boulders as well. Once she ran out of nearby loose rocks on the surface, she placed her palms on the ground and started pulling up the others that were dug deeper into the mountainside.

  After waiting for his chance, Rhys saw his turn to attack and began with a running leap, his trench knives out and gripped in a way so that gave his lower arms sharp fins. He moved swiftly and bounced off of trees, moving gracefully and like Earth’s mythical ninja.

  He was able to get close and with overwhelming speed, doled out lethal slashes against the vector alchemagist and two swordsmen. Another of the wizards who was hiding behind a large tree for protection retaliated with a burst of fire, igniting some of the dried shrubs in the area. Rhys outran the rapidly moving flames, knowing that the turbulent hot air made his air-powered movements much more difficult to calculate.

  Not wanting to push his luck, he turned to rejoin his group—and noticed that an archer had a bead on him and was tracking him through the cover of the trees. When he had a chance, he crossed his arms in a way that slid the bottom of his knives’ grips into each other, connecting the short blades. Once he left cover again, he threw the spinning weapon at the archer with pinpoint accuracy, taking him down and sending a loose arrow into the air. Rhys was far from defenseless, having a second pair of knives on him and always prepared to sacrifice his first should a need arise.

  “They’re getting closer,” Lechi said and turned to Brim. “No more tree-cutting, we’ll be endangering ourselves. Temki, Rayna—be ready.”

  “Lechi…” Temki spoke up. “I sense three or four of them trying to sneak up on our right.”

  “We got archers and riflemen shooting at us ahead that we have to focus on, do you think you’ll be okay?”

  “They’ll have to get close…” Temki concentrated. “I think they’re using swords. They shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Lechi gave him a nod, turned to those trying to advance as they launched and fired projectiles, and transformed Galvan back into a shield.

  Seeing that Rayna was up against a tree and frightened, Temki tried to assure her, “It’s going to be okay. They’re loud, mentally.”

  She huffed. “How can you be so calm all the time?”

  “Sometimes it feels like I can see two or three seconds into the future. That doesn’t sound like much, but even just seeing… Hold on.”

  He raised his left arm, and the moment that three swordsmen leapt out from behind some trees ready to strike, he fired off a strong telepathic wave that all but shut down their minds. Put into cognitive shock, the three collapsed mid-step, each reduced to a near-vegetative state. It wouldn’t have been as devastating if the attackers had even slightly prepared a mental defense, but they had been focused solely on physical attacks.

  Temki continued, “I’m just saying, not worrying so much about the next few seconds helps. We can both only use one alignment, but you’ll…”

  Temki stopped and looked up to see the one man he had missed. He was above, jumping from tree to tree silently, and clinging to their sides effortlessly. Temki gathered that he was likely of the plant alignment.

  The man suddenly leapt down straight at him, and Temki fired off another mind blast—but to little effect. His attacker was masked, leaving only his eyes exposed, and all they did was twitch just a little upon being hit. His legs slammed into Temki’s chest, winding him and knocking him to the ground. Had the man not been relatively small, the impact could have been more dangerous. As Rayna watched, Temki was able to get up and avoid the swings of his attacker’s twin short blades.

  Temki’s mind and perception worked far more quickly than average, giving him strong foresight and the ability to analyze and move out of the way of most attacks. His quick foe was forcing him to back up, but none of his swings were landing. Temki was actually more concerned with Rayna, who was looking more worried every passing second.

  “Rayna, I need your help here,” he managed to say. “I think he’s a sentinel and an officer. If you take him down, this all might end.”

  She nervously shook her head, at which point Temki was caught off guard by a growing vine on the forest floor. It ensnared his leg and tripped him to the ground, where it continued to grow.

  The officer, as brutal as a Guardsman could come, brought down both swords towards Temki, aiming to kill. But he wasn’t afraid—he saw the shot that would save him before it rang out. Brim had managed to hit one of the officer’s hands with his sidearm, badly mangling it. The sword fell and planted itself next to Temki’s shoulder. Seeing that Brim was the immediate threat, the officer charged at him with his other blade.

  Brim realized too late that he didn’t have time to aim and get off another shot, and he stumbled backwards to just barely avoid a deadly slash. The edge cut into his right arm, tearing into his jacket sleeve and splashing crimson across the side of a tree. Norria was able to react and block a second strike with her tough earthen shield, only to take a blunt force hit from the weapon’s hilt to her neck, screwing up her ability to breathe. Rhys in turn saved her, blocking a follow-up sword strike with his knives. The two began a duel, with Lechi watching but unable to help as she had to maintain an iron barrier to stop a barrage of bullets and arrows.

  Rayna was still watching, too. She had been trained like the others to work with a team and do what needed to be done in a fight, but she still couldn’t muster the courage to attack someone else. And yet…

  This all felt too similar to what Lontonkon had done to her, the terrible vision he had put into her mind. But she knew it was real this time. The others had done well so far, but it looked like they were about to all be killed by a single skilled officer. It was him, or her friends. She knew that.

  “Damn it!” Rhys shouted as he also took a glancing blow on his arm. “I’m trying, but I can’t land a hit on this guy! Lechi!”

  She shouted back, “If I drop the barrier, we’ll be dead in seconds!”

  “Crap!” Rhys felt his legs seize up and glanced down to see that more vines were growing up and around him. “I can’t…!”

  It was only bad luck, Rhys thought. That airship just happened to have a plant adept that would fight him in an environment where he had a strong advantage. That was the only reason he was about to die. It wasn’t so much a matter of skill, which he knew he had in spades. It was just…

  His attacker suddenly exploded with such force that nothing was left behind save for some red mist. Aurra saw him as so incredibly dead, that much of his blood evaporated into orange smoke before it even hit anything. His sword rocketed and spun away, and just a millisecond later it had stuck itself deep into a tree. Stunned like all of his friends, Rhys and then the others turned their gaze towards Rayna. She was standing and breathing deeply, with two trembling fingers still pointed to the sky.

  The arrows and bullets then stopped, and Lechi cautiously lowered her barrier as Norria got to her feet. The remaining Guardsmen had brought down their weapons and were looking at each other.

  Speaking to them as he pulled off the vines, Rhys exclaimed, “Your commanding officer just got spread across the hillside, so… If you want to run away, we won’t hold it against you.”

  They seemed to take a moment to ponder the offer, before hearing something and turning around. At the bottom of the hill, the buggy carrying Masayuki and Milla had just pulled up. The Guardsmen identified them and finally realized just who they had made the mistake of fighting.

  “They’re from C and Eden’s Burrow…” one of them said audibly.

  “Screw this,” an archer replied and took off.

  The rest debated with their body language whether or not to keep at it, but soon also broke rank and retreated. Masayuki and Milla let them go and made their way up to the kids, noticing their injuries.

  “Well. You handled yourselves…” Masayuki sighed, and then looked a little perturbed upon noticing the empty pair of smoldering but still-standing boots nearby. “Anything serious?”

  Norria tried to speak but only got a wheeze out, and Brim and Rhys clutched their arms, but they were otherwise still all right.

  “We’ll have to talk about all this later,” Milla said, checking her watch. “Colt will be here any minute and we’re almost in our window for returning to the burrow. We need to get back into the open.”

  All of them able to walk, they followed the adults back down, with Rayna being the straggler in the back. Milla saw the look of desolation in her face and joined her.

  “Are you okay, Rayna?” she asked her.

  “I… I’ve never even hurt anyone before…”

  “Oh. Y-yeah… I heard the, um… the explosion.”

  “I was barely trying. Just… just a little more than usual, you know? I thought, maybe, I’d just scare him off, or maybe… a small injury, but…”

  “You’re scared of yourself, I know. I get that. Your power is incredible, but that means it’s also frightening. Everything’s in reverse for you, and I’m not sure how to help with that. You try your best to lessen your alchemagi’s strength, but it can’t be easy.”

  “I don’t want to hurt people. I want to help my friends and keep them safe, but I just wish… I wish I could do more than just make, I don’t know what else to call them… Bombs.”

  Milla wrapped her arm around Rayna’s shoulder and brought her in close to comfort her as they made their way out from the trees. The Mezik L dropped out of the sky and landed softly in front of them, as Kletch brought the train out from the burning wreck unharmed in the distance. At some point out of the City but before the port, Onasian Angels would intercept the train and take all of the rations from its cars.

  “Man…” Rhys huffed and collected his thrown knives. “If it were me, I’d just be grateful to survive an airship crash and call it a day.”

  “These weren’t Onasian Guardsmen,” Masayuki explained, as he studied one of the vacated uniforms. “These colors are Tillethian. They’re meaner, often brazen. What were they doing out here?”

  Once onboard their ride, Colt simply left the engines at idle and stayed on the ground, knowing he’d be able to go straight to the burrow in about thirty seconds. Milla checked everyone’s injuries, with Brim using the smallest of vector lines to sew and cauterize his wound.

  “Agh, I’ll never get used to doing this…” he said as he focused intently on the delicate work. “Am I doing it right, Ms. Nolland?”

  “Just fine,” she replied after a quick glance.

  “Thanks for teaching me this technique. I’m still getting used to being a vector in the first place. All these lives… and it’s my first time.”

  “I’ve never been a lightning adept,” she replied with a small smile. “So, there’s a first time for everything. Colt, we ready?”

  “Yep, we’re going,” he answered and hit the glowing orb.

  Taking the bits of grass and dirt stuck to its landing gear with it, the Mezik L vanished and reappeared back into the place it had departed just a few hours earlier, and the mission officially ended.

  The moment the door reopened, Rayna hurried out, visibly upset and unwilling to talk to anyone. The others left next, with Lechi following Rayna as the others needed at the least a quick visit to the clinic, while Colt fetched Michael to help with the supplies.

  “Rayna!” Lechi called out, chasing her down the hall.

  She made it to their barracks just as Rayna dove into her bunk and closed her curtain to hide. Lechi didn’t attempt to pull it open.

  “Hey, are you okay?” she asked her from the other side. “I know things got a little rough out there, and…”

  “Please, just leave me alone.”

  “I will. But I just want you to know that you did well. You saved us—focus on that. It will get easier with time.”

  “Easier… to attack people? Hurt people?”

  “That’s not what… Rayna, you’re an amazing person, but if you leave the team or… If you’re not with us, and something happens to Temki or the others, you’ll never forgive yourself. And that will be even worse.”

  Once Lechi knew she wouldn’t get a reply, she left the room. As the commanding officer of the team, she knew she needed to debrief with Milla, so she thought it was as good a time as any to get it over with. She just hoped that she hadn’t made the wrong call or otherwise screwed up so badly that she wouldn’t get a second chance.

  She found Milla and Masayuki in the clinic, where Hilden was wrapping up Brim’s injury with bandages. To her surprise, she also saw that Simon was now present in the burrow.

  Lechi immediately asked, “Simon? What are you doing here? I mean, it’s good to see you, but you barely ever come down.”

  “Y-yeah. I like the tech, but it’s also kind of suffocating for me.”

  “I have to get going,” Masayuki said, having just finished up some small talk with Hilden. “Milla, Simon… Good luck.”

  “Wait, what’s going on? Where’s everyone going?” Lechi asked.

  Milla answered, “Masayuki and Osk are heading to D to help Rivia with the final push. And Simon and I… Well, my day’s just beginning. The two of us have something of a secret mission.”

  “Oh. I guess there isn’t really time to talk, then…”

  “There will be when we get back.”

  Lechi headed out, but waited by the clinic door until Milla and Simon emerged. She stopped Ms. Nolland with a light grab at her hand.

  Trying to keep her voice down, Lechi told her, “Milla, I overheard about W a few days ago. I know that’s where you’re going, after Nish.”

  After making sure no one was nearby, Milla replied, “Right, okay. We’re just something of a scout team, seeing if we can even get inside W, maybe making sure the Guard hasn’t beaten us there. And it’s going to be a long flight—none of us have been there before, so we need to fly from V.”

  “Just be careful, no matter how small the mission might sound. It was supposed to be easy for my team today, too…”

  “I appreciate your concern, Lechi. Don’t worry. If we can get the officials there on our side, we may be… just fine out there.”

  With that, Milla left to catch up with Simon. Before heading to her bed, Lechi glanced back in the clinic and noticed that Rhys, his examination complete, had been looking in her direction. As she was more concerned about Rayna, she paid him no mind and left to get some rest.

  “You two ready?” Colt asked a few minutes after Milla and Simon stepped into the Mezik L’s cockpit to go over things. “Just finished my checklist. We’re ready for the trip. Hilden dropped off lunch for you both.”

  “Yes,” Milla said after a hesitant breath. “Let’s go.”

  Colt flicked a switch to close the ship’s passenger door, and Milla and Simon took their seats close to the front. Once they were clear to depart, Colt brought them back to the same mountain in V from before, and this time took off to the southeast. With any luck, if they were able to get into W, they would soon be trading wide open skies for a subterranean metropolis. And there, somewhere, was a mad scientist.