EVERYDAY someone learns something new. And that day Damien learnt that if he ever, like ever faced a choice where he had to walk barefoot or take a carriage driven by a skinny, ugly and terrifying black horse—he should always choose to go barefoot.
Because this thing was literally a ride to hell.
The carriage shot straight to the sky as if a bullet shot from a gun.
Damien then heard the horse in the middle say, "Turn left, I have a good feeling about it."
Good feeling? What did he mean by good feeling?
The carriage turned an inch towards the left and the one on the left stampeded his hooves in the air. "This is left, I told you that when Rem asks you to go right, you go to your right. Not mine."
"Oh sorry."
The one on the right apologised before turning to his right and shooting straight past the forest that was underneath them. Damien looked behind him, as he was certain that the trees must have been set on fire.
And just as he expected the tops of the trees were lit up with flames.
Damien felt his stomach churn and a second later he heard Rem say, "To the left."
Again the carriage shot as if it was being driven by an immature driver and Damien was sure that his stomach was left behind somewhere at the ground of the burning forest.
He turned to look at Xavier before asking, "What about the fire?" Were they not afraid of starting a forest fire?
"The fire will die down," replied Xavier. "The fire caused by the carriage of Axyria always dies down."
Damien wanted to ask something more but when he saw that Xavier was looking queasy, he clamped his mouth shut.
"You idiot that was the Tempest of Ruins, we need to go Cyrovonia—we need to go through the Valley of Bane flows."
"Well, I am sorry, I will see properly next time," said the one on the right. "Oh wait, I cannot see."
Damien whipped his head to look at Wistoria. "They cannot see?" he asked in a hysterical voice.
"You are exaggerating," said Wistoria even though she looked just as worried. "There is no need to worry." And she was saying these words while looking plenty worried, herself.
They were now skimming against the clouds, a few hundred or a few feet above them.
"That's right, passenger. Do not be worried," Rem's voice echoed in his head. "We will bring you to your destination at all costs."
"In one piece or several?" Damien asked.
To his surprise, Rem did not answer; instead the carriage plummeted several feet down before swirling right. Levy, who was sitting next to him, tumbled right onto his lap. And even though the two men had their differences at that moment, both of them were so severely terrified that they did not push one another away.
While Damien clutched Levy's waist, the latter hugged his neck.
Their mouths were open in silent screams as they watched the sea under the clouds get closer and closer.
FABOOM!
The carriage came to a stop right above the surface of the water.
"Host...I don't know how to tell you this —but it seems to me...you are really close to having your heart fail," Dan said to Damien.
"I wonder why," Damien panted heavily while looking straight. His chest was moving up and down. He was staring straight at the window that overlooked the island where they were supposed to land.
"Are you alright?" Wistoria asked with a glance at him.
"Jeez, let me think," Damien turned to look at her. His eyes were still popping as he looked at the woman beside him. "First, I wasn't told about this mission. Second, I was made to sit in a carriage that nearly drove us to our deaths. Third and last, the carriage I am sitting in plummeted three hundred feet from the sky. How do you think I am feeling?
I feel like I am about to throw up my guts."
Wistoria smiled at him weakly before patting him on the shoulder, "Come on, brave warrior. Swallow your guts of steel; we need to get off."
Damien glared at her. However, he was so eager to get off the carriage that he didn't bother wasting time quarrelling with Wistoria. At last, he steeled his nerves and pushed the man sitting on his lap before getting up from the seat and stepping out on the island.
"Oh, I don't feel so good."