Emino looked over Talon's shoulder curiously. This entire time, Arryn hadn't uttered a single word as he kept himself hidden behind the young man.
He was scared for his life because of these strangers. Weirdly enough, he seemed way more terrified of them than he was terrified of Talon before which made the latter even more confused.
Looking down at the kid, he was shaking visibly and his arms were holding onto Talon for dear life. He kept muttering incomprehensible words to himself like a prayer or a mantra.
'What's wrong with him?' Talon thought to himself with a frown before he patted his head.
That made Arryn look up silently. "Don't Worry. I won't let them do anything to you." He said in a calm and confident tone.
That made the little boy blink before nodding faintly.
"Mm..."
"My apologies. You see, my brother is very timid and doesn't like strangers that much." Talon laughed awkwardly as he looked at Emino.
The latter seemed very curious of Arryn at first but then simply nodded his head.
"It's fine, young man. We aren't bad people. Are we now?" Looking back at his group, Emino smiled. "Oh right, I forgot to introduce my team. How silly of me? That tall lady right there is my wife Lefa.
The two twins over there are Michi and Kichi and that cold girl is Evi."
"Nice to meet you all." Talon nodded his head in acknowledgment.
"Nice to meet ya." Lefa nodded seriously.
"Nice to meet you too, Talon!" The two twins said in unison.
Meanwhile, the girl with the hooded cloth simply looked away, hiding her face.
Talon noticed her weird behavior but he didn't think much about it. She reminded him of Chin-Hwa with that attitude which was oddly familiar to see.
"So, you said that you are heading to the city, right? Want a ride?" Emino said.
"You can carry us there?" Talon raised an eyebrow confusedly.
"Of course, a part of our duties is to help lost souls that wander these deadly stretches of land. We always have spare flying gear." Saying that he turned around and walked to his wife.
"You have it, right?"
The woman looked at him for a second before nodding her head. She seemed rather hesitant at first but quickly gave up saying anything and pulled a small box from her back.
The box was wooden from the outside with some weird metallic engravings around its corners. It looked like a music box in some way.
"Though, we will have to teach you how to use it. Is that fine?" He asked.
"Of course. I don't mind."
Although Talon was still wary of these people, he had to accept their proposal because he was stuck in the desert and now had a way of crossing the distance in a short period.
'I have to take some risks or it will take me forever to make it there.' He thought to himself.
"Oh, yeah, my apologies." Then, Talon quickly followed the man's request.
After that, Emino pulled two safety belts from the back of the box and put them around Talon's torso. Making sure to tighten them properly, he then tapped Talon's shoulder.
"Now, I want you to tap the button on this side." He said. "After that, you will have to use your Aetheris to connect your body to the device. It might take some time to learn but I'm sure you can figure it out. Do you want to try?"
Talon inspected the device with his eyes curiously. It was surprisingly comfortable and not that heavy. The wings also didn't restrict his movement that much which was a plus.
'I like this.' He mused before he turned around.
"OK, let me try for myself." He replies.
"Good."
Emino then took a few steps back to let Talon try.
Meanwhile, the rest of the squad watched curiously.
"Hey, Michi, why is Emino letting him do it alone?"
"I don't know, Kichi. We usually have to help them learn how to connect their bodies with the gears, no?"
"That's the normal case." The one to respond first was Lefa who watched carefully. A weird glint flashed across her eyes. "It seems Emino has some idea in mind."
'What are you thinking of?' She asked herself with a stoic expression.
She knew how meticulous her husband can be in these situations so what he was doing definitely had a purpose. What that purpose was, however, is a completely different problem.
"Make sure to not put too much energy into it." The Middle-aged man yelled as he saw Talon reach to tap the button.
The latter nodded and took a deep breath before putting his hand on the small button and tapped it.
Instantly, the wings started flapping as steam came out of the engine behind him. Talon flinched for a moment before he stopped.
'They're flapping slowly. Hmm, OK, this isn't too bad. Now I need to connect them to me as he said. But, how does that work?' He thought for a moment.
He assumed that this device worked just like a weapon in the sense that it absorbed the host's energy to work.
So, he simply decided to do exactly that. Channeling his Aetheris, he let it flow throughout his body for a moment before he slowly started expanding it.
The energy flowed calmly till it reached the device and touched the Aetheris in it. The two forms of energy seemed to be confused at first, trying to understand each other.
Meanwhile, Talon didn't let himself think too much about it and simply let his energy decide in his stead.
'Is this going to even work?' He asked himself a few seconds in. This was all his assumptions and nothing else. The entire time, Emino didn't say a word as if he forgot he had to guide Talon through the process.
At that moment, unbeknownst to anyone, the two energies stopped being careful and suddenly blended with each other. Then, out of nowhere, the two wings started flapping at an extremely fast pace and before he knew it, Talon was blasted into the air, reaching 50 meters in a split second.
"What the hell?!!!!" He yelled as he clenched his teeth.
A//N: If you enjoyed reading, don't forget to support the book with GT and PS. Thank you!