Chapter 25: Escape

Chapter 25: Escape

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Escape

As was becoming a staple of my life, my plan was a work in progress. Thus far I had 'escape with my life' down as my end goal and a fair number of question marks between there and here, but I figured the important part was that I had all my priorities straight. Get out of here, get to Atlas, save the people, survive it allI knew what I wanted to accomplish.

And all told, I'd say it was going pretty well. Using their reluctance to fire over the city against them had gotten me to the limits of Vale and then some strategic thinking and careful flying had shaken them off my tail and given me a chance to take them down. I wasn't worried about firing at them over Beacon, because I knew the people onboard the ships would be fine thanks to the Hunter passengers I'd confirmed with Observe and the crashed ships themselves were unlikely to do any harm to the Hunters-in-training down below. That had bought me a fair amount of time to fly into the Emerald Forest before anyone else came along to continue the chase.

At that point, wellbringing the Grimm into the equation had been a calculated risk. Beacon had been built on the edge of the Emerald Forest long ago, a defense for an early Vale against the hostile creatures that lurked within, which was also why it was situated so close to Forever Fall. That wasn't to say the other untamed places that surrounded Vale weren't dangerousit was an untamed place on Remnant and therefore extremely hostilebut the worst breeds of Grimm had come from over what had long-since been nicknamed the Dread Mountains.

Since then, however, years of predation by hundreds of people training to be Hunters, as well as by the staff and alumni keeping things in order, had diminished the threat. Not enough to remove it by any means or even make it less than extremely dangerous to the unprepared, but in comparison to the beasts that had once stalked Vale's bordersNew novel chapters are published on

These were nothing but an annoyance.

Which is good, because an annoyance was exactly what I needed until I could get far enough to throw myself into horrific danger. I'd fired on the forest, carving a scar across it to disturb its inhuman inhabitants, and watched as the dark creatures had taken to the skies. It was often debated just how intelligent the Grimm were and no one could say for certainsometimes they showed almost senselessly suicidal behavior, while others they seemed to organized extremely intelligent, simultaneous attacks on vulnerabilities.

Whatever the case, though, they were definitely predators. Different from any other kind, to be sure, with no fear of death or danger, but still predatorsand as such, given a choice they would strike at the weakest link, the isolated, injured, small, and alone. They'd fearless strike at the powerful, too, but only if they didn't have something more fragile to devour first. Given that, I couldn't be certain how they'd react when I drew them to battle, because I was being chased. I was weak, too, compared to those who followed me.

But though they had Hunters aboard, the pursuing craft were vastly smaller than the White Whale and I had displayed my power by wreaking havoc on their home. Given that, I figured they'd consider them a smaller threat and sure enough, much of the dark flock directed its attention toward my hunters, buying me precious time to get further away.

And then I rose above the Darkened Peaks that separated Vale from the horrors beyond and got my first, true glimpse of a world still untouched by man. Not so much as a glimmer of industrialization, of things shaped by muscle or machine, I saw an almost impossibly long slope of pure white snow, until it gave way at last to land in the distance. My first thought as I flew beyond for the first time was that it was a beautiful, remote place.

But it wasn't empty.

As we came over the peaks with shrieks and fire, we drew the attention of the beasts that lurked beyond civilization. Tyrant Scales rose from the mountain sides at the noise, taking to the air around usmassive beasts, at least as big as Giant Nevermore and even more dangerous. I'd seen them before, but only in my parent's gallery, but these creatures had scales of pure white instead of black, some exhaling a mist-like fog that left ice forming in the air around it while others breathed fire. I felt luck for the fact that I didn't see any with multiple heads as I flew passed them as quickly as I could, hoping not to give them time to regain their bearings.

I admit it, my plan at this point was to just fly really fast so the monsters couldn't be bothered to wreck my shit. I didn't even use any tricks or stunts or anything, but simply flew straight with all the speed I could muster, trying to keep ahead. Not the bravest or most ingenious plan ever, but it seemed to work for the moment. I stayed out of the fighting and just kept on flying.

All the while, I watched my Map and kept an eye on my pursuers through my Elementals. Most of the ships on my tail had apparently decided to continue the chase a bit farther, with only a scarce few drawing back and away, withdrawing from the danger. I was a little disappointed, but not surprisedI'd expected to need to go deeper into the Badlands to escape from Hunters. I was lucky, at least, in that the creatures swarming about me still seemed to find them a more appetizing target and I drew out others with chaos and noise as I flew boldly onwards.

Between the passive bonuses of my flying skills and the boost from my Nature Affinity, I think I did pretty well, gliding over the snow covered fields while maintaining a steady distance from those chasing me. From here on out, so long as I aimed well and made sure any Grimm that rose did so closer to them than me, I should be okay, but I still needed to figure out a way to shake

I paused mid-thought, looking at my Map carefully before looking back in front of me. Geological structures were etched accurately onto the screen, though the two-dimensional view wasn't ideal for three-dimensional flight. That was mainly just me being greedy, though, and I compensated for that weakness somewhat with Crocea Mors and Levantit was undeniable that my Map was a godsend when it came to stuff like this. It let me keep track of how many people were chasing me, where roads were, kept track of landmarks and notable things; when I needed, it could even draw me the fastest route between my current location and a destination. It was extraordinarily useful and I trusted it.

Which left me a bit confused, because according to it, the mountain I was flying towards was a lot smaller then it appearedhalf the size, if that. I'd looked up everything I could about the Badlands before this mission, had drawn on pictures and paintings and everything I possibly could concerning it, just in case. I was flying towards the Anzu Mountain and it looked the same now as it had in Leopold's drawing over a hundred years ago. There was nothing wrong with it, that I could see and I wouldn't have paid it any mind if not for the attention I'd paid to my Map.

I wondered for a moment if it was simply wrongand immediately dismissed the thought. I'd gotten to the point that I trusted what my power told me above my own eyes or even a hundred years of history. Besides which, I was both nowhere near lucky enough and too Lucky for 'there was nothing wrong' to be a remotely plausible explanation to me anymore after noticing something was strange. Indeed, it seemed fairly safe to assume that if my power told me something didn't add up, it mean something bad for me.

I frowned down at my map for a moment, looking for any clues in the limited data it revealed to me. It didn't tell me anything about the structure itselfwhether it was somehow an enemy unit, some kind of hologram, or whatbut after a moment, I noticed that the Grimm which had once been harrying my pursuers were swiftly drawing way.

Suddenly shifting to flat-out worried, I ignored the ships that were now closing in and squinted at the mountain, Observing it. What returned to me was almost entirely hidden from my sight, but what little I could make out left my mouth slackened, my eyes wide.

No, I thought. Please no.

Lightning struck at my ship and hail rained down on it, jolts and impacts that briefly sent my heart hammerednot in fear of the attacks, though Levant and Crocea turned their focus to defense in my stead, but of what they might cause.

In Ziz's clutches, I watched the world go by beneath me. Despite its sizeor perhaps because of itit flew impossibly quickly, faster than anything I'd ever even heard of. In what seemed like minutes, land turned to sea, though it should have taken me an hour or two to get that far. I spent a while staring down at the shifting depths of the ocean, at the waves below, and it was

Boring. Surprisingly peaceful, perhaps even beautiful, but after a while, really dull. The Gamer's Mind kept me calm in any situation, so fear was never anything more than a momentary distraction, blunting the terror of even such a creature's presence. Even beyond that, thoughit sounds oddor maybe even impressivebut it's likeit's like knowing someone is out there and any minute he could come in and kill you and there's no way for you to stop him or reason with him or do anything, but he's taking his sweet-ass time about it.

The first few minutes of that were really nerve-wracking, even calm as I was; the simple knowledge that my life was a toy in someone else's hand, to be crushed and discarded. Even if that didn't fog my thinking, didn't make me panic, didn't get to me directly, it was a fact that I knew, considered, and had no way of refuting.

Then half an hour had passed and still nothing had happened. I'd distracted myself, found things to do. I wrote a few things on my scroll that I realized I'd never gotten around to doing. I wrote a will, though I had no way of making it official and it was unlikely anyone would ever find it. I wrote letters, too, just on that off chance, apologies and last words to my friends and family. I sighed and ruefully wrote a list of the things I regretted not doing, just to keep them in mind, and then a list of things I would do if I somehow survived.

Then an hour had passed and still nothing had happened. Levant stayed by my side through it all, gaze more curious then frightened, whilst Crocea Mors was unshakable as ever. Between them and the Gamer's Mindit's really hard to be worried while feeling calm and being surrounded by friends who just weren't. I browsed through my scroll even though I was far out of range. I read my emails, mostly stuff from Blake after our last exchange, and then played some games on it. None of them took me very long to complete, sadly, because of my enhanced Intelligence and Wisdom made the solutions rather obvious once I got the hang of it, but it was a good distraction. I kind of regretted not downloading any books onto it or anything but the built in games, really, but what can you do? Live and learn, I guess, though I wasn't sure that was applicable to this situation.

I looked up after the third hour, saw that I was still over the sea, and sighed. I probably should have abandoned ship the moment Ziz had seized me up and just walked back to Vale or something, but I'd been hopeful, stubborn. I'd wanted to save those people so bad I'd tried to wrest the ship free and by the time I'd given up any chance of that working I'd been out at sea. And now

Well, maybe if I climbed out I could swim somewhere? If I could get to shore or something, I should be able to contract with a Water Elemental. The mission would be a failure, but there was a chance I'd get home alive. Of course it was more likely I'd just be eaten by water faring Grimm, but

I checked my Map again to determine where we were and then looked to my World Map to try and make a rough guess as to where I was going. Southeast, roughly, though that could lead anywhere. With a sigh, I decided to wait in the hopes Ziz would hit land againand hopefully not attack anyone. I considered going to sleep butno, I'd rather be awake for this. Especially since there was an off chance of there being an opportunity to escape, however slim. I waited, relaxed as best I could, and watched the world go by.

And then we abruptly made landfall. Ziz set down suddenly on a shore I didn't recognize, walking inland with steps that must have shaken the world. I was about to rise, ready to leave and facewhatever was coming, but was knocked back into my seat before I could even do anything. The entire ship shook as a horrible ripping sound tore through it and I held my breath as if he might hear me. There was a long moment of silence, a tense moment as if I was being judged

I was suddenly flying. Not like Ziz had taken to the skies again or like I was flying the ship. Like I'd been thrown, tossed aside like worthless trash.

It took me a moment to realize that was exactly what had happened and I scrambled with the controls, trying to control my flight and, more importantly, my descent. Half my controls didn't work and the rest seemed sluggish to respond, but I managed to turn a chaotic tumble into a wobbling, uncontrolled landing and survive it with an exhausting use of Aura Crash. I was smashed around a fair bit as the ship tumbled and felt my MP drain as I tried to keep it together despite it all. When at last the ship settled and rocked to a halt, I justsat for a moment, stunned and amazed that I was alive.

Then I got out of the seatbelt to figure out what the hell had happened. Figuring that one out had turned out to be prettythere was a giant hole in my ship. I stared at it disbelievingly for a moment before Lunging my way up through the exposed bowels of the craft so I could take a look around outside.

Several kilometers away, Ziz rose into the air and flew a ways before diving into the sea in a move that flooded the beach he'd been on. I watched for a minute, but when he didn't emerge I turned my attention back to the mildly pressing issue of the hole in my ship. Swearing to myself, I knelt down and put a hand to the hull, feeling Crocea Mors within it. I felt her map out the damage in my mind, compared it to the blueprints in my head, and

Was torn from my thoughts as Ziz erupted from the sea with a deafening shriek. Clutched in its talons was a bleeding blue creature that would have been large if it hadn't been in Ziz's hands. It took me a minute to realize what I was looking at.

"Oh, you've gotta be fucking kidding me!" I snarledquietly, in fear that it might actually hear me. "You dragged me across the fucking world because you were hungry!?"

Ziz casually tore off the whale's head, scarfing it down absently before slicing the creature neatly open to draw out the softer squishier bits. I wasn't sure why it was bothering, since it couldn't possibly need itthere was no way a creature that size, or any of the larger Grimm, survived on conventional biology. Maybe it was bored or it was an Aura thing or it just liked watching large things die; I didn't know.

What I did know was that I was pissed the hell off.

"Hey, here's an idea! Maybe you should have checked to make sure you liked to taste before carrying me off towhere the fuck am I!?" I snarled again and stomped on the ship's hull. "You flying feathered fuck. We're gonna have words about this when I'm leveled up!"

I growled to myself as I calmed unnaturally, well aware there was nothing I could do about the Grimm right now. For its part, Ziz had finished scarfing down the rest of its snack and was preparing itself to dive back into the ocean for more. I looked around and had no idea where I was. I looked down at my ship and had no idea if I could fix it.

And then I sat down on the hull of my ship and put my head in my hands.

"Fuck." I said, trying to put all my anger and frustration into that one word.

I gave myself a moment.

And then I got to work.