January 17, 2019, 12:07pm. Time for maximum burn!

"You think I'm worried about how fast your first flight spell can take us. My mum's the…. Ahhahaaaaaa," Rufka starts as I turn the flight spell to full speed, nearly bouncing us off the nearby cliff before turning to fly along the street at the edge of the inner city.

"Weheheheeeeee," Rufka cries out, as we speed along. We're moving nearly twice as fast as when Rufka was carrying me, but it's using up my mana to go this fast. Slowing down, we're able to sustain a pace that's about three times as fast as I can run while using the minimum of 0.1 mana and 0.1 focus per minute. Since it's below my regeneration rate, I'm technically gaining mana as we fly.

So cool.

"Lexi. You're plenty comfortable and all, but now that we have a way to fly, shouldn't we be trying to get to the others?" Rufka asks from my lap where she's holding on to Smoulder.

"Right," I reply, turning us around to head in their direction. I didn't get carried away with the ability to fly. Nope. Who would do that?

"So, Josh said that you can use party chat to talk to Tipan," I mention as we float in their general direction. I'm not going to poke our heads over until we're closer. Flight does give us a lot of mobility, but it also makes us targets without cover. Hmmm.

Actually.

I rip a chunk of stone out of one of the buildings as we pass forming it into a shield. Unlike my umbrella, it won't hold up against multiple attacks as well, but it will block attacks my umbrella won't.

"Ha. Silly skyborne. She assumes that every-user takes party chat. Mum always said it was a waste of irons for users in the reaches," Rufka replies, making me realize I’m on my own for communication.

Slowing us down so I don’t accidentally run us into a squad of Fallen, I reach out. It occurs to me that if the others are still fighting, Josh might be in the thick of it, so I connect to Roberts this time. When the connection forms, the first thing I do is ask, “Hey Roberts, you guys okay?”

“Alexis? Well, this is an interesting experience. We’re quite fine,” Roberts replies as I hear a reverberation in the background.

“I suppose we are technically still under attack. However, they’re not hitting us hard. It's possible they’re finally respecting Josh and Beth’s abilities, but I believe they’re trying to herd us. They're not having much luck. Beth remains determined to reach the centre. We keep encountering obstacles, but we're pushing through where we can.”

“Hold on. I think we’ve got basic flight figured out. We’ll try to find our way to you.”

“Glad to hear it, Alexis. I’ll tell the others,” Roberts replies before he does exactly that. “Alexis says she and Rufka are on their way. They'll be arriving by air."

"Tell them to be careful. Tipan said she could get us up, but she's worried it will just make us bigger targets," I hear Beth call in response.

"Her and me both," I mutter to myself as Roberts relays Beth's message before adding, "we'll see you soon Alexis."

"See you soon," I reply, dropping the link.

"So?" Rufka prompts, motioning upwards.

"So, I hope you're holding on tight," I warn, sending a message of reassurance to Smoulder. Then I urge us up, then over the nearby buildings, moving past a squad of startled Fallen. Rufka calmly plucks her bow as if playing guitar, arrows raining down while I blast several with a pair of lightning torrents.

Then we're on our way, not pausing to loot them. I'd rather not waste the facet at the moment, plus there are three more squads already approaching.

Once we’re clear, I do look for a decent landing spot however. That brief encounter illustrated how horribly inconvenient facing the sky is when you're flying and fighting at the same time.

So, once we're a ways ahead, we take a moment to land on a building with higher than usual parapets. I’m hoping that the little pseudo-walls running around the building's edge will serve as cover. Well, I don't land, I hover, not releasing my spell. I flip over to my stomach and Rufka climbs on my back with Smoulder. I have to wiggle back and forth on my hoverboard to get balanced, but soon we're off again.

Homing in on the others, Rufka keeps taking pot shots while Smoulder watches for any Fallen that get too close, butting Rufka when she sees one.

Smoulder even does a flame blast when one gets too close. I'd be worried that she isn't headbutting everything if I couldn't feel her discomfort at being up in the air while moving so swiftly, especially under someone else's control. But it's clear she doesn't want to fall, and she understands we're in a hurry.

We're able to find the others a minute later. Rufka and I pick off several Fallen that were attacking them from above while I rip a section out of a nearby building for cover.

Once we've secured the area, we float down.

"Lex, you're flying now? Sweet." Josh enthuses coming up to me to give me a high five as Rufka jumps off.

"Right?" I reply, righting myself then floating up. Now that I can fly, I'm able to give him a high five with ease, though I do send myself tilting back slightly upon impact. Need to work on that.

"Impressive kid. But we need to move. Tipan, can you get us airborne?" Beth asks, turning to the wide-eyed K'tharn.

She doesn't look good; her fur is standing on end and she keeps glancing to the sides as if expecting a monster to jump out to grab her. She stares at Beth, clearly unable to comprehend what Beth asked for a moment. Then her eyes shift to Rufka and I, at which point she grows a smidgen calmer.

"R-r-right. Yes. I can do that," she stammers while pulling steel rods from her inventory compartment, handing one to each of the others. I'm guessing these have something to do with being airborne, and a second later it becomes clear how they work. Hitting a hidden release, Josh expands his into a glider then starts strapping himself in.

While the rod is made of steel, the rest of the structure appears to be bone with leather stretched between. There's flowing rune-script on the rod, as well as the leather, though the patterns are new to me.

I was wondering where the gliders went. I kind of thought they might have been destroyed by the V'troll or its horde, but it makes sense they just put them away.

"One other thing. We ran across a giant metal spider in the inner city followed by a swarm of smaller spiders. I'm not sure how safe it'll be."

"That's the system boss. Good to know Tipan was right about that at least. We should be safe from it as long as we don't get too close, attack or identify it," Beth mentions as she helps Josh get into his harness. Huh, good thing I didn't analyze it.

"Either way, this isn't a secure location. The sooner we're out of here the better."

Acknowledging Beth and seeing that they have things under control, me and my rock shield float back up to the top of the buildings. Smoulder is safely tucked in one of my jacket's inside pockets as I check for more Fallen.

And it's a good thing I do.

Just a couple buildings away I see the white Triplet, Bel'dast, with her single glowing red eye. She's directing a wave of ten squads to surround us. Seriously, how are they getting all these mooks around so quickly?

Not bothering to figure out the answer, I pause time, unleash a bevy of lightning torrents then drop back down.

"We have incoming," I yell, moving towards the others.

When I turn back, I see that the others are all rising into the air on their gliders, arrayed in tight formation behind Tipan. I can practically see the stress etched across her face. Which makes sense. She doesn't have much aero left and it's already ticking down.

While we have increased mobility, the others are basically sitting ducks. That is until Roberts' shield springs into place, which is why they're grouped so close together.

"We need to get to the inner city," Tipan calls desperately as spells start slamming into Roberts' shield. The spells colliding with his shield is, upon reflection, very beautiful. It’s a veritable cornucopia of colour as almost every element is represented.

No twilight though. Which inspires me.

Turning again, I pause time, giving the others room by releasing several dark shifted twilight torrents. I'm not exactly sure what effect they'll have, but I'm hoping they'll provide cover for the others since twilight hangs in the air, unlike other elements.

It's more successful than I expected. It doesn't just obscure their sight, but every Fallen who stumbles through the inky blackness is covered in the black shadow stuff, unable to see.

During our retreat I stay in the back, firing off several more twilight torrents. I discover it's not perfect, it only takes a single fire spell to burn through the trails my torrents leave behind. The fire focused Fallen can ignore them completely once they discover the trick. But they're the only ones who do. I'm able to easily pick them off with judicious use of lightning torrents.

While they were making respectable time jumping and leaping from building to building, now most of the Fallen have no chance to keep up with me and my flying allies.

But then a gust blows away the lingering shadows while sweeping over fifty Fallen through the air in my direction. Behind them floats Bel'dast, tracking me with her eye. Well, I guess I know how they're getting around so fast.

Having already bought time, I retreat while continuing to fire. I even throw a few torrents at Bel'dast who manages to dodge out of the way, moving so quickly I almost can't follow her.

Holy crap. I'm lucky she doesn't just come smack me out of the air. Retreating at full speed, I sigh in relief when she halts at the drop.

Thanks to my IFF, it's easy to find where Tipan led the others down, they're all gathered on a rooftop in the inner city, perilously close to the system boss' previous path. When I glance at Tipan’s status I can see that she's completely out of her aero resource.

When I land, I see Josh holding Tipan's hand while she shakes her head back and forth repeatedly. Beth is scanning the area for hostiles while Rufka and Roberts are setting the gliders to the side.

"Is she going to be okay?" I check with Roberts, who's the least occupied at the moment.

Turning to me, Roberts replies, "it would appear that she knows two of the Fallen. They were sisters she lost in a place she calls the Broken Sanctum."

"Ivicka and I were the only ones who made it out," Tipan sobs out, brushing at her eyes.

"I thought we'd gone there to gain progression points. I'd been sure it was misfortune that caused us to fail, but now…"

"It wasn't until recently that I started to suspect Ivicka was up to something. I came across notes she and minister Folthka had exchanged. A way to bypass system protections."

"I didn't trust her with your lives, that's true, but that's because you're outlanders. Outlanders are always treated differently. But they were our sisters. Ivicka was better than any of us. The hero we all aspired to emulate. To have turned our sister into a Fallen. Is this what they planned? Was the sanctum a test?"

As Tipan's dialogue comes to a close I have a terrible thought.

"Uhm. How certain are you that she didn't know about that ability to leave?" I ask Tipan.

"What?" she replies looking up at me in confusion.

"I'm just saying that it seems pretty strange that we'd run into two Fallen that you know personally. And that you’d end up here," I continue, not mentioning Dhanni. If Rufka wants to share, that’s her prerogative.

"So, what if Ivicka knew what you'd find here. Maybe she delayed her landing on purpose, only landing after you were inside. What if she wanted you here?" I ask as Tipan stands, gripping her head with all four hands.

"Oh Vaus on Ukila above! I was supposed to lead the trainees inside. It's why we were officially out here in the first place. But why?" Tipan questions, looking confused.

"I don't know," I answer, shrugging. I could use a codex or something right about now.

"What does she get by having you come here?" Beth wonders from the side.

"Nothing. She can't get inside. And if we teleport away then she loses the ability to steal any of your powers," Tipan replies, shaking her head.

"Wait. Steal our powers?" Roberts asks sharply, looking at Tipan.

"Yeah. That's why they need to strip the system. Ivicka never used to be capable of using wind manipulation. Now she has Aero as a second resource, which she must have stolen from Bel'dast. Oh, Vaus. I'm such an idiot. Why didn't I realize she developed her second resource after our sisters died? It's not even thematically aligned with her primary resource Swagger. It's so obvious."

"I'm sorry. One second. Her main resource is swagger?" Rufka asks, starting to chuckle. I can't help but join in. Josh and Roberts are laughing as well, followed shortly by Tipan.

Beth is the only one not laughing, but I catch a hint of turned-up lips when I glance her direction.

"But yes. From what I've read in the notes, she's prepared to do it again. She was waiting for an outlander. Because outlanders always get better resources once you get your classes. We never imagined you started with them. It's probably the only thing that saved you," Tipan mentions, inspecting her feet carefully.

"That still doesn't explain why she'd want you inside. Or what's going on with the Fallen," I point out as we all look around.

"Hmm. Maybe it does. My mum said she'd worked on a project once that would allow her to gain additional resources. But there was only one way to get it to work, you had to strip a user from the system, killing them. That’s when she discovered that any user killed this way rose again as Fallen. She said she destroyed her research. But she had an apprentice. Mum couldn't bring herself to hurt her just to keep the research silent. She was like a daughter to her. This was before me of course. Mum often said she'd never met anyone quite like me."

I can’t help chuckling at that while Roberts questions her, “If your mother knows how to steal resources, as it were, perhaps she knows a defence against it as well.”

“Oh, definitely. But as I’ve mentioned, her people have my mum locked up tighter than a Rallion’s arse,” Rufka replies while gesturing to Tipan, who flinches in response.

“Even if she wasn’t, we’re stuck in here. The only way out is to complete the quest or wait out the timer. I swear it’s the only part of the zone working the way it’s supposed to,” Tipan complains.

“How does this explain why she wanted Tipan inside?” I ask, trying to steer the conversation back on track.

“Eh. I don’t know. Probably just wants her dead. But I suspect they got their hands on my mother’s research, which would explain the Fallen. And they’re out here because the reaches have a long history of spitting lost travellers out. I’ve come across more than one outlander wandering around lost in the woods. First time I've heard of four at once though.”

"Wants me dead…" Tipan stutters looking at Rufka as if she slapped her. Which in a way she kind of did. It's likely that Rufka's right, but then the question becomes why send her here instead of just killing her.

"It doesn't really explain anything. Why go to all the trouble of getting her here? And how did the Fallen get here from the broken sanctum? Too many things don't make sense," I ask while looking around at the others.

Surprisingly, it's Josh that speaks. "Does it matter? The important thing is we're all safe. The real question is what do we do now?"

Beth steps back towards us, only glancing in our direction for a moment as she speaks, “Well, we’ve only started training. Just because things have changed doesn’t mean we have to stop. But we may need to deal with these Fallen. Or we can attempt to complete the quest. The safety we were hoping for certainly isn’t as guaranteed as we’d been expecting.”

While Beth is talking, I can’t help but wonder about Rufka’s friend Dhanni. And her mother. Did she know the K'tharn who killed Rufka’s thiani?

“So, you think we should try to take on these Fallen? There are a lot more of them than us,” Roberts comments, gesturing back the way we came.

“Yes. But Alexis is capable of defeating a large number of them on her own. Especially now that she can fly. If we’re able to target their leaders, we can likely deal with the rest in hit and run tactics.”

As Beth's talking, I start thinking about flight again. Specifically, I start thinking about trying to teach the others to fly. Or at least how I might be able to propel them. Upon considering it, that's probably the solution. I just need more range on my wind manipulation. Then I could propel their gliders forever.

Okay. Project airborne 2.0 is a go.

…

Maybe I should ask the others what they think first?