"Are those… bats?" Noah asked.

"Yes. Everything is dangerous now. It's best to deter them before they get too close. Wayde is very well suited for this," Josh answered.

As Josh spoke, Noah heard a crackle as a bolt of lightning was suddenly unleashed from the deck overhead. It streaked across the expanse between the Airshark and the bats in an instant. Three bats dropped from the sky smouldering, never to be seen again as the lightning scattered the cloud of winged vermin in chaos. A second bolt intimidated the remaining bats into fleeing as five more dropped toward the forested mountain below. Noah heard footsteps from the deck overhead as the red-plumed armoured man, Wayde, returned to the command room.

"Was that the ability from the seagull that accompanied the flying whale?" Noah asked.

"It was. Wayde and Bruce volunteered for the resistance at the same time. They were among the lucky few who awakened an ability when infiltrating the Fallen. Those who failed became martyrs as they were mercilessly sacrificed in the Fallen joining ritual," Josh said.

The two armoured men's expressions tightened as their faces became grim at the mention of the joining ritual. Noah remembered Mister Kim's first words to him when he embarked on the ferry all those months ago. To become a member of the Fallen, an ability-user must kill a blank for their initiation. Noah instantly understood that Bruce and Wayde must have sacrificed and risked a lot for the resistance in the hope of overthrowing Ronan's tyranny. He hoped that the plan he had worked, for their sake and everyone else living under his oppression.

"They will be avenged. I'll see to it myself. This time I won't be so merciful when I have Ronan in my grasp," Noah said.

"With all due respect, how do you plan to accomplish that? He wiped the floor with you the last time you fought," Bruce, the blue-plumed man, spoke.

"I'm not the same man I was. From what I've heard, Ronan has succumbed to madness and paranoia. His closest allies will now be waiting for a chance to dethrone him for either their ambitions or for survival. Staying too close to a venomous snake, you're eventually going to be bitten. Besides, I have a plan to deal with Ronan. It will involve a lot of risk for me but is an almost certain chance at winning," Noah replied.

"As long as it doesn't compromise the resistance and throw away the sacrifices our people have made, I don't care what you do," Bruce said as the red-plumed armoured man, Wayde, grunted in agreement.

"Land us in the water over there. Damn it, the Sisters of the Sea have submerged. We can only hope that they will notice us and resurface. They must have become impatient, but at least they haven't left," Josh interrupted.

"I don't see anything," Noah said.

"You're not supposed to," Josh replied.

The Airshark had arrived at a bay on the far side of the island. They descended toward the water as a mysterious trident appeared on the centre of Josh's brow, formed from purple-lifeforce. The water below began to pulse strangely, almost as if it was using morse code. The Airshark settled in the ocean a significant distance away from the shore. As Noah waited, he began to feel impatient.

"What are we waiting for?" Noah asked.

"Shh, he's concentrating," Wayde said.

"It's fine, Wayde. They're coming," Josh said as the symbol faded away and his eyes returned to normal.

The Airshark began to rock violently in the sea as something swam underneath. Noah could see the tip of something in the murky water pass underneath the window on the floor. It was uncomfortably close.

Outside the front window, the tip broke through the surface and began to emerge from the sea. It was a rocky mountain covered in giant coral shimmering with various colours of lifeforce. Noah noticed that the rock formation appeared to be built by stacking boats atop one another, but they were strangely made from stone.

He stared agape as the mound grew until it dwarfed the Airshark floating beside it. Coral larger than Noah covered the mountain to create an otherworldly underwater forest. The reef glowed vibrantly with lifeforce as water poured from the uneven surface onto an open area at the base, forming rockpools. Unfortunate fish flopped helplessly as they suddenly found themselves stranded out of the water. Finally, a towering pair of stone doors split the mountain down the middle. Opening to reveal a group of women walking toward the Airshark.

"We'd better go meet them. Alright, let's go to the transport ship," Josh said.

"Yes, sir," the pair of armoured men spoke in unison.

"Can we trust them?" Noah asked.

"Yes. We have smuggled a lot of unawakened to them for refuge. An Airshark will traditionally have a crew of blanks to see to the ability-users' needs and act as cannon fodder. You will notice that we don't have a crew. That's because they are already taking asylum with the Sisters. They have a settlement somewhere that is only accessible by sea. Their goal is to rebuild order in the world. They only bring their female ability-users out of their home, earning their name as the Sisters of the Sea. I don't know how many men they have, but they stay and protect the blanks and children. We can trust them. In fact, I see someone with them who you know from back on board the cruise ship. You can ask her if you don't believe me," Josh answered.

"If you return without your crew, wouldn't that be suspicious?" Noah asked.

"Is that a serious question, blanks are expendable. They would assume that the pilot or his artillery got bored and killed them for sport. But if someone does ask questions, the night shift docking master is a member of the resistance. So we need only return after sunset, and he will cover our tracks," Josh informed him

"Artillery?" Noah asked

"Wayde here is artillery. Every Airshark comes equipped with a pilot and another ability-user who can use a long-range offensive ability. [Lightning Bolt] is a common one, like you've seen. There are others. Some are even naturally awakened. But they rarely join the Fallen militia and instead aim higher and have ambitions to join Ronan's inner circle. Does that satisfy your curiosity?" Josh replied.

"Yes, let's go," Noah said.

The group travelled back up through the steep staircases until they reached the narrow corridor with the transport ship's vault door.