They flew up the bell tower three steps at a time. The large bell above stayed silent but their hearts beat with rhythm of the passing hour. Kingston was following the line. A bright green breeze that led up the stairwell. His powers were telling him this was the best course of action. Rarely had the green been as bright. The colour green was reserved for the outcomes that were considerably good, and even those were few and far in-between. Yet, the brightness of the wind was a show of simply how positive the path must be. He felt elation that there was an optimal path to follow and that there was a chance to live.

“This way!” he shouted back to Shjacky who followed him up with tired panting.

“Are you sure... this will work?” she asked of the umpteenth time, catching her breath mid sentence.

“No!” he answered again. “But I think... it has good chance.”

They reached the topmost floor and held the door open for her to enter. There was a ladder to the side of the room that lead up to the bell chamber. She approached the ladder hastily but he stopped her short of climbing up.

“What's wrong?” she questioned. “Don't tell me you're backing out now?”

“That's not it.” He could feel his face heating up. “You're wearing a skirt.”

“Oh.” She nodded, staring down at her dress before stepping with a grin. “I'm disappointed with you, Kingston, that you did not take that chance to peek.”

He exasperated, “I'm trying to be respectful!”

“Still disappointing,” she chided. “Quinton would have peeked.”

With a huff, he passed her to climb the ladder. “No, he wouldn't.”

“You're right, he wouldn't. Such a gentleman,” she sighed with forlorn. “I wished he would just take me already.”

Halfway up the climb and ignoring her fantasy, he retorted, “How do you even fight in a dress?”

“With sophistication and style.” She followed after him.

He reached the top of the room and pushed opened the trapdoor out onto the bell chamber. Once outside, he reached back down the ladder and gave Shjacky a hand up. They got to their feet and looked out over the city frozen in time in the midst of a battle for the fate of the world. The unspawns moved through the streets in sparse waves, each group like a blob of living water lulling over the roads slowly making their way towards the arena where the sound of fighting was loudest.

Kingston focused his magic. He was looking at the paths the wind took through the city street with each of them connected by junctions and twisting roads. One of them should lead to wherever The Janus was and he directed his power the best he could in search of that route.

“Have you found it yet?” his companion asked.

“No,” he replied. “There're too many uncertainties.” His powers was good for simple directions. Where to go next. Finding a needle in a haystack was never his forte.

“What if you try to be more specific with your prediction? My mother always said that precognition is akin to bartering. You have to give up some of what you want to be able to find exactly what you need.”

“I just want to know where The Janus is. How complex is that?”

“Your power predicts the future, not the present.”

“Right...” he agreed slowly, taking the thought in. “Right. So, instead, I should be asking where she will be.”

Almost instantly, his vision changed. He was looking at a new map of the same world. Instead of streets being painted, buildings were alternatively highlighted by swirling colours with hues from red to green, all closing in on a single point of the city.

“There!” he pointed to the north. “She'll be at the watchtower! I don't know when, but that's where we need to go. Let's move!”

She exclaimed suddenly, “Watch out!”

By the time he turned it was already too late. Shjacky was knocked off the bell tower and only stayed hanging over the edge as her umbrella hooked onto a newly protruding rebar. Kingston could only jump as the wing of the giant bird unspawn sliced through the side of the building as if it was paper. He pivoted on the spot and the moment his feet retouched ground, he leaped off the crumbling tower.

The wind ruffled through his coat and he held onto his hat to keep it from flying off, hooking the string strap across his neck. From the back of his waist, he pulled his weapon out of its holster. A long single long tonfa that was shaped and doubled as a rifle.

Towards the flying creature he dropped. Flailing against the translucent beast, he slammed silently into its side and he grabbed frantically for something to hold onto. With luck, he managed to find a foothold and shoved his fist into it. The unspawn bucked and barrel rolled in the sky while he held on desperately despite the blood rushing into his head.

It was then he noticed the figures on the ground the creature was flying to. A group of nine running across the city towards the Forest of the Dead. It was his classmates about to be picked off from the sky. Regardless of the numbering of their epitaphs, he was not about to let any one of them die.

“Alright,” he gritted to himself as the beast rolled back.

The watchtower was still glowing green so he began hatching a plan. As quickly as he could, he climbed onto the back of the winged creature. He did not have a sword or anything sharp so he could not pierce the bones and redirect the flight direction. Also, he was not even sure unspawns had bones to begin with. His tonfa was a stick on a stick. It could turn into a crossbow and a rifle, but nothing that could stab and hold without extreme force, so he decided to use his own weight and a few well-aimed shots.

He swapped his tonfa handle from under to over and pulled out the gun grip folded into the side. He drew the grip like one would the string of a bow and the two wood spine and bone of the crossbow modification vertically extended. There were two individual triggers. One for the rifle and the other for the crossbow modifier.

With his precognition, he aim the crossbow forward and looked for the green pathway which showed the optimal trajectory his bolt would fly at an angle to the right. Then, he let his his wind magic take over as the skin around his left eye lighted up in bright grey. He charged as much of his power into the shot as he could and released the crossbow bolt. Immediately after, he spun around and rapidly fired 3 rifle rounds into the creature's tail, each enhanced with a spindle of magical wind that would help slice the appendage.

The unspawn bucked and opened its wing, halting its descent as its tail was ripped. The sudden brake shoved Kingston with the force of gravity into the creature's back. He grunted and stood to his feet as the flight force stabilized and he ran off the extended left wing. From under his coat he pulled out five bolts with his free hand. With a jump and a swing of his arm, he launched himself off the wing, turned, and stabbed the collection of bolts into the end of the unspawn's wing. The wood of the bolts bent slightly but otherwise held his weight.

It worked. The monster angled left from its tail being ripped and left wing weighted. The bolt that he fired first swung around on the sky with the aid of his magic, like a boomerang returning home. It impacted the head of the creature and unleashed the stored explosion of power. Sharp gale in the form of a explosive ball of razor blast, raked at the beast's head, and it began to glide in the projection of crashing. He yanked with all his might at the wing, his tiny body bobbing alongside the giant unspawn. Slowly, the monster inched ever closer towards the northern watch tower.

He looked down and saw his friends continue running in the distance, unaware of the aerial battle happening just above them. A sense of forebode overwhelmed him. Every strand of instinct in his body screamed that it would be his last view of them and he took in every second of it as if they were his last breath. He had good instincts. They never failed him, but he wished it did then.

There was a chance, though. He could let go and drop to the rooftops below and perhaps have a chance at surviving the fall. Braving the future, he turned forward and asked what path was best for himself and saw red. Then, he asked what choice would give the best outcomes for his friends and the road towards the northern watchtower lit up bright green.

He gritted his teeth and yanked, stirring the unspawn closer onto the wind coloured flight path.

The unspawn flicked its one wing and he unwillingly released the grip on its wing. He watched as the giant creature crash into the castle wall as he fell further and further from the sky.