Book One Chapter Twenty Eight: Luna's Surprise

Kai found out that something in Luna is still humane. It is time that Nick found that out as well.

Chapter Twenty Eight Luna’s Surprise:

Sven, Southern Wall, Artemis. Nick’s Point of view.

The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon in the far distance, tainting the sky a brilliant orange. I had stayed up all night guarding the southern wall. It had been a long, boring and uneventful night. I was about to fall asleep, I was very tired. I then heard a voice call out to me. It was Victor.

“Nick! Grab your friends! Come quick!” He yelled.

He was upset about something. What could it be this early in the morning?

Reluctantly, I looked over to him. I saw that my friends were already in front of him. I walked over to Victor. He spoke quickly.

“Two of President Anderson’s guards has been murdered! One was found dead with deep fang marks on his neck. The other one had a broken neck. Last night, one of President Anderson’s sentries saw a young man with bite marks on his neck. They also saw a girl with white hair near him. They were spotted outside the presidential building last night. They think that the young man is Saja’s possession.” Victor said.

Wait, a young man with fang marks on his neck? A white haired girl? That had to be Kai and Luna! It must have been Saja who murdered the guard!

“We must go to the presidential building!” I declared.

“Yes, we will leave at once!” Victor agreed.

Victor led us in to the heart of Sven. We passed by shops, inns, houses, business offices, hospitals and other buildings until we eventually saw the purple presidential building. We walked to it, there were two guards stationed outside the door. One on either side. The guards tensed up, readying their silver tipped spears.

“Relax, they are with me.” Victor said calmly.

“Very well, Captain Victor. Please proceed.” One of the guards said.

The guards let us pass and Victor led us through the lobby. There were still people dressed in fancy clothing. They were eating finger foods and there was a band playing slow music on what sounded like string instruments. Victor led us up the staircase. We all ran up it and we reached the top fairly quickly. We reached the hallway at the top floor and saw the big ornate doors that led to President Anderson’s office. Victor led us there and we burst through the door.

We saw guards scattered around the room. They were all standing around a door near the rear of the room. The guards were all nervous. One of them turned to me.

“Look! It is the boy who President Anderson told to guard the city!” One of the female guards said.

“Saja got in last night! She almost killed President Anderson!” The female guard added.

“Saja was here?” I asked in alarm, already dreading the answer.

“Yes, she left a message for you with President Anderson!” One of the male guards yelled.

“Okay, what’s the message?” I asked.

“President Anderson said that he does not want to see your face ever again, so he told me to deliver the message.” One of the male guards said.

Annoyance gathered in my brain. I was bothered by President Anderson’s lack of maturity.

“What’s the message?” I asked in annoyance.

“Saja told President Anderson that if you ever wanted to see Kai again, then you would meet with her in front of this building at noon today.” The male guard told me.

I felt the familiar boiling anger return. I also felt hope. Kai was still alive?

"What time is it now?" asked Fenton.

"It is just after noon." Said one of the female guards.

Alarm spread through me. Would Saja still be outside? We must have just missed her! I quickly ran back down the stairs. My friends followed. I reached the lobby and dodged around the people there. I burst through the front door and reached the front steps of the building. Saja was waiting on the steps with Kai and Luna. They were all under an overhang to my left, out of reach of the golden sun’s rays.

"You are late." Saja said.

"I am willing to propose a deal, an offer... interested?" Saja continued.

I thought about it.

"Alright, I’ll hear your deal." I told Saja.

I was burning with anticipation. We had to get Kai back.

"I am willing to release Kai back to you. In return I demand your piece of the Essence of Life." Saja said.

I gasped. If I let Saja have the piece of the Essence of Life who knows what she would do with it? She also had that strange black object with the glowing purple markings on the side. She had wanted that thing very badly, she even had a vampire kill Serena over it! I did not know what it did, but I knew that it must have been something that held great power, for Saja would not waste her time with pointless toys.

"The order of the Black Reqrium will not wait yet another thousand years to assemble the Essence of Life." Saja said.

The Order of the Black Reqrium? What was she talking about? Kai shook off his gag.

"Do not trade Nick! I will die for the greater good!” Shouted Kai.

My heart sank. Saja truly was evil. She wanted me to trade my friend for a shard of a powerful relic. If Saja wanted my shard, it was obvious that she was looking for the other shards herself. What happens when the shards are united? Worry began to sink in again.

“Saja, there has to be something else! Anything!” I begged.

Saja shook her head, the ghost of a grin tainted her lips.

“No, there is not anything else. Just your shard of the Essence of Life.” Saja said.

“Why do you want it? What happens when the shards of the Essence of Life are united?” I asked her.

Saja just smiled and shook her head slowly.

“I’m not going to tell you. Just give me the shard, and I will give you back your friend.” Saja said.

It killed me inside to do this but kai was right, it was for the greater good. Hatred boiled inside me.

"Never." I said.

Saja’s face acquired an amused expression.

"Very well..." Saja said.

“I would have thought you would have been more reasonable, after all Kai has been through quite a lot when he was in my custody.” Saja said, looking to Kai’s neck.

I looked to his neck, as well. I was horrified. His neck was completely covered in fang marks, all of them had the fang marks as well as the lower teeth marks below them. I could only imagine the agony Kai had been through while receiving those bites. Saja grabbed Kai from beside her.

“One last chance." She said temptingly.

Kai looked directly at me. He looked me in the eye. He slowly shook his head. He had a desperate look in his eye. I had complete respect for Kai right now. He cared about the battle between us and Saja more than his own life.

"No." I said softly, hating myself for saying the word.

Saja leaned in closely to Kai’s neck.

“I will enjoy this.” Saja said slowly.

Saja was playing it up for us. She wanted me to break at the last second and give her what she wanted. It was not going to happen. She pulled her lips back to reveal her fangs. She opened her mouth wide. After a second, she bit Kai. Kai Screamed in pain and he kicked and screamed with fierce intensity. I could see the strain on Saja’s jawline. This meant that she was biting as hard as she could. Blood dripped from Kai’s neck as he screamed. He screamed and screamed, kicking and fighting Saja every bit of the way. Saja subdued him. After a few more seconds, Kai stopped screaming, his screams were replaced by a gurgling noise. I then heard a loud snap! And Kai went limp. I saw that Saja had broken Kai’s neck. Anger, hatred and sadness blossomed inside of me, creating a burning, almost painful fire in my mind. That fire was the lust for revenge.

"No!" shouted Luna. Luna then tackled Saja into a wall.

“Luna! What are you doing!?” Screamed Saja.

"Kai taught me a lot of things! He taught me to trust what is right! He told me to trust Nick!" Luna said, still holding Saja to the wall. Just then, Luna became a wolf. I knew then that Luna was back with us. I smiled.

“Luna, you… Traitor!” Saja yelled.

Saja threw Luna off with a bit of effort. Luna landed beside my friends and I, still in her wolf form. Saja looked at us,

“Well, well, well, Luna. Tell me, how long have you been planning to betray me like that?” Saja asked angrily.

“Only since you captured Kai.” Luna said with hatred in her voice.

“I can see that you are no longer loyal to me. I can also see that I am outnumbered. I am no fool, therefore I will not be staying around.” Saja said.

“Saja! You coward!” I shouted.

“Stay and fight!” I heard Anna-Maria yell at Saja.

“No, thank you. I can sense that we will meet each other again. Very soon, in fact.” Saja said.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked in confusion.

“Until then.” Saja said with a wave.

“No! Stay and fight!” Federov shouted after her.

“Au revoir!” Saja shouted.

It was then that she grew her black wings, and leapt in to the air. She flapped her wings and gains altitude. When she was around ten feet off the ground, she angled herself forward and flapped her wings. She gained speed and altitude very quickly. Federov then pulled his revolver and took a few shots. Each gunshot was loud and thunderous. Saja spiraled and dodged in the air. Not one of those bullets had hit her. Saja flew up to the sky, out of sight in the clouds.

I turned to Luna, pleasantly surprised at her change back to our side. She was back with us.

"Luna, you are good now!” I said, surprised and wide eyed.

She shifted back to her human form.

“Indeed I am.” Luna said with a grin.

"Your parents would be proud." I said.

“Thank you, that means a lot.” Luna said.

“What made you want to be good again?” Fenton asked.

“Kai made me good again. We have him to thank for that. When Kai was in Saja’s custody, I found out what a monster Saja really is. Kai agreed with me, obviously, and told me that you, Nick would get the world back onto its rightful path. He said that should join you.” Luna admitted.

“I am glad that Kai persuaded you. We have him to thank for your transformation.” I said, eyeing Kai’s lifeless body in the shadows.

“Yes, indeed we do.” Luna said, eyeing Kai’s corpse with her sad blue eyes.

"Can you tell us why Saja wanted our shard of the Essence of Life?" Asked Federov.

Luna nodded once.

"Saja told me that she needed the shards to assemble the Essence of Life. She said that in an age, long ago there were two warring factions, a clash of good and evil. She said that they was the order of the White Reqrium, and the order of the Black Reqrium. The White Reqrium possessed the Essence of Life. He created it to unleash good and balance to the world, but the Black Reqrium, the head of the order of the Black Reqrium, saw this as a chance to corrupt the world. So she created The Subspace Corruptor. Legend has it that if the two relics of the two warring factions ever unite, the results would be catastrophic." Luna finished.

I had a thought.

“Luna, what does The Subspace Corruptor look like?” I asked her.

“It is a black octagonal pyramid that is around eight inches tall. It has glowing purple markings on each of its faces.” Luna explained.

My heart sank.

“That is the object that I found on the boat in Shan Long! That is the object that Saja stole from us! She has The Subspace Corruptor!” I shouted in a panic.

"We now know that Saja has The Subspace Corruptor. If she gets all twelve shards of the Essence of Life, she will overthrow the vampire council and royal family. After that, she can do anything that she wants!" Fenton exclaimed in worry.

"Then we must not let that vamp get her pale hands on the shards of the Essence of Life!" shouted Carmella to motivate us.

"We have to move on from Sven and look for the other shards." said Carmella.

“How many shards do we have in total, again?” Asked Fenton.

“One.” I answered.

“Right. We do not know how many Saja has. We must find as many shards of the Essence of Life as possible to prevent Saja from acquiring anymore!” Anna-Maria shouted.

“That is right.” I told Anna-Maria.

“Then let us get moving!” Federov said.

“Yes, right! That is a good idea.” Carmella agreed.

We headed out of Sven, leaving Kai’s body behind.

We passed through the gate that we came in. The guards said nothing. We moved past them, Federov came with us this time. The guards did not bother him. After a few more seconds, we had exited the gate and were now outside of Sven.

"We should head North, away from most civilization, our chances of survival would be best there. Plus, we have a higher chance of finding those shrines away from cities." Carmella suggested.

“That is a fine idea, Carmella.” Anna-Maria said.

“I agree. After all, who would build a shrine for the Essence of Life in the middle of a village, anyway?” Asked Fenton.

“I think that Carmella is right. It is a good plan.” I said.

“I suppose it is.” Federov agreed.

So that is what we did. There was a main road leading to the gate of Sven, and we broke off of it, heading into the surrounding forest. The trees’ leaves were all a brilliant green, and the bark from the trees ranged in color from grey to black. We saw a few scattered houses, but none looked like they were inhabited. They were probably just abandoned hunters’ cabins. We continued walking through the forest, but nothing really interesting happened. After about another hour of walking, we stopped.

“I think we should rest here.” Anna-Maria suggested.

“Oh! Finally!” Fenton cried as he sat down on a nearby fallen log.

The rest of us stopped and rested as well. I sat on the ground.

I looked up to the sky to see that it was a brilliant azure color. After another minute of silence, I heard Luna speak.

"Does anyone else feel that?" She asked.

Confusion settled inside of me. What was she talking about?

Luna looked at the ground.

"It feels like… There is a presence." Luna said.

She looked at the ground where Anna-Maria was sitting.

“Please, move yourself.” Luna said to Anna-Maria.

Anna-Maria got up and moved from her spot on the ground. Luna began digging with her hands and soon uncovered a piece of paper.

“What is that?” Asked Federov.

“How did you know it was there?” Asked Fenton.

"What do you make of this?" Luna asked, ignoring the others’ questions.

The paper was wrapped up and bound in leather with a red seal, it looked new, and it was not even that dirty. Luna handed it to me, I took the leather binding off and began to read. It read:

Chosen one

By the time you get this letter, you will have learned you are half vampire. You will also know that Saja cannot possess the Essence of Life and The Subspace Corruptor. If you are wondering who I am, I am the white Reqrium. I am the one who gave you the vision when you grabbed my sword. I am not deceased, I have cast a spell that forever keeps me among the living, but a vampire bit me as I cast the spell, so I lay here, forever weakened, so I cannot come to meet you. But if you bring the twelve shards to the birthplace of the Essence of Life at the next solar eclipse in thirty days, I will reveal myself to you, chosen one, and together, our two factions will cleanse the worlds of all evil! Until then, I bid you safe travels, and in turn, farewell.

I reached down to feel my sword that was on my belt, remembering the vision that Tigiti gave me.

"Luna, how did you find this note?" I asked in awe.

"I sensed its presence, it is enchanted, and it is living." Luna said cryptically.

"Saja was probably going to use your gift to track down all twelve shards of the Essence of Life. After all, if that paper is enchanted, then the Essence of Life’s shards certainly have some kind of magic on them, they have to!" I said.

“I think you are correct, Nick.” Luna said.

"Then we will roam the countryside until we find the eleven remaining shrines.” Fenton said.

We went off again. We walked through the forest that we still found ourselves in. I noticed that the sun was starting to set. We walked on through the dense forest that surrounded us. We were now at the base of a hill. I then stopped us. Night was coming. We had to set up camp. Either that, or find a village to stay at an inn in.

"What is the next town, Federov?" I asked.

"The Next town is Fonereth." Federov replied.

“Do you know where it is?” Fenton asked.

“Certainly I do. It is just over this hill here.” Federov said, pointing to the hill that we had yet to ascend.

I started walking up the hill. The others followed me. We walked to Fonereth, it was not far, just beyond the hill that lay in front of us, eight hundred meters, give or take.

When my friends and I reached the top of the hill, we could see Fonereth. It was not very big, at least not from here. We had to see it up close to be sure. We walked down the hill towards the village. After a few minutes, we came to the main gate of the village. The metal archway had the metal letters F-O-N-E-R-E-T-H on it. We walked through the gate when Luna stopped us. There were no cars zooming about in this village, it looked like a town in Ectoclis. Fonereth was indeed small, it had a shop for weapons, a shop for armor, an inn, probably thirty houses scattered around and even a white hospital building.

“We should rest at the inn here. It is almost nightfall.” Anna-Maria suggested.

“I agree.” I said.

“Fine idea.” Federov agreed.

“I need to rest, I am unnaturally fatigued.” Luna said as she yawned.

“Yes, resting sounds like a brilliant idea.” Carmella stated.

“Rest. Yes, that sounds good.” Fenton said with a smile.

With that, we walked to the inn, a simple, wooden building that resembled a ski lodge from back home on Earth. We reached the door, opened it and stepped through. Inside the inn, I saw a few tables with some people sitting at them, I saw a beautiful woman dressed in a lavish, ornate silk gown that was red with gold trim. She carried herself very confidently. She had short black hair that did not even fall to her shoulders, she had tan skin, full pink lips, green eyes and a stunning smile. In one hand she had a tray of drinks in clear, frosted glasses on a tray hoisted above her head. The woman was tall, slender and her eyelashes were adorned with mascara. Her eyelashes were jet black and were angled pointing upwards, slightly pointing rearward. She looked to be a waitress of some sort.

“Hello travelers! Welcome to Fonereth’s cozy inn! Would you like a complimentary glass of Frevzyaz?” Asked the woman.

Frevzyaz? I had never heard of it, for obvious reasons. It sounded tasty. I nodded.

“Yes, that sounds great! Thank you.” I told the waitress.

The waitress smiled warmly at our group, looking over every single one of us. Her eyes stopped on Fenton. She smiled and blushed after a few seconds of looking at him and she quickly averted her eyes. She lowered the tray of drinks from above her head and handed us six drinks, one for every person in the group. When she got around to handing Fenton his drink, she stopped.

“May I know your name?” She asked softly.

Fenton blushed and smiled.

“My name is Fenton.” He said with a smile.

“My name is Constance. If you need anything, you may summon me using this bell.” The beautiful woman handed Fenton a small, brass colored bell. It was one of those old fashioned ones that you rang by hand, it was only about eight centimeters tall.

“Do not forget to use it.” Constance told Fenton.

She walked away from us, towards the counter. We walked after her.

“We would like six rooms, please.” Fenton told her.

“Why, certainly! Rooms are twenty Sienta apiece, but for you, darling, I will charge seven.” Constance told Fenton with a sly wink.

“Seven Sienta for each room?” Federov asked, reaching into his pocket.

“You bet.” Constance said with a smile.

“Thank you so much! You are certainly a kind and wonderful woman.” Federov said, withdrawing a series of large coins and putting them on the counter.

“Your rooms are just to your left. Pick any uninhabited room that you like.” Constance said, taking the coins from the counter and pocketing them.

“Thank you very much!” Fenton said, smiling.

“Any time, sugar.” Constance said with a wink.

I walked into the section of the inn that was to our left, like Constance had said. I looked over to Fenton to ask him about the waitress/innkeeper, but he looked at me with lightning reflexes, his face as red as a tomato.

“Do not say a word.” Fenton said boldly.

I laughed and raised my hands.

“Okay, okay!” I said, still laughing.

I went to a room in front of me, it was empty, and the door was ajar. I stepped through the door, taking my Frevzyaz with me. I shut the door behind me. I looked around the room. The room had ornate furniture including a couch, a bed, a cushioned chair and even a lavish, fancy looking toilet! I sat down on the large bed and looked at my Frevzyaz, it was a clear liquid with a pinkish taint to it. I could almost see another color swirling around in the glass. Blue, maybe? I raised the glass to my lips. A sweet, almost sour scent filled my nostrils. I tilted the glass upwards, feeling the cool liquid hit my lips and run down my throat as I swallowed. It tasted sweet in my mouth. It had an abstract flavor beyond that. It tasted like cherry, but it was too sweet to be cherry. It tasted like apple, but too sweet to be apple. It was almost sugar, but not as sweet. It was like coconut, but not as bold in flavor. It is almost indescribable! When I finished my glass of Frevzyaz, I layed back in the bed. The bed was soft and warm. I reclined. Just before I fell asleep, I heard the clinking sound of Fenton’s small brass colored bell. I smirked and giggled as I imagined what Fenton might have wanted before I fell asleep and everything went fuzzy and dark.

 

***

I woke up to the sound of footsteps outside of my room. I heard four brisk, sharp knocks of my door.

“Nick! Are you in there? Wake up!” I heard Carmella yell.

“I am awake! Give me a minute!” I yelled back in annoyance.

I got out of the warm, comfortable bed and walked over to the door, leaving my empty glass of Frevzyaz on the bedside table.

I staggered over to the door and opened it. In the lobby, I found my friends waiting in the lobby.

“Are you ready to leave, Nick?” Asked Federov.

“Yes, I am.” I said.

I looked over to Fenton, who was sitting at a table in the far right corner of the room talking to Constance.

“Are you certain that you must depart on your journey?” Constance asked Fenton forlornly.

“Yes, for I have a duty to the world, and to my friends.” Fenton said.

“What duty might that be?” Asked Constance.

Fenton looked to me.

“May I tell her?” He asked.

I shrugged.

“Yes, why not?” I said.

Fenton looked Constance intently in the eye.

“My friends and I are on a mission. We are tracking down a very evil vampire named Saja who wants nothing less than the destruction of the world. She wants to assemble the Essence of Life from the twelve shards that the White Reqrium cast out. When she has done so, she will create a new world entirely in her name. My friends and I have journeyed all over Artemis. We are trying to assemble the Essence of Life before Saja does. We have been tracking her, and we have finally found where she has taken up residence.” Fenton explained.

“Where is Saja currently residing?” Constance asked.

“Hemlon.” Fenton answered.

“Why can you not merely find an airship and fly up to Hemlon? Sven has quite the team of brilliant engineers, they have built airships in the past, and are probably still building them.” Constance said hopefully.

Fenton frowned and shook his head.

“Saja mounted an attack on Sven a few days ago and destroyed all of the factories and all of the airships.” Fenton explained.

“Is that so? Well, I may know exactly the girl who can help you.” Constance said in a hopeful tone.

“You do?” Asked Fenton.

“Yes, I have a friend named Anara who owns an airship, she also possesses a shard of the Essence of Life, which has been passed down her family tree for generations.” Constance said.

This seemed too good to be true. Constance knew someone who possessed a shard of the Essence of Life and an airship? It seemed a little unbelievable. We have never had that good of luck before.

“That is amazing! Can you tell us where Anara is?” Asked Fenton.

“Yes, most certainly. Seeing as you are out to save the world, I feel as though I should tell you where Anara is. Anara lives in the large, wooden house across the village, beside the armor shop. You cannot miss the house. Good luck on your travels, young adventurers!” Constance said.

“Thank you, you have helped us greatly by telling us where Anara is located. It will not be forgotten.” Fenton said to Constance.

“I certainly hope that it will not be forgotten!” Constance said.

“Thank you for everything.” I told Constance.

“Any time, dear. Please, do come and visit my inn again, and be sure to bring Fenton with you.” Constance said, saying Fenton’s name with a smile.

“I will.” I told her.

I turned and headed for the door. My friends followed me outside. I began walking towards where I remembered seeing the armor shop. I walked down the lonely stone street towards the little armor shop. Next to the armor shop, I saw a large three story log house.

"I can sense another presence." Luna said. When we drew near to the house.

Luna walked up to the house’s porch and knocked on the door. There were the sound of footsteps leading to the door from inside the house. The door opened, revealing a girl. The girl had shoulder length brown hair, she was tall, but shorter than me, and had blue eyes. She was pretty thin, around Fenton's build. She looked to be around sixteen. A curious gleam became visible in her eyes as she regarded us.

“Who are you all? What do you want?” She asked.

Fenton stepped forward.

“Hello. I am Fenton, this is Anna-Maria, Federov, Nick, Carmella and Luna.” Fenton said, addressing us all by name.

“Okay, now that I know who you lot are, what do you want?” The girl asked.

“We have received word from your friend, Constance that you possess an airship, as well as a shard of the Essence of Life. Is this true?” Fenton asked.

“It very well might be. What of it?” Asked the girl, annoyance was slightly audible in her tone.

“My friends and I are on a mission. We are tracking down a very evil vampire named Saja who wants nothing less than the destruction of the world. She wants to assemble the Essence of Life from the twelve shards that the White Reqrium cast out. When she has done so, she will create a new world entirely in her name. My friends and I have journeyed all over Artemis. We are trying to assemble the Essence of Life before Saja does. We have been tracking her, and we have finally found where she has taken up residence.” Fenton explained.

Fenton had used those exact same words when he explained the situation to Constance.

“I see. I have heard of such a vampire living in Hemlon, she came down here a few days ago, asking me for my shard of the Essence of Life. She searched my entire house for it and did not find it, for I hid it well. She also did not take notice of my airship, which is in my back yard.” Anara said.

“That is great! Could you help us? Please?” I asked Anara.

Anara cocked her head skyward for a moment, contemplating what she was going to do.

“I will do it on one condition.” Anara said.

“Come on! Can you not help out fellow travelers? We are trying to save Artemis, after all!”

“Sorry, a condition is my offer. Would you like to hear my offer or not?” Anara asked harshly.

“Yes, we will hear your offer.” I told her.

“I desire some money. One hundred fifty Sienta should do it. So, how about it?” Asked Anara.

I looked to Federov. After all, he had the money.

Federov rummaged in his pocket. He withdrew a few of the fist sized coins. He counted under his breath.

“One hundred fifty Sienta, right here.” Federov said, holding his hand out.

“Why, thank you very much. I will go get the shard of the Essence of Life, and I will give you a ride to Hemlon on my airship.” Anara said.

Anara took the money from Federov and pocketed it. She then disappeared into her house. She vanished from sight for a minute, then reappeared. In her hands was a stone that was in the shape of a lopsided star. She handed it to me.

“There is your shard of the Essence of Life.” Anara said to me.

I took the shard from her hands and stuck it in my pocket along with the other one. We now had two shards.

“I will now show you to my airship and I will fly you all up to Hemlon.” Anara said.

“Thanks, miss.” Anna-Maria said.

“It is no trouble. You have already paid me. That is your ‘thanks’ to me.” Anara told us all.

Anara stepped out of her house and walked past us, motioning for us to follow. She led us up the side of her house and around to the back yard, which was a small fenced in area that was about two hundred square feet. Sitting in the fenced in area was a large airship. The airship looked like a metal pirate ship, but it had a huge balloon above the deck. The ship itself was made of brown metal and it was over one hundred feet from bow to stern. At the bow, there was a mounted gun that looked like an oversized sniper rifle that was mounted on a tripod. Along the sides of the airship, there was a mounted machine gun. There was four mounted machine guns on each side of the airship. In the rear of the airship, there were two mounted cannons that looked like they would deal some serious damage. On the side of the airship on the hull, there was an engraving. The letters A-N-N-A-B-E-L-L-E were spelled out across the hull.

“Well, what do you think?” Anara asked with a slight smirk on our face.

“It is certainly a marvel of current engineering. Tell me, how did you come into possession of such an airship?” Asked Federov.

“My father worked at one of the factories in Sven. He gave this airship, the Annabelle to me for my sixteenth birthday last year.” Anara explained.

Anara started walking towards the airship. I noticed that it was tied down to the ground by ropes, and was floating a few feet off of the ground. Anara walked over to a ladder on the hull of The Annabelle and climbed on.

“Well, do not just stand there! Are you going to climb aboard or what?” Anara asked us.

My friends and I walked over to the ladder and climbed up onto The Annabelle. When I was up on deck, I saw all of the mounted guns up close, they looked like they could do some damage! I saw a staircase leading below deck. Across the deck from me, right in the middle of the deck there was a huge mast that had a crow’s nest on top. There was a ladder leading up there. Anara strode over to the rear of the airship, where a steering wheel was located. The steering wheel was on a rise in the airship, because the rear of the airship was more elevated that the front of it. Anara placed herself behind the steering wheel. Next to the steering wheel, there was a small metal box with a switch on it.

“Before we depart, we need as many gunners as we have, we also need a helmsman!” Anara called to us from across the airship.

“I will be the helmsman!” Fenton volunteered.

“Then you will need this, Fenton!” Anara yelled.

Anara pulled something from her pocket and made an expert long range throw to Fenton. Fenton caught it and examined it. It was a spyglass. Fenton then strode over to the crow’s nest and began ascending the ladder to the crow’s nest. He finished his ascent after a few seconds and he stood in the crow’s nest.

“I am ready to depart!” Fenton yelled.

“Next, we will need an engineer to repair damaged parts. If Saja is hiding in Hemlon and is looking for the shards of the Essence of Life, there is no doubt that she will have some form of defense to defend the shards!” Anara yelled.

“I will be most fitting for that position.” Federov said, stepping forward, motioning to his tool belt.

“Very well! The rest of you, assume an offensive position on a mounted gun! We are heading into dangerous territory!” Anara yelled.

Upon hearing that, I surveyed the guns that were available. There was a series of automatic mounted guns, there were the mounted cannons in the rear, and there was the oversized sniper rifle mounted at the front of the airship. I ran over to that gun. I would use it. I saw that Luna, Anna-Maria and Carmella had taken up positions on the mounted guns on the sides of the airship. I then felt my stomach twist as Anara cut off all of the ropes that kept us anchored, flipped a switch and sent us into the air. We gained altitude quickly, at a rate of around ten feet per second! I heard the mechanical whine of the engine that pumped air into the balloon, causing it to float into the air, taking the entire airship with it.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think :)