Scene 3 - Girl of Hope III (Skylost Chronicles)

Sage's journey continues.

The smell of fresh rain and wet metal pleased Sage. A gap in the broken doors of the old drone hangar was the only way she was able to see outside the Solvang. Wind raced in and water drops continued to fly through the gap, even though the skyship had passed through the worst of the storm. The gorgeous, yet deadly, view was the whole reason she would sneak down to the twentieth deck on bad days. But on her last day aboard the Solvang, not even the brilliant glow from outside could cheer her up.


Glowing red and orange storm clouds swirled in a vortex that reached up and into the Terminus, the aerial realm above the Void that was safe, aside from the frequent storms. Out of view, below the glowing clouds, was the hideous, shapeshifting landscape of the Void. Sage was grateful not to have to look at the horrid ground. Instead, she gazed out to the scattered skyships of the Empyrean Fleet. Bright yellow and green points of light, from the flight engines of distant skyships, dangled and danced in the colorful sky.


Three ships flew close enough to make out their design, but not close enough to identify by name through the hazy atmosphere of the Terminus. One was a saucer-shaped mining ship, Savannah-class. Another was a stark, angular, military gunboat, Valkyrie-class. Beyond them was one of the unusual, tall, angelfish-shaped vessels, Pleiades-class, a factory skyship just like the Solvang. The three nearby skyships shined in the glowing storm and flickered with blue reflections when lightning struck inside the clouds below.


Sage considered how more than two-hundred thousand people were out in the distance, all depending on her to find an energy orb to fuel the fleet. There were countless faces who would soon know her as their Champion, the 72nd in a long line of sacrifices for the greater good. But most Champions were the daughters of soldiers, fierce girls who usually survived their first trips to the Void. There had only been six civilian-born Champions in the history of the Empyrean Volleyball League, and all of them perished in their first trip.


If history provided a lesson, Sage was sure to meet her fate in the Void. The Reserve Champion, Cassia, would then complete the mission from wherever Sage died with the aethergen orb. The hair on the back of Sage's neck bristled at the thought of such a chain of events. She couldn't bear the sight of the ships any longer, and turned her attention to the empty hangar behind the broken doors.


The hangar itself had no power for lighting or heat, since it was located on one of the condemned decks of the Solvang. The lower third of the tall, wedge-like skyship was battered beyond the point of safe operation, the result of being airborne in the dangers of the Terminus without landing for repair in more than 18 years. The hangar, like many portions of the condemned decks, was exposed to the elements and lit by the glow of cloudlight from outside.


The former drone storage room smelled of ionized water from the storm. Numerous puddles were littered across the compact room, which was half the size of the gymnasium. Sage never saw any of the repair drones that were supposed to have been housed in the hangar. They were lost 18 years ago, shortly after the Cataclysm, like so many things the elders spoke of. Sage pondered the foreign concepts, such as computers, pets, the sun, and life outside a skyship, which had been lost to time.


Sage tapped her soaked shoes at the edge of a large puddle and wondered if she would be similarly discarded. After all, Heidi had become another item in the ever-growing list of losses.


"How are things going?" Adriana emerged from the darkness of the unlit far side of the hangar, a place where the encroaching cloudlight didn't reach.


Sage couldn't decide if she wanted to call her friend over or yell at her to go away. So she stared toward the shadows.


The curiosity on Adriana's face shifted to warmth. "I'll always call you Sage. And I won't allow anyone to call you by a number. Especially not Coach Whitney."


Sage patted the outside of her pocket that contained the coin and fabric. "Seventy-Two isn't such a terrible number."


"Just seventy-two Champions in the eighteen-year history of Empyrea. It's an honored group to be part of." Adriana pointed to the view of the skyships through the broken hangar doors. "All these ships, and we've only needed seventy-two orbs to power us."


"The aethergen is too powerful." Sage quelled a chill that kicked in when she looked at the tiny dots of yellow and green light. "I don't look forward to encountering an orb in all its raw malevolence."


"You're coming back." Adriana approached her friend and put an arm around her shoulders. "Plenty of Champions make it back. Even the ones who run into those rare energy-shooting voidforms."


"Those are always daughters of soldiers." Sage scowled at a nearby puddle that vibrated with the rumble of the ship's flight engines. "We know what happens to daughters of workers."


"Then just act like a soldier when you meet a voidform. Look, it's easy." Adriana stiffened her body, goose-stepped in circles, and saluted. She added shouts of "that's my food" and "work harder, you ugly civilians" before she broke out into laughter.


"Wow, I thought you were a real colonel for a moment." Sage chuckled to relieve her worries and shift back to her serious thoughts. "Do you remember Cassia, from the league finals?"


Adriana grinned. "Captain of the Crimson Sunset Fireballs? How could I forget her? Worst sport I've ever seen on the court."


Sage smirked at the evaluation. "At the end of the game, when the judges announced they needed to deliberate on who would become Champion, she came up to me. I'll always remember how she looked like she wanted to bite me. But she just said, 'You'll stay down there.'"


"I wouldn't take anything that lunatic said as prophetic." Adriana rolled her eyes. "Besides, that 'stay down there' line? She said it every time one of us fell. She's just a jerk."


"Do you really believe I'll make it back from that?" Sage waved a hand to the glowing storm clouds outside the broken doors. "All of us are safe in the Terminus only because of the protection the skyships provide. The Void is deadly, and far below these safe walls. Every time I think about going down there, I don't know if I have what it takes to survive the ordeal."


Adriana scoffed. "The league judges wanted to select a daughter of the military as Champion, even if it was obvious that you, civilian-born Sage Mustang, were the correct choice as the winning team's captain. They were even willing to stand accusations of corruption by doing that stunt with the so-called tie and claim of a need for deliberation. And even then, they were forced to admit you not only showed the athleticism, but the fortitude and integrity needed to complete a trip to the Void. Sage, there's no question you'll make it back."


"Thanks for the support." Sage sighed.


Adriana paced around Sage in a circle to break the uncomfortable silence that overcame them. She stomped through a puddle in front of her friend and simpered. "I can't believe I'm here with the Champion of Empyrea."


"I can't believe it, either." Sage quelled a shiver. "I never dreamed of becoming the Earthquakes' team captain, of leading us to season finals, or becoming Champion. It just happened through sheer force of will."


Adriana lifted an eyebrow. "Do you ever wish you could go back to class and become a medic like you wanted?"


Sage cast a confused look for a moment. "Every second. But now I have a new duty." She pulled the coin out of her pocket and rotated it through her fingers before she put it back. "I can't ever go back to being a regular daughter of workers. There's no returning to class and hoping to escape this ship by becoming a medic."


Adriana lowered her eyebrow and resumed her walk around Sage. "Well, you still get to leave the ship. So maybe being Champion has some upsides."


"All the fresh air I could want." Sage gazed up at the rust patterns in the ceiling panels. "All for me. All alone in the Void. Lucky me."


"I envy you," Adriana said. "I want off the ship, too. But I'm failing my shipping management classes. I'll be lucky to get a job as an inventory clerk. Right here. Forever."


"The Solvang isn't so bad." Sage brought her eyes down from her gaze to face Adriana. "It has you. And Natalia, Evelyn, Rose, Kioko, Yadira, Whitney, and even Zoli. It's provided a place for us all to become friends. It's a place our parents have been able to watch us grow up in safety, unlike the gunboats or harvesting craft."


"You have a point." Adriana nodded.


"But now my parents have to witness something new happen to me." Sage thought of her family. "Of all the people to talk to, I want to tell them and my grandmother the news first. It's just that they're so busy with work. I won't see them until they get home late tonight. It's going to break them."


"I'll be here for you. We'll all be here for you." Adriana's eyes widened with sincerity. "The whole team is ready to support you with anything you need."


"I appreciate that." Sage sighed in thought. "But I don't know what I need. Maybe more time to think."


"That's fine. Think all you need to." Adriana gazed past her friend to the cloudlight beyond the broken hangar doors. "But I'm going with you."


"You can't come with me." Sage tensed up.


"Not to the Void." Adriana shrugged. "I mean, wherever you're going next. I know you hate being alone, so I'll accompany you. But you also want peace, so I'm willing to simply be there and not say anything."


Sage gave her friend a hug. "That's exactly what I need." She released the embrace and went through ideas for a moment. The serenity of the condemned lower decks came to mind. "I noticed security was light on the way down here."


"Light? More like nonexistent." Adriana furrowed her brow. "It's so unusual to not see any of Okawa's goons."


"Our gain." Sage showed a brief hint of excitement on her face. "There's a few warehouses on deck twenty-three, one of them with an unlocked door that I've explored twice. Feel like making the trip down?"


"Lead the way, Champion." Adriana met her friend's flicker of a grin with her own enthusiastic smile.


The two left the drone hangar, red light on their backs, and shadows before them.