The Fallen City

|Chapter IX: Taking Chance

Carola's face was awestruck, the smile had vanished very quickly. She blanched for a moment, her expression like he had reached behind her and smacked her head. Gale watched it all fade away, and as it did, the aura of restoration around her receded into nothing. Walls lost their detailing, carvings faded away. The turning earth he stood besides flaked its colour into nothing but dust. Her face suddenly turned into a frown.

"You can't be serious!" She practically barked.

"I am." Gale responded calmly. Carola threw her hands up in frustration.

"You're just like everyone else! Only difference is you wait for people in a decayed City instead of prowling around the internet!" She snapped back at him. It was taking a lot of effort for her not to just walk out. Gale took a step forward. She took a step backwards, maintaining the distance. "I bet you you're in my bloody home aren't you, perverted scum."

"We have a responsibility, Ms Lucian, to every man woman and child that walks the Earth. As of now we are the only two people that still believe in the City. We are all that's saving it." He explained, he took deliberate steps forward, and Carola slowly backed outside. She was exactly where he needed her. Her death stare trained on him as he gestured at the World Tree's branches above him. "We are the only thing keeping it alive."

"It's a tree in an ocean of water it is very happy, it won't die soon." She scoffed at him. "You on the other hand are not going to get what you really want Mr Mayfair and if you take a step closer you won't be living much longer. I've known your kind for years, I ain't guna let you have your way with me on the pretense of bringing some stupid City-"

Gale lifted a finger to his lips, she silenced very quickly. Almost shocked really. He unfurled each finger one at a time, counting down for moments of peace.

He pointed at the open canopy again.

"What do you see?"

"Nothing that's going to make me trust you." She said, she threw down her flightboard. "Sod off, Mr Mayfair."

"Carola Wait!" Gale barked as she took flight, she flew very quickly away from him. Gale dropped to his knees, his body shook. In the distance he heard the toll of a distant clock. His time was running out.

Part of him wanted to fly after her. He doubted it would help at this point.

With a wave of his hand he summoned his flightsuit.

He had to try.

Gale leapt from the roots of the World Tree into the sky, but she was pulling away far too quickly. Needing speed, he called his Shardship after him. He was still mid flight when it met him. The vessel flipped nose down, catching him in its seat. the canopy sealed shut immediately, his hand already holding its control crystal out locked onto his distant companion. She banked upwards, spiralling and turning to try and throw him off.

With trained commands he pursued the distant speck of his former companion. She was fast, but the shardship was faster. Carola glanced back, through her helmet Gale could see rage.

"Leave me alone!" Her voice barked inside the shardship. Gale matched her speed, less than a few meters behind her.

"Carola we need to work together." Gale insisted. It wasn't the answer she'd wanted. Her armour disengaged, he saw her reach to her throat. He pushed his fist forward, hoping to knock her from the board before she could do something stupid. She already had...

Gale could just watch though as her body faded into dust, the flightboard fell from the sky, pinging against the nose of his craft.

"NO!" He barked, the dust of her body rushed past the shardship. He dropped the crystal in anger, true rage for the first time in the city. Not at her, in no way at her.

Gale pounded against the shardship. His fists made cracks his aura couldn't heal. He punched his canopy hard, sending it erupting from the ship's hull. His feet kicked, their soles glowing.

He crashed against the ocean's surface as it caught him. The shardship foundered into its deep, leaving an eruption of sparkling water and white foam that ensnared him like the fires of hell. His fists threw up water as he swung at it. His helmet retracted as he roared at the world he'd always loved.

He swung his fist at the air beside him, as if by chance he caught her flightboard with it, sending it skipping over the surface like a stone into the distance.

Gale sat on the surface of the water in absolute silence. He saw something descend towards him in the sky. It fell slow, and dignified.

He snapped it from the air as it came to him. His hand opened to show him the cracked pebble.

The unwanted memory...

Gale placed it against his waist, letting it stick as his eyes drew up to the skyline away from him. The city's glistening spires caught his eyes. They rose so proud, even cast in devastation they still stood proud... As he should have.

And stand he did. But not proud.

He could almost see more light drain from the city. The water turned grey, a mist seemed to descend. He opened his hand, feeling the contact of the shardship's crystal through his gauntlet. For the first time ever in his life, it remained cracked. He heard another chime...

The ocean rippled as what felt like another cataclysm shook the City of Dreams. He could even see from sea level the chasms open up throughout the City, he was powerless to watch what must've been hundreds of spires fall into damnation, their contents unknown, their creators long moved on...

Their memories now long forgotten...

The end of this world was fast approaching...

Alone he stood...

Alone he walked, a broken man...

He spoke to himself, the madness of isolation once again sat in. He didn't want to believe it.

He listened hard, the City was silent. It was quieter than ever.

And he felt, on some level, no one believed in it anymore.

As the ocean rippled gently underfoot he thought of many things. He thought of his old life. He thought of his marriage. He thought of his son. He remembered every moment he could. Flashes of memories drifted by, like an old movie. Every clip to black was an image of the City. He could see his wife smile, he could hear his son crying, he could see the sights he once marvelled.

And between them, he saw a City gently turn to ruin. He saw colours mute to grey. Lifetimes of work crumbled, life carried on without care. People move on without thinking once about what was left behind.

He looked ahead...

And Gale felt the rage again.

The rage at the people of the world. The rage at those that called him mad. The rage at people who didn't care about anything more than themselves.

And he felt the rage at himself.

He listened as hard as he could to nothing.

He grasped onto memories long gone.

"Maybe some things were best left to die..."