A World With/Out Home

Chapter 31: An introduction. (Part 3)

On the Sky Fortress:

Valandus had been having a pretty relaxing time. Sure he had cracked open a few of his supplies earlier than he expected but Riften and Mica were good company. The small devil child was actually quite the intelligent character and though a fair bit scary, she was also cute. Like he had said before, things were cruising, until the vision that is.

Like the other members of the Hero's Guard Valandus was no exception and as Kyle's image came to his mind, unlike many others he recognised the dying women lying on the ground. The call for help was lit.

"We-we need to help them," Valandus stood from his stool. "Maila- she's hurt."

Riften nodded grimly, "I saw it too." He gently brushed Mica's hair, "I'm leaving him to you. I'll be going ahead."

"Good luck," the girl waved him away.

"Woah! Hang on where are you going?" Valandus reached for him.

"Sorry but you'll only slow me down. I trust you have a way down yourself." And with that Riften vanished into the shadows of the ship.

"Son of a b-," Valandus almost swore but stopped as he realised Mica was watching. "I guess you're stuck with me."

"That's okay. You're a funny human," she smiled. "Don't worry I'll protect you."

"And I believe that." He scratched his head. "Now what do I do?" Whatever was happening on the ground wasn't going as well as they hoped and that was clear. He was too optimistic to think that the early signal didn't mean much. Most importantly, the sight of Maila unconscious and unmoving continued to flash in his mind.

"Should we leave?" Mica asked and held onto his sleeve.

"No, not yet," Valandus shook his head. "Sorry I need to think for a moment." If he left now the cannons would be up and running within the half hour. Even if they won the battle on the ground the sky fortress could make everything moot with its fire power. He needed to turn it off permanently, or at least for a significant period of time. As for Maila, he had to hope that Kyle could turn things around with Riften.

"Do you need help?" the devil child pulled on him.

"Argh, I just need to think!" he growled frustrated as he felt like his brain would burst. The Captain had forced him to now the sky fortress back to front and yet the information he needed was coming up blank.

"Then let me help," Mica smiled and as Valandus turned to look at her again he was caught directly into her gaze. The child morphed completely into her true form. A strange sensation assaulted his senses. The box room where they stood vanished and as the world became black, it instead was replaced by Valandus' own study and all around him where the documents of the sky fortress. Gingerly he picked up the schematics on the table and without having to flip through the pages the information all came back just as fresh as when he first read it. The vision broke apart.

"What did you do?" Valandus gasped for breath.

"I gave you a dream. Did it help?" Mica tilted her head

Valandus grinned and gently patted the space between her horns, "Yeah it did. Now Mica, care to help me get to where I need to?"

"Gladly," with little hesitation she climbed up his arm and sat deftly on top his shoulders.

Unlike Riften, Valandus was not as muscular and the girl was quite a bit heavier than he expected. Regardless he said nothing and bearing the extra weight exited his hidden lair. Outside and in the corridor the true condition of the sky fortress revealed itself. An engineer ran past not even acknowledging Valandus as he was quickly followed by several guards. From the window he could see the troops of Lavise running rampant on the platform. Whatever Riften had done down below was certainly effective. Add in that the sky fortresses weapons systems were inert and they had a big problem.