“Anchors aweigh!” the Captain shouted. “You heard her Majesty, bring her around!”
But the wave would catch them long before they got moving. And from the Queen’s wide eyes, it seemed she realized that, too.
The ship gave a sudden heave, causing the Queen and a good number of Mage-Knights to lose their feet. Lucian just barely managed to remain standing.
As the Queen struggled to rise under the pressure of the maelstrom, he realized that this might be their only chance. In the chaos, the four of them could get off the ship and down to the Orb before the Queen got the same idea. The ship would be lost, anyway. The only concern was getting through that kinetic wave without getting ripped to shreds. With luck, the Sorceress-Queen wouldn’t realize what was happening until it was too late, and would go down with the ship.
Masked by the storm, Lucian immediately abandoned his post and searched for his friends. He found Serah first, whose blonde hair was easy to pick out. “Where’s Fergus and Cleon?”
“I’m here,” Cleon said, stepping forward. “Fergus is more sternward. That blast sent him reeling back pretty far.”
“We have to find him and get out of here before the ship goes down.”
More screams emanated from the direction of the bow as the roar of the storm only increased in volume. The darkness of the storm, combined with the incredible brightness of that violet light, threatened to overwhelm all. Getting to the Orb before the Queen was no longer the top priority.
Survival was.
“Run!” Lucian shouted.
The three of them ran sternward, finding that they were not the only ones fleeing. Mage-Knights and sailors had abandoned their posts, seeking refuge from the advancing kinetic wave. The ship heaved as the front of the wave reached the bow, splitting timbers as it punctured the helium-filled envelope above them.
“Serah, gravity aura!”
“On it!”
“Fergus!”
He was dead ahead and running toward them. Serah streamed her aura, and instantly, Lucian was light on his fleet, lifting off from the deck below them. Were they going up, or was the ship sinking? It was impossible to tell. But all four of them were together now, clasping to each other and borne by the wind, sharing the aura streamed by Serah. She would not be able to maintain this magic for long, and worse, they would fly right into the disintegrating envelope above unless Lucian found something of sufficient mass to tether themselves toward. But that was impossible to do in a storm where he couldn’t see more than five meters ahead of him.
Fergus’s eyes shone vibrantly green, and not a moment later, something was shining in the direction of the Orb – what looked like a pillar or a column. It was beyond the kinetic wave, the only visible thing of mass onto which to tether himself and his friends.
Still streaming the Orb of Binding, he tethered the four of them to that pillar, shining like a beacon in the darkness. From before, he knew doing this would require an insane amount of ether. And he knew if the Orb failed to supply it, all of them were as good as dead.
Don’t fail me now. I’m either Chosen, or I’m dead. You decide.
As if in answer to those words, magic roared out of him, and every limb shook with that power. Lucian streamed power into all four tethers. Just as Serah’s gravity aura dissipated, all four of them rocketed forward, past the falling deck of the Zephyr and before the collapsing envelope above could ensnare them. A rope nicked at Lucian’s shoulder, sending him into a spin, but the tether set him straight as he continued on his path forward.
But there was still the expanding kinetic wave. It was mere seconds away.
“Stream with me,” he shouted. “Psionic shield!”
As a single unit, they joined his stream, entrusting their Focuses to him. Serah was the first to add her Psionic Magic to Lucian’s. Soon after, Fergus and Cleon added their own strength, each of those streams weaker than Serah’s. Every little bit of magic would matter.
For the first time in his life, Lucian was controlling four streams from four people. The sheer amount of magic ripping through him made him want to faint with euphoria. Anything felt possible. Despite the excruciating inferno beneath his skin, the sheer bliss of that amount of magic made it all worth it. He streamed the shield, directing every bit of ether he could into making it strong enough to withstand the wave. But despite that amount of magic, it might not be enough.
Their shield winked out as soon as contact was made, but that split second was all they needed. Lucian felt faint at having that amount of magic suddenly extinguished, but he refocused and maintained his Binding streams on the pillar. They could still die if he lost his concentration. A fall from this height would kill them just as surely as the kinetic wave.
Lucian had just enough energy to look over his shoulder and see the wave tearing the rest of the Zephyr asunder. Men and women were jumping overboard, flying into the air, screaming and dying.
Serah pinched him. “Focus!”
Lucian turned back around. They were almost there. He kept the Binding stream steady. Fergus’s eyes were still green, his face strained with the effort of keeping the pillar lit. He had to keep it up long enough for them to make it.
“Almost there,” Serah said. “Don’t give up.”
He felt her hand reach his. It was enough motivation to continue. He couldn’t give up on her, nor on Fergus and Cleon. They had followed him across an entire moon on this mad, stupid quest. They deserved to see what lay at the end of it after everything they had gone through.
The storm and dust whipped around them. It was just the four of them floating down in the maelstrom, inching closer and closer toward that spire.
Lucian could feel it, now. The Orb of Psionics thrummed with power, with potential.
And it was waiting.
With
