5 Days.
It’s been… 5 days since news reached that Ravenna has fallen.
That had crumbled the resolve of everyone back here, in Cirrus Island.
How did they know that? Ravennean survivors, that somehow have gotten past the horde of Atlanteans.
They always thought that, if they’re doing so well, then Ravenna must be doing fantastic right?
Oh how wrong they were…
Mike leaned against a railing, looking at the sea below. He sighed, before looking at the clouds that surround the place.
Some of them are definitely infused with magic energy. There aren’t any pieces of land as foundation but… They could just use modified skyships and turn that into a foundation right?
“Hey, how is it going?” Someone suddenly said, snapping him back to reality. He looked to the right to the source of the voice.
It was Arish Vista, wearing his iconic white wizard hat.
“Pretty terrible. I mean, I don’t know where to help out in town y’know? And with the news of Ravenna having fallen as well…” He sighed again. “Every spot at defending the Stepstones is occupied. I feel like I don’t have any purpose.”
Upon hearing that, Arish put a hand on Mike’s shoulder, trying to comfort the fellow magic user. “You can help other magic users to improve their craft.”
The snow mage’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Actually, would you like to spar with me? I learned a new spell that I’ve been dying to try.”
That was enough to get Mike’s attention. “Y’know what? Sure.” To be fair, he also longed for a bit of combat.
“Come on, let’s grab a skyship to the usual place.”
“Alright, here we are.” Arish hopped off of his skyship, with Mike following suit.
They both walked to the makeshift arena. “Same rules as last time?”
“Yep, only magics. I can see that bow, y’know.” The snow mage pointed out, much to the dismay of Mike.
“I don’t use that in sparring matches… much.” He joked, before walking to the other side of the arena.
“Alright, ready?”
“Set.”
“Go!”
“Wind Charge!”
“Alkaline Aura!”
“…That spell is called ‘Cannon’?” Mike asked with curiosity.
“Yeah!” Arish nodded. “One of the sealed chests contained that spell scroll. It’s like a blast, but it pierces through others!”
“So that’s why you kept damaging me…” Mike muttered.
He was trying to compress an acid ball into a tiny little orb, just for the hell of it.
Look, who cares about spell scrolls when he could just make a spell himself right? Spell scrolls are only for helping anyways.
“What’s that?” Arish pointed to the orb in his hands.
“Oh, this?” He held the orb up. “Just something I’m experimenting with.”
The two mages talked for a bit more, before they got interrupted by an arrow whizzing past them.
“Mike!” Arish shouted. “I told you not to use the bow!”
“I didn’t!” Mike looked confused. “It wasn’t me! I-”
Another arrow, this time it nearly hit the acid mage. “What…”
The two looked up, in the direction of the dark sea. From it, hundreds of birds flew towards them.
Wait, birds can’t use magic.
A magic circle appeared in Arish’s hand, before he aimed it at the sky and fired off a warning shot. The snow blast traveled through the sky and expanded outwards, yet they didn’t slow down.
Another arrow flew towards them, barely missing once again.
Birds can’t fire arrows, either.
Just what are these things?
Upon closer inspection, they looked like… humans? More specifically women with… wings?
“Uhh… Arish?”
“Y-yeah?” His voice trembled slightly
“Let’s get out of here.”
“Great idea.”
They ran to the skyship. Arish quickly took control of the ship and set sail to Cirrus Island.
“Do we even have air defenses??” Mike asked with a worried look on his face.
Before Arish could respond, a light blast suddenly hit the ship, slightly destabilizing it before it disappeared. “They got magic!?”
“What even are these things!?”
The skyship got peppered by attacks. Each time damaging the hull ever so slightly, but for a ship made for traveling and not combat, it’s not necessarily a durable one.
Mike looked at his hand, before remembering the orb. He grabbed it from his pocket before trying to add more energy to it.
If he could launch that thing towards… Whatever these things were, that would hopefully take out, or damage a few of them.
If he missed… Nothing bad would happen.
Okay, maybe he would be exhausted but not like he does anything anyways. Besides he would be exhausted regardless of whether he misses or not.
By now, the ball of acid has been compressed into a nearly pure white orb.
He grabbed his bow and an arrow and stuck the orb against the arrowhead before taking aim.
He let go of the string. The arrow soared through the air before reaching the pack of bird people.
Don’t blame him, he doesn’t know what they’re called.
He snapped his fingers, and the orb exploded outwards in a massive ball of acid.
When the explosion subsided, they were still there.
“Oh, I think I missed.”
In retaliation, they fired off another volley of arrows.
Shouldn’t have provoked them.
Now they’re doomed.
“Mike! Take over the steering wheel. I got this.”
They switched places, now with Mike controlling the skyship.
Arish conjured up a wall made of snow, blocking nearly all of the arrows
“That… was a close call.” He sighed.
“Mister mayor?” A small child asked the town mayor.
“What is it kiddo?” The mayor smiled at the small child.
“What’s that in the distance?” The kid pointed to the sky.
Upon looking in that direction, the mayor’s jaw dropped, possibly from PTSD.
“Sirens…”
.
..
…
Somewhere, in the barracks near the Stepstones…
“MAGES! GET TO THE EAST SIDE, WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!!”
“Sir, east side? There aren’t any atlanteans-”
“Sirens, Jade. Sirens.”