Eternium ~ 31!

Dale stood on the edge of Mountaindale with nearly every person that lived on the Skyland, watching as the first chunk of the moon came close enough to fall to earth. He had seen shooting stars before, but this was… different. No one knew what was about to happen, and the portal wasn’t operational. This could be the end. It certainly wasn’t the largest chunk, maybe a few miles wide, and it was only moving a little faster than gravity would normally bring it down. So, there was a chance.

The chunk of the moon seemed to catch on fire, making everyone gasp. Was the moon full of fire Essence? That explained why it was so bright at night, but… the flaming object vanished over the horizon. Nothing seemed to happen over the next few minutes. That should have landed in the ocean, since the entire world was a single landmass with only a few islands dotting the rest of the sphere. Thirty minutes passed, and people began to disperse in relief.

“Hans, do you think we are getting scared for no good reason?” Dale asked his friend as soon as they were in a more private location. “Perhaps most of this will miss us and we will simply get a few extra landmasses out of the deal?”

“I have no point of reference, Dale.” Hans lifted his pint and drained it, smacking his lips as it finished. “Listen, sorry you haven’t been seeing much of me lately. Been hitting the cultivation pretty hard after we worked out that… thing.”

Dale smiled with a hint of relief, Hans sometimes liked to mess with him to see what would happen. “No worries-”

The room they were in shook so violently that the windows fragmented and lost their glass. The shaking didn’t subside right away, continuing at the same intensity for nearly a full minute. The air was roaring with strange sounds, like thunder mixed with a forge as the tide came in. When everything settled, Dale calmly stood up, helped Hans and Rose to their feet, and stepped outside.

One of the great benefits to building the area in the way they had was that most if not all of the structures were more than built, they were Runecrafted. Not a single place had toppled, which helped to keep any casualties to a minimum. “Anyone know what’s going on?”

<Sure, Dale.> Dale jumped as the voice entered his mind directly. <As far as I can tell, there was huge destruction from that flaming moonrock. One of the reasons we survived unscathed for the most part is that not only are we really far away from where it landed; we are airborne. You can’t see it from where you are, but the ocean below is... is just… borked. Broken and churning beyond reason. All the water is flowing toward the impact, and that’s really strange.>

“How much damage do you think we are looking at?” Dale quietly asked amongst the screaming and loud questions flying around.

<Lots. Dale, the ocean is moving. Whatever happened when that chunk hit us isn’t over yet.>

“Extra ominous, thanks.” Dale tried to think of something useful he could be doing, and couldn’t really think of much. He shrugged and started emitting a sunlight Aura. If nothing else, this would help calm the people around him and slowly fix any injuries they had sustained. “Hans, I’m betting that this will light a fire in anyone who hadn’t been all that concerned about this moonfall before.”

Rose spoke up after looking at all the concerned and hard faces around them. “I think you might be onto something, Dale. Hey… if it were this bad in the air, do you think anyone on the ground - or underground - is happy right now?”

Dale didn’t move, considering her words. “Let’s go and make sure that there is room to start receiving refugees and the like. I’m… yeah, I’m not the best one to make choices for people. Can we see if we can get a higher-ranked cleric to run logistics? That way we know that people coming in will have someone that cares if they live or die. I don’t think that the Guild is a good place to be anymore.”

“I don’t mind going.” Rose offered, getting a nod from Dale. She turned away, but Hans reeled her in for a quick smooch.

“Be careful. When people think they have nothing to lose, they start doing very dumb things.” Hans whispered in her ear.

“I’m a pro.” Rose gave him a cocky grin and a thumbs-up before darting off. In moments she was running along rooftops and bouncing off walls to maintain momentum.

<Speaking of people you expect to do stupid things….> Dale wasn’t sure what was meant by this statement at first, but then Barry appeared in the air above the Academy.

“Listen up, everyone. From this point forward, every resource is devoted to completing our escape from this dying planet.” Barry was enhancing his voice, and Dale winced since he could just imagine the terrible plans going through the Guild leader’s head. “We are going to be accepting donations from everyone. One-tenth of everything you have, whether you have been here or are just arriving. That is how much you get to keep. The remaining nine-of-ten resources will be donated to the Guild, just in case there is something that we might be able to use to speed our escape.”

Silence reigned, though the fury being directed at the S-ranker was palpable. His gaze sharpened, and his voice took on a dangerous edge. “Unless, of course, you’d rather not be allowed to escape with us when the portal is functioning.”

His unsubtle threat made most people turn away. Not wanting to be left behind was a big motivator. People began justifying their inability to say no, telling themselves that it didn’t matter, that they couldn’t bring much with them into the soul-space anyway, Barry vanished shortly thereafter, allowing everyone to breathe a little easier. 

“Cal. As far as you can tell, how close are they to finishing the portal?” Dale voiced into the empty air. Hans looked over with shining eyes, very interested in hearing the answer to this.

<They are close, but they are missing something. They keep thinking it is done, but then they can’t find whatever it is that’s keeping it from activating.> The flow of words paused, then resumed in a sour tone. <The Master is having a hard time. Oh, and he’s getting weaker every day. So that’s fun. Real great for my mental health.>

“Thanks, Cal. If there’s anything we can do to help, let us know?” Dale didn’t get an answer, so he relayed the information to Hans, who was patiently waiting to hear what he had to say. “No good news, Hans.”

“Well… abyss.” Hans rubbed the back of his neck, looking in the direction Rose had vanished. “Do you think it is time to start looking into other options? Making a few contingency plans of our own? I finally have something I’m not willing to risk on a gamble.”

“Very sweet, I’m sure.” Minya appeared with a sound like a giant soap-bubble popping. Hans screeched and did a backflip, landing with knives in his hands. “Nice. Hey, Dale, I think that we are getting into a dangerous area. Something Cal has been discussing with Dani recently… we could be getting into an area that’d be worse for our health than simply finding a place to sleep for a thousand years or so.”

“Do you have details?” Hans politely inquired, his weapons once more hidden somewhere on his body.

“I don’t, but I think we are going to find out sooner rather than later.” Her grim words were punctuated by a blaze of shifting light that filled the sky. It looked beautiful, but they could tell that there was a huge amount of Essence and Mana in those lines. “What in the abyss is that?”

“The lights of the North.” A Barbarian had come close enough to overhear their conversation, and he was staring at the sky with eyes full of wonder. “I thought that they were only a myth!”

“Can you… what is the myth?” Dale tossed politeness to the side and went right for the information he needed.

“The lights of the north.” The Barbarian looked at them knowingly, but upon seeing their confused faces he rolled his eyes and explained. “They light the way to the greatest treasure upon this earth, but only one man has ever followed their siren call and returned. It is said that whoever follows the path without the willpower to sacrifice their dreams can never return, but that there is no need to return. Immortality, the path above the S-ranks. That is what lies at the end of those lights.”

“And we are flying straight at something straight out of mythology.” Minya pointed out, swallowing deeply. Even myths and legends usually had a kernel of truth in them, and most likely the truth here… was that no one returned after following the lights.