~Jimmy~
Yes, yes, I know, it hadn't even been forty-eight hours since Fwhip had decreed that every empire pave a new path to another kingdom, but unlike some people, I was determined to get the order completed as soon as possible.
I had instantly gotten to work, planning with my council the route that would lead around a rocky cliffside down towards the ocean to a dock that headed straight to Lizzie's. It's about time that I got more connected to my sister's empire.
The roadway was marked already, and the evening process to level the ground had begun. I had been supervising the entire thing, but I had also heard Fwhip was in the area...might as well get his approval before the road becomes permanent.
So, I sent out a letter.
I wrapped my tail around my waist onto my lap, waiting on the ground underneath a sheltered gazebo. The sky was swirling with different shades of grey, casting shadows over the already muddled swamp. Rain was coming, but that wasn't too uncommon. It always rained here. It matched my mood at the least.
I had been picking at the gravel trapped between the beige and loosely littered green scales of my tail when I heard the crunching of someone wandering down the dirt path leading up to the gazebo.
"What's got you looking so down oh great Codfather of the west?" Came a voice I recognized well. I looked up to see the ginger Count of the Grimlands strutting towards me, wearing a slight grin, the emperor crown perched on his head.
I rolled my eyes, pushing myself to my feet. "And what's got you in such a good mood?" I countered, dodging the question.
"We've been testing out some new equipment in Eastvale! The things we could do with some of the machinery now that we've advanced is quite extraordinary, I should show you sometime." He replied cheerfully. "Now, what was it you wanted to show me?"
"Oh, yes—" I began, attempting to regain my composure. "The drafts for the road have been finished and laid out, I wanted to show you to get approval—"
"Oh?" Fwhip said, raising an eyebrow. "Finally, someone taking this seriously. Gem's already refused."
"Really?" I asked in surprise. "Why—"
"Says there's a 'situation' taking place in Azurite, and she needs to deal with it before doing anything extra." He cut off, raising his gloved hands to perform air quotes.
"Huh," I frowned. "What kind of situation?"
"No idea, she won't give me any details. But apparently I have to exclude her because she's my sister—" Fwhip said with a roll of his eyes. "Stupid if you ask me. But anyways, back to the road!"
"Right!" I agreed after a moment, turning in every direction as I tried to remember where the road was. "Uhhhh, this way!" I declared as soon as I realized which way we were supposed to go.
I led Fwhip down the rather muddy pathways of Ora. A/N Ora is the capital of the Cod Empire. Pavement was needed, desperately needed, and this road hopefully would lead to more paths being improved throughout the capital and the rest of the empire.
"Almost there." I said after nearly fifteen minutes of silence other than the trudging of our shoes against the pebbles and sand. We neared the coast, the violent winds coming off the sea so strong I needed to shield my face. A storm was definitely coming, and the waves lapping harshly against the shore, creeping higher and higher up to the wall wrapping around the edge of the seaside was not a good sign. Waves splashed against the docks, soaking the wood, and forcing the supports to creak. I shielded my face further, the salty air stinging my nose as I led Fwhip along the top of the wall, level with the rest of the city, that dropped down to the rocky beaches.
"Um, you sure this is safe?" Fwhip questioned, raising his voice over the fierce winds.
"Perfectly safe! Right this way." I called back, guiding him towards the wall that bordered one of the edges of the city, the edge that didn't border Mythland. An arc had been constructed, arching high above our heads with a grate that could be lifted at will with a lever. The rough outline of the path led straight out of Ora, down and around one of the small mountains that surrounded the capital.
The ground was relatively level, the pathway hugging close to the cliffside of the mountain which sloped up only a few hundred feet or so.
I glanced back at Fwhip who was still following along, one hand around the rim of the Emperor's crown to stop it from getting knocked off from the breeze. "Nice, nice..." he muttered, gazing out over the ocean. "I presume this is to Lizzie?"
"Yup. It leads to a dock a few miles away. There we're planning to set up a string of buoys to hopefully guide the way to Oceania." A/N Oceania is the capital of the Ocean Empire. I said rather proudly, resting my hands on my hips as I glanced over my work.
Fwhip nodded. "Looks good so far to me!" He said, before yelping as a wave smashing against the cliffside, spraying salty seawater up towards us. He jumped backwards, away from the edge. "Maybe we should head back before that gets worse—"
"Probably a good idea." I laughed, actually not minding the light drizzle that had begun. It was quite refreshing, actually. But a crack of thunder that sounded overhead definitely enticed the idea of heading back towards the city for shelter.
So we began our tread back, my boots squelching against the mud as the rain mixed with the dirt trail.
"You know," Fwhip began, probably around halfway back to Ora, a slight frown on his face. "I thought something was off...where's your Codfather hat or whatever it was? Afraid to lose it in the storm?"
I instantly paused, a lump forming in my throat at the thought. My nose burned the slightest, my face twitching to get rid of the feeling that had snuck up so quickly on me. "Not important." I replied, keeping my tone void of emotion as I passed Fwhip, walking ahead of him now down the narrow path.
"Well, 'not important' must mean very important cause that reaction was pretty concerning—" Fwhip said, catching his breath in between words as he jogged to catch up with me.
"Since when have you cared?" I asked, keeping the rudeness that attempt to poison my tone at bay, masking it with curiosity.
Fwhip raised an eyebrow. "We're allies now, Jim. It's about time we start to mend what we've broken with the war. Also, you seem pretty upset, I want to make sure it's nothing serious."
"Well- it's not, serious per say it's just...I don't have it anymore." I said, my voice unintentionally becoming quieter the farther I got into speaking. I rubbed the back of my neck, eyes on the path, picking nervously at one of the scales lining my neck.
"Like...you lost it?" Fwhip questioned, his frown deepening.
I gave him a bit of a look. "No. It was taken."
Fwhip's nose instantly scrunched at the information. "Who the hell took it? Stealing your stuff is my thing, who's coming for my brand??"
This time, I glared at him. "I appreciate the sentiment." I replied wryly. "The council did. Apparently, I'm not responsible enough...not like I built this damn place from the ground up..." I muttered, kicking at a particularly large pebble on the ground with my boot.
"Oh. Like not responsible how?" Fwhip continued to push, starting to get on my nerves.
However, I just sighed. "Just stuff to do with how I run things, who I'm allied with etcetera, etcetera..." I mumbled. "I don't really want to talk about it. According to them it's 'punishment' until I 'right my wrongs'."
"Well that's stupid." Fwhip said bluntly. "This is your empire- you seem to be doing everything great so far."
"Thanks." I answered, looking up the slightest from the muddy ground as the wall around the city started to come into sight. "Still not going to change their minds though."
"Hm..." Fwhip murmured, his gaze also falling to the trail. I could practically see the gears turning behind his eyes, that look that told me he was planning something...I just hoped that something was a good something.
We continued walking in an almost somber silence, approaching the wall quietly without speaking. That was, until we reentered Ora through the makeshift arch.
"I GOT IT!" He declared suddenly, startling me.
"Got what!?" I asked a moment after recovering, attempting to regain my composure after nearly falling to the ground.
"How to get your headpiece back or whatever!" He replied excitedly, his eyes lighting up with an idea.
"...how and why am I scared to find out—" I asked slowly and skeptically, unsure what to think of Fwhip's suggested 'plan'.
"Oh stop it." Fwhip said with a small roll of his eyes, swatting lightly at me. "It'll be great, I promise! It won't get the original back, but it'll be practically the same thing!"
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, his statement peaking my curiosity and my confusion.
"You'll see! You'll have to come with Eastvale though, all the machinery is there—"
"What machinery!?"
Fwhip ignored me. "You're free right? It'd be a bit of a day trip but of course we'd take my aircraft—"
"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO BE DOING IN EASTVALE FWHIP? I need some CONTEXT here—"
"Oh—" Fwhip began, blinking. "Right. Well, you know that new technology I was talking about earlier? I think it can help. There's something I've been...toying around with. I could replicate the headpiece. The simplest way I can put the process is molecule duplication. It may not work, but we can try!"
"Woah," I started. "That...huh..."
"So, you willing to try? We could head back to the mansion now- just finished constructing a new forge as well!" He said excitedly.
"I...mean I guess?" I replied, a small smile of my own growing on my face. "Yeah, let's try it!"
"Sweet, okay. I landed the plane just near the Mythland border so we need to walk across the city- but it shouldn't take long!" Fwhip said, before turning and beginning to walk faster than before down the pathway into Ora.
~
"Uhm...you sure this is safe?" I questioned as we neared Fwhip's aircraft.
"Totally safe! This prototype has been tested, don't worry. Just as reliable as a dragon if not more!" Fwhip said confidently pulling a small box-like device from his pocket and clicking a green button the size of his fingertip.
Almost instantly, the windshield of the aircraft began to lift, opening up to the two available seats lined up in a row behind the pilot's. "If you say so..." I replied as Fwhip hoisted himself smoothly over the edge and into the pilot's seat.
"Hope on in!" He said, pulling the crown off his head and setting it somewhere on the floor of the aircraft, instead replacing it with his aviator goggles and flicking them down over his eyes.
I stared at the metal shell for a moment that was supposed to lift off into the air and not come plummeting to the ground. It baffled be that something so heavy looking could stay aloft, but I decided that this one time I would trust Fwhip's intelligence. So, I boarded. Kind of.
I attempted to pull myself up, over the slight walls that held the seats in place. The plane was rather small, hardly twenty feet from the nose to the tail. That worried me.
I rather clumsily fell into the seat directly behind Fwhip, having to shift around quite a bit to manage to sit up.
"You in?" Fwhip called backwards, peering at me from around the back of his chair.
"Yup." I said, glancing around nervously and wondering somewhere in the back of my mind if I was ever going to touch the ground again.
"Alrighty, hold on tight and I'd recommend using the seat belt—" He said just as the windshield began to close back over us. I ducked on instinct, but I was actually able to sit back up quite comfortably with plenty of space once it had completely shut us in.
I yelped instantly once the engine had started, vibrating the entire vehicle. I clambered to buckle the seat belt over my lap before clenching my hands around the seat, my heart rate speeding up and beating harshly against my chest.
I could already tell that this was not going to be a very fun flight.
~
By the time I had spotted Eastvale in the distance, it felt like my insides had been scrambled.
I wanted to throw up every meal I had had that day (which was zero, but still), and I had nearly convinced myself I'd be walking home no matter how long it would take. That's how bad it was.
I felt my stomach drop as we began to descend. I took one glance out the windshield, before squeezing my eyes shut to avoid watching the dizzying height we were at.
I bit back a shriek as we hit the ground with a slight jolt and shake of the plane, my eyes squeezed shut as tightly as I could still.
When we finally halted, I slowly let go of the seat, my palms covered in a layer of sweat, sweat that was also dripping down my face in small creek-like trickles.
"You good back there, bud?" Fwhip called, masking a laugh as the windshield began to open back up.
I gasped for fresh air, only to be hit with a wave of burnt-smelling pollution. I coughed, covering my mouth with the crook of my arm. I always forgot of the plume of smoke that seemed to settle over Eastvale like a fog.
I heard the tap of Fwhip landing on the ground after leaping over the short wall of the plane. "You coming?" he asked as he began to walk off, placing the emperor crown back onto his head.
I instantly attempted to stand, wobbling, and grabbing onto the edge of the plane to avoid falling out and down the few feet onto the pavement. I stepped over the edge carefully, dangling for a moment before landing on the ground as Fwhip had, but much less gracefully. I staggered, nearly falling again before steadying myself and jogging after Fwhip towards the Tay mansion.
I had been here a few times, but the infrastructure always amazed me, no matter how many times I saw it. I followed Fwhip through the arched doorway, down the halls decorated to the nines in velvets and golds. Paintings that must have cost hundreds hung on the walls, each with unique frames that weren't the exact same as any of the others within the estate. I was always nervous walking underneath the chandeliers, afraid one would fall onto me. But it never happened.
I didn't question it as Fwhip led me down hall after hall, and it took me a good few minutes to realize we were now descending deep into the ground, past the basement.
The hall would have been completely dark if not for the electric lights that cast a yellow glow across the stone staircase, giving it a slightly eerie feel that didn't allow my heart rate to slow down from the flight.
I didn't know how far underground we were once we had stopped. The door in front of us looked rather plan, just a plank of wood with a steel-looking handle. But Fwhip grinned as he reached out for said doorknob. "Welcome, to the lab." He smirked, pushing the door open and leading me inside.
My breath instantly caught in my throat. The 'lab' was built into a massive cavern that must have spanned underneath the entirety of the mansion. Nearly every space was covered in test tubes weaving in and out of the rocky walls, connecting to large vials and beakers taller than I was, filled with mysterious subjects and liquids I didn't recognize.
Pillars of black and shiny stone held up the cave in unstable places, some lined with white marble and others with metals like steel and silver. Across one wall was a huge monitor, its screen black at the moment, and beside it a ginormous map of what seemed to be the entire known continent.
"Woah." Was all I managed as I looked over all the machinery, absolutely baffled with the number of high-tech objects residing in the room. The stuff in here must have cost thousands...
"Now to work!" Fwhip said, instantly striding across the room to underneath the monitor, towards a large desk with a spindly chair pushed against it. He took his seat, leaning forward before grabbing onto a strange, circular device that slid across the desktop next to a rectangular board with letters of the alphabet scattered randomly around on different square keys.
He began to click away on it, a monitor smaller than the one spanning across the wall but still rather big, lighting up in front of him. A navy-blue glow spilt over the desk and onto the Count's face from the screen, some shape forming as he moved it with the strange clicker on the desk, a little triangular dot skirting around the screen.
I didn't watch too much longer; it was all too confusing. Instead, I took the time to wander and explore the rest of Fwhip's so-called lab.
Several experiments were going on at once, many that seemed less than safe. There was a large chamber where thorned bushes blossoming with black roses grew in a contained area, extruding a thick but at the same time hardly visible gas that looked similar to smoke but darker. The clear pipes lining the walls constantly had multi-colored liquids flowing through them to different points in the room, some looking to be violently hot and others looking to be at freezing temperatures.
All in all, I had absolutely no clue what was going on in this room.
I turned back to Fwhip to see him fiddling with his nose ring, a look of concentration on his face and his eyes narrowed at the screen. He was murmuring something under his breath, typing a few things on the board that began to appear on the smaller monitor before flickering onto the larger one.
"Alright...I think I got this down." He said after a moment, pushing away from the desk and twisting in the spindly chair. He had just enough momentum to make it across the room, stopping just in front of another table that was connected to one of the large tech pieces in the room, wires strung across the walls and entering it at some points.
"Okay...so what's going to happen?" I questioned as I made my way to stand behind him.
"Well, basically, I've made this design because I may or may not have studied the headpiece when I stole it a while back..." He said a bit awkwardly, laughing a bit as he rubbed the back of his neck. "So we have an accurate depiction of what it looks like, size etcetera. The plan is to rework it with the machinery we have here. I have the entire thing hooked up to the Eastvale power grid so uh- worst case scenario, the power goes out through the entire city—"
"Are you sure this is safe?" I asked after a moment, once I had somewhat comprehended what he had explained to me.
"Nope!" He replied with a wide smile, before hitting a small button on the side of the machine without any warning.
"Download processing..." A robotic voice suddenly echoed throughout the cavern, nearly scaring me to the ground.
"I really don't like where this is going—" I started, gripping onto the desk to pull myself back up.
"Relax Jim, it'll be fine." Fwhip reassured me, kicking his feet up onto the desk. "Download is...forty-two percent done, want to do the honors of flipping the lever?"
"Uh...and how exactly do I do that without messing everything up?" I questioned nervously.
Fwhip laughed, getting to his feet. "Don't worry, I'll show you when it's time. Just gotta wait a few more minutes..."
We waited in silence. I rocked back and forth on my feet, picking at the webbing stretched between my fingers, my tail wrapping itself slightly around the front of my shins. Finally, a rather soothing ding echoed throughout the cavern room, apparently signaling that whatever it was, was ready.
"Okay, perfect!" Fwhip said, clapping his gloved hands once together. "All we gotta do is pull the lever and the molecular process will begin—"
"You've tested this, right?" I asked, taking a step forward.
"Nope!" He replied just as he had earlier.
"...but you know it's going to work...right?"
"No idea whatsoever!"
"Wow. Thanks for the confidence boost." I remarked dryly.
"You're welcome!" He grinned. "Now, come, come." He said, gesturing for me to come even closer. "See this?" He asked, showing a very obvious lever painted red that stuck from the machinery. "You're going to pull this on the count of three, mkay?"
"Okay..." I answered, wrapping my hands, that were shaking for some reason, around the lever.
"Three..." he started; his excited expression somehow growing. "Two..." My nerves were only rising the more he built up the suspense. "One!"
With one sharp tug, I yanked the lever down as hard as I could, a loud bang and click going off at the motion. For a moment, all I heard was steam being released and the churn of gears as the machine began to start before it all came to a sudden halt.
"Huh..." Fwhip began, frowning. "That was supposed to—" He was cut off by a large rumbling that shook the entire room.
I half-screamed, falling to the ground with a thud as everything in the room began to shake, the sound of glass shattering filling the cavern as vials and experiments fell to the ground and broke into millions of pieces. My elbow and hip throbbed from the contact against the rock, but I instantly scrambled to my feet, grabbing onto a pipe to keep steady.
Fwhip's expression instantly turned panicked, before he swore horribly. "Shit- that's not good- not good at all—" he started, eyes wide in horror.
"What-? What's happening!?" I demanded, glancing around the room as bits of stone began to fall from the crumbling ceiling.
"We- no- we gotta—" He began, muttering quickly to himself before lunging for a panel on the wall. He flipped it up, smashing his fist against a button inside. At once, a siren like sound pierced the air, so loud I clamped my hands tightly over my ears, tears stinging my eyes.
I hardly took into account the fact Fwhip had grabbed my wrist and had begun to drag me across the room. I stumbled behind him, my mind a mess of confusion and panic and words that didn't make sense.
The most prominent?
What the hell was happening??
I finally gained control of my limbs just as Fwhip forced me into a small alcove of the room, one that I hardly fit in. "Wha—" I started, just as a curved glass panel slid in front of me, something powering up within the niche. "Fwhip what are you doing!?" I asked frantically, pressing my hands against the glass.
"Get out. As fast as you can." He said quickly, clicking something on the wall just out of sight. "Out of the city, as far away as you can- tell everyone you come across to do the same—"
"Fwhip WHAT!?" I demanded, now banging my fist against the sheet of glass. "Tell me what's going on! What about yo—" I never got to finish my sentence. I was shot upwards, rocketing towards the ceiling from whatever device I had been trapped in. I ascended into darkness faster than I could comprehend. Someone was screaming, I think it was me. My lungs were raw, the intake of air I took piercing sharper than a knife to my chest.
In moments however, I had been tossed out onto carpet, my elbows and knees and torso sliding against the floor and burning from the scrape. I rolled onto my back before onto my feet, hardly able to stand from the earthquake-like shakes that shook the entire mansion and most likely the entire city.
But only two words spun through my head, Fwhip's words, drowning out all my other thoughts.
Get out.
Looking both ways I sprinted down the hallway which seemed strangely empty, void of servants and life. The siren was still echoing louder than ever, warning all those who heard it that something was gravely wrong.
As soon as I spotted the doors I threw myself towards them, ramming my shoulder into the wood. They practically exploded open, straight into the chaos of the outdoors. People were running in every direction, panic-stricken expressions on all their faces. Parents clutched to their children's hands, some carrying their kids or possessions, trying to find ways through the crowd and out of the city.
But I turned my gaze away from the main streets, instead running around the mansion towards where Fwhip had landed the plane. I knew there was an exit just near the runway.
I made a wild dash across the asphalt landing strips, ignoring the stitch like a lodged sword in my side. The exit was small, the size of an average doorway, but it was enough. I forced my way through, sliding out the other side of the wall. To my absolute horror, the rickety bridge that spanned over the thorn-filled ditch had collapsed due to the rumblings from deep below the ground.
Survival was my one instinct, although I still didn't know what I was trying to escape. There was no room for cowardice. Gritting my teeth I sprinted forwards, I jumped as soon as my foot hit the edge of the ditch, throwing myself through the air with hopefully enough willpower to reach the other side without getting impaled.
My arms thrashed wildly to find something to hold onto as I fell, just barely missing the other side. My fingernails dug into the rocky soil, managing to slow my fall down into the dry moat. Panic seared my stomach and throat like vomit trying to claw its way from my mouth, overwhelming every sense I had.
It took me a few moments to comprehend my exact situation. I was about halfway down the ditch, my fingers dug into the dirt, bleeding, to avoid falling down entirely. I hadn't quite reached the thorns, but when I tried to claw my way out, I felt the sharp tug of one of the thorny vines curled around my ankle. So I did the only sensible thing and yanked my leg from its hold.
Pain exploded in my leg, but I had no time to think about that as something hot poured down my foot, soaking my pant leg. Instead I clambered my way out of the moat, panting, sweat soaking my chest and my forehead.
The earthquakes were only getting worse, making it near impossible to stand, but I still found a way to run, even with my injured foot.
The only noise I heard was my strangled breathing, ragged as it left my throat and sharp as I inhaled, my boots pounding against the pebbly dirt and gravel crunching beneath my feet.
But just like that, a deafening crack exploded from behind me, followed by a wave of heat that seared by back so horribly it felt like fire licking my skin and scales. I was blasted straight off my feet, another scream echoing from my throat.
I heard nothing but the roar of flames and cracking of rock and stone, saw nothing but swirls of red and orange and black clouds of soot, and felt nothing but burning and sharp crackles of debris scattered against my back.
I had fallen now, I was laying on the ground. I don't know how long I had been tossed through the air, could have been seconds, minutes, hours, or maybe days? Time was lost here in the mania of my head, all emotion except fear stripped from my mind.
I shoved myself upwards as soon as I realized where I was, blinking blearily up at the sky. The orange sky. A haze covered the land, so thick it looked as if it would never be blue again. I shot up to my feet, gazing around, looking for where I was. I was confused for a moment. I wasn't in the Grimlands anymore...was I? But I was. I was standing next to the ruins of Eastvale.
A gaping hole sunk into the ground, cracks running for what seemed like miles spreading throughout the landscape. Remnants of buildings and wall crumbled into the crater, smoke curling high into the sky, masses of people running from the destruction while yet hundreds more must have never left the boundaries of the explosion...
Fwhip had been down there? Had he gotten out? What about the thousands of other people who lived within the city that hadn't been able to get out...?
The ground suddenly rumbled again, nearly throwing me back to the dirt. No— It had to be over, right? There couldn't be more— not more death— no more destruction caused by me.
What had we done?
***
So um yeah.
That happened.
I'd suggest you don't get your hopes up for next chapter,
It all goes downhill from here.
But as always comments and votes are appreciated!
(also sorry if this chapter seems a bit fast paced and rushed, I was trying to get it out quickly!)