Icarus Awakens

Claire rested on her familiar as she looked up to the stars above. She was close to the highest altitude you could get in Threst, and if she looked down all she would see was an open expanse. Having spent years here before moving to Roost’s Peak with a settlement wave, the heights wouldn’t have gotten to her if she still felt fear. Anyways, her summon could catch her if she fell.

Not surprisingly, Threst had a lot of flying monsters and animals, some completely native to the region. It was by far one of the most extreme terrains Claire had seen, and she could remember a few she’d passed through as a child. Kallical was just one giant field with burrow works and warrens, Vellus a standard network of scattered rivers and deep lakes the shavi loved to colonize, and Rikendia…

No, Rikendia was special. Claire had been born there, her Sojourn moving out when she was six. What few memories she retained beat out everything besides this sea of freedom and clouds, and the mountains of the Thormundz whose peaks had stretched farther than she could see.

Back to the point, what Claire had summoned to get her out of Aurus was a fully tame species of insect that had been brought here to serve as both livestock and transport for the mortal races. Personally she didn’t see the appeal of insect flesh, that was for the birds. She only intended to use this diamondback beetle as a mount. They came in black and faintly iridescent green colors, differing from the basic version in size and the formation of chitin on their back that allowed for a stable surface while the rest of the shell separated to let the wings out.

Compared to the diver platform that had almost spotted her outside of the church, the flight of this beast was unwieldy and slow. The rustling noise made by the wings could be unsettling, and the bump of the chitin uncomfortable. The monster was only half again her size due to its higher level, the level 0 variant could just barely generate enough lift to keep itself and a passenger aloft. The only benefits compared to a Bekali Diver were that she actually had one of these, and it could fly itself allowing her to recover from the escape.

Others did use these, the real version that was. The beetles made for excellent beasts of burden and could transport a good amount if multiple were harnessed. As for personal transport, since navigating Threst was so much easier by air the inconveniences were worth it to those who had no other option.

Claire was headed towards Marbleview, a settlement built into a sky island cut off from the main land mass of the region. The denizens there would be completely at the mercy of Aurus for transportation if not for creatures like the humble diamondback. Or, at least, they would have been if not for who lived there.

Granted, travelers didn’t typically stay for this long in the air. A human going from Marbleview to Aurus would fly from the closest patch of mainland instead of taking the direct path because the skies of Threst were dangerous. Flying monsters were far more common than terrestrial ones, and the roads of Threst could be patrolled more frequently than the open sky. Claire was taking a risk, she knew. Even with Fated Confrontation, that didn’t guarantee she’d live to face her sworn enemy. Only that, if she did live long enough, they would meet again. Using a land route after she’d gotten far enough from Aurus would have been safer.

But the roads were patrolled. Claire needed to get to Marbleview and find her Sojourn. She was sure they were still in the region, considering the terms of the agreement that Zozar, their leader, had made with the air gestalt that had somehow come into power. Roost’s Peak hadn’t exactly worked out. The thing was, even if the regent could keep her people here, she doubted they’d want to anger Zozar by pulling her out.

The Sojourn was safety. Family, what little of it she had left. Parduc had been the last of what she would consider a direct relation, even if they weren’t blood. Considering she may be all that was left of the people they’d sent to the Thormundz, there was no way they’d let her be taken. Assuming the Sojourn still existed, that was. It has to. They couldn’t have broken it up.

Claire had no way of knowing. They’d been effectively exiled until the Thormundz was fully stabilized, just like that Hero who’d gone to Aughal instead of risking old bargains being nullified by the Upswell. In her case she’d come unwilling, and the issue was more with the group than her.

She turned over, coming to a sitting position to inspect her surroundings. The wings of the beetle thrummed around her, far faster than a bird’s needed to, giving a slight numbing vibration to the uneven seat. Most who rode these beasts for a living bought saddles to at least make it tolerable, Beastmasters especially. She just had to deal with it.

Trying to avoid thinking about the Sojourn, Claire looked out and ignored the noise. Aurus was a speck in the distance, noticeable in the night sky only for the light it cast off. That aside, there were clouds above, below, and out. Large innocuous white, not the black that would threaten storms. Threst received those on occasion but light rain was more common when the cloudburst occurred above settled areas.

Not every cloud was the same, or even safe. Cloudbats were this region’s version of the sandbats of Aughal and sparkbats of the Thormundz. The half-elemental variety hid in clouds just like the sparkbats, though this was as much because all bird species of monster would attack them on sight as anything else.

Other monsters could disguise themselves as clouds to various degrees, but anyone who’d lived here long enough knew how to tell them apart. There was a way clouds moved with the breeze that couldn’t perfectly be copied, and her summoned mount could instinctively avoid those.

Rarely, you’d find islands completely eclipsed by a permanent cloud cover. Unlike other land masses, these moved with the clouds around them, confounding attempts to chart them all. There wasn’t anything of value in most, just serving as a reminder to not blindly dive through what would at first appear condensed water vapor, but occasionally a treasure island would be discovered and replenish the life blood of Threst’s economy.

People talked about how breathtaking or inspiring the so called ‘air plains’ of Threst were, but tonight, Claire only thought about how monotonous it was. White against a deep night blue that went down for eternity. That being said, she’d lived in a stone fort built on stone and surrounded by stone with only a narrow view of the sky, so she admitted she may be doing the environment a disservice.

There was an aesthetic appeal to the moon reflecting off the clouds threading silver into the skyline. If nothing else it was peaceful, relaxing. Claire could have easily fallen asleep there, exhaustion and relief from the escape taking their toll, but she needed to stay alert. Her familiar wouldn’t steer away from everything, and near the sky limit there was always a danger of-

Her peripheral vision caught the sudden appearance above her and Claire instantly ordered her beetle to drop. There was nothing to cling onto but the solid carapace which lacked good hold points. Slipping off wasn’t immediately fatal, her familiar could catch her, but if whatever had come through the sky limit was hostile she’d be defenseless. Summoning and altering so many familiars over the day had left her nearly drained, and that was assuming she could do much with her mana while in mid-air.

Claire heard a bird’s cry, which could have meant anything. It wasn’t until an avianoid appeared in front of her, showing off by matching her dive and then contorting to look like he was on a couch, that she knew this wasn’t a monster. That didn’t immediately put her at ease. Are they here to try and take me back?

“Hey, human, what are you doing so far from land?” He was young, though the fact she could sense he was Blessed meant he was at least a few years older than the mid-20s facade. Modestly armored with a sword and shield strapped to him that would be useless mid-flight unless he was particularly skilled at shifting between arms and wings. There was a hint of a mocking sneer in the voice, kept subtle enough to allow deniability. It might have been unconscious. Combined with the slight crack she saw in the man’s beak Claire could form an initial impression.

Jerk. “The skies of Threst are free, aren’t they?” she asked, wondering who had punched him hard enough in the face to do that. The wound looked old, like a scar, the kind you wouldn’t heal from even with levels unless you had or benefited from specific powers. “Is your team hunting something?” She knew she’d seen more than one, and this didn’t look like the kind of guy to go anywhere without cronies.

“Just a patrol,” he answered with an annoyed eye roll as they both leveled out. “The Commander seems to think the world will end if they give hunters any time off. Sure, there was a mid level spawn somewhere recently, but they never get this close to Aurus. Our people are just that good, you know?”

“Sure.” Claire noted that the avianoid was producing lift with his wings without any issue. Damn. Probably has a higher level than I do.

The hunter fixed her with a look as his friends, three of them, took up a loose arrowhead formation beside him. “We’re team Talonwing. You know, I haven’t seen you around before. The name’s Kahvin.” The too familiar look he gave her was returned with a blank one, mostly Claire’s honest reaction to his name. The avianoid puffed up his chest while still flying, adopting the high way of speaking common to the court which completely clashed with his bearing. “You may also know me as the Sonorous Gale, victor of a dozen duels and vanquisher of the Realm’s foes.”

Great, he’s that kind of Hero. You may have won a dozen duels, Claire thought, eyeing the cracked beak. But how many have you lost? She considered answering back in court-speak, having lived in Threst long enough to at least recognize the tone and mimic it but decided that would be playing his game. “Glad to see Threst has someone like you to defend it then. Shouldn’t you get back to it?” Claire passed a look to the other three, two men and one woman. She couldn’t tell much from the gear they were wearing since the armor avianoids commonly used while flying differed little between classes. Neither did any appear to lean more towards strictly magical classes like hers. Either way, they seemed resigned to what their leader was trying to do, which was only a shade better than being invested in it.

“Oh, yeah, of course,” he replied airily, dropping the formal tone into something probably meant to be charming. “But I can’t just ignore a lady in need, can I? Why don’t we give you a lift? I can be a better ride than that thing.”

It took Claire a few seconds to realize why there was an expectant look in his eyes. He’s trying to use a charm power. Idiot. Dangerous idiot. Calm Emotions was still active on her. Its normal duration was short, an hour at most, but it had grown longer on her the more she’d used it in some kind of reverse-tolerance. The power could act as a prophylactic against influence powers, though as Quala would have incessantly reminded her, it wasn’t meant to be used that way. This Hero being higher level than her, or at least possessing higher charisma than her intelligence, would have still broken through if not for the changes she’d undergone mentally. Thank the gods for that.

Using a charm power like this wasn’t against the law, at least in Threst and the Rikendia kingdom at large. The official opinion was that they didn’t override someone’s will, and so they didn’t force anyone to do anything. With the constant struggle against the Crest being the overriding aim of society, the decision had been made long ago to support the training of Blessed. To a point, at least.

Someone who made too frequent use and racked up complaints could face scrutiny, which was probably why Kahvin was trying it out here instead of in Aurus. Claire’s current opinion on the topic was that she wanted to punch Kahvin in the face, but starting a fight just raised the chances that she wouldn’t reach Marbleview.

She decided to turn him down gently. “I’m busy.”

Kahvin frowned. “Oh come on, hanging with us could be fun. I have a power that can let people walk on clouds. Or do other things.” He said that last part suggestively, fully leaning into whatever he was wasting mana on.

“I’m good.” She took some satisfaction from the confusion lining Kahvin’s narrow face before turning and continuing on. There was no way she could outrun them, and her situation was very tenuous, but acknowledging either of those things would just make it worse. The best case scenario was making herself a very forgettable disappointment in this creep’s head.

…

Talonwing did not immediately depart. They huddled close while following a short distance behind her, trying and failing to keep what they were saying quiet. Avianoids always projected their voice further than they thought and it was hard to whisper with a beak. “Why isn’t Charm Person working?” Kahvin’s talons absentmindedly touched his beak and his teammates tried not to notice. “Who is she?”

One of the other men, barely looking of age and struggling to maintain his altitude, tried to console his team leader. “Hey, don’t worry about it, man. She probably just has some kind of defensive power like Iron Mind. Plus, it looks like she is really busy.”

“Yeah.” The note of defeat lasted only a moment before the Hero added forced cheeriness into his voice. “Hey, let’s find something to hunt so you three can advance for once. You’ll have to catch up to me someday.”

“That, and if we don’t come back with any kills the Commander will pluck you bare,” the woman in the team said, not even trying to whisper.

“Hey, maybe that human would like you that better like that,” the last one joked. Kahvin didn’t flare up at the tease but just sighed.

“Yeah, maybe. Not like I want to find out though. I think I saw some-”

“Above us!” The sudden cry made Claire jerk in her seat. Just when she thought she’d won clear of the team, there was a burst of turbulence as something large flew by at a speed that made her beetle look like it was crawling. The castoff wind affected the avianoid team worse, buffeting their wings and disrupting their flight. Traces of blood misted the air in places where the turbulence had strained the vulnerable wings of the avianoids too far.

Only Kahvin kept completely stable, and he shouted at his team as a blur of motion below began to arc back upwards. “Ripair hawk! I only see one but that’s level 3!”

“Looks like your feathers are safe after all.” The female on the team tried to fly back up to her friends, clearly struggling. “Mine are busted.”

“Same!” one of the other lackeys cried out.

“Miss! Get into a cloud and hide, we’ll take care of this.”

That last one was directed to her. I guess he has to do something noble every so often to keep his class. Claire was already doing that, though, so Kahvin didn’t get that many points. The hawk flashed by again, this time coming from below, throwing off another disruptive wave of wind. It kept climbing until it reached the sky limit, and then it disappeared. Her beetle did flounder slightly as the wind cut into it, but it was farther away from where the hawk had passed. That would be a really strong attack if it was focused instead of this spread out, she thought, wondering if Kahvin understood the danger. As far as she could tell, the hawk was only weakening the hunting team before it would come in for the final strike.

What would she do if this team met their end? Kahvin’s first impression was extremely off-putting, but not enough that she’d see him and his team dead if she could help it. At the same time, there weren’t any ways she could help. Claire took cover in a nearby cloud as the four spread out below her, slowly falling due to the injuries some of the team had encountered. For her sake, she hoped Kahvin was more than just talk.