FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The wind is my home. The Heavens, my grounds. I belong here- sometimes I know what the Murria long for when up in the sky, flying with the birds and cutting through the clouds.

But I never wanted to be here... I was young; stuck without a family. A Vaux, without a family- that was an unheard of thing in a species who called each other "brother" and "sister".

My name is Azeus Vaux; son of Theon Vaux and Urdin Vaux. Victims of the Eternal war.

We owned a farm, once. Urdin, my father, worked most of the machinery, Theon, my mother, harvested the crop- I worked close behind her. The farm was outside one of our smaller establishments; but it was enough to live. Most of our crop went to the Spire Cities; gigantic towers of metal that extend high above our land, where some of our richest and most brave live. And our military.

My father disliked that fact, but my mother didn't care, as long as we had the money and food to live comfortably. We did. Life was decent; Vaux machinery was ridiculously foolproof, so we didn't worry much about any accidents.

But one day, when I was fourteen years of age, military started appearing in our town of Polovinka. We didn't know why until it was too late; I remember us in town, chatting with the soldiers. I was in awe at their planes- marvelous fighters made from wood, held up with propellers and mounted with many guns. Most were painted red with a Vaux tail painted onto each wing. But the pilots we were talking to received some unheard order and ran off to their planes; and we knew what was going on- Polovinka was under attack.

The premise of that fact confounded my parents. Polovinka had no military importance, nor was it a major food or material source for our twin Spire cities, Otdykh and Nurakami. We were actually the only farm- so why...?

I remember running towards the safety of our house, and looking up to see planes duking it out high above. I also recognized the type of plane as well, it was of Hebii design. Like the ones they taught us about in school; a harbinger of doom. They were painted grey, with straight wings and dual propellers, and were always mounted with guns. They were vicious, and our soldiers started to fall.

We won in that battle; but my family suffered great loss. The three of us were running towards our house, where the fighting was going on only a short distance above us. My mother tripped a short distance from the house, and neither of us noticed until we were sliding into the front door. It had rained the night before; so the ground was muddy- Theon couldn't get up very well. The mud matted her fur and ruined her clothing- and that was the last memory I had of my mother.

A plane was diving down in our direction; one of our own. It pulled up before crashing, but a Hebii plane had fired a rocket at it- and missed. The rocket collided with the ground, mere inches from my mother. There wasn't anything left.

Theon was just another death in this war between species. No one knew why it began; but it had ruined our world of Vitria. The Vulpine Vaux against the reptilian Hebii against the Avian Murria and Nizani. The four species, fighting it out since the beginning of time.

My mother's death shattered what remained of our household. My father turned to the drink, and the farm fell apart. I wanted to do something about the conflict; perhaps stop it. I once thought that being the strongest warrior would save lives, stop people from feeling the same loss I did.

I joined the pilot corp at the very young age of fourteen. There used to be a lower age limit to our army, but after several losses, it was removed. I was welcomed into the company, and given a plane.

The plane was my first- a wooden, single engine fighter with three machine guns and one bomb bay- not the strongest or most agile, but a decent plane all the same. It sufficed for my training there.

I trained with three of my "brothers". Zadorin, Wymon, and Aristarkh. Zadorin was a strong fighter, Wymon eager but not very skilled, and Aristarkh was our trainer. He taught me nearly everything I know.

After a year of training, we were called out to fight. Our training wasn't complete, but we were forced to fight. We were supposed to have trained for two more years, until we were regarded as men still and not just boys.

What type of army throws children into the battle...?

Our mission was to eradicate the arms depot in the Nizani town of Zannau. They didn't tell us what it looked like; nor did they even give us backup. Aristarkh didn't even come with us when we attacked; he gave us the order.

We bombed any building that looked even vaguely military, and were barely even fired at. In total, we got forty six confirmed kills, another twenty or so unconfirmed. There was no arms depot in the town of Zannau; our superiors had received false info.

But what I saw that day changed the path of my life.

During the bombing, a group of Nizani started firing upon us. They were odd creatures, covered in feathers apart from their scaled talons and hooked beaks. They have large tail feathers, but aren't nearly as colorful as their relatives, the Murria. But they'll fight back when they have to, for they shot down Zadorin. His plane crushed the group of soldiers when it fell, but when I came down to collect the body for a proper funeral, I saw some of the survivors.

A young Nizani was wandering the streets in a daze, her coat stained with blood and one arm hanging limp. Another pair of Nizani, these ones older, were stuck in the wreck of one of the bombed buildings; one Nizani was half crushed by the rubble, the other was trying to get him out. There were multiple people sobbing over the bodies.

I realized that day that bringing more war caused more pain, and it fueled the war even further. I would not kill unless I had too.

That night, I carried the broken body of Zadorin back home in the back of my plane, but to his family. They wept in utter anguish; for another of their children had perished to the war. They told me that seven of their sons had died to the fighting. Seven.

I didn't return to the corp that day. Didn't even return their plane. I slept at Zadorin's house that night, and then left the next morning. I found a man who was selling a different plane, and traded the military one for it.

The new plane he gave me was old, but well designed. It was a biplane with straight, blue wings and a light body. The motor was high powered, and it ran on a single one. The body was built from light unpainted metal, and had just enough space for me, a crate of food, and a photo of my mother. The photo was from back when I was ten years of age, and when our family was happy. When it was intact.

The plane had no weapons; it was made for speed, and such things would just slow it down. The new Blue Flame would not fight.

I even got proper clothing to replace my old pilot corp gear- a plain leather jacket with thick insulation, a red scarf, and a pair of goggles that came with a leather pilot's helmet. There was also a highly powered shotgun that came with the plane; a lever action thing that fired off two rounds at once, but then both had to be reloaded in slowly. It had no stock nor barrel; it was practically a firing mechanism in a metal box with a handle attached to it. But I wouldn't use it to kill; just to damage other planes. When loaded with Hollow-point slug rounds, this "Aviator's Shotgun" would tear the wing off of a smaller fighter.

I left that day. Left the land of Severnaya; the Vaux homeland. But I had no objective, no where to go. But I would do what I could to keep peace.

Six months later, I found myself flying high above the Murria land of Daksina, half way across Vitria from Severnaya. The land was interesting; broken up into parts that were miles of grassy plains to forests hundreds of feet tall to huge mountain ranges. But I was above one of the plains.

Way below me, I could see a river cutting a path through the plain, and the metal pipes from a nearby Spire City. I could see the city on the horizon; it was heavy armored and the buildings on it were made from thick metal, but it was a decent place. Some would fire upon you as you neared, but this one didn't. A friendly Murrian city.

They radioed me as I approached.

'Unidentified craft, state your name and affiliation.' A voice said.

'Azeus Vaux, in the Blue Flame. Independant.' I replied, keeping the response short.

'Landing strip is on the northern side of the city. Land your craft there and park. Welcome to Itaria.' The voice answered, then it stopped. I started flying to the landing strip; I had been coming in from the East.

The city was bustling; even as I flew down, I could see dozens of Murria walking around on the walkways or on balconies. The monochrome color scheme of the place betrayed its variety within.

I landed without trouble, and parked the Blue Flame. I was getting low on fuel.

A guard came over- common thing for them to do with a Vaux- to ask a few questions. This guard was wearing a suit of plate armor and a leather helmet, and he had dark blue feathers with the common straight beak of the species. He carried a rifle on his back.

'Vaux, why are you even here? We aren't the most welcoming to your kind.' He asked.

'Just to rest and restock. I'll be out of your plume before the moon rises.' I replied, a bit annoyed with this guard.

'Sorry, it's just normal protocol. Are you a mercenary of some sort?'

'Traveller.' I replied, already walking towards the exit into the town market. The guard stopped me with a strong grip on my shoulder.

'Now wait a minute, there's still more questions that have to be asked!'

'Then ask them, damn it!' I yelled back.

The guard threw a volley of questions at me- why was I here, what was my plane armed with (Apparently smoke emitters count as weapons.), was I sick in the past two moons, that sort of thing. I told him the truth, and he finally let me go. I also asked him to fuel up my plane, and even gave him the money to do so.

The market was crowded- vendors selling all sorts of foods and other trinkets, in an ever eternal economic struggle against the more permanent shops on the other side roads. I liked the vendors more, anyhow. If I looked up, I could see the sky between the gigantic buildings, my view broken up by more walkways and burst of steam released from the workings of this place.

The first one I stopped at was a grocery stand, and bought a canvas bag full of fruits and non-perishable foods. The vendor seemed confused as why there was a Vaux buying from her, but when I showed her my coin, my species didn't matter much. A paying customer was a paying customer.

I wandered about for awhile longer, only purchasing one last thing- a small box of choclate, created by some of the local experts. Even I needed a treat every now and then.

I started walking back towards my plane with a sack of food over my shoulder and a box of chocolate in my arm when I heard an alarm go off. The alarm was loud and blaring; obviously wasn't good. People started hiding.

'Hey, what's that alarm?' I asked a nearby Murria.

'It's the air raid siren! Kid, we're under attack!' The Murria said before running off. I put on some haste as I ran towards my plane.

I startled the Murria fueling my plane when I jumped into the cockpit, almost banging my head on the upper pair of wings. I then tossed the stuff in the back area and tied it down.

'Hey, wait- this isn't-' The man started. He obviously didn't expect a young, painfully thin Vaux to own this plane...

'It is. How much longer?' I replied.

The attendant pulled the fueling hose out. 'It's done. But you have no weapons; I wouldn't suggest going out in that mess above us!'

I got the propeller up to speed, and started rolling out to the runway. Several explosions shook the area, knocking the attendant off his feet.

'I'm going to try to stop it.' I replied, taking off.

I took off with an upward curve, trying to get a good view on what was going on. A force of a few dozen planes was bombing Itaria, blowing off chunks with each explosion. I identified the planes- Nizani. They were pitch black in color, and their symbol was a red feather- it stood for the blood of their fallen comrades.

The Nizani were once close relatives to the Murria, but over thousands of years, they became different species. The Nizani were different, but were willing to stay friends with the Murria. The Murria, on the other claw, weren't. They were very religious beings, and say that they were created by an everlasting god, thousands of years ago. This god- known simply as Rui- was a Murria with wings. Rui was lonely, and he tried to create beings in his image. First three were failures- he created the Vaux, then the Hebii, and then the Nizani, getting closer to the attempted replicas of his own body each time. The fourth created the Murria; who were almost alike, but lacked wings. Before Rui could give them wings, though, the Nizani slew Rui. Somehow.

Old tales. But The Murria hold the Nizani accountable for the death of their god, and why neither of them have wings. The Murria will allow Hebii or Vaux into their towns, but will eradicate any Nizani that comes even close. Nizani fight back, though.

Several of the Nizani planes flew overhead, and I took the chance to fire at one's wing with my shotgun. The two slugs impacted, and tore off half of the wooden wing. The plane started spiraling down, and the pilot bailed. He parachuted down to the ground- it was common for people to have parachutes ready in their planes, I even had one.

I dodged two more Nizani planes, and then avoided a burst of fire from some of the cannons on the city. I rolled out of the way of a rocket, and then managed to fly around the base of the city, getting enough time to reload my gun. I spotted another plane tailing me- a Nizani fighter. I lead him out into open skies, and then looped over his head. While I was right above, I shot out its propeller. the plane lost power and started gliding towards the ground.

I turned back to the fight to see a Murrian plane heading towards me, firing its machine guns wildly. It was a biplane, like mine, but it was painted red and was a good deal larger. My plane took a few bullets, but I dodged out of its way. It was then shot down by another Nizani bomber.

The bomber spotted me and fired off three rockets at me; I got out of the way and then started flying down the side of the pillar that supported Itaria. The bomber followed me down, launching even more rockets.

The first two missed everything; crashing into the grass below. But the third hit the pillar ahead of me, knocking my plane away. I just barely managed to right myself before smacking into the ground, and then pulled up just in time as the bomber fired off more rounds at me. It followed me into a downward dive, but the bomber wasn't as agile as I was- it smashed upon the ground. The pilot leapt out at the last second- I hope he was okay.

I sped back up towards Itaria, dodging fire from the city cannons. They only fired at me for a few seconds before turning their attentions to someone else; I guess they realized I was a friend.

A Murrian bomber flew overhead, trying to bomb me. The explosive bounced off my wing, but didn't activate. The weight still almost smashed me into the side of the city- I had to stop that bomber.

I flew after it, trying to get close. It was a metal plane; slower but much stronger, and it would take a serious beating. My gun wouldn't take off a wing- I'd have to aim for one of the engines.

The Murrian bomber was large, metal, and it had four engines- two on each wing. The length of the wing itself was longer than my whole plane, and it could hold several soldiers. It certainly carried a good few bombs.

The turret on the rear of the plane started firing at me, but I nimbly dodged the bullets. One almost tore a hole in my ear, though.

I overtook it and then shot out one of its engines on the left wing. The engine started burning, but the bomber was barely even fazed. It slowly turned towards me, firing from its rear turret the whole time. I took the chance to reload, and I almost fired upon the turret.

But I saw what the turret was. It was a ball of metal bars, just barely holding the Murria inside of it up. The firing mechanism was in it, and the Murria in there looked almost frightened. I didn't fire upon the turret as I flew past, and instead took out the second motor on that wing. The bomber started to fall, slowly. The crew bailed, and I turned back towards the city- the Nizani attack had ceased, but now the city was firing upon me.

'Hey! I'm trying to stop the fighting! Cease fire!' I yelled through the radio. No response- they were intent on slaying me.

I turned away from the city, flying low across the plains. The wind whistled past me as I put the motor into overdrive; several fighters were following me. They were firing upon me all at once.

I ducked down as I flew; several bullets flew where my head just was and shattered the windshield. I put my goggles on and kept going.

I spotted one of Daksina's signature forests out ahead, with its forests of gigantic trees. Plenty of space to navigate there- but the other fighters may not be able to make it through.

The Blue Flame took a few more bullets than I would've like before I made it in there- I activated my smoke emitter for an extra obstacle those fighters have to avoid- smoke started spewing from the rear of my plane's tail. It was black smoke, and it looked like someone had struck something important; but I wasn't even hit there. It was fake; and there was actually a second for the engine.

I darted between trees, smacking off small branches with ease. After only a few moments, I heard three explosions behind me; the fighters had crashed, but the pilots were most likely killed. I gave them a silent prayer for safe travel into the afterlife as I went above the forest.

I left Itaria way behind me.

That night, I landed my plane in the fields, just on the edge of the forest. Night fell, and I tried to rest. That didn't work, so I went to repairing my plane under the light of a lantern while eating dinner. Dinner was a meager meal of an apple with some bread and cheese, but it worked. I didn't need much.

While I worked on patching some of the bullet holes in the wing, I heard something small land on the wing- I looked over to see a small creature standing on the wing. It looked sort of like a mouse, but its rear legs were much larger, along with its tail and ears. Its fur was a dark brown. It twitched its nose at me, but then noticed my food. It leapt over- the creature moved in large bounds- and started taking small bites from my apple! I shooed it away, but it returned- I eventually gave up and let it have its fill.

I patched five holes before the mouse-thing had its food. It then proceeded to stick around.

'Hey, little thing- get out of here.' I said to it, making the "shoo" gesture again. The little creature mistook the gesture and then leapt onto my hand. It crawled onto my shoulder and stayed there.

'You're intent on staying with me, it seems. Odd one.' I muttered, going back to the repairs. The little creature weighed only a few ounces and ate just as little; I could keep him. As long as he didn't leap out of the plane, that is.

I kept working, trying to come up with a name for the little creature that had taken a liking to me. Then I realized how much his limbs reminded me of sticks.

'Hey, Twig, you're staying with me, then?' I commented. It seemed to be. I shrugged and went back to my work.

I slept that night in my pilot's seat. The last thing I paid any attention to was the picture of my mother- that probably affected my dreams.

I was so small then. Just a kit, still almost suckling on his mother's teat. Almost. But I was so dependant on them, I may have well been.

The battle raged on above us. The Hebii fighters, bland and unpainted, waged war against the Vaux in their own red planes. The Hebii were colorblind; so they didn't even see the red as it came close. But they still did what they came to do.

We ran for the house, our boots leaving footprints in the mud. I could see the white paint on our house ahead... we could make it.

'Papa! What's going on?!' I yelled.

'Dear, the evil Hebii are attacking us. We need to get to safety!' Urdin, my father replied. His brown robes fluttered behind him, and he held tightly onto my hand. Mother was close behind.

A plane almost smashed into our field, and the sound of the engines frightened me. Urdin held me tightly, and we kept running.

There was a splash in the mud behind us- I looked back to see my mother, Theon, in the mud. She struggled to get up.

'Papa! Mommy's fallen down!' I cried out. Urdin either didn't hear or didn't care, for we kept running. Both Theon and I spotted the second plane dive bombing towards us, chased by a Hebii fighter.

I was roughly thrown into the house, and I caught a brief glance of the rogue missile flying towards my now standing mother...

I woke up with a yelp, scaring Twig, who was sleeping on the dashboard. I let Twig onto my hand and got him off of there- there was no windshield right now, and that would have to be replaced. I didn't need him getting himself open on one of the shards.

'Now, Twig, be good. Here, you'll have to hop into my jacket for now.' I said, slipping the rodent into my breast pocket. Twig peeked out, but then went back in when I started the motor up. I took off.

I was in the Murria land of Daksina for now, but if I turned around and went a few miles north, I would find myself at the edge of the Sea of Kareaga- the body of water that splits Daksina off from the rest of Vitria. But I had decided to stay in the land of Daksina for now; it was somewhat calm here. Apart from that attack- that wasn't fun.

The sun was starting to rise, and we were flying away from it; heading along the shoreline. The plane was quickly just under the clouds, and then it started raining. I put my scarf over my snout, and then slid my goggles on.

Twig peered out of my pocket, watching the clouds in amazement. The little rodent seemed to not be all too frightened.

'If you're going to be staying with me, Twig, you'll need something to keep you in the plane. Not sure what, though...' I muttered. I watched a flock of birds out on my left side, flying in a V shape. They were travelling somewhere.

We travelled for several hours, the Blue Flame not even faltering. She was a good old plane; and went fast- we had gone at least a hundred miles. The environment hadn't changed much until our last ten miles, where the grass turned to more forest. The trees were still as huge.

I lowered my flying height, and watched out for other settlements. Hopefully I could find one to finish these repairs. I was decent at filling bullet holes and repairing the engine, but I didn't just carry extra windshields around.

I spotted a smaller settlement below, built into the trees. It had a landing strip made from the branches of one of the largest trees; I landed with a screech of tires, and was welcomed with the screaming Murria, firing at me with small rifles. I took off just as quickly as I landed. Damn the Murrian hate of others. Their cousins, the Nizani, weren't like that- they were actually kind to travellers.

I left with a new bullet hole in my scarf.

After three days of travel, I managed to repair my windshield, and even make a little vest for Twig. The vest was made of leather, and held him in the plane when he crawled around on the dashboard. He was watching the clouds go past when I spotted something.

There was a military movement going on below; the men seemed to be going towards the shoreline. The ground force numbered at least several thousand, lead by one of their priests. The priest carried a flag with their iconic symbol on it; The pair of dove wings under the sun. This symbol lead their forces; and the priest was in a jeep. There were a few other forces on the side of the main group in jeeps as well. Where were they going...?

The force had no planes or anti-air cannons in their possession; I should be alright following them at my current height. They didn't even notice me.

Twig watched the army too, confused. He even grasped for them, thinking they were ants. I pulled him back from the edge.

'They're not insects, Twig. They're just a long ways from us.' I told the rodent. The rodent went back to eating the piece of apple I had given him.

The radio crackled to life.

'Halt, unknown plane! You are not welcome here; this march for the holy Rui will not be stopped.' It said. I presumed it to be from one of the side forces.

'I mean you no harm. I am just an observer.' I replied.

'Spies have no place here! Leave now, or we open fire!' The voice yelled. I turned the Blue Flame around in a wide circle.

'Alright, alright. I'm no spy, but if you insist.' I replied. I made sure it looked like I was going far away, but I landed a mile away, on a hill. I could watch their march.

Twig sat on my shoulder while I watched, standing on the wing of the plane. The army was marching towards the ocean- perhaps they had a boat waiting there? so they're attacking some place via the ground; uncommon for the Murria. I didn't even know they had a navy- unless they're moving under the cover of a civilian boat. Who could they be attacking...?

I leapt back into the cockpit and fastened Twig to his harness before powering up the motor. The propeller spun up quickly, and with a powerful gust of wind, we took off.

I travelled high up, almost in the clouds, watching the army. They were certainly taking cover within a civilian trading ship; usually carried wood and whatnot inside of its massive iron crates. The boat was steam-powered, and moved slowly. From here, they were either going to attack the Nizani or Hebii; the Vaux were too far away, and could only be reached by plane from here. And then a flag rose over the ship; a false Hebii flag. The Hebii flag is a grey piece of cloth with a white cross on it. There was also two black stars in the bottom left corner and top right, retrospectively- those stood for their land of Azuma and some other land they bragged about finding but never showed anyone. But they were going after the Hebii- and they also made a mistake in their flag. Their flag has color- the cross was yellow. The Hebii wouldn't notice as they're colorblind, but I would.

I started off across the sea of Kareaga, making plenty of time ahead of the boat with the army concealed as they were normal cargo. But what's the closest port town that has military significance?

Hametsu. I had been there before; a large spire city that branches down into the sea, where it has a large array of docks. Most are military, but it receives many merchants there as well. Hametsu was worth a shot.

Hopefully that shot isn't fired at me.

As it was turning to night, I neared Azuma's shoreline. Azuma was a sad land, most of it fractured by the War Engines of Lore. Mile after mile of it was just broken into pillars of stone that stand high, leaving a maze of seemingly bottomless crevices between them. Most Hebii are forced down into those spaces between pillars, where they live most of their lives and toil to work on the inner components of their spire cities. Most of the poor live their whole lives down there and never see the sunlight.

The shore of Azuma is fragmented as well; with many small islands and a few larger ones. Hametsu was built on the largest island, and was linked to a decently sized settlement. The ones who lived there were some of the richer ones; for they weren't forced into the spaces between the pillars. They weren't the ones that fell down the cracks.

I radioed them as soon as I was in range, and their weapons were not.

'Hametsu! There may be a great danger coming this way!' I shouted into the radio. It took several moments for a reply to come in.

'Danger? Hah- we are always prepared! Leave now, Vaux.' The radio said back to me. How does everyone know my species through the radio?

'This danger is a large regiment of the Murrian land-based military! They're coming here in a civilian merchant ship, flying your flag- but they made a mistake; the flag's got a yellow cross! It can be identified!' I replied, still flying towards the massive spire city. Hametsu was very heavily armored, and had several massive cannons mounted on it that could easily sink boats. All of Hametsu was lacking color.

'Yellow? What is this nonsense that you're babbling about?'

'Right, I forget you don't see colors. You need someone to spot it for you, then! Negotiate a surrender on their part, and send them back. Try to avoid a needless confrontation!'

The radio was silent.

'Hello? Hello!' I yelled.

'How long until this ship comes?' Another voice said. This voice was more gruff, sullen.

I thought for a moment- that sort of ship wasn't fast, but it was fast enough.

'A few hours, at the least!' I replied.

'Land in the city, pilot. We'll discuss a plan of action in my quarters. Commander Agenor out.'

A commander. Never heard of the guy; perhaps he was high up in the ranks...

I came down quickly, landing with a screech of tires. I then leapt out and was met with a pair of Hebii guards.

The Hebii were a reptilian species, and thus were always a bit emotionless. They were a tall species, nearly a foot taller than me, with long tails and long, snakelike heads. They also have an array of quills running from their head, down their spine, and they stop at the tip of the tail. Most have green scales, but they wouldn't know the meaning of the word green if you shoved a lime in their face. These two were of dark green scales, and they wore plate armor. Both carried rifles.

'Our commander wants you. Follow us.' The guard said. They led me into the city, and straight into an elevator near their hangar bay.

'Express elevator to the command room?' I asked.

'Shush, Vaux. You are here as a source of info, nothing more.' The other guard said. I sighed. The Hebii were also notably stubborn.

We came out in what appeared to be a radio control room. It was circular, about fifty feet across, and made of steel walls with brass components and an oaken floor. Around most of the wall were Hebii that sat at radios, all speaking different phrases; perhaps the one that spoke to me originally was here. But in the center of the room was a large table that had a miniature version of Hametsu on a map, and the surrounding area of at least two hundred miles. There were shapes marking the movement of almost everything in the area on the map.

Three Hebii surrounded the map. Two of them were similar looking; not quite twins but perhaps brothers, and they both wore a Hebii's officer uniform. The uniform itself was made from a durable brown cloth, and was widened at the bottoms of the legs. Its sleeves hung low, and it left space for a blade to be hidden underneath. They wore no headpieces.

The third one was older looking, with navy blue scales and a scar that crossed his right cheek. His uniform was similar to the other two, but he wore a headpiece made to look like a snake on his head. All in all, he looked almost like a head priest.

'Guards, you must of made a mistake! This Vaux is just a boy, not even fit to battle!' The high ranking officer shouted at the guards who took me up here. He was the one who spoke to me right at the end through the radio.

'But sir, he was the one who piloted the plane. He was the only one inside.' The guard to my left said. He looked frightened for his life. The other, conversely, seemed just barely able to stand on his feet with fatigue.

'Is this true, Vaux?' He asked me.

'It is. Most people mistake me when they see my age.' I replied. 'Sir.' I added at the very end, not forgetting my military etiquette from the pilot corp days.

'Really.... Guard, stand straight!' The commander snapped at the tired guard. The guard snapped upright.

'Sorry, sir...' He muttered. The commander turn to me again.

'As you very well know then, I am commander Agenor of the 3rd Battalion of the Hebii Grand Army. And you are... what, exactly? A scout for your kind? A traitor from them, perhaps coming to us? Or even just a boy fleeing from the brutal draft the Vaux run.'

'I'm just a traveller, but I fled our military a year ago. Sometimes I attempt to intervene, and stop needless death. And that can be stopped here.'

'Tell me all you know then, boy.' Agenor commented. He towered a foot and a half above my head, and his golden eyes glared down at me. 'Leave us, guards. I will call upon you when you are needed.'

The guards nodded and then went back into the elevator. Agenor lead me over to the table with the map, keeping his hand on my back the whole time. His long, thin fingers felt like a large spider on my back.

'Do meet my comrades, generals Florus and Indar. They command part of the 3rd battalion alongside me.' Agenor said, gesturing to the two commanders. They nodded, and it took me a moment to register that the other two commanders- they were almost as tall as Agenor- were female! I had forgotten that the Hebii were the most equal of species among themselves; females looked very similar to males in their species in what showed, apart from a thinner body and a different voice. This made the Hebii welcome them into the ranks of the military without any prejudice.

The two other commanders nodded to me, and I nodded back.

'Now then, I forgot to ask your name, young Vaux.'

'Azeus.' I replied.

'Wasn't there some old legend about a Vaux hero named Azeus? Ah yes, he was slain by a Hebii...' One of the other commanders- I presumed it to be the one called Indar- laughed. But she was right; my mother named me Azeus because of a bedtime story she used to tell me; about a soldier named Azeus who took down one of the last War Machines of Lore, but then was slain by the Hebii that had been controlling it.

'Don't mind them, Azeus. Now tell me, where is this boat coming from?' Agenor asked.

'Here.' I replied, making a circle in the water of the map with my finger. The circle encompassed about fifty miles to the south of the tower that was Hametsu.

'We could never pay pick out one offending ship from that wide of an area! Agenor, get rid of that child. His kind shouldn't ever come into this room.' The other commander, Florus, commented. I growled at the Hebii.

'Calm down, you two. He stated that he was far ahead of the boat, so it can't be exact. Anyhow, we can send out a battalion of boats to form a perimeter in the area. They can send us pictures of the boats, and you can pick out the one with the soldiers hidden within.'

'But your pictures are black and white.'

'Child, we know not of this thing called "color". Why would we have anything more?' Indar growled. Those two weren't happy ones.

'Indar, by the name of all that's holy, shut your maw before I shut it for you. Neither of us like this situation, but it is happening. And I, as an officer that outranks you, command you to be quiet. Azeus, do continue.'

'The ship they're on is very large. One of the largest ships I've seen; at least two hundred feet in length and stacked high with crates full of men. The flag flies on top of the cabin, at the highest point. The crates are colored bl- never mind.'

'Two hundred feet... Sir, only a few ships of that size come through here. It'll stick out.' Florus commented.

'Good.' Agenor commented. He turned to some of the people at the radios. 'Get a barricade set up; we need to catch this ship. Create a perimeter of smaller ships; apprehend any ship 200 feet of length or longer. Slay everyone on board.'

'Hey, wait! You agreed that you would go peacefully, not kill them-!'

There was a dull thud as I was batted over the head with something. The world went black.

I woke up in a dark cell, bruised, battered, and with traumatizing flashes of what happened while I was out. Tortured. Beatened. My body, violated...

I curled myself into a ball in the darkest corner. The cell was tiny, with nothing apart from a slab hanging from the wall as a bed. The floor was covered with filth; some of it organic, some not. My feet sat in a puddle of old, encrusted vomit... was that mine...?

They had stolen my boots, and torn up the rest of my clothing. I could feel the gashes on my back where I was whipped, and the whip tore through the clothing. Pain radiated throughout my body, where I was slashed innumerable times. My arms and legs were covered in small gashes, and one of my eyes was blackened. One ear hung limply, broken. My nose was cut to ribbons, and a deep gash ran along my muzzle. I could taste blood in my mouth, and my rear...

Tears poured out. They had taken me as a prisoner of war, thinking I was a spy for the Vaux. They thought I was here to give them a good feeling about the Vaux so they were unprepared for an invasion, and I remember them demanding info of this invasion that never would be.

'Why...? WHY?!' I cried out, tears mingling with the blood that matted my fur. I clenched my fists tightly, and my claws dug into my palms, drawing more blood. They took me without evidence, just to destroy and subjugate me. My plane was probably gone now, and with it the only picture of my mother. Soon, I would forget her face...

I held onto those memories. My mother, embracing me, giving me warmth, in times of need. In times of despair. I could've used her love now, in my darkest hour. I needed support...

Things changed so quickly. From a good life of wandering, to this...

I noticed my feet, and why I couldn't feel some of my toes. I then realized they had cut off several...

I roared in rage. Why would they even betray me? I was unarmed; I didn't pose a single threat! Why, why, why? I could not stop asking that question. That one word.

Why?

'Hey, Vaux...' A voice said from in the darkness. I peered out the bars of my cell and brushed the tears from my eyes; letting the room come into focus. But it wasn't a room... It was a hanging cage. It was also hanging from the bottom of the city of Hametsu, along with several others. It was night, and we were in the shadow of the city, so it was very dark. Each cage was small, in a cube shape. The slab bed was mounted on the bars, and the floor was made from a large plate of iron. There was one below me, only five feet lower, six away. There was a young Nizani inside of it, with her clothing in tatters. She was once wearing a simple woolen outfit of a long shirt and pants, but they were almost hanging from her in rags. She had brown feathers, a longer, hooked beak, and straight tail feathers that reached past her knees. She was standing up, grabbing onto the door with her left hand.

'Vaux, please. We're both in the same problem here...' She said again. My eyes focused properly, and I could see her injuries. She had been whipped dozens of times on the chest alone, and her right arm hung limply, the hand a twisted and broken mangle. The right eye was gone, and that part of her face was covered in dozens more scars, and featherless. The feathers all over her betrayed her injuries; many were missing where she had been scarred. Most of her talons were broken too, and her beak seemed cracked.

'...What...happened?' I asked, my voice hoarse.

'They captured you for some reason. Obviously a false reason, otherwise you wouldn't be here.'

'What were you... captured for...?' I asked.

'They're calling me a spy because I was exploring the area. I know I'm far from my homeland, but I travel a lot. You?'

'I warned them of an invasion, and asked for it to be... peacefully fixed. They killed them all...' I hung my head in my hands, realizing what happened. 'ARGH! I'm responsible for the deaths of thousands of Murria!'

'You're not responsible for it; Agenor and his cronies are. What's your name, Vaux?' The Nizani woman asked. She was a bit older than me; early twenties, most likely.

'Azeus.' I groaned. I punched the bars of my door in rage- and it swung open. I almost stumbled out and into a several hundred foot fall.

'Yeah, they leave them open. I guess as a second option if we don't want to live out our "sentence". My name's Nilus Disanti- and we need to get out of here.'

'But... how...?' I asked Nilus.

'I also want to know why a kid like yourself is here. You're... what, fifteen?'

'Sixteen.' I wheezed, trying to stand up. My left foot ached badly, and the stumps where my toes were on it one burned. They had chopped off two on that foot- the middle and largest- and chopped off the large toe on my other foot. My ankle also seemed twisted on my left foot.

'It's evil that they would put a kid like you in here... pure evil.'

'Do you know... how to escape?' I asked again.

'They leave the doors open on these; and they stay open. There's not even a place to attach a lock. But when the cages are pulled up they go through about ten feet of the city's outer armor. This armor is laced with pipes and small, maintenance tunnels. There's a small maintenance balcony on mine; but I don't think its on yours. If you can get over to mine, then when they pull mine up we can leap to the balcony. If I'm going by your clothing, you're a pilot. If we can sneak to the hangar bay, we can escape by stealing one of their planes.'

'If I removed the cargo from my plane... we could use that. It's much... much faster than their planes.'

'Was it a blue plane, by any chance? Two pairs of wings, wooden? One engine?' Nilus asked.

'Almost exactly...' I commented.

'I watched them throw a plane matching that description off the edge of the city. It crashed down there yesterday- so yeah, we'll need to get out of here in one of their craft.'

I fell down on my knees in anger, and despair. They had destroyed my only thing I had left, in a matter of hours. I had nothing left but the tattered clothing on my back. Even Twig was missing; I hope he escaped.

'That plane meant a lot to you, didn't it?' Nilus asked. I nodded. 'I'm sorry. It have anything important in it?'

'The last picture of my mother...' I cried.

'Oh, by Rui. I'm so, so sorry.' Nilus commented. 'Means we need to get out of here all the more.'

'Alright. I'll try it, no matter what it takes.'

What I had to do was leap onto the top of her crate and then help her onto the roof of hers. The balcony would be within our reach then, for when the cage was raised, we would leap onto the balcony. Her cage's door was facing away from the balcony, so our only way over was off the cage top. I could reach it from the height my cage was at.

So, I attempted it. I swung the door open on my cage and walked to the furthest wall from the doorway before getting ready to jump.

'And why can't we just climb the chain, exactly?' I asked.

'Look up at the chain.' Nilus commented. She had a point; there was a safeguard against that. There was a circular piece of metal about three feet in circumference ten feet up the long chain, stopping any climbers.

'Well, you're right...' I muttered, before running towards the door. Without several of my toes, my running limp was shaky, almost improperly balanced. But when I leapt...

My leap was off angle, and I just landed on the top. I slipped and grabbed onto the side; almost falling off. I pulled myself up onto the roof with a groan. Nilus opened up her door, and I took her hand. She tried to climb up, but a large gust of wind his us, and the cage started to tilt to where she was hanging.

'Ah, don't let go!' Nilus yelled in terror, dangling over a three hundred foot drop to the town below. I latched my feet around the chain and pulled her up, crying out in pain as I did so. My feet were in horrible shape before; now holding both of our weights, they felt like they were about to tear themselves apart. But I pulled Nilus up, and she hugged me tightly, hanging onto the chain at the same time. Wind kept blowing the cage around.

'...Are we going to make it out of here...?' Nilus asked.

'I don't know...' I said. 'Where's this balcony you mentioned...?'

'Above us.' Nilus replied, shivering. Usually, Nizani were always warm, but many of her feathers were missing, and thus, her insulation.

I looked up to see a tiny balcony in the hole in the city's armor. It had no railing, and was only three feet wide and two feet long. It connected to a thin door.

'That balcony is really small... How are we both going to get on it at once?' I replied, shivering as well.

'Hopefully we can knock it open. Neither of us are very heavy, but hopefully we'll be able to smash through it.'

'Needs a lot of hope.' I commented.

'Hope is all we have...'

We sat in silence, and I thought about her name... Nilus Disanti. Disanti- I've heard that name before, when I was in the Nizani homeland of Ablehnea. I hadn't been there much, but the name did ring a bell.

'You... You're the daughter of a Nizani general, aren't you?' I asked. 'A high ranking one, too.'

'Malek Disanti. Dad's the commander of the Nizani navy.'

'Then why in the world are you even here? Why hasn't he come searching for you yet?' I asked. A bat fluttered past us.

'I'm supposed to be travelling, seeing the world and all of that. He was worried- perhaps he is looking for me...'

'If anything happens to you, the whole Nizani army is going to bear down on this place, and the rest of the Hebii army... It'd be total chaos...' I muttered. The chain shook for a moment. someone was starting to reel us up. We both got standing, ready to leap onto the balcony.

The cage started moving up, chain link by chain link. The balcony came into good view, and once we reached its level, we jumped.

The door was smashed open when we landed- I rolled into it. We both got up, groaning in pain. The tunnel we had landed in was only about three feet in width and six high, with the walls made almost entirely of pipes. I had landed ahead of Nilus.

'Hey... what, the cage is empty! Little bitch must of decided it was too much.' A voice said in surprise from above us.

'Pull in that Vaux's cage. He was...enjoyable, to say the least. I wouldn't mind having my way with him again.' Another voice said from above us, this one lower than the normal Hebii voice. I remembered him- he was the one who... violated me. He was a large Hebii with dark red scales and a scar on his neck in a crescent shape. I remembered brief glimpses of him...

'...That bastard...' I muttered under my breath. We listened to another cage being pulled up; mine.

'And he's gone too! Damn.' The gruff voice growled.

'Let's get out of here, Noemon. The commander will want to know what happened.' The first voice said. We heard a door slam shut, and then nothing but the quiet sound of the pipes.

'They think we jumped. Good! That means we can get out of here a bit easier.' Nilus commented. 'But what was that guard talking about when he-'

I covered her beak with my hand. 'I don't want to talk about it. But let's just say that that man, along with Agenor, are the only two people in the whole of Vitria that I want to slay right now.'

Nilus brushed my hand away. 'Alright, I understand. Let's get moving.'

We walked through the tunnels, our shoulders brushing up against the sides the whole time. There was even a time when we had to crawl through an even smaller tunnel. But after we climbed a long ladder, we found ourselves in a repairman's workshop. The room was small, metal, and had racks of various materials intended to repair the pipes on one wall. A folding chair was leaning against the wall in one corner, and a tool box was sitting next to the chair. A single lightbulb glowed brightly in the center of the ceiling.

'I need a break...' I groaned, popping open the chair and collapsing on it. The bloodied stumps where my toes once were were bleeding again. I had also left a thin trail of blood on the way here.

'We need to patch your feet up.' Nilus replied. She started shuffling around in the shelves. She knocked some tools off as she searched. A spare pipe landed on the ground with a clang when Nilus found something.

'We obviously don't have any bandages, but this should help a bit.' The Nizani said. She then tossed me a roll of electrical tape. I stared at it in confusion before realizing that it worked as a bandage. I put some of it on my larger wounds, mostly on my feet. Hurt like hell, but it stopped the bleeding. Perhaps I could run if I needed too.

'Here; you need it?' I asked, tossing the tape back to Nilus and trying to stand up. She had been searching the toolbox now. Some shoes would be helpful at the moment...

'For what? Most of my wounds are too big for tape to bandage them up. And it isn't going to help a missing eye. But I found this.' Nilus replied, pulling a big nail gun from the mess inside the toolbox. It was made from solid iron, and the main body was a tapered cone. The nails fired from the point of the cone, and there was a cartridge that was loaded into the side. The nails were huge- nearly six inches in length.

'We are not killing anyone.' I growled, reaching for the gun to bat it away. She pulled it back.

'But we can shoot them through the foot, right? This thing is long enough to nail them in place.'

'Good idea, but I'm the better shot; most likely. Give the gun to me.' I said. She handed me the bolt gun, and I clenched onto it tightly. 'We better keep moving.'

I got up and walked to the door, and rested my hand on the knob, uncertain of where it would take us. But I opened it gently, and we stepped outside. We were on a platform high above a populated area just below us- I then realized what it was. It was a military training ground; full of soldiers. They didn't notice us on the platform- and our only way onto the ground was right down to them, via a flight of stairs to our right.

'Oh, by Rui... there's so many...' Nilus muttered. She was right; at last three dozen Hebii soldiers trained, following the motions of a captain at the head of the group. They were all facing towards our platform, and we had crouched down. But we did have one chance...

There was a support beam that ran across the entirety of the grounds; connecting this building to another across the way. We could crawl along that, and so I suggested the idea to Nilus.

'Are you mad? It's only two feet wide, we'd easily fall off! And if one man looks up...' Nilus whispered.

'We can't just go down and say hello.' I replied, keeping my voice low.

'Alright, you win. but let's make this quick.' Nilus replied. I crawled ahead first, keeping my arms and legs as close to my body as I could. I tried to keep my tail from swaying out to the sides, but it didn't work as well. But we managed to get across to the other side and climb onto the roof of the building at the far end without being noticed.

The rooftop we got onto overlooked part of the city that seemed to be all military. Grey, metallic buildings stood up in silence, and the only thing that broke the skyline was the steam everywhere. At least we could see the stars, now.

A gunshot rang out, and we both ducked in surprise.

'Troops, dismissed!' The officer barked. The officers had a salute which was one shot from their rifle; always forgot about that...

'That was close...' Nilus said.

'Yeah, thought he was shooting at us.' I commented. We jumped down to a nearby roof.

'You have any idea where the planes are?'

I shrugged. I had no clue where we were in the city- the past few days were a haze of torture and agony. They hadn't shown me the way out during it, and even if they did; I wouldn't of remembered anyways. All I remembered was the fact that it was on the edge of the city, higher up and near the command center. If we stayed to the shadows, we would be fine.

We had came out on the lower part of the city, and ahead of us lay the high-rises of the city. The city itself had its rooftops peak near the center, but with a ridge going out to one side. That was where I guessed the aircraft were stored.

We stealthily moved between rooftops for several hours, climbing between building and building. Most rooftops weren't patrolled, and when they were more obvious to the seemingly never-sleeping crowds of Hebii that lived in this city, we moved across them under the cover of shadow.

We stopped on the roof of one of the high-rises with the command post in our sight. Its gigantic spire-like shape with the bulbous top loomed fifty feet or so over us, with soldiers patrolling a balcony that circled its outside. The hangar was nearby it; but we still had a dozen or so rooftops to cross. The soldiers on the balcony were manning searchlights.

'The command post. We're close to our objective.' I muttered. Nilus shivered violently- she was really cold.

'You know, I've never had to deal with cold like this. But now, It's not helping my fright. You said we're close, yeah? How far?' Nilus asked.

I pointed to the sideways cylindrical building in the distance that was mounted on the side of the city; that was where we were going. The rooftops there went up and down; with a variety of paths to get across. We started down a rickety metal staircase towards the next rooftop when one of the searchlights started swinging our way.

'Shit! Get down.' I exclaimed, trying to leap down the steps and onto the roof, where the stairs would hide us due to the angle. But the searchlight caught sight of us and blinded us for a moment. Alarms started blaring from the command center.

'Rui help us; we've been spotted!' Nilus cried out, and I grabbed her hand.

'We've got to run.' I said, pulling her along as I ran towards the next rooftop. The only way up to the next one was a service ladder, and we hastily clambered up that. A bullet pinged off of the metal ladder just above my head.

'We've got to move quicker! Snipers!' I yelled. We got up just in time; another sniper shot tore a hole in the remains of my jacket, narrowly missing my back. We started dashing towards the next rooftop lip, and then Nilus spotted something.

'They've spotted us, so screw stealth! Let's take the quicker way!' Nilus yelled. She pulled me over to the side that hung over the main pathway into the hangar, which had a decent amount of people walking around in it. I remembered it was a busy area; many merchants had set up there. But it was thirty feet below us...

Nilus threw me off the edge of the building and leapt off after me; landing on a walkway that ran along all the buildings, towards the hangar. I got up, and we kept running through the people.

The snipers couldn't hit us, but soldiers could. There were several nearby, and we were already getting fired upon. Stray bullets slaughtered civilians as we ran.

A bullet grazed my shin, and I was knocked onto my snout hard. Nilus yanked me up by my jacket's collar without stopping, and shoved me ahead to give me a running start. I could taste blood in my mouth; accidentally bit down hard on my cheek when I fell.

'We've got to get out of here!' Nilus yelled. We slammed open the doors of the hangar with our elbows, and scrambled towards the nearest plane; a Hebii bomber.

The hangar itself was about seven hundred feet in length, a hundred and twenty in width and only had planes in the last hundred feet, where we had come in. Very small hangar, really. But it did the trick. There were only seven planes resting there, but none of them were the Blue Flame. So they really had destroyed her.

There were a few soldiers in the hangar already, but they hadn't got any orders about us yet. So they were confused when we came in, smashed the latch off of the nearest bomber's door open, and dashed into it. But when the soldiers from outside charged in behind us, they yelled something and all of them were firing at our new plane at once.

I had never been inside a Hebii bomber before. The inside was spacious; most of the inside was taken up by large bomb bays, and the cargo hold had nothing but a crate of military rations. The cockpit was rounded, and loaded with a ton of controls. It was made for one man to pilot it, while another controlled the large turret just below. I yelled for Nilus to control the turret while I started up the bomber's four engines.

It had a wingspan of nearly ninety feet, and when we turned it it almost smashed the other planes. The body was at least seventy feet long, and this thing could go pretty fast, clocking nearly four hundred MPH at max power. My old plane could excel that easily, but this was all we had. As we took off, I spotted the other planes that were in the hangar taking off behind us.

'This is going to be rough! Bombers aren't known for agility, and those planes currently about to chase us are! Shoot them down!' I screamed. The bomber took off, getting well away from Hametsu. Turrets mounted on the city were firing at us, their bullets bouncing off of the bomber's armor. A few pierced, and left whistling holes in the side of the plane.

The fighters following behind us were smaller planes, with about a thirty foot wingspan each, two motors, and angled-back wings. The body had a pointed nose, and they were each mounted with several machine guns. A few had rockets, and all were painted pitch black. Soon, we were out of the range of Hametsu's guns, but the planes were still following close behind. They hadn't been firing on us until we got out of the city's range, but started once we did. Conserving ammunition, I presumed. No sense in using ammo if the city was going to shoot us down. But it didn't.

The first two planes zoomed past us, battering the bomber with a hail of bullets. Another two flew past, and followed suit; these four then started to turn back around while the three behind us were shooting at us even more. The plane shook when something exploded on its tail.

'What the hell was that?!' Nilus screamed.

The Bomber had some side-view mirrors, oddly. They could be moved with a knob inside the cockpit, and I adjusted one to see the tail. Nothing but a large scorch mark.

'Must of thrown a rocket at us! We're alright; for now!' I yelled back, my voice barely heard over the roar of the plane's motors. One of the four planes coming back at us combusted into a massive fireball suddenly; Nilus shot it down. I didn't object to the death of the pilot- we had no other choice.

The remaining three blasted past us, thundering another hail of bullets down on the bomber again. I ducked down just in time as the cockpit glass exploded inwards, and my seat was riddled with bullet holes. I sat back up and kept flying, trying not to notice the multiple large, blood-stained shards of glass sticking up from my fur.

An alarm blared on the console- we had six heat seeking rockets coming in, from one of the planes. I smashed a button nearby that to release flares to divert the rockets; five were diverted. The six was still coming, and it took awhile for the flares to be prepped again.

'We've got a rocket tailing us! Shoot it!' I cried out, trying to turn the massive bomber to the east. As we turned, another plane flew overhead, peppering the hull with bullets again. Several bullet holes developed- and then I realized something. We were carrying dozens of high-powered explosives. If one bullet collided with those...

I pulled the bomber into an upward climb, grinding my teeth while pulling the wheel back. The engines whined in protest, but I didn't listen. I started looking for the cargo eject button.

Suddenly, there was a massive explosion below us- Nilus had finally managed to shoot out the rocket that had been following us, and she even managed to destroy another plane in the process. Five remained.

'Good work!' I yelled, as we entered a full 90-degree climb. I adjusted the side-view mirror to see if I could spot our pursuers, but I pulled my hand back when the mirror was shot off. Another volley of bullets streaked across the side of the plane, thundering into the right wing like a hailstorm. The furthest out engine on the right wing exploded into flame, and the propeller started sputtering.

'Azeus! We've lost an engine!' Nilus cried out.

'I see that! Hold onto something!' I yelled in reply, yanking down the lever to release our cargo. The large back door on the bomber slowly cranked open, and the several tons of powerful Hebii explosives dropped out. Most avoided the bombs, but one was hit. The explosion that ensued took out another. Three left.

I curved the arc of the plane into a solid downward plunge. We had travelled out a long distance already; and the Shattered Land of Azuma came into view.

The Shattered Land was said to have been created by the War Machines of Lore, due to its massive expanse. The land itself was cracked; shattered into thousands of pillars. In between these pillars lived the Hebii's poor, where they never saw the sun. The residences on the surface were the middle class, and the cities towering high above the Shattered Land were the higher class. But the Shattered Land was what characterized Azuma; it made up most of the massive continent. Each crack between pillars could be several hundred feet wide at times, but was usually only twenty or so. Below the sprawling wooden metropolises that were constructed between the pillars was a mystery; no one knew what awaited below. Some said it was the underworld itself; the Abyss. I was never much of a believer for such things, but I knew the Hebii were...

I spotted a crack in between two pillars that was large enough for our plane; I aimed for it.

'Keep shooting!' I cried out, as we were pounded with another storm of bullets. Something exploded on the tail of the plane again, shaking it violently and lighting a fire in the back. The plane wouldn't stop shaking.

'Wait- what in Rui's name are you doing?!' Nilus screamed, realizing what I was aiming for.

'Our only chance, Nilus! No Hebii in their right mind would follow us down there!' I shouted. Rockets flew past us, exploding in the sand below. But we were peppered with another volley of bullets; and I could now see something burning on the left side of the plane through the remaining side view mirror.

Another one of the planes lost a wing and then crashed suddenly into the sand, courtesy of Nilus. The fireball it created shadowed our entrance, but the planes still followed. Our burning engine exploded properly, taking a decent chunk out of the wing. I was struggling to keep the plane stable, and another engine was on fire! I could hear Nilus crying inf right below.

'Oh Rui... Are we going to make it...?' She lamented.

'We will! I promise you that!' I yelled, curving the plane around a corner into a smaller space. I started going further down, towards whatever laid below. The smoke we were trailing floated up towards the light, like it was grasping at our ever-quickly vanishing hope. Two more rockets smashed into the rocks above us, raining stones onto the plane. I covered my face with my arm when a large stone crashed down on the control panel; knocking out several important systems. The gunfire from Nilus's turret suddenly was replaced with loud clicking.

'No! I'm out of ammo!' Nilus cried. Another explosion rocked the bomber, and the rear door was blown off.

'Then get the hell up here and hang on!' I roared, narrowly avoiding an outreaching rock. We had travelled hundreds of feet down, and only now did the planes veer skyward. But we had no way out; the cracks above us were too thin for the plane's wings to fit. We were stuck going down.

Darkness overwhelmed our damaged bomber, our only light being the burning engine and the fire alight in the back of the cargo hold. I fumbled around for a searchlight switch while trying to keep the plane steady.

'Nilus; extinguish that fire back there! We're going to have to land down there, no matter what awaits us.' I barked, slamming a switch on to its active state. Two powerful searchlights switched on with a loud clunk and illuminated the path ahead. Suddenly, water appeared below us; only about fifty feet ahead. I yanked back on the controls, trying to pull the battered bomber up. Nilus stumbled and crashed to the ground, crying out in pain. But I managed to pull it up seconds before smashing into the surface. The plane left a wake on the water, even though it was about ten feet above it.

'What's below us?' Nilus asked, rubbing a banged elbow. She then grabbed an extinguisher from the wall and started trying to quell the blaze.

'Well, unless the Abyss is an ocean, then all we've got is a whole lot of water.' I replied. I managed to get the searchlights to look downwards- I could see the surface through the clear water. It was only a few feet deep. 'Clean, too. I'll land.'

Nilus successfully snuffed out the fire, and then climbed over to beside my seat, peering out. She didn't see the water until the landing gear connected, sending out a massive spray of water.

'Wha...? How? Is this water drinkable?' Nilus asked, seeming very confused. I felt the wheels connect and then we stopped rather quickly due to the drag from the water. I opened the side door, and the hinges broke; the door landed with a splash.

'Well, only one way to find out.' I said. Nilus leapt out first, and I started towards the door. My hands were trembling, but I didn't pay any heed to it.

'Hey, it is fresh! But that can't be right...' Nilus started. I started stepping out, but suddenly felt very light headed. I found myself falling out of the doorway, unconscious.

'Azeus!'

'Azeus...? Azeus? Hey, sleepy head; you haven't heard your bedtime story yet. I was only just starting.'

'Sorry, mama.'

'You dont have to apologize.'

'But I forgot what story you were telling...'

'The story of the hero you were named after, silly. Azeus Vaux; the pilot who lead the Vaux army to destroy the last War Machine of Lore. He was the one that made life much easier, don't you know? If it wasn't for him, I don't even know if we'd be here.'

'Mama, did you know him?'

'What, that Azeus?'

'Yeah, mama. Did you?'

'No, no, dear. He lived many, many years ago. Long before me, or your father.'

'Even before my teacher at the schoolhouse?'

'Hahaha, yes, long before even that old Vaux. Don't you want to hear the story, though?'

'Yes please, mama. But can you start again? I think I dozed off.'

'I guess so. Well, Azeus used to be a young kit, just like you...'