Part 1: The Glass Eater
The Obsidian Leviathan didn't sail into the storm; it was swallowed by it.
The moment they breached the wall of spinning black clouds, the world turned into a strobe light of violence.
CRACK-BOOM.
A bolt of crimson lightning, thick as a redwood tree, slammed into the port side.
The Aether-Glass plating Kael had installed didn't shatter—it screamed. The runic arrays flared blindingly bright, drinking the lethal voltage and funneling it straight into the keel.
"Power at 120%!" Orion's raspy voice echoed from the deck plates, sounding strained but exhilarating. "She's hungry, Captain! She wants more!"
"She's going to get it!" Elian yelled, gripping the helm as the ship bucked violently.
Another strike hit the mast. Sparks showered down like rain
"Hull integrity dropping!" Kael roared from the engine room hatch, his goggles reflecting the chaotic flashing of the warning runes. "The glass is cracking! We're taking internal damage!"
Part 2: The Hummingbird and the Hawk
"Mines!" Isara screamed from the prow.
She had her eyes closed, one hand pressing the comms crystal to her ear, listening to a sound no one else could hear—the low-frequency hum of the Hummingbird Protocol.
"Bearing 0-4-0! High!"
Roger didn't hesitate. He swung his rifle, tracking an invisible target in the dark clouds.
BANG.
A massive explosion blossomed in the air fifty meters off the starboard bow, shaking the ship.
"Bearing 0-9-0! Low! Three of them!"
BANG. BANG.
Two fireballs erupted. But Roger missed the third.
The invisible Void Mine drifted silently past Roger's sightline and clipped the ship's rear stabilizer.
BOOM.
The explosion blew a chunk of the railing into splinters. The ship lurched, throwing Valen and Titan across the deck.
"I can't get them all!" Roger cursed, chambering a fresh round. "The wind is masking the trajectory!"
Part 3: The Prince Unbound
Amidst the chaos, Prince Thal'dor stood near the main mast. He wasn't holding on.
He was glowing.
The white lightning in his blood was reacting to the crimson storm, vibrating so violently that the deck planks beneath his boots were starting to char.
"Elian!" Thal'dor shouted, his voice sounding like grinding stones. "I cannot suppress it! The storm... it calls to the power inside me!"
He looked at his hands. Arcs of unstable white mana were jumping from his fingers, scorching the air.
"If I stay, I will detonate on your deck!"
"Then go!" Elian ordered. "Clear the path!"
Thal'dor grinned—a feral, terrified, exhilarating smile.
"Vor'takh! With me!"
The cargo bay doors groaned open. Vor'takh and his four Sky-Kin warriors rushed into the dark hold, mounting their five Wind-Drakes.
Thal'dor didn't wait for a mount.
RRRIP.
Four jagged wings of blinding white electricity burst from his back. He crouched, the wood beneath him splintering.
BOOM.
He launched himself into the sky.
He didn't fly; he vanished. He became a streak of white light, a comet tearing through the black clouds. He flew straight toward the distant peak of the mountain, drawing the crimson lightning away from the ship like a living lightning rod.
"For the King!" Vor'takh roared.
The five Wind-Drakes poured out of the ship's belly to chase their Prince, disappearing into the chaotic gloom to draw fire.
Part 4: The Maniacs at the Wheel
Now, only Eclipse remained.
"They bought us a window!" Elian shouted. "Orion! The map! Where is the Safe Zone?"
A jagged, flickering hologram of the island appeared on the deck. Orion projected the "Weeping Cut"—the narrow ravine Elian had marked.
"Dead ahead, Captain! But it's tight! We need to thread a needle in a hurricane!"
"Kael!" Elian signaled. "Dump the core! Give me everything!"
"With pleasure!" Kael cackled.
The dwarf slammed a heavy iron lever forward. The containment valves on the engine opened. The stored mana from a dozen lightning strikes flooded the thrusters at once.
The Leviathan didn't accelerate; it screamed forward.
The G-force slammed Elian against the wheel.
They became a blur.
Isara was still calling out mines, but now they were passing them too fast to shoot.
"Left! Right! Dive!" Isara yelled.
Orion laughed—a wild, raspy sound that echoed from the very wood of the ship.
"I see it! I see the path!"
The spectral navigator was fighting the wheel, his translucent form flickering as the power overload tore through him. He looked like he was being electrocuted, but he was grinning wide enough to split his face.
Kael was no better. He was bouncing around the engine gauges, hitting red-lining pipes with a wrench. "Burn! Burn you beautiful garbage scow! Faster!"
"Brace for impact!" Elian roared.
Part 5: The Crash
The "Weeping Cut" appeared out of the fog—a narrow slit of black sand between two towering obsidian cliffs.
They were coming in too hot.
"We can't slow down!" Orion yelled, still laughing. "Brakes are melted!"
"Aim for the sand!" Elian commanded. "Titan!
Shield the mast! Valen! Anchor the crew!"
The Obsidian Leviathan slammed into the black dunes.
CRUUUUUNCH.
The sound was deafening. Wood screamed as the keel plowed a trench through the sand. The ship tipped, shearing off its port stabilizers against the cliff wall in a shower of sparks and rock.
Items, crates, and players were thrown forward.
The ship slid for three hundred meters, burying itself deep into the ravine before finally, with a massive groan, coming to a halt.
Steam hissed. Dust settled. The engine whined and died.
Part 6: The Silence
For a long minute, nobody moved.
Elian peeled himself off the floor of the helm. His HP had dropped by 30% just from the impact.
"Sound off," he croaked.
"Alive," Valen groaned from the lower deck.
"Alive," Roger coughed, pulling himself out of a pile of rope.
"My forge is upside down," Kael complained, but he sounded intact.
Elian stumbled to the railing. The ship was listed at a 45-degree angle, wedged tight between the canyon walls. It wouldn't be flying again anytime soon.
He looked out at the landing zone.
They were in a deep, dark ravine. The crimson lightning flashed high above them, blocked by the cliffs. It was a "Safe Zone" from the storm, but it felt like a tomb.
Elian checked his map.
[Location: The Weeping Cut.]
[Distance to Fortress: 2km (Vertical).]
He looked at his team, battered, bruised, but alive.
"We're here," Elian whispered, drawing Winter's Eclipse.
"Now... we climb."
Suddenly, a sound echoed through the canyon.
It wasn't thunder. And it wasn't a monster.
It was a slow, rhythmic clapping.
From the shadows of the ravine ahead, a single figure emerged.
He wore a porcelain mask painted with a black lotus.
He wasn't in the fortress. He was waiting at the crash site.
"You stick the landing," Viper's voice echoed, smooth and amused. "But you scratched the paint."