Top of the World

"Prepare for extraction."

Peo wouldn't understand this callout, but the words left my mouth before I could adjust them. With the sky raining down onto us, my brain has little time to be thinking about my speech. Despite the stress of the oncoming collapse, my voice is steady and my heart remains inside my chest.

The beast is far ahead of me, striking down any minion immediately blocking the path to our rope and the sunlight surrounding it. Even with these delays, she reaches the line before me.

"Three seconds. Cut the rope."

I raise my voice to deliver Peo her orders. If I don't make it in time, then I don't make it out at all. Regardless, we don't have longer before the stretch of stone holding our pulley is destroyed.

My internal clock begins counting down.

"Three seconds…"

As a wave of minions approach, I kick off the ground and land a foot atop the head of one.

"Two seconds…"

The floor has become a sea of minions. I jump between the moving rocks whilst avoiding the shadows of any falling rocks. The large bundle of rocks holding the 200 metre long chord grows closer.

"One second."

My foot pushes as hard as possible against the growing stack of bodies. Leaping with my arm outstretched, my hand comes into contact with a rough woven texture.

"Zero."

A flash of blue strikes just below my hand, severing the line and sending us flying into the air. Peo's hand is almost beneath mine as our bodies collide.

"Something is…coming."

I try to look past the head of sandy hair, witnessing our distance to the floor begin shrinking. It is almost as if the ground is following us as we attempt to escape its clutches. Eventually, our counterweight plummets past us and crashes into the approaching mass of mountain.

"Prepare for impact!"

With the weight no longer falling, so too does our ascent come to an end. I wrap my arms around the small head next to me and we begin falling back down into the cavern depths.

"Grah!"

Stone slams into my back as we begin moving upwards once more. The sunlight we so eagerly chased only moments ago is once again becoming closer and closer.

The surface that was once a mountain summit is shattered as I'm surrounded by clean air and a blue sky. Whatever sprouted from within the cavern groans as if roaring to the entire world.

"We made it out somehow…"

My bones should be broken with the amount of pain that I feel, yet I can still move. Once the stone stops rising, I'm able to adjust my position and gaze upon the monstrosity beneath us.

"So this is the Stone Titan…"

All mountains are put to shame by this monstrosity. With my head now hanging over the edge, I can see something reminiscent of a human torso fitted with arms of stone. Considering the massive mound towering beside us, we're basically on its shoulder.

I want to observe this creature further, but a hand of stone slowly turns and aims directly for us.

"Tch!"

The swing is slow, but it won't be long before it squashes the flies buzzing in the Titan's ear.

"This way! Do not release my hand!"

I pull Peo up with me as I try to find my balance on the constantly shaking form. Once I feel the grasp of her fingers, I sprint and dive down the side of the massive stone arm. Peo grips my hand tighter as we slide at high speeds.

"...Enemies."

"I see them."

Air pressure muffles any sound attempting to reach my ear, including the explosions propelling crimson bullets towards oncoming minions. Bodies of rock climb up towards us on the incline, but are soon dismantled by shot after shot. My cylinder empties with one final enemy remaining, whom I send flying off to the side with a heavy kick.

Soon, the ground beneath us disappears and sends us into open air. Be it the mountain or forest, whatever we land on will be fatal if we continue to fall.

"Hold on tight!"

I try to manoeuvre us through the air with Peo holding my arm with both hands. Through our spinning, I manage to grab a piece of rope hanging out of her backpack. The bag flies open and a mass of cloth is forced into the air behind Peo. Ropes strain to hold the two items together, but our fall becomes slowed as fabric catches air.

My body hangs in the wind, held by the beast whose back is arched with legs and tail dangling behind.

"Extraction successful."

"...Woah…"

Peo gasps in awe as the world spreads out below us. We're flying well above the peaks that had previously obstructed our view.

"City…river…lake…"

If she weren't holding tightly to my arm, Peo would probably be pointing at all of these places that can only be seen from up here. I can see Melior in the far distance. Just before it are the forests and fields we travelled through recently. To the left is another point of high elevation with a wide river flowing down its wall. Its waters continue North before disappearing into a lake in the far distance.

"This is the world I live in now…"

This is no more than a quarter of the continent, yet it feels overwhelming. I had visited every country on Earth at least once during my previous life, so nowhere felt truly unknown. Here, I'm well and truly lost.

"Village…"

"Yeah, it seems that we'll land near Cadell."

A loud rumbling interrupts the sublime image below, reminding us of the decisive battle occurring only a stone throw away.

"This is your end, Titan!"

Our parachute continues its descent, bringing us into earshot of Bermar's determined shouts echoing throughout the mountain range. The knight stands proudly in the face of the monstrosity, with hundreds of soldiers behind him pushing back a legion of walking stones.

The Stone Titan has completely forgotten about us, swinging a massive arm instead towards the ground paces away from its resting place. It is there that a plateau of stone and dirt rises to the challenge.

"This truly is his perfect opponent…"

The power to bend the surface to your will. With his blade pierced into stone, the mountain itself becomes the shape he desires. A figure bathed in green light pushes the ground to bring himself up the Titan's level.

Without a mouth, the Titan does not scream. But that doesn't stop the wind from roaring in its stead as the fist slams directly atop Norwin's Blessed Knight. To its surprise as well as my own, Bermar is not killed. Instead, his body simply reappears on the creature's other arm as if stepping out from the shadows. His blade strikes down and shatters the limb to pieces with a flash of green.

"Teleportation? No, then he wouldn't have needed me to dive below…"

It's difficult to explain the phenomenon this knight creates. Be it minions or the Titan itself, none of their strikes land. Whenever it seems that his body should be struck by unthinkable force, it simply reappears elsewhere and continues rampaging. The untouchable knight is now running up the other arm with his blade dragging behind. Every place the metal touches crumbles.

"C."

My vision of the fight is obstructed briefly by a tail swung before my eyes.

"Ground is…close."

Sure enough, I can see the small citizens of Cadell staring upwards as we soar over their village. In only a few moments, we'll crash into the forest leading up to the settlement.

"Don't worry, we won't be injured at this speed."

My internal clock counts down until my feet make contact with the foliage. I grab the branches with my free hand and allow our parachute to fly into the nearby trees. The branches scratch at my skin, but climbing down is otherwise painless.

"Landing successful. Our job is done."

"...Done?"

Peo tilts her head to the side once our feet are planted firmly to the grass. I brush the leaves and twigs from her hair as I explain.

"Killing the Titan is his job. We assisted enough, so I'm certain that our King can twist the events to fit his needs. He likely already has a tale of glory created to gloat about my bravery or other."

We leave the backpack and its contents behind, pushing through the brush. It doesn't take long for us to reach the main road, where we see a mule drawn carriage quickly approaching ahead.