Race Against Time

Lily was gripped by terrifying anxiety. 

She urged her swift Forest Deerie forward, sprinting wildly across the ruined Capital as the sky turned black. The streets were dead. 

The majority of the people had already been evacuated into the underground or fled outside.

As the divine beast leaped over shattered stones, Lily’s mind raced with thoughts of her brother.

She steered the creature through the crumbling alleys. It was the exact same pathways she had walked with her brother when they first met. 

She started reminiscing about it.

Suddenly, her eyes locked onto the Castle entrance. 

"Luck! Millie!"

Lily leaped off her mount before the beast even stopped. She dashed toward them, her staff clutched tightly. 

"Where is Nero?!"

"He... um..." Luck hesitated, his gaze dropping to the dirt. "He left."

"What?!" Lily gasped. "What are we still doing here then? We must follow him! Which way did he go? Brother Toshio is still trapped in that body!"

"Lily..." Luck started.

"We need to go now!"

"Lily, listen to me!"

"I will listen as we ride!" Lily shouted, her panic rising.

"Lily!" Luck shouted louder, grabbing her shoulder. 

"Master Tanaka is no longer trapped inside Nero. He is right here."

He stepped aside, pointing toward Kara. Who was holding the motionless Toshio Tanaka in her giant arms.

Lily froze, her mind failing to process the sight. "What...? How? What happened up there? Quick, give him something to wear! My brother will freeze to death!"

She frantically looked around the debris, grabbing a discarded heavy rug to wrap around his cold torso.

"What happened? Lay him down upon the stone. Let me offer him some water..." She unclipped a leather flask from her belt.

"Luck... why are you all silent? With Nero gone, my brother is finally free!"

No one answered. The wind howled through the ruined pillars.

"Lily..." Luck whispered, his voice cracking. "Master Tanaka isn't breathing."

The leather water flask slipped from Lily's fingers, striking the stones with a heavy thud.

"What...? No, that is impossible."

She lunged forward, throwing herself onto his chest. She pressed her ear hard against his ribs, squeezing her eyes shut.

Silence

... 

... 

...

A sudden, overwhelming wave of wrath and desperation shattered Lily's restraint. Her grief morphed into absolute madness.

"No! It cannot be!" she screamed, her voice tearing through the wind.

She raised her small fists and began aggressively beating against Toshio's bare chest. 

Tears streamed violently down her face, splashing onto his cold skin as she struck him again and again. 

No one in the party tried to step forward. No one had the right to intervene.

"You promised!" she wailed, pounding against his sternum with every ounce of her strength. 

"We were supposed to build a quiet cottage in the valley! We were supposed to live the rest of our lives in peace! How am I supposed to live now?! Why should I even stay alive in this world without you?! Wake up! Wake up, big brother!"

With one final, desperate thump of her fist against his chest, a sudden, ragged gasp tore through the silence.

"Cough... ugh..."

A faint cough escaped Toshio Tanaka’s pale lips.

Lily’s violent, tearful pounding had somehow jolted his stalled heart back from the brink of death.

His breathing was incredibly shallow, and his pulse was desperately frail, but his heart was finally beating once more.

Relief washed over the group, but there was no time to celebrate. 

Lily and Kara immediately lifted the fragile Toshio, carrying him into a nearby broken shop to shelter his weak body from the thick dust and suffocating smoke.

Luck quickly gathered around the communication conch to update the rest of their allies on everything. 

The magical artifact hummed with rapid-fire transmissions. 

Grand Mage Amber was channeling her flying leaf magic at maximum capacity, rushing toward the capital as fast as the winds allowed. 

Simultaneously, Goddess Seya and the bard Zale confirmed they were almost at the Capital. 

Suddenly, the conch near Stacy began to violently crackle with magical static.

"Master! Something is wrong!" Stacy’s panicked voice echoed through the shell. 

"The ground... the entire Warground is shaking!"

Before anyone could reply, a massive tremor rippled through the capital stones beneath their own feet. 

The ruined walls of the shop rattled dangerously.

Luck’s eyes widened in absolute shock. 

"Wait... did the tremor just transfer across the continent through the conch connection?!"

"No," Millie whispered, staring out the shattered storefront window, her face draining of all color. 

"Look up."

Luck sprinted outside into the ash-filled lane. 

High above the ruined spires of the citadel, a massive shadow blotted out what little dark light remained in the sky. It was a colossal military-grade Flying Ship. 

An sky fortress, the only one of its kind existing on the continent.

The titanic vessel began lowering itself straight down toward their exact shop.