High above the ground, the hum of the magic that kept the airship

floating was drowned out by the yelling of the surrounding crewmembers.

Silencer stood below the main deck, inspecting the ships crystalline mana
core. Contained within a translucent sphere of nullification magic, the core
shuttered in place. Jagged spikes of solid mana erupted from the glowing
center at a steady pace, reducing the pull of gravity on the entire ship.
Well when theyll actually admit to using magic, the Ondo are pretty
creative with it.
Silencers thoughts were continually halted by the Ondo crewmembers
shouting orders, casting spells, and securing supplies in the ships hold. Even
the creaking of the wood was unbearable with every step the towering Ondo
took, shifting their weight between their three legs continuously as the ship
was buffeted back and forth.
Strangely enough, the Ondo seemed to be built for the sailing life (or
the sky-sailing life as it were). Their three powerful legs meant the swaying
of the ship almost never made it hard to move for them. Whereas Silencer
himself always needed a moment to adjust after stepping onto a ship. The
Spawn of Saromisir rarely sailed anywhere; Silencer never could count sea
legs as a skill of his.
The heavy clanging of armor plating caught his attention. Silencer
turned to see his friend Urdinne walking towards him, fully battle prepared
with his hammer attached to his back. Oktinen, faithfully at his side
whenever they could be, kept pace next to Urdinne. Tools of varying sizes
covered Oktinens clothes and their many fingered hands were covered in
thick leather gloves.
Admiring the view? Above deck is usually a better for that you know.
Oktinen said.
Tried it the wind got annoying after a while. Silencer said, Besides,
not every day one gets to see Ondo magic at work.
Dont remind me, Urdinne moved to put the mana core engine
behind him, closing the eyes on the backside of his head, Its bad enough
were this far above the ground, I dont like thinking my only safety net could
explode at any moment.
My heart, youre being ridiculous that hasnt happened once in all
the time weve flown together. Oktinen spoke with amusement.
Were just begging for it to happen one day, thats all Im saying.
Come now, Silencer began, you trust Oktinens magic. Hows this
any different?
 Oktinen is a skilled mage, proven time and time again, Urdinnes
voice filled with pride as Oktinen looked away to fiddle with their tools, I
dont trust the mages in this fleet anywhere near as much as I do my own
heart. Their blood is like water still only time and experience can forge
them into something reliable.
Your flattery is unneeded, but appreciated my heart, Oktinen took
Urdinnes large hand in their thinner one, These mages have studied all
their lives to create these airships, I believe you are worrying too much.
Silencer couldnt help but smile. Oktinen and Urdinne were a strange
couple, at least as far as Ondo went. Usually Ondo relationships werent
made until a member from all three genders agreed to it, but Oktinen and
Urdinne didnt seem to care about that.
My heart was what they called each other. Silencer couldnt help but
smile at the sickeningly sweet term of endearment.
Its quite the sight, Ill give it that. Silencer returned his focus to the
mana core, How much longer until we reach this stronghold anyway? Is it
not strange they forced you to come all the way to them for these
negotiations?
Why do you think Ive come prepared? Urdinne rolled the shoulder
his mace was held on, Ive not trusted these Kyhalka since they began
their negotiations with us. They think themselves superior in every way, their
sudden change in demeanor after we repelled them a few times worries me.
Silencer himself held mixed feelings for the Kyhalka. Not every race
that was contacted through portal magic was as amenable to working
together as others. There were no perfect Ondo or Darakishi or Humota
societies, but there were other races where many members actively fought
to destroy or dominate anyone outside of their species. The Kyhalka were
usually one such race.
They have never shown us anything but contempt since first contact, I
hardly trust a word they speak at this point, Oktinen said.
Which is why were being cautious, this sect specifically seems to
have some sort of grudge against us.
Have none of them offered peace? Silencer asked, having met a
number of fairly amicable Kyhalka in the past. Cant all be in favor of
bloodshed, right?
A small group of defectors are on an airship near the back of the
fleet, Oktinen began, They dont want war. Theyre a little haughty, but
theyre agreeable enough I suppose.
 Ill keep my eyes open. Maybe well get through this without drawing
blood. Silencer hoped he was right, but deep down he knew Urdinne
wouldnt have bothered asking him to come along with the fleet if they didnt
think there might be combat.
Oktinen and Urdinne grew quiet, standing close to one another. They
barely brushed their arms together as all three of them watched the airships
shuddering mana core in silence. The smell of ozone filled Silencers nose
and stung his eyes. Watching his two Ondo friends stand stock still, he knew
what was happening in their heads.
Must be the voices again Not the greatest time for this, but snapping
them out of it never goes well.
The Ondos faces sunk deep, jawlines tensed and their eyes grew dark.
Oktinen began fiddling with a knife attached to their hip. Urdinnes breath
came out heavier and heavier until the exhales could be heard over the
crackling of the airships core. Silencer watched out of the corner of his eye,
feeling Oktinens magic spark inside them unconsciously.
The both of them turned suddenly, rushing for the staircase to the
main deck.
Shouldve known!
Unbelievable! They shouted as they broke out into a three-legged
gallop and drew their weapons.
Wha, Before Silencer could call to them, a low and brassy bell
sound rang out from above him. The ships warning signal. The bells ringing
drowned out the sound of the Ondo around him arming themselves and
rushing up the stairs to the main deck. Shit
Without another thought, Silencer phased into the Void and warped
through it, appearing on the airships deck. Before he could get his bearings
however, the ship quaked and began falling to one side. Catching himself on
a guard rail, Silencer found himself a few feet away from a massive hooked
contraption that had anchored itself to the airship. Following the enormous
black chain that was attached to it, Silencer saw what he had feared sailing
through the dark clouds in the distance.
Dreadnought! The shouts of the crew shook him from his stupor.
Silencer was barely conscious of his swords phasing into his hands as he ran
through the throngs of Ondo trying to find Oktinen and Urdinne. A streak of
bright green mana blasted forth from the deck of the airship.
Oktinen
 Following the manas path, Silencer found his vision filled with Kyhalka.
Kyhalka pirates by the look of them. Their cylindrical bodies were held in
midair by their magic, their small arms and legs folded in on their bodies.
The plate armor they wore covered their entire forms, with small slits in the
back to allow their spiked ridges to stick out. Jet black metal helmets covered
their heads from the ridges on the back to the sharp lengthy chin.
They were floating forward from the ship that had anchored itself to
them, dodging a hail of arrows from the Ondo crew around him. Oktinens
magic struck one through its midsection, ending the magic keeping it aloft.
Silencer watched as the limp body plummeted down to the earth below.
The rest of the Kyhalka forces glided over the deck of the airship and
landed with bursts of force that pushed the Ondo crewmembers away from
them. Some landed on the deck of the ship while others used their suction
cup-like legs to stick to the sides. Being a heavily magical race, their arms
were of little use to them and their weapons were held aloft by telekinesis
alone.
Silencer dodged out of the way of a circular saw blade like weapon.
The Kyhalka always were hard to predict considering one could not read their
body movements, but they were usually arrogant and sure of themselves.
Surging through the mass of struggling bodies around him, Silencer moved
towards where he knew his friends to be. He barely slowed down as one
Kyhalka landed in front of him, blades at the ready. One quick slice below the
long pointed jawline and his enemy was gurgling out its pain on the airships
deck.
Oktinen and Urdinne had positioned themselves near the airships
captain, a small Akos Ondo that was almost dwarfed by Urdinne as he stood
next to her. Though she lashed out with her own rapier-like sword, Silencers
friends had made it almost impossible for their enemies to reach the captain.
Wheres your fire, insects?! Urdinne screamed, battle frenzy in his
cry as he rushed forward and caved in the helmet of one of the attackers
with his hammer, Ill stain this ship with your blood! Oktinen stood with
their back to Urdinnes, firing off spells and deflecting the Kyhalkas magic
away from their partner and captain.
The airship shuddered again. Silencer almost lost his footing and
dodged another flying blade slightly too late, leaving a thin gash along his
thigh. Ignoring the sting, he surged forward towards his friends. Warping
through the Void was difficult, with everyone moving around so quickly it was
hard to find a safe place to reemerge.
 Silencer! Oktinen called out to him, Well detach the chain! Can you
make it to their ship? A gaseous ray of energy was released from Oktinens
empty hand towards another Kyhalka attacker, causing it to collapse and
writhe on the ground.
On it! Be quick or its gonna drag you with it! His voice was like sand
as it left his throat, he worried they had not heard him as he sliced his way
through more pirates to get back to the chain. Their blood coated
Oathbinders stark white blade like grisly paint.
Crumble like cowards! Silencer looked to his right and saw Urdinne
had rushed forward as well, one of his legs pressed under one enemys jaw
strangling him while he fended off two blasts of fire by swinging his hammer
through them.
With little thought to his safety, Silencer jumped onto the massive
chain. He radiated his Void magic out of him only slightly to counterbalance
himself as he ran along the metal swaying with every movement of either
ship. Waves of Kyhalka were still floating from their dreadnought to the Ondo
airship. The Void-born fired off a few blasts of energy from Maelstroms blade
as he continued to keep himself from falling off of the chain. Cold, numbing
spikes of pain shot through his arm with every blast he let loose.
Im going to regret this later better make sure we all live until then
at least.
Anger and rage took hold of him as he reflected attacks from the flying
pirates. The pain he would have to deal with eventually, but it melted away
as he slipped deep into a trance of combat. Watching the bodies of armored
Kyhalka tumble end over end as the life left them in midair was the sweetest
sight to Silencers blood-hazed mind.
Finally, he found himself close enough to the dreadnought to warp onto
its deck. In his trance the cold emptiness of the Void felt more like a warm
hearth, inviting him to spill more blood with its power. Searching for an
empty place to reemerge, he found only one. Hed have to come out
swinging.
Reconstituting himself behind a line of Kyhalka preparing to leap off the
side of the dreadnought, Silencer let loose a whirlwind of gray and purple
magic. The Kyhalkas plate gave way as the blasts cut through the armor
before burning through the flesh underneath. Another bells ringing echoed
in his ear.
Dreadnoughts alarm. Gotta get a move on.
 An explosion to his left pushed him up against the guard rail of the
dreadnought and directly next to the gargantuan winch that the black chain
was coiled around. Its lever was longer than Silencers entire body, too heavy
to move without powerful telekinetic magic. Silencers head whipped around
to see another blueish orb of mana rushing towards him. As he dove away
from it, ice creeped out from the orbs surface to cover the winch. It
immediately began to let off thick white smoke.
Covering Maelstroms blade with the essence of the Void, Silencer
pierced the sword through the frozen levers locking mechanism. Seeing the
Kyhalka mage preparing another spell, Silencer couldnt help the grin that
spread across his face. As the mage released his spell, he grabbed the
swords hilt and launched himself off of the side of the dreadnought.
With the horrible sound of wrenching metal, the enormous lever
tumbled off the side of the dreadnought alongside Silencer. Before he could
fall further, he shifted his form into the Void realm again.
Within the Void, the dreadnought was mirrored by a swirling, shadowy
copy of itself. Silencer pushed himself forward through the hull of the shadow
ship. As he emerged from the Void he found he had miscalculated his height
and plummeted several feet to the ground directly on top of a previously
unseen Kyhalka.
His sword found the back of the Kyhalkas head before it could
decipher what had happened. Gore smeared across Silencer chest as he
freed himself from the mass of tangled limbs.
The inside of the dreadnought was as opulent as Silencer expected.
Tapestries and other fineries hung on the walls of the corridor he found
himself in. The light sound of Kyhalka footsteps informed him them he would
soon no longer be alone. Breaking out into a sprint, Silencer looked down
every corridor he passed hoping to find something to help bring the ship
down.
Another humming sound, much louder than the one of the Ondo ships
mana core, entered his ear and blocked the sounds of his pursuers. Moving
towards the sound, it almost made him sick to continue getting closer to it as
the sound scrambled his thoughts.
Shouldering a large wooden door open, Silencer found himself in a
massive room in the center of the ship. The mana core hung precariously,
held aloft by four white pillars that were continually expelling dark violet
energy to reign the chaotic mass of magic in. The core itself shuddered and
shifted, crystalline shards were launched from the glowing center of mass
only to be disintegrated by the magic of the pillars before they could harm
anything.
Unfortunately, the core room was hardly empty. Weaving his way
through the Kyhalka that charged at him upon entry, Silencer aimed himself
at the white control pillars. Despite not being a physically imposing race, the
Kyhalkas magic was precise and lethal. More sharp pains jolted through him
and added to the exhaustion he was already building up from using his
connection to the Void for too long.
Spectral blades swung for his vitals, crackling as they moved. Blasts of
fire and frost licked at his skin, clouds of poison impeded his path as he ran
forward. He was forced to retreat to the Void multiple times to position
himself out of harms way, but eventually he found himself face to face with
one of the white pillars. A smell like burning hair and flesh invaded his
senses.
Silencer lashed out with Oathbinder, aided by the cover of Void energy
he released, it sank to the hilt in the pillar. Channeling the Voids power into
his bonded sword, hazy gray magic seeped from the wound in the pillar.
Sounds of cracking and chipping came from the pillar as the magic destroyed
its inner workings. The effect was immediate. The sound of rolling thunder
seemed to emanate from the pillar as its containment magic began to fail.
The mana core began to destabilize, shooting slivers of mana from its
center and piercing the ships hull. Four Kyhalka battle-mages rushed at
Silencer as he removed his sword, its job now finished. Their suction cup like
feet kept them stable even as the dreadnought began to fall to one side, no
longer able to sustain itself.
They are sorely mistaken if they believe this is where I fall.
His battle haze renewed, Silencer became a cyclone of steel and blood.
The Kyhalkas magic shielding shattered underneath his wild blows. Though
they lashed out with their own attacks, Silencer kept his movements
unpredictable and the Kyhalka were too slow to adapt.
When the path was clear Silencer gave himself a new mission, escape
the now plummeting ship he had created. The remaining Kyhalka he passed
as he barreled through door after door were scrambling, desperately trying
to figure out a way to save their sinking sky ship. Only a few slightly
distracted crewmembers got in his way, though they were quickly dispatched
before Silencer made it back to the deck.
The outside of the ship fared no better than the inside. The
uncontained shards of mana from the ships core had pierced the hull in
multiple places, causing massive cracks to snake their way across the ships
wooden deck.
The enormous chain that Silencer had released had reached its
maximum length and hung below the side of either ship it was attached to.
As the dreadnought fell, the chain began to straighten out once more as it
drifted away from the Ondos sky ship.
You better get that chain off quick Oktinen, or were all going down
with these ships.
Seeing no other option, Silencer once again jumped onto the chain
itself. His entire body rejected the idea of using more Void magic to stabilize
himself as he ran forward across the sloping chain. His vision faltered, the
sky around him meshed into one gray blur as he fought to stay conscious.
As the chain sloped back up towards the Ondo ship, Silencer had to
switch to climbing. Each link was at least twice as long as his body and his
arms burned like they had been dipped in a forge, but still he climbed. The
wind that hed been protected from with his magic whipped at his face and
exposed hands.
As he approached the end of the chain, the dreadnought had fallen so
far it had almost completely straightened back out. To his horror, as he tried
to right himself on the chain again, he saw the Ondo warriors free their ship
from the chains claw and toss it over the side. He had no way of knowing if
he was close enough, but he attempted to warp across the final distance
back onto the sky ship.
As he shifted once again into the Void, it did not feel as it normally did.
The Void couldnt help but reject him slightly, ever since he had first learned
to use it. Now though, it felt as if he was trudging through a waterfall of
boiling lava as he pushed his form forward across the Voids shadowed gray
expanse.
Releasing himself from the Voids confines, Silencer felt himself impact
something solid. The last he saw before darkness took him was the wooden
mast of a ship and a many fingered hand reaching toward his darkening
vision.