“Would you just look at that?”

My tail flicked in irritation as I looked up to Jabari. The zebra was standing on top of a rock, gazing at the forest stretched out beneath us with a wide smile.

“Yes, it’s great,” I said. I did a quick, cursory glance over the woods. It didn’t look particularly impressive to me, but then neither did the last ten ‘vistas’ he had stopped to ogle.

Silver Feather walked up to my side from behind, grimacing. “Does he really have to stop at every little high spot and stare at nothing?” he grumbled.

I shrugged. “He’s a free guide. It’s better than nothing,” I whispered.

Looking back, I saw the rest of our party carefully picking their way up the slope behind me. According to Jabari, we could reach the ‘Earth Seer’, as he called her, within four days. I’d asked if there was a faster route, worried about leaving Storm and Ember alone in Harvest, and so he’d shown us this path. I raised a hoof to block the sunlight as I squinted upwards, eyeing the mountains to our left. It was a rough climb, but as far as I was concerned the extra day was worth it.

“Jabari, can we get a move on?” I called. The zebra jumped, as if he had forgotten we were there, and gave me an enthusiastic nod. He bounded off the rock, wincing slightly as he landed.

“My apologies, Dissero, but I cannot help but to get lost in the vista of the wilds.” He smiled before he turned away, briskly starting up the slope.

“We’re ready to work, ma’am.”

Stormslider nodded curtly, frowning over the schematic spread beneath her. A dozen recusants stood before her in varying states of awakeness. Storm faintly registered the sound of Ember’s hooves in the background, clopping against the stone as she inspected the Omega.

“Okay, then,” Storm began. “Might as well get started.” She waved a hoof towards the ship. “Go through and remove all the shrapnel and wreckage, please.”

The recusants dipped their heads, speaking in unison. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t call me ‘ma’am’,” Stormslider said. “It’s not needed.”

One of the recusants flinched, his eyes darting side to side. “It is needed, ma’am.”

Storm cocked her head, curious, but resisted the urge to ask more. She shrugged. “Okay, if you insist. Get to work, please.”

She turned back to her schematic as the laborers trotted away. Rebuilding the Omega from it’s current state was not going to be an easy task. She’d have to find a new engine, practically reconstruct the chassis, add weapons and communication systems, and a dozen other things. Worse, she’d have to get Ember to agree.

Pulling out a pencil, she got to work.

This zebra was starting to get on my nerves.

The climbing on it’s own would’ve been bad enough. The slight chill in the air as we ascended into the mountains I could handle. But Jabari’s unending parade of talking was unbearable.

“I see so many gorgeous things outside the wall,” the zebra shared, oblivious of just how little anyone cared. “Flowers blooming in spring, and purple mountains at sunset, and...”

I tuned him out, slowing down to let Silver catch up with me. “So what do you think of this seer business?” I asked. I knew that he was willing to follow along with me, and that he had agreed to come. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he had held something back, when the crew was discussing the idea.

He shrugged. “I dunno, Dissy. This is your thing. I’m more worried about the ship.”

I bumped into him good-naturedly. “I’m sure Storm and Ember will keep it under control. They should be able to stop killing eachother a little while, for the sake of the ship at least.”

He nodded. “Yeah. If we’re lucky, the seer will help us out.”

“I just feel like—uff.” I grunted as I ran into something warm and furry. Looking forwards, I saw Jabari before me, stock still, eyes up to the sky, seemingly unaware of the contact.

Silver stepped in front of him, waving a hoof over the zebra’s face. “Hey, Jabari? You there?”

Jabari jumped, gazing at Silver as if he’d just grown stripes. Suddenly, he grabbed the pegasus, pulling him close and fixing him with a wide, unseeing stare.

“Tell me, pony,” he hissed. “Have you ever seen someone blown to pieces before your eyes?”

I put a cautioning hoof on his shoulder. “Hey, Jabari—”

He whirled, shoving my hoof off of him and planting his own on my chest. “Have you ever heard a soldier cry as he holds his guts in?” I flinched at his accusing tone, his breath hot on my face.

Exe came up from behind me, pushing his heavy girth between us. “Have you forgotten your task, zebra?” he rumbled.

Jabari stared at him in wonder, blinking. He shook his head, raising a hoof to his eyes. “Ah, yes. My apologies.” He looked up, the empty stare replaced with a wide smile. “Shall we continue, then?”

He trotted away as if nothing had happened, dexterously moving over the rocky terrain. Confused, I squinted up at Exe.

“What was that?” I asked.

He grunted. “I think our guide is lost in his past.”

He lumbered after the zebra without another word. Silver and I stared after him, eyes wide. Behind me, I heard the rest of the crew catch up.

I turned to them. “Careful with that zebra,” I cautioned. “He seems dangerous.”

A cold wind blew snow across my coat, sending a shiver down my spine. I looked up, straining to see beyond the light of the campfire. The darkness of the moonless night was impenetrable. I turned to Jabari, who was lying on a sleeping roll across the fire.

“What’s left?” I asked.

The zebra blinked, looking away from the depths of the flame. “Now is the hard part. We will follow a path alongside the mountain ridge. It will take us to a slope just below the Earth Seer’s home.”

I nodded. Most of my crew was asleep around the campfire. Silver Feather was snoring loudly, sharing a shallow dugout in the snow with Cleaver. Nix was curled up next to me, having crawled towards the warmth of the fire in her sleep. Exe dozed near the fire, a bone sticking out of his jaws.

“I’ve always liked camping out in the snow,” Jabari mused. Another gust of wind blew past, stirring the fire in its wake. “It feels safe, to have a fire warm you while all the world freezes.”

I let out a neutral little murmur of acknowledgement. I wasn’t really interested in a conversation, but it would’ve been rude to just ignore the statement.

He didn’t seem to pick up on the hint, continuing on. “I still remember the first time I came up here,” he said. “Harvest was in the midst of civil war. I deserted and came here to hide.”

That caught my interest. “A civil war?”

He nodded, eyes still lost in the fire. “Yes. The Thieves Guild had a falling out with some merchant house. They took to murder in the streets. The Simple Council put an end to it, of course.” He looked down, sighing. “I was expected to do my part.”

Silence fell over the camp, broken only by the crackling of the fire and the whistling of the wind. To my disappointment, he didn’t explain any further.

Gradually, I drifted off to sleep.

I move my gun to a more comfortable position, peering out into the night lazily. The sounds of clan life rise from the sinkhole behind me, making stark contrast against the silence of the open land.

A bright red light flares into existence above a nearby cloud. My ears twitch at the sound of hooves, to my left. I whip around, just in time to see a shadow slip behind a bush.

I raise my rifle, bringing it to bear on the night.

There’s a sound behind me. I begin to whirl, too late.

I can’t breathe. I gag as a constricting force tightens around my throat, cutting off my windpipe.

I buck hard, and the force vanishes. As I fall to the dust, coughing and gagging, I barely register my attacker hitting the ground in the corner of my eye.

My attacker recovers quickly, pouncing on me as I roll onto my back, gasping for air. My neck stings. The wire pushes into my neck as my vision darkens. My lungs burn, screaming for air. My heart pounds, fighting for life.

I try to slap him away, but there’s no strength left in my body. He doesn’t even flinch as he pushes down harder. I silently plead for life. He shows no mercy.

I can’t fight back any longer. The red light hanging in the air paints deep shadows over my killer’s face. As my hooves fall to the dust and my life fades away, a burst of light brings my murderer’s visage into terrifying clarity.

A pair of dead, unseeing eyes look down on me.

Blaming me.

Ω Ω Ω

“Dissy?”

My eyes snapped open, focusing in on the magenta hoof gently grabbing my shoulder.

I rolled onto my back, horn glowing. With the soft ring of unsheathed steel, my last remaining sword hovered to my side, blade at the ready.

Nix let out a little whimper, eyes wide. I frowned, breathing hard. My eyes darted from her, to my sword, to the trickle of blood on her neck.

“Oh, uh, sorry.” I shoved the sword back into its sheath as I climbed to my hooves. As I rose, Nix fell, sitting back on her haunches. I ran a hoof through my mane. “You, uh... surprised me.”

She leaned forwards, laying a shaky hoof on my shoulder. “Are you okay, Dissero?”

“I’m fine!” I snapped. She flinched, drawing away. Doing my best to calm my rapidly beating heart, I lowered my voice. “Just a... bad dream is all.”

“R-right.” She averted her eyes. “Well, we’re about to leave. I thought I’d come wake you up.”

She turned and walked away without another word, hastily slipping into her saddlebags. I scanned my surroundings, wary for any sign of danger. Silver and Exe were waiting under a tree, the pony eyeing the bear curiously when he wasn’t looking. Cleaver was munching on some grass, graciously washing it down with his favorite drink. Jabari was perched on top of a snow-covered tree, examining the horizon with a wide smile.

After a quick check to make sure everyone had everything, we set off down the path. To my chagrin, Jabari’s idea of a ‘path’ seemed to be no more than a narrow cliff jutting out of the mountainside, covered in snow so deep that it came all the way up to my barrel.

The going was slow. The thick snow turned every step into a chore. Silver got off easy with the snow, as apparently his natural pegasus magic allowed him to step on it without sinking in. Lucky him.

The snow picked up, swirling around us angrily as we pushed onwards. My heart sank as I glanced up to the sky.

“Jabari! There’s a storm coming!” I called.

He grinned back at me. “Yes! Truly one of nature’s great beauties!”

Oh, Luna save me.

Within minutes, the full force of the storm was upon us. For once I was thankful for the thick layer of snow; I was certain that without it to hold me down the winds would rip me right off the mountainside.

It became nearly impossible to see through the whirling blizzard. I could just barely make out Jabari’s silhouette ahead of me, blurred by the snow. I ducked down as another gust of wind threatened to throw me to my death. A flash of lightning briefly pierced the flurries, followed soon after by rumbling thunder.

I struggled to get within hearing range of Jabari. Taking a moment to work up my courage, I reached out and tapped him on the flank, quickly returning my hoof to the ground out of fear of falling. Jabari turned, squinting at me, a wide smile still on his face.

“We need to find shelter!” I screamed. “This storm is too strong!”

He shook his head. “It is fine!” he shouted. “I have done this before!”

“Damnit, Jabari! Find us somewhere to wait out this storm or it will rip us off the mountain!”

The zebra frowned, squinting down the mountainside. His eyes widened as he realized the full might of the storm, as if he was seeing it for the first time.

He nodded. “Yes! Follow me!”

We pushed onwards, hugging the cold stone of the mountainside as the wind buffeted at our coats. I looked behind me. Cleaver was wading through the snow, gritting his teeth. Behind him, the world faded to white.

When I returned my gaze forwards, I was alarmed to find that Jabari was nowhere to be seen. I looked down, frantically searching for his tracks in the snow. Nothing. They just stopped. Where did he go!?

I yelped as a hoof pulled me to the side, into a thin crack in the mountain. Jabari was there, his eyes reflecting the soft flicker of a lantern he’d placed on the stone. “We will wait here,” he said.

I nodded. “Okay. I’ll go help my crew in.”

By the time I squeezed back onto the narrow ledge, flinching as the wind and snow slammed into me, Cleaver had reached the end of my trail. He raised a hoof to his eyes, peering forwards into the snow.

“Kaptain?” he called.

“Cleaver! Over here!” He turned, eyes brightening as they fell on me. I beckoned to him. “Jabari found shelter.”

Once his tail had disappeared into the mountain, I turned my attention back to the path. Eventually, Silver’s dark orange coat came into focus, his mane practically invisible in the weather. He was no longer trotted lightly along the top of the snow, instead opting to slog through it like the rest of us.

“Nice weather, yeah?” he shouted. I grinned, pointing him into the little cave. Between the blizzard and the shadows of the stone, it was nearly impossible to pick out without help.

Exe came after him, his thick brown fur barely visible under the snow covering every hair. With a nod of thanks, he squeezed into the cave.

Nix was last. Despite the rest of the crew pushing most of the snow aside before she got to it, she seemed barely capable of walking any further. She stumbled forwards blindly, eyes wide with terror. She didn’t even notice my presence until she bumped right into me.

She looked up. I pointed to the cave. “We’re taking a break!” I explained, yelling to be heard over the blizzard.

Her legs wobbled. She seemed about ready to collapse with relieved exhaustion. As she turned to enter the cave, an especially strong gust of wind blew past us.

She shrieked as the wind pulled her off her hooves, casting her over the edge.

“Nix!” My horn burst into light as I grabbed her in my magic. I grit my teeth in concentration, struggling to keep her from being blown away. “Help!” I shouted.

Celestia help me! The wind was so strong. It was all I could do to hold her in place, let alone levitate her to safety. I narrowed my eyes. My horn glowed even brighter. A trickle of sweat ran down my cheek. No!

Just as I felt my magic begin to break, Silver Feather came sprinting past me. “I got you!”

He jumped off the cliff, hastily unwrapped bandages trailing from his bad wing. A rope was tied around his barrel. I risked a glance back and saw Exe, Jabari, and Cleaver, hooves and paws clamped over the rope.

Nix shrieked even louder as Silver spread his wings, his face contorting with pain as the right unfurled, and wrapped his forelegs around her. He flapped frantically, struggling to fight the wind.

“Pull us in!”

I rushed to grab hold of the rope, helping the others reel the two in. Silver’s bad wing gave out, and he plummeted downwards, out of sight. The rope stretched taut.

“Heave!” Together, we pulled on the rope. A magenta hoof reached up from over the cliff, scrambling for a grip.

I leapt forwards, planting myself in the snow and grabbing Nix’s hoof in my own. With a roar, I pulled her up. We fell backwards into the snow together, her on top of me, the both of us breathing hard.

She hugged me like her life depended on it, shaking. “Oh, thank you! You saved my life!” I felt my chest fur dampen with her tears.

Weakly, I raised a hoof to pat her on the head. “I’m—” I coughed. “—glad you’re okay,” I breathed. “Silver helped too.”

Just then, the pilot clambered back onto the ledge, panting. “Fuck, my wing hurts!” he hissed. He looked down to us, the beginnings of a grin on his face. “Hey, lovebirds, you gonna come inside?”

He trotted past us, moaning and rubbing his bad wing. Nix stayed where she was, face buried in my coat. Hesitantly, I gave her a little push.

“Nix. Nix, you need to get off me.”

She hugged me even tighter.

“Nix!”

Stormslider frowned over her papers, tapping a hoof against the table thoughtfully. It was just like Ember to request for quality materials, with no thought to the cost. Sure, the thicker hull may make the ship sturdier in the long run, but Ember seemed to have forgotten that with every extra coin she allowed the Simple Council to spend on the ship, she dug the crew deeper into debt. Storm didn’t like the idea of even going into a single battle. At this rate they’d might as well start a career.

She glanced upwards as one of the recusant laborers glided past, a bucket of sharpnel held in her teeth. Storm returned her gaze to the paper, chewing on a pencil. She had to figure out how to cut the ridiculous fees Ember was racking up, preferably before she sold them all into slavery.

Wait a minute. Storm looked back up, eyes wide. Dropping the pencil, she spread her wings and flew out of her seat, flying towards the large dumpster that even now was being filled with shrapnel and wreckage.

The three recusants hovering around the dumpster fluttered out of her way as she approached, buckets swinging in their hooves as their moved. Stormslider squinted down into the wreckage, scanning its contents. With a quiet “Aha,” she reached down and plucked out the object that had caught her eye. She leaned over it curiously. Moonstone, as she had suspected.

She turned to the three laborers by her side, brandishing the shard. “Do any of you know who found this?”

One of them, a mare, waved a hoof nervously. “I did, ma’am,” she squeaked.

“Show me where you got it,” Storm said. “You’re not in trouble.”

The mare nodded, eyes averted. Hesitantly, she led Stormslider to a section of the hull where little more than the ship’s skeleton remained. Steel beams, some twisted from trauma, formed the framework of the chassis.

And running alongside the beams, engraved with exotic runes, was moonstone.

Storm’s mind raced. What is that doing built into the hull? Theories formed, were disproved, and evolved. An idea took shape. Answers for past questions were evaluated.

A plan took form.

She turned to the recusant hovering nervously at her side. “Tell the others they are not to remove this material from the hull, and they are to save any broken pieces they find,” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.” The recusant flew away.

Stormslider held the little chunk of moonstone up to the light, examining the runes carved into its surface. A flicker of a smile passed over her face. Science was at hoof.

This was going to raise the repair costs.

“Nearly there, now!”

“How much further?” I paused under the shadow of a tree, shivering from the cold. The blizzard had lasted longer than expected, and we’d been forced to spend the night in the tiny cave. It hadn’t been a very comfortable night. My bedroll did little for the rough stone, and due to the cramped quarters I’d ended up sandwiched between Silver and Nix. Still, it was better than braving the storm.

Jabari turned to face me from his position several feet higher on the slope. “We are almost there!” he exclaimed. He raised a hoof and pointed to a small outcropping, some distance up the mountainside. “We can reach it by sunset!”

I nodded, doing my best to fend off the weariness. I began to grumble sourly, panting. “We’ve gotta... climb up... this Luna-damned mountain... in the snow... all day...?”

“Great, isn’t it?”

Silver Feather trotted lightly up to my side, once again abusing his pegasus powers to avoid sinking into the snow. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Shut up... Silver...”

He grinned. “Sure thing, Diss.” He dipped his head insolently, trotting to catch up with Jabari.

I shook my head, returning my focus to the climb. One step at a time. I raised a hoof, pulling it out of the thick snow, and took a step. Such is progress. My ears twitched as a gust of wind sent a shiver down my spine. As soon as I can, I’m adding fur padding to my barding. I frowned. Back in Equestria, thoughts like that would label me a freak and a murderer.

Sweet Celestia, what is happening to me?

“Kaptain!”

I looked back. Cleaver was several steps down the slope, pointing up into the sky. Following his hoof, I picked out ten recusant silhouettes flying our way.

“Get to the trees!” Jabari called. I rushed to comply, cursing the snow as I struggled to reach the relative safety of the treeline.

Silver reached the trees first, fluttering his good wing anxiously as he watched the recusants. I reached his side soon after, with Nix hard on my tail.

Silver rolled his shoulders, leaning back and pointing his lightning gun up to the sky. “Storm’s gun would sure be useful around now,” he said.

My eyes widened. Reaching out with a hoof, I grabbed the barrel of his gun and pushed it down. “Are you going to shoot them?”

“Yeah, of course. They’re bandits.” He wrenched the gun from my grasp. “We’ve gotta hit them before they hit us.”

“They’re recusants, not bandits,” I corrected. “You can’t shoot them out of the sky because of how they look.”

Exe and Cleaver arrived from further down the slope, having climbed it after they got to the trees. “Let him shoot, unicorn,” the bear rumbled. “Would you risk our lives for your hesitation?”

“No!” I snapped. “I’ve lived with recusants, and they’re not mindless bandits! Let me speak to them.”

I stepped out from under the trees, ignoring Silver’s protests. The recusants were closer now, hovering. One of them landed on top of the snow before me.

“Greetings.” She was bundled up in thick layers of clothing from head to tail, her voice muffled by the material. The wingblades strapped to her feathers glinted in the sunlight. She wore no saddlebags.

“Hello,” I replied. Glancing back, I saw that the rest of my party had disappeared. They must’ve hidden in the trees. A slight pang of worry hit me as I wondered where Jabari had gone.

When I returned my gaze to the recusant, I saw that she’d flared her wings, prominently displaying the carefully sharpened edges of her blades. “I’ll take your coin or your life,” she stated. “The same goes for the rest of your party.”

I narrowed my eyes. Fuck. “Can’t you just leave us alone? There’s no need for a fight.”

She grinned. “You’re right. So empty your bags, and we’ll leave.”

“Or maybe you fly away and leave us be.”

“My clan must eat, pony.” She flexed her wings meaningfully. “You still live only because it’s more convenient than killing you right away.”

This isn’t going anywhere. My eyes darted side to side as I tried to work out a plan. I had to get back to the trees before the rest of the bandits could fall on me, and with only one sword I was hardly in fighting shape. Her hoof tapped against the snow. Running out of time...

With a fierce battlecry, Jabari came galloping out of the trees. He drew his sword, mouth clamped firmly over its hilt, and slashed at the recusant as he ran past her.

She ducked smoothly out of the way, coming back up with wingblades at the ready, and was rewarded with a hard buck from Jabari’s iron shoes.

With a sickening crunch, the recusant crumpled to the ground. Above me, I heard several cries of furious grief as the rest of the bandits began to react. I drew my sword as a crossbow bolt flew down from above, punching through my barding and sticking into my back.

“Agh!” I looked up, hissing. Three of the recusants were wielding crossbows, while the remaining six came diving down upon Jabari and I.

I ducked as the first recusant swooped over me, trying not to think about how close his wingblades came to my body. Looking up, I saw another bandit diving towards me.

I stuck my sword out, to no avail. The bandit pulled a wing in at the last moment, snapping to the side and landing hard in the snow to my right. Ripping myself out of the snow with a gargantuan effort, I pounced on him, shoving my sword into his neck.

Blood spurted from the corpse, splattering against my bandanna. The world turned white for a brief instant as Silver fired again, and a smoking recusant crashed into the snow besides me.

I looked up. The four remaining bandits were circling above us, bombarding us with crossbows. I flinched as one of them bounced off my horn. Silver’s thunder roared in the background, growing gradually louder, rolling on and on.

What?

With a quick glance to the side, I verified my suspicions: Silver wasn’t shooting. He was taking cover behind a tree. Then where’s that noise coming from?

The answer came a few moments later, in the form of a galloping white wall of snow, crashing down the slope towards us.

“Hah! See ya in hell, you bastards!” One of the recusants taunted. With a few strong flaps of their wings, they flew high, far out of danger.

Exe ran past me, blood dripping from his sheathed axe. “Avalanche!” he bellowed. “Get to the trees!”

I waded through the snow as quickly as I could, my back screaming in agony as the crossbow bolt dug itself deeper into my flesh with each movement. I’m not going to make it. I heard Jabari’s hooves crunching the snow behind me. The thundering of the avalanche grew louder and louder, overcoming every other sound. I tripped, falling face first into the snow.

Silver sprinted out from the relative safety of the trees, teeth gritting together as he flapped his wings for speed. “I got you!”

He clamped his teeth down on the collar of my barding and yanked hard. I stumbled as he practically dragged me through the snow, exploiting his wings and pegasus magic for all they were worth. A white mist approached from the corner of my eye.

White hooves wrapped around my chest. Cleaver lifted me onto my back like a doll, carrying me the rest of the way to the trees as Silver ushered him on.

Just when I thought the deadly avalanche was certain to hit us, Cleaver tossed me onto the ground. He and Silver fell down next to me, panting. Lifting my head, I watched, awestruck, as the avalanche barreled down the open slope, right past the trees.

Nix was on me in an instant, hooves searching all over my body for wounds. “Oh Celestia, are you okay? Did those bandits hit you? Is there any pain? Where? Do you need help?”

Weakly, I raised a hoof to wave away her onslaught of questions. “I’m good, Nix... Where’s.... where’s Jabari?”

Exe stood over me, blocking the sun. “The zebra did not make it,” he stated.

I gaped. “What? But... he was...” Right behind me...

Silver found the energy to climb into a sitting position. “Sorry, Diss. I could only save one of you.” He looked down to the ground, planting a hoof in the snow. “I wasn’t gonna lose you again.”

“Agh, fuck!” I covered my eyes with my hooves, furious with myself. The movement sent a sharp jolt of pain up my back. “Agh, fuck!”

“You’re hurt!” Nix rolled me onto my stomach, examining the wooden shaft embedded in my back. “Oh, Luna. We need to get you out of this barding.”

“I’m cold enough as it is, Nix. Can’t we get it out later?”

“No!” she snapped. “You’ve driven it in enough with all this running. Now strip!”

Reluctantly, I complied. With some exhausted magic, I disconnected the straps that held the top and bottom halves of the barding around my barrel together. I sent silent thanks to Celestia that the armor’s design let me levitate it off without disturbing the bolt any further.

“On your side,” Nix commanded.

“Why, what are you going to do?” I rolled onto my side, eyeing her apprehensively.

She rummaged through her saddlebags, pulling out a nearly empty bottle of vodka and a pitifully wrinkled dressing. “Hold him down.”

“Wait—what!?”

Exe and Cleaver grabbed my hind and fore legs, respectively. I struggled, but to no avail. They were simply too strong for me.

“Stay still, Dissero,” Nix said. “For your own good.”

With a quick, precise movement, she snapped the tail off the bolt, sending painful vibrations up my back. I didn’t have any time to recover before she began to push on the shaft, driving it through.

I screamed. The world slipped out of focus as pain racked my body.

I saw the head of the bolt come out my belly. The pain became too much to bear. My eyes rolled up into my head, and I fell into blissful nothingness.

“Silver! Silver, we’ve got the money!”

“Huh, what?” My best friend looks up to me, blinking blearily.

“We’ve got the money! We can afford a ship!”

“Awake at last, I see.”

Moaning, I cracked my eyes open. The world was rocking, swaying side to side nauseatingly. I squinted down at the snow, some five feet or so below me. Raising my head, I discovered that I was draped over Exe’s back. The bear was looking back at me, a smirk on his face.

“What... where...?”

“The bolt is out,” he informed me. “You’re lucky it didn’t rupture anything.”

For the first time I noticed my barding was missing. Wearily, I scanned my body. A thick layer of bandages was wrapping around my barrel, white stained with red. “Where are we?”

Cleaver trotted into my field of view. “It is good to see you are well, Kaptain.” He nodded to something out of my sight. “We are at the Earth Seer’s doorstep.”

I followed the direction he indicated, my eyes alighting upon a small cave in the side of the mountain. It was shallow, allowing most of it to be lit by the setting sun. In the back of the cave, I picked out a crude tunnel.

And next to it was a sign. A simple message had been painted onto it.

“Closed. Please come back later.”

“Come the fuck on!”

Author's Notes:

What a buzzkill.
And now you know about the "prototype" aspects of the Omega.

In other news... writing a side story for this. Think I'll post a sneak preview blog soon.