My Brother Is The Hero Of Earth

"This can"t be a natural storm," Yue said as the ship slowly steadied.

"I really hope so because I would like to think I"m not this bad of a driver," Ella replied. "Maybe we"ll get lucky and this storm will help hide the blood curse."

"We can only hope," Yue said quietly.

Overhearing them, I could only sigh. Part of me wanted to separate from the group, so that they could be safe, but after trying that in the past, I knew they wouldn"t let me even though I was putting everyone in danger. When we had been surrounded by the Naga and nearly everyone was badly injured a year and a half ago, I had split from the group to pull them away. If I hadn"t had been ejected from the "Rift" shortly after when I was cornered, I would have likely died. I almost wished I had with the all lectures that the girls had given me, especially Alice"s when she broke down crying.

The storm continued to grow worse as we left the sh.o.r.e behind. It was hard to tell if we were making any headway with how the ship was being tossed around by the winds after the mountains behind us were swallowed by the storm. Although it was hard with the unstable ship, Melissa, Lesedi, and Sophia spent their time meditating, trying to recover their spent mana.

"Yue, what do you make of that ahead?" Ella asked after a while.

I lifted my head and looked out, over the bow of the ship. The sky which had been a dark gray with the occasional bolt of white lightning to brighten it up, was taking on a sickly green color. As if to warn us not to approach, a bolt of golden lightning arced through the air and struck the spindle before racing across the silver envelope that protected the balloon.

"Holy s.h.i.t! That bolt alone filled nearly half our entire reserves!" Ella exclaimed.

"I think that a clear sign we are on the right path. Everyone, recover your energy. We don"t know what we are going to find ahead," Yue said.

Those reformatting crystals stopped and started trying to meditate, myself included. The lightning didn"t stop with a single bolt as we continued forward. More than ten bolts. .h.i.t the spindle, but there was a layer of formations specifically designed to deal with any electricity that tried to hit the zeppelin. After the ship"s energy tanks were completely filled, the zeppelin simply released the lightning back into the air.

"Everyone, hold on!" Ella shouted.

I opened my eyes, as did the others, and saw a literal wall of water. The rain was swirling along the edge of what I guessed was likely the largest hurricane witnessed by a human since the forming of the "Rift". From horizon to horizon, the vortex of water that made up the eyewall extended further than any of us could see.

No one trusted the couches anymore while looking ahead, so everyone, but Ella and Yue, made for a mage cannon where we could strap ourselves down while the pair clutched onto the few bars around the control platform. Multiple bolts of lightning struck at the zeppelin as we continued to approach the eye of the storm, but they had little effect as they pa.s.sed over us. The lightning stopped as the spindle crossed into the eyewall, causing the whole ship to turn in the direction of the ship.

"Don"t fight the wind! Just focus on keeping us up in the air!" Yue said, just before the full impact of the eyewall hit.

It was a good that that most of us were already strapped down because the whole ship nearly flipped from the force of the water and wind. Ella remained stationary since she was tied into the ship"s formations, but Yue was thrown back and barely managed to grab onto a couch before she was knocked off the deck. The zeppelin"s formations fought hard against the raging storm trying to right itself as it was tossed around like a toy. Even with the barriers blocking out the weather from the main deck, the only thing that could be heard was the roar of the winds and the rain battering the invisible wall.

At one point, we were clearly hurdling for the ocean below, but Ella yelled out defiantly, her whole body glowing in a yellow-green light, and the impact we were preparing for never happened. Then, just as suddenly as we were nearly thrown to the water below, the winds and rains let up as we entered the eye of the hurricane. Ella collapsed, her complexion pale, and Yue pa.s.sed her a mana potion while the rest of us hopped out of our cannons.

There was a thunderous cry just after we fully entered the eye as a bolt of golden light came shooting over at us. A giant eagle stopped a few hundred feet from us, flapping its enormous wings, and cried again. The Thunderbird"s wings extended nearly half the length of the zeppelin and were a dazzling golden color with crystal blue at the tips. Seven long tail feathers of blue that faded into purple stuck out from the main tail and curled upwards. Its crest of feathers were also blue that turned purple at the ends while the rest of its head was the same golden color as its wings and the rest of its body.

Melissa released a powerful, holy aura as she stepped to the railing and shouted to the bird, "Peace, friend. We mean you no harm!"

The eagle gave another cry as its feathers bristled with electricity.

"Yes, we are fleeing from the Piasa Birds. We were unlucky enough to fall under the attack of one and my companion was forced to kill it to save our lives. Is there anything we can offer you for your aid? We only have a short time left here before our magic can bring us home," Melissa continued.

The Thunderbird gave a mournful cry then swooped down and headed towards a tiny island.

"Ella, can you follow him?" Melissa asked.

"That shouldn"t be hard," Ella agreed.

The ship slowly started moving again as everyone gathered on the couches.

"Did it say what it wanted?" Yue asked.

"No, it just said, "follow", but I can feel a lot of grief and rage. Since Alice said there would be two, my guess is that its mate was injured by something," Melissa replied.

"What could injure something that powerful?" Gustavo asked.

"Lots of things since we are out at sea. The world is a dangerous place," Yue answered.

"Would I be helpful?" Kiara asked.

"Your aura wouldn"t hurt and you do have some healing magic, but we can"t use any potions on the Thunderbirds. Beastmen are one thing, but the effects on an animal could be very different," Melissa explained.

"Who else wants to go? We can"t have the two most defenseless people go alone, even if the Thunderbirds are willing to help us," Gustavo said. No one replied and, instead, stared expectantly at Gustavo, to which he shrugged as chuckled and said, "Becca is also a great fighter."

"Yeah, but defender of the weak is more your thing with the shield and all," I replied with a smile. "Not to mention, most holy creatures aren"t big fans of "Chaotic" creatures, like me."

There were a few chuckles in the group as everyone"s spirit began to rise. Even if the Thunderbird refused to help us, there was a good chance that the hurricane raging around us could delay the Piasa Birds for the few hours we had left in the "Rift". After everything that had happened in the last twelve hours, it was nice to have a little hope.

Ella steered the ship down to the island and set us to hover while everyone hurried over to the side of the ship. The island wasn"t much larger than the mangled Thunderbird that was sprawled across it. The bird"s plumage was a dull gold compared to the other"s and it also lacked the tinges of purple, but it was a second Thunderbird, all the less. It right wing had nearly bitten in half and it was staining the sands with its blood. The first circled the island, stopping us from nearing any closer, then cried.

"It"s as I guessed. The three of us will go, the rest of you should try to rest," Melissa said.

Gustavo summoned his armor and I finally got an idea of how badly he had been hurt. There were four punctures across his breastplate a few inches thick and there was a crumpled line along them that continued onto his bracers. He caught me staring and he struck a hero pose with his arms flexed to mock my concern.

I shook my head as I sighed and said, "Just remember, I"m the only one allowed to kick your a.s.s."

"Of course, big Sis," he chuckled as he pulled out his hover board.

Gustavo hopped up on the railing then helped Kiara and Melissa up. He offered them both a ride, but only Melissa took him up on the offer as Kiara was shy of public displays as always. She simply skated along the air behind them as the trio headed for the ground. The flying Thunderbird gave one more pa.s.s then landed next to its kin. We watched the group land and walk over to the injured bird.

"How does it look?" Yue asked after a few minutes.

"Not good... Whatever bit her was highly venomous, I won"t be able to heal the wound until the poison is expelled, but thankfully, Kiara will be a lot of help for that. Still, this is going to take hours," Melissa explained through the intercom.

"Will it help protect us if the Piasa Birds appear?"

"Not until we heal her or if they try to attack it or its mate," Melissa answered.

"Then it"s up to you and the storm," Yue said. "Everybody get some rest while you can."

The seven of us trickled back to the couches and sat down. For a change, Sohpia was laying in Lesedi"s lap while she gently stroked the former"s hair. Sophia cleared suffered a backlash from when I shattered the zeppelin"s formation and would be in a weakened state for the next few days just like Yue. Ella and Yue both laid down across their own couch while Katye and Terri were sitting in the remaining two couches. As the last to arrive, Terri made a point to stretch out across her couch when she realized the situation I was in, forcing me to sit with Katye, but I really didn"t mind at the moment. Katye had pulled out a book and was curled up in the corner of her couch.

"May I sit with you?" I asked Katye.

"Sure," Katye said, tucking her legs more under her body.

"Thanks," I said with a smile. "So, what are you reading?"

"City of Heavenly Fire," she answered.

"Oh, I have that set, but I haven"t made it pa.s.sed the City of Gla.s.s."

"Really?"

I pulled out the book with my place marker in the middle to prove my point. She smiled and shifted next to me when I opened the book, peeking over my shoulder. She giggled then returned to her own book, but now she was leaning against my shoulder. Where our skin touched, I could feel her energy sinking into my skin, causing a warmth to spread through my arm. I enjoyed the relative peace, reading next to her, but as life often goes in the "Rift", it didn"t last long. An hour into Melissa"s feeling session, the uninjured Thunderbird gave a thunderous cry. Terri, Katye, and I were the first to jump up and run over to the side of the ship, but we were too far to actual see the eyewall anymore.

"Can we be honest about the charm?" I asked as Ella walked over.

"Yeah, there isn"t much of a point anymore," she agreed.

I pulled off the golden chain around my neck and the new charm, that Ella must have put on me while I slept, crumbled as soon as I removed it. I tucked away the golden chain then glanced at Katye for a moment before I transformed. I couldn"t cast a sandstorm to hide it, so she was able to me change, but her expression didn"t change. I closed my other senses while focusing solely on my life detection ability. A dragon"s vitality was something unmistakable and I could "feel" to large fire out in the distance, just out of view. I sighed and the others knew instantly what I sensed.

"Any chance of seeing "MegBecca" again?" Terri asked with a grin.

"Oh my G.o.d, you call it that again and I"ll feed you to them," I laughed.

"What"s the word, Becca?" Gustavo"s voice entered my ear.

"It"s both of them. The Piasa Birds are coming!" I said.