Threads of the Soul

Chapter 503 - 503: Lightingbirds are Go!

The Trio rushed outside, spurred into action by the message, as they quickly entered the ship that was resting on the grass. Even this close, it looked like just another hill in the range, as its hull had transformed to camouflage into its environment, even going so far as to simulate real blades of grass.They had no time to admire the craftsmanship of it all, however, as the door was nearly ripped off as they charged inside and Bob rushed to the Pilots seat. However his seat was already occupied by a bored looking girl, with a badger sleeping on her head.

Nixie smiled brightly and sat up in excitement as she saw everyone running towards her, but before she could say or do anything, Bob exploded into a black cloud. The nanomachines that composed his body flowed through the air, squirming into the space between Nixie's back and the chair, as he started to take form once again.

He unceremoniously pushed her out of the chair as he reformed already sitting on it.

"Hey! That was rude!" Nixie shouted, catching herself in the air and floating away from the chair, but Astra grabbed her hand and pulled Nixie towards her.

"What are you doing here? Bob, what is she doing here?!" Astra barked like the disappointed mother she was, putting on her stern tone with Bob.

However Bob was too concerned with the task at hand to care about the danger laced in that tone.

"She was with me when the alert went out. As was the badger. I was unable to lose them. One insisted on coming along, the other insisted on sleeping. So they both came along, I did not know what kind of danger there would be."

As he spoke, Bob grew his fingers into tendrils and guided them towards the control panel. Instead of trying to press the buttons or symbols on the control panel, he instead reached towards the blank spaces on it.

In turn, those blank spaces rose up. The metal became a horde of nanomachines, much like his own, that formed miniature stalagmites that stretched up to meet his tendril fingers.

The moment they touched, they intertwined together, causing Bob's body to jolt from the shock and the entire ship to shudder at the exact same time. With only a thought, the ships door closed and they immediately lifted from the ground and began to streak across the skies at speeds thought to be impossible by any human made aircraft.

"Besides," Bob continued, his voice remained emotionless and monotonous, "I thought that she could be of assistance to us. Although she is young, Nixie is still one of the most powerful beings on this planet, including yourself and Father. Speaking of, Where is father?"

"He's occupied with something else. Don't count on his help to save us." Astra answered bluntly. It certainly sounded mean, especially with her habitual resting death scowl, but she meant it from a good place. She couldn't have them becoming arrogant, believing in a hero that will always swoop in at the last minute and save the day.

Seth might have done it a few times, and might even continue to do it. But he couldn't do it every time, and she was not going to let her children... She was not going to let them fall into this trap of holding out for a hero, only to die when they could have stopped it.

Death was not just a possibility. It was inevitable. Only a matter of time until each of them died, and she was going to do everything she could to make that last for as long as possible. Even if it meant fighting death himself.

She had tried her best to rouse Corvus when he suddenly passed out on her, after acting so bizarre for a few minutes, but once he was down he didn't stir no matter what she did. She knew he wasn't coming. She wasn't even sure that he was going to wake up at all.

Everything that Juniper was feeling was what was stirring within her heart too as she was forced to wait and wonder if this was going to be the end of the man she loved.

But she didn't have the luxury to sit around wailing about it, or scream and shout at the world for its unfairness. All she could do was keep calm, carry on and fix the problems that were constantly sprouting up all whilst hoping for the best.

It would be incredibly selfish to say that this situation was beneficial to her. Cold, heartless and selfish to say... but not incorrect. After everything that she had been through, she needed something to take her anger out on, and this offered the perfect punching bag for her.

She just hoped that she wouldn't break it too soon.

Following Astra's blunt answer, they sat in awkward silence, each individual lost in their own thoughts as the ship streaked through the air at impossible speeds. They left the country and crossed parts deadly, impassable ocean in such a short amount of time, they seemed like little more than a lake.

Water and earth whizzed below them, until the endless green turned to an ocean of gold. The environment, which had been passing them by as a blur moments ago, started to come into view as Bob slowed the ship down until finally they came to a stop.

They found themselves hovering above a landscape split in two. A grand city on one side, constructed from the rubble of what came before, and a desert on the other side. This desert was home to structures much older than the city that currently existed, and even older still than the city that existed before that.

Yet despite that, these ancient structures still withstood the test of time. Standing tall and proud, despite everything. The world had ended, monsters roamed the world and so many cities had been destroyed.

However the Pyramids of Giza still stood, as the ship from another world hovered over them. It was a strange sight that would have pleased so many of the old world, who had dreamed of this very moment. But it was not made to last.

As despite everything it had withstood, the Sphinx's head exploded into a hail of sandstone, as a column of salt-water erupted from the ground like a lost geyser, tearing through the ancient statue without a care of its history.