The flying ship could technically fly fast enough to pass the entire lake and reach Nova in only a few hours, yet the extensive safety protocols made it so that they only arrived in Nova late in the middle of the night, and reached the capital, Masvail, in the early hours of the day, right after dawn.
A relatively uneventful flight meant that everyone on board was brimming with excitement as they thought of their immediate future. The sight of Masvail, a city unlike any other on the face of the planet, only served to further fuel that excitement.
Towering buildings, each one with its unique aether barriers around it, filled the city’s landscape. The air was further populated by countless flying ships, much like the one they were riding, and the ground was absolutely covered in vehicles of other kinds, never before seen in Kolar.
It was as if they had left behind a primitive age and arrived into the future, which was not a light statement considering that Kolar was much more technologically advanced than countries like Saint Codale, Creta and Dolziya.
The reason why Kolar didn’t consider itself technologically superior to New Velariya, even though they too did not rely on Vovan technology, was because their aethercraft was the best and undisputed in the whole world. They did not rely on technology - they relied entirely on aether, and on its magic.
Their ship did not enter the city directly, but veered away towards a large airfield in the suburbs of the city. From the observation room, they could see that a large crowd had gathered to welcome them to Nova. After all, this was one of the latest diplomatic missions in recent years. Coming off after their recent success in the ruins, the meaning of this delegation was entirely superior to any that had come before them.
Vanessa knew all of that, but she also knew that the other reason this crowd had gathered was so that her own mother would have an excuse to see her. They had been apart for so many months.
The landing process, usually quick and efficient, seemed to take forever in Vanessa’s opinion as she stood calmly at the forefront of the delegation, but was filled with endless anticipation internally. Of course, such a display in such a public setting was inappropriate, so she didn’t let it show.
Eventually, the ship landed, and once all the safety procedures and checks were complete, they were allowed to descend.
Vanessa, naturally, took the lead. After months, she had come back to her country, scoring a massive diplomatic victory - one that her family would use to influence public opinion and let them know of the-
Vanessa instantly noticed something amiss. If this had been before, she wouldn’t have picked anything up, but after spending so much time with the constantly suspicious Nero, she had picked up some of his tricks.
Almost as an instinct, she noticed that some of the people in the crowd in front of her were acting oddly. They were too stiff, too artificial...
She didn’t even realise when her daggers had entered her hands, nor when she slipped into the shadows. In fact, she only realised that she had acted at all when she noticed the projectile that was supposed to pass through her skull bounce off an invisible shield.
"Not bad. Your awareness is pretty sharp," said Garrick, who revealed himself standing in front of her, having blocked the projective with his hand.
"What is this?" she asked, even as the sounds of explosions rocked their surroundings, and the screams began to fill the air.
"An assassination," Garrick said calmly as he waved his hand once more, and caught another projectile. This one , Vanessa hadn’t sensed at all.
"Why come after me now? Wouldn’t it have been smarter to target us in the air, outside of Nova?" she asked, beginning to analyse the situation as she often saw Nero do.
Since when did Nova have assassinations? This had never happened before.
"Bold of you to assume you’re the target," Garrick said as his body disappeared, before reappearing a few metres away with a corpse at his feet. "You’re not the target, you’re the bait. The target should be your mother."
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed as shock filled her mind, but she did not let that freeze her movements. This Garrick was a lot more powerful than she had assumed. If her mother was the target...
Vanessa moved like a blur, passing through shadows almost unseen - almost, because no matter where she went, Garrick seemed to be beside her always, protecting her. Her target? Not the assassins, but her mother who was fighting for her life. If she could bring Garrick to her...
Beside Vanessa, Edward saw through her intentions at a glance, but instead of minding, he smiled approvingly. Yes, she would make a fine daughter-in-law. Somehow, his worthless sons had a knack for picking fine women. They must have inherited that trait from him.
That day, the whole world was shocked by the massive terrorist attack that occurred in Nova, targeting not only key personnel from the Golden Dawn political party, but their various research institutes.
No one knew just yet how much damage had been caused, or what had the terrorists objective been. In fact, no one even knew who the terrorists were, or where they came from. In relatively minor news compared to that shocking incident, reported mostly within Nova itself, was the tale of how Vanessa - the daughter of Esmirelda Abel, a famous artisan and notable personage of the Golden Dawn - rescued her mother and killed countless assassins herself. Many credited her incredible combat prowess to her visit to Kolar, where she had just spent many months.
Only Vanessa herself knew that she wasn’t the one who killed anyone, it was the mysterious and enigmatic Garrick.
*****
Nero, entirely unaware of what was happening across the lake, grit his teeth as he forced his body to move despite the strange pain coursing through his legs.
"That’s good, that’s good. Just three more steps, and we’ll call it a day," said his physiotherapist who stood beside Nero, watching him climb steps while he held the handrailing.
Even this pathetically simple task had become painful for Nero now, though he was recovering rapidly. The reason he was so injured was, ironically, not because of the damnable Exarch. Instead, his own body had been so energy deprived after his breakthrough that it ate through much of the muscles in his body, damaging organs and important body parts.
Such severe injuries would ordinarily not heal so easily, but with Dr. Iris personally overseeing his recovery, he would make a full recovery without leaving any lingering hidden wounds or ailments. Or, at least, that’s what she claimed. Nero had strong suspicions that he wasn’t nearly as injured as she claimed, and she was prolonging his recovery just to study his abnormally strong body.
After all, if he had been so weak that he could not climb steps, he would not have been able to fight the Exarch. But he had no proof, and no one in the base dared to mess with her so he grit his teeth and forced himself to climb the next step.
By the time Nero had completed his climb, he was sweating as if he had fought a war, and was panting for his life.
"Very good, very good ," said the therapist as he recorded Nero’s progress. "You’re doing far better than expected from a fresh Initiate. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’d have been in this rank for years already."
Nero did not comment. Clearly this guy was involved in whatever scam Dr. Iris was running. The rest of the day went as per usual, with nothing out of the ordinary happening. Corporal Thomas let Nero know that he had been scheduled to return to Fordham in a couple of weeks, and that his treatment would continue there if he hadn’t healed by then.
Nero genuinely longed for that day, but he dared not show too much excitement about the topic of his departure. Whenever Iris was reminded of it, she would fall into a foul mood.
After a long and grueling day, Nero once again returned to his bed, ready to sleep. He didn’t try to contact Flintlock again, nor did he even think about it. Nero acted as if he had no extra thing on his mind at all except his recovery.
But when, that night, Nero once again became aware that he was lucid inside his dream, he did not act surprised at all. It was as if everything was as he had planned it.
"Wow, you’re so boring," said Flintlock as he appeared in the dream, sounding slightly annoyed. "You could at least do me the courtesy of acting surprised."
"Since I’ve already seen this trick once, it won’t surprise me again," said Nero. "If you want to surprise me, do something new. Why don’t you walk directly into my room in the flesh."
Flintlock rolled his eyes. Now Nero was just being petty.