“So where are we?” Mila asks, following Glyn around.
Glyn leads Mila deeper into the airship as they follow the flow of Miasma in the ship's depths. “We should be somewhere near the engines now. It’s hard to tell since they’ve done remodeling on this thing over the years. It’s different from the standard models I’ve seen diagrams of.”
The pair travels through the maintenance area in the lower portion of the airship. Pipes swell and leak darkened steam as a noxious, pungent odor spreads across the area. Mila looks around as Glyn stares off into the distance, trying to navigate the vast network of hallways.
She rolls her eyes. “That way.” She points down an unremarkable hallway.
“Huh?”
“We go that way!” She yells, marching off.
“Hey, wait!” Glyn yells, chasing after her.
“Sitting around is just a waste of time. We need to get moving and stop that barrier so we can get out of here!”
“You have a point, but if we move around recklessly, we won’t get anywhere. Remember, we’re in enemy territory.”
“If we find an enemy, then I’ll fight them. That’s all there is to it.” She stops and ignites her tails, showing off her flames. “I’ll burn them away with my flames, and no one can stop me.”
“You may be strong. But we’ll need more than sheer strength to overcome this mess.”
“Huh? You doubt my power.”
“No. I don’t. But at the same time, fighting a Demon takes more than just raw power to overcome it.”
She glares at him and turns away. “I’ll show you. I’ll overcome anything in front of me and show you and everyone I’m not some helpless child!”
She storms off with Glyn, shaking his head and walking after her. He stares as she pouts, frustrated, and he holds out a shard of the shattered Queen Piece. He stares at it, then shakes his head, focusing himself as he rushes forward, chasing after Mila.
“
I have to figure out what’s going on. With Mila’s situation and the Queen Piece’s current state. Something bizarre is happening to her, and I have to fix it before it gets worse. Especially with that Demon around.
” He sighs. “
Come on, Glyn. You can’t give up now. You have to push forward. Especially for her.
”
Glyn walks forward, stopping as he sees Mila staring ahead at a steel door blocking their path. She readies her sword, but Glyn stops her as he goes to open it. Looking at the door, he sees an opening slit in the frame.
“Heat the sword and stab it in this spot here.”
“Fine.”
Following Glyn’s instructions, she heats her sword and stabs it through the slit. He points out. She burns through the metal and slices through something, cutting it open. The door flies open, with Mila and Glyn looking through the doorway.
“Alright, looks like we did it.” He says happily.
“We?”
“Well, you wouldn’t have noticed the weak point on your own. But I admit it was your power that let us open it.”
She blushes slightly and stomps ahead. “Shut up and get moving. We don’t even know if this is the right way.”
“I think we’re getting close. We have to be careful, though, because we have no idea what we’ll find deeper inside.”
Venturing deeper in, Glyn and Mila march through the darkness, with Mila lighting the way with her flames. As they venture deeper down the hall, the walls slowly change, going from metal to an odd spongy material oozing strange fluids. Mila touches the walls and leaps back, wiping the sticky substances on Glyn’s shirt.
“So, are we going the right way?” She asks.
He nods. “Yup.” Glyn stares ahead into the darkness as thick, dark clouds surround them. “This is exactly the right way.”
“So, what’re we supposed to do?”
“We’re going to go straight to the source of this mess and smash it to pieces. That’s a fine plan for you?”
Mila nods. “That’s a plan I like.”
“Good, then let’s hurry. The longer we stay here, the more likely they are to find us.”
“Well, duh. Hurry up and show me just what I have to destroy.”
“Calm down. This will require some delicacy.”
“Whatever.”
The pair marches further into the darkness as an eye on the wall opens, staring down at the pair as they walk past it. The eye blinks again and disappears as one by one, more eyes slowly creek open and focus their gazes towards the pair.
As they venture deeper in, Glyn notices the walls pulsating. He stops to stare, noticing the pulses match the beats of a heart as the two go deeper in. After breaking through another pair of doors, they enter a large room covered in the fleshy substance, with most of it concentrated on a large circular blob in the center of the room. Wires and flesh attach to the blob and spread across the room as it covers the machines and eats away at the metal, replacing it with an organic mass.
“What is this?” Mila asks.
“That’s an organ from the Demon. Did they repurpose it for this engine? No wonder there’s so much Miasma.” Glyn stares up at it.
“A wonderful sight, is it not?” A voice comes in behind them.
They turn to see Sebastian walking forward a grin on his face. “You,” Mila growls as her tails stand on end.
“Sebastian. Or should I call you Leech, considering what you are?”
“Whatever you call me is fine. I’ve grown used to being called Sebastian. But the concept of names is such a human idea.” He opens his mouth and pulls back his face with a black mass erupting from his orifice.
A sucker-like mouth emerges from the top of the mass as jagged, sharp teeth emerge from within. A pair of eyes open upside down, faced towards Glyn, as laughing comes from the undulating black mass.
“So excited you can barely contain yourself, huh?”
“
Of course! We’re so close. The Great One will awaken and take his place as the new Demon Lord. After the Demon Lord returns, Demons will return and we’ll return the world to its rightful state.
”
“Enough of this crap!” Mila yells, charging ahead.
She swings her sword, shooting out a wave of flames, while Sebastian dodging the attack and putting his face back on. He laughs as wires fly out of his suit, and he flies across the room. Mila glares at him in a rage as he lands atop the blob and kicks, causing it to expel Miasma.
“Get down here so I can kill you!”
“Wait, Mila!” Glyn yells out.
“Stay out of my way!” She leaps up, igniting her tails and shooting out a fireball that hits the field of Miasma but dies out.
Miasma slowly fills the room as Sebastian laughs. “In your current state, I may not beat you in a straight fight. But I have the perfect environment now. A realm where your magic dies and one perfect for me.” He sniffs at the Miasma, expelling it from his mouth as he kicks at the blob repeatedly.
A thick cloud of Miasma fills the room, extinguishing Mila’s flames as she covers her mouth. Sebastian leaps off the blob and rushes towards her. He extends his wires as she slashes through them, her sword slowly melting as she struggles to match his pace. As he over takes her, the Miasma spreads with Glyn watching on the sidelines.
“I guess there’s not much of a choice.” He takes in a deep breath and holds out his book. “Mila, be sure to kill that bastard and break out of here!”
“What are you….”
Glyn opens the book as it glows with magical power. He yells, pouring everything he can into the text as it shines, draining him of his Mana. As it does, the tome sucks the Miasma out of the air into itself. As it does, Glyn’s skin blackens his fingertips, turning dark as he struggles to keep up the pace.
“I see. That tome is cursed. Absorbing the Miasma into it is one way of dealing with it. But it makes me wonder if he is prepared for the feedback.”
“What?”
Sebastian laughs and charges at Glyn. “You're such an interesting human! It makes it hard to resist devouring you!”
Glyn smirks and holds up a finger. “Sorry, but I’m off the menu!” He fires a bolt of lightning out of his fingertips, hitting Sebastian and sending him flying into the wall.
“Glyn!” Mila yells, rushing to his side.
As the Miasma dissipates, Glyn closes the book with a smile on his face and collapses to the ground. Mila runs to his side, looking down as she grabs hold of him. He smiles, reaching up for her and rubbing her face.
“Make sure he’s dead and get….” His body goes limp, and his eyes roll over as Mila stares at him. He can only smile, watching her as she shakes him, trying to get some reaction out of him with the concern displayed on her face. “
I knew you. You remember who I am, don’t you?
” He thinks as his mind fades away.