A mixture of shock and happiness passed over Narome. Not unlike just before, time appeared to slow to a halt. Astonished, he began to blush ever so slightly, not realising he was breathing rather heavily.
"You... you're not running away?"
Then, without any actual thought, he smiled. He knew he had just broken his motto: never care about anyone.
Yet, for some reason, he didn't mind. He could only hope this girl wouldn't end up like the one he used to know - a memory that continued to haunt him daily.
"... What's your name?"

She sat back on her heels and watched for his reaction. She half expected him to get angry at her --- after all, they didn't even know each other and she had both screamed at him and kissed him in the space of two minutes --- so she was pleasantly surprised to see the smallest of blushes on his cheeks and a smile on his face.

"You... you're not running away?"

She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. She hoped against hope that he wouldn't ask her why she wasn't running away: she wouldn't know how to answer. All she knew at the moment was that she was high on magical energy from the vessel that had just landed on the docks, and that she was inordinately intrigued by the man she had just kissed.

But his next question wasn't "Why not?" at all; when he asked for her name she was shocked by the realization that the introductions had only been one-sided.

"Kea," she told him, tying her mass of curls back into its customary ponytail. She noticed that her goggles were still, somehow, hanging from her wrist and she slipped them back onto her head. "Kea Kassidee."

Mika watched the spectacle with open eyes, before running to the couple. "Whoa, you two Ok??" he asked. Then he saw the girl kiss the man. "Oh, I see, you're having a moment... I'll just... get something out of my ship."

He smiled before re-entering, leaving the hatch open, since they seemed quite interested in his ship...

Nessus was wounded. When he walked around his little room, his foot got stuck in a hole.
He needed blood.
Nessus maked a plan.
"Hey, where are you?" He heared. He looked at the door, and saw that the little window was open. Luckily for him, his bed was on the same side as the door, so the misterious person coundn't see him.

Suddenly, the door was unlocked. Nessus knew it was the time for his plan. In the last few days, weeks ( he didn't know ), he whetted one of his hooves. When a man came in, he quickly pushed on a pressure point, made a cut in his arm, and healed himself with it.

Nessus ran outside, but what he saw, was unbelievable....

"Kea?"
For a few moments, there was only silence, the only exception being the cold night wind.
"Kea... you should be more careful. What just happened to you, anyway?" asked Narome, his gaze shyly beginning to move somewhere else. It was then that the massive flying 'ship' leapt back into his memory. How could he forget something so odd?
He glanced over at what appeared to be some kind of ridiculous, fairytale monstrosity of a ship.
"Hmm... it's open?" he thought. "How strange. It seems almost suspicious..."

Kea sighed, her hand drifting to her stomach and pressing again the flaming ball of magic that smoldered within her.

"I'm a mechanical mage," she explained, following his gaze to the ship, a look of longing in her eyes. "That ship is entirely mechanized. I was kind of overwhelmed; I couldn't handle the intensity of the magic for a second. But I'm okay now."

To prove this, she leaped to her feet. "And suspicious or not, I need to see it!" Then she ran towards the ship.

Every step made the magic increase tenfold within her; after about fifty feet it was almost as though she was being dragged by the power. She didn't even pause before crossing the threshold of the ship, but just barreled onto it before stopping, totally immersed in the sense of control. She closed her eyes, feeling the ship. Everything was connected in a grid of energy and she could feel every cross-section, every square. She reached out in her mind and touched the grid; immediately, the ship powered down, the lights fading out, computer screens going black. Then she slowly began testing the ship, pulling up each system individually.

The electrical grid came first, lights flickering on and off as she played around with them. Then life support, shields, weapons... this ship had the most advanced weapons she had ever even imagined. She danced around the weapons systems, not wanting to accidentally set anything off --- instead, she slipped into the computer system.

The ship's logs, personnel files; everything was laid bare to her. She was drowning in technology she had never experienced before and burning with the knowledge that she could understand it completely. She opened her eyes and they were glowing, shining out of her face with magical energy.

She felt the hull of the ship, and unable to stop herself, she played around with it, too. Eclipsed by the feeling of mastery, she nonchalantly began to rip the hull apart.

Mika felt the ship rumble under his feet, sparks coming from each console, lights flickering. He began running to the nearest console.

He noticed the girl, standing still near one, a blank expression on her face. She's... causing this! She'll rip the ship apart!

He instinctively whipped out a gun-of-some-sort from his pocket.

"Sorry about this but..."

He pulled the trigger, and a faint blue bolt shot past the girl's shoulder, burning a small hole in her clothes.

I hope that'll wake her up... I don't want to have to throw her out... it may hurt both of us while she's in this state...

Darath's soldiers pointed at their commander's corpse agitatedly, their screams barely not piercing Cynder's eardrums. They ran around chaotically, until one of the older soldiers, a scarred fellow with a filthy beard, shoved his commander's corpse out of the horse's saddle and seized control of Darath's army.

"Soldiers!" he shouted with a hint of anger in his voice. "You are a disgrace to the sacred land of Darath. You, soldiers, are screaming maniacally because of this scoundrel's vile deeds, which is understandable," he proceeded, meanwhile pointing at Lord Kensington. "However. Rather than screaming like the filthy babies you are, why not avenge your fallen commander? Let go of your foul reputation. Let go of your image of drunken fools who serve a psychopath!
"Instead, ride to battle with me, and slay the enemies of our King," he suggested.

He then gestured towards Cynder's army of ghost soldiers. "These criminals," he said with an emphasis on the word "criminals", "have brought back the dead to fight us. They woke them from their deserved slumber, and made them fight for them. We cannot overlook such crimes."

The battlefield was suddenly filled with quiet murmurs, agreeing voices, and the sound of cheers. It looked like they had come to a decision.

This man... Cynder thought, he speaks well, yet his words are lies. How does he embed truthfulness in the lies he weaves?

A loud voice interrupted Cynder's thoughts, yet the voice was not human. It had a familiar ring to it, and then Cynder remembered where she had heard it. The voice was the same as the one that had told her of the army's approaching. That soldier... does he bear some kind of significance we don't know of?

"Sir Krieg, might I ask that I be allowed to put in some words?" the soldier spoke.

"Bah! I shan't listen to senile old fools such as you," Krieg replied, his eyes glowing menacingly.

"I see you have forgotten about me. Maybe this will jog your memory...?" Cynder held her breath as she saw the soldier reaching into a hole in his leg, and took out a bullet. It wasn't a real bullet, however - after all, the soldiers were currently not comprised of flesh, but of dust, sand and stones. He seemed to be showing Darath's army a seal embedded into the perfect copy of the bullet. Cynder couldn't see it from her point of view, but Krieg's eyes widened in sheer surprise.

"Y-You're... him?!" he exclaimed.

"I am indeed. I am one of the former commanders of Darath, who was killed... by you, Sir Krieg." His cold gaze met the army of Darath, which had fallen into silence again. "That's right, soldiers. You are currently being led by a cowardly murderer, on top of which a traitor, who hoped to become commander by disposing of me. And yet... he dares speak of honour, and of upping your reputation?" The ghost soldier shook his head. "That, soldiers, is the true face of vileness. Accusing someone innocent of a crime they committed themselves." He hung his head. "That is all. However... before I retake my proper place in the opposing army, one question for you: Do you really wish to follow a cold-blooded murderer and traitor? The choice is yours."

The sound of running footsteps and yelling soldiers filled the air. Glowing balls of light, lanterns, flew throughout the streets of the Glorious Capital. Shouting consumed the streets of the city, shattering the illusion of peace.

"He's escaped! Find him!"

A big, burly-looking soldier with a large moustache, armed with a lantern and sword, stood on top of a box in the marketplace. "My comrades, as you know, that Tondoe scum you heard about is on the run," he shouted, alerting soldiers and nocturnal townspeople alike. "This scumbag, this disgusting creature, broke into His Majesty's castle, his private home!" His voice rang across the now silent town, audible for a mile in any direction. "He intended to do harm to our ruler! When he was caught and brought before His Majesty, our kind ruler attempted to bestow mercy upon him. And what did this vile creature do? He attempted to attack our king! That's right! Our king tried to spare this creature, and he repays him by trying to kill him! Our brave soldiers spared our king's life, and the foul beast escaped. Who knows when he will next attack?" He had instilled worry in the townspeople, who were now awake and muttering to each other. Their king had been attacked? That wasn't good.

As he looked around the sea of faces carved with worry for His Majesty, he continued: "I, for one, care about our king, and I want to see this disgusting thing brought to justice! Soldiers, search the town! Search the markets! Search the docks! Search the castle grounds! He must be brought to justice! Our king demands it!"

Roaring cheers erupted all around the market. The assassin who tried to murder their king was loose! The townspeople ran off, disorganized in all directions, and the soldiers broke off in groups and brandished their lanterns and swords in a warlike stance. They rushed over the town, and the burly officer stepped down and began the hunt for the Tondoe Menace.

Narome stared at the ship... it seemed to be breaking apart, even! Just what was going on?
BANG.
Narome quickly sheltered his ears from the audio assault. What was that noise? It sounded like some kind of mini-explosion.
"Nngh! I knew something was up with that thing!"
He bolted furiously to the ship, punctors flailing behind him and dived straight through the entrance. Upon rolling in, he realised that this ship
was far more complex then he could have imagined. Every detail looked like the fruit of many years of labour, with hundreds of intricate shapes all over the walls. Narome looked to his left and spotted a large map. How could he know where to look first? He could only hope the place wouldn't start breaking again before he found Kea.
"Kea!"