Aria

The trip doesn’t take very long on the ferry, but I manage to say goodbye to Azura, Sel, and Little Blue – who isn’t so little anymore seeing as she’s an adult now who’s taller than I am – through the phone while we wait for Hannah to wake up. And when she does, I remember just how hard it was to wake her.

“C’mon sleepyhead,” I tell her while shaking her awake. And it takes her over a minute to remember where she is and then look up at me with a smile on her face. A tired one, but a smile, nonetheless.

“It’s good to see you again, Little Aria,” she says rather groggily. “I also see you haven’t aged at all.”

“Yeah,” I tell her.

But you have.

I don’t say that part out loud though.

“How’re the others doing?” I ask as she sluggishly rises to a standing position. “They faring well?”

She nods her head before creating a barrier next to her and sitting on it as if it were a chair while saying, “They’re fine. What about you, dear? We’ve all heard the news about Death. But how have you been doing?”

I tilt my head for a moment, tapping my chin a few times. Then I focus on her with a smile and say, “I’ve been doing rather well, I think.”

Ever since leaving Vortel, I’ve felt a lot freer. Like I can do whatever I want. Whenever I want.

After all, I have forever to do it. So why hurry? Why waste time worrying about things that I don’t have to worry about?

Hannah looks me over a few times before her smile grows wider and she says, “I’m glad.”

We both meet each other’s eyes for several seconds until I break the silence by bringing up the metaphorical poisoned apple in the equally metaphorical room, “Do you know how you’re going to get back to Vortel?”

That has her frowning for a moment before she says something rather shocking to me.

“I’m not planning on going back to Vortel right now.”

Silence fills the deck, the others having taken to the bridge during our chat to give us privacy. And after the silence stretches on for a little too long, I ask, “What do you mean?”

She stands up while brushing off her skirt, which finally makes me realize that she’s wearing some sort of dress for some reason. Then she answers, “I plan on traveling with you for a few years.”

My mouth parts open for me to speak, but no words come out. So I close it again.

Which apparently is funny to her as she starts to chuckle, hiding it behind her hand.

She calms down quickly though and explains herself, “I want to spend some time with you again after so long. Just in case I don’t make it to level 100 before I pass.”

“You will,” I state, not giving any room for doubt even as she raises a brow.

But she just kinda ignores my interruption when she continues, “The others felt the same way, but the Emperor of the Eternal Dynasty only agreed to let one of us come. Myself. And that’s only because I was needed to find you in the Grand Ocean.”

Wait… I can’t help but ask, “The others wanted to come too?”

“Of course,” she says like it should be obvious. “It’s been two decades since we last saw you, and we didn’t even get a proper farewell. We’re all getting ahead in the years too unless we reach level one hundred soon.” She frowns. “Well, everyone but Vargas. I’m pretty sure he just wants to see the outside world and leave Vortel to a place that won’t use him.”Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Ignoring the rest of it, that last part I can totally see happening. Sounds very much like Vargas.

“Besides,” she adds with a slightly embarrassed look on her face. “Most of us agree with him in wanting to see other worlds. And the First General has been running us a little ragged lately with the new worlds creating Gates to Vortel and all.”

Right. I forgot about that.

The Grand Roan Empire is not the only world with a Gate to Vortel anymore. And the only reason no one has taken over the planet yet is a mixture of the Void Temple, the obvious lack of resources on Vortel making conquering it not worth the trouble, and Vortel’s connection to the Eternal Dynasty. Which is supplying them with plenty of weapons and higher end technology.

But that doesn’t mean they haven’t had to deal with some criminals coming from the other worlds trying to cause a fuss. So I’ve heard that they’ve been focusing on upping their security to deal with that issue.

“But it’ll be dangerous,” I finally speak my mind with a frown. “And you may not be back for a long time!”

She raises a brow again as she says, “You think I didn’t know that when coming here? And it doesn’t matter because the emperor of the Dynasty doesn’t plan on sending me back for at least five years. So save your breath dear.”

My jaw drops open before I swear at the emperor in my mind.

Damnit.

“Aria, we need to get going,” Shirogane’s voice suddenly calls from the bridge, making me turn to find him sticking his head out. “The clients are waiting on the other side of the Gate.”

Right. Almost forgot.

I turn to Hannah before pointing at her and saying, “You’re staying behind whenever I’m going to fight, got it?”

She gives me a playful salute despite her age that has me raising an eyebrow.

Eventually she gives in and says, “Okay, but I want to help.”

“Then help away from the danger,” I tell her flatly as I walk over towards the bridge.

Now. Let’s see this sky world thing.

A few hours later

After we pass through the Gate in the nearby city, we end up inside of some sort of valley. A bowl-shaped valley with walls on each side, and four exits. But standing in front of the Gate are a bunch of people wearing outfits that are pretty much the opposite of Atlantis. With a lot of skin exposed. Basically short sleeved shirts, shorts, and with their stomach’s exposed for girls and often no shirts at all for guys.

Oh, and they all have pistol holsters around their waist, each with two pistols. Which kinda breaks the whole vacation vibe I was beginning to get from them.

“Welcome to our lovely home!” The person at the center of the group – a woman with long red hair, a full figure with her belly exposed and red and gray garments covering her entire upper torso with shorts, and a wide smile on her face – exclaims while spreading her arms to either side of her. “I hope you’ll help us out during your stay, lovely Aria!”

Talk about a culture shift.

Then again, I’m starting to get used to the constant culture shifts of changing worlds by now.

Also, why are they bringing little necklaces made of flowers?

“Follow us and we can show ya the place you’ll be stayin!” The woman continues while waving at us to follow her past the other people here, through one of the stations, and into the forest full of palm trees outside. And I have to say, this really wasn’t what I was expecting when I heard of a sky world based on Shirogane’s description.

“We don’t really like formalities here, so please be as open as you can be!” The leader woman continues. “We also don’t like keeping secrets, so I’ll tell you now, if you break our deal or harm our people, we’ll be telling the Arcadian Society lickety split!”

Well, at least she’s honest.

“Your pals will be stayin in the capital during your time here, and you’ll be heading to the frontlines,” she keeps on talking, still without introducing herself as we walk through the trees. “But to think that Death was playin at being a mercenary! Such a shocker there.” The woman shrugs, all of the people around her who have moved out to surround us as we walk still not saying a word. “Still, it’s for the best.”

With that, we reach the edge of the forest overlooking a large city from a cliff. And the city itself is… not at all what I was expecting.

The city has a lot of wood and metal buildings, similar to Luk’tar, but different in that it’s a different type of both, and they’re in a much freer style. One more befitting these people’s culture. Meanwhile there are what look like odd ships with large balloons on top of them all docked at a port with nothing beneath the port. Just open sky. And I can even see some floating islands around us, with more flying ships with balloons as well.

The woman stops at the edge of the cliff and turns around with a spin on one foot before putting her hands on her hips and saying, “Well, here we are! The capital of Arian and the place I call home! Oh, and my name is Akela Nalohia, but just call me Ake! Alright Ari?”

I blink.

Ari already?

This woman is way too straightforward.

But… the world looks nice at least.

Another interesting place to add to my list.