"See, that's it, isn't it?" Penny says with an air of academic discussion. "Altea's more... well, I suppose there's no better for it without sounding condescending, so let's say 'dark' and 'grounded'. The setting is everyday, she's more relateable as an everyday person, and while it does have more fantasy elements it still has a darker tone to it regarding loss and sacrifice. Alexis is, well, bubbly and energetic, and it takes almost halfway into season two to really start the character development going. I'd say the episode when they bring in Pretty Soldier Glenda, but she's a red herring at first to properly set up the rivalry with Alex..."

She pauses, then turns to face Dana.

"Okay, fine, I watch Gunslinger Alexis whenever I could," she admits, "but I'll take Altea over it anyday. Not saying it's bad, just saying I prefer mine.

"As for my sisters, well, we got the twins Liz'n'Liz - that's Elizabeth and Melissa - as the oldest, older than me by almost two years, I'm the one they had after, and then there's Nessa, she's ten and the youngest daughter, but David's the youngest and he's eight. Liznliz - yeah, we just put the two together most of the time - they're tomboys, and they can be a pain sometimes, but they're pretty cool and helpful most of the times. They're couriers, so they taught me how to rollerblade; they're really good at it. And Nessa's just a daddy's girl and a real sweetheart. I'm the one stuck being the responsible kid in the family most of the time..."

---

Yikes. I guess people aren't into goth girls because they're chatty, right?

Nicole let it be for now, half because she was trying to decide whether or not she dug Astrelle's vibes, too, and half because she was currently wondering whether invoking the name of a crashed airship onboard one currently in flight was, itself, a case of bad vibes. She gulped down the nibble of sandwich she was working on - just in case they were really crashing, so she wouldn't have to die with food in her mouth like a slob - and, when the turbulence settled itself, took a bite of another. In the absence of the Wing of Justice, the girls started to talk to themselves about daytime cartoons and their families, in the same breath.

It was interesting hearing everyone's backgrounds and perspectives. They were all so alien to Nicole. The vibe philosopher finally set down her sandwich and chimed in, a little sheepishly.

"I guess I'm the weirdo," she explained. "I was an only child, and uh..." She looked around, especially between Penny and Dana. "I don't really know what you're talking about with Alexis and Glenda or whoever. I'm an Eradicator II: See You in Hell kinda girl."

"Oh, yeah, I know that one," Penny says with a chuckle. "Liznliz watched the whole series, though you ask me, it really went downhill after the fifth. The second, though, that's a classic.

"So Nichole, you're from Hasta right?" she continues, pressing the conversation. "I hear some still call it by its old name, Paris. It's kind of interesting, because most Sanctum Cities generally just go by their official names these days. Is it really the City of Lights? I've seen a few pics on the 'Web whenever the connection gets through, and I'd have to say it's beautiful. I'm surprised you still have a building that's centuries old in the middle of your city, I think it's pretty cool!"

---

Nicole grinned at Penny's enthusiasm. She guessed that if her image of Hasta came from what she was able to see on the Web, it was understandable how it would seem like paradise. Hell, it was paradise. Coming where she'd come from, more privileged than most but not as well-off as some, it was hard not to feel almost...almost like she was living within a snow globe. Just an everyday girl going about her life beneath lights that were always perfect, and so never felt the need to change.

"It is pretty cool," she agreed, winking at the other girl. "But not exactly like what you might see online. The reality is that heritage buildings like that, especially ones that survived from the old days, require some real upkeep, even in this day and age. Even people who live there can't always visit. Lotta magitech goes into keeping them functioning, and there's always some support or observation deck that needs restoring every year. But yeah, prrr-etty cool. Romantic, if you ever get the chance."

Here she was, giving out romantic advice like some kind of wise older sister, when the best she could do was bump knuckles with a boy she'd loved since elementary school. Romantic. Yeah. So you can do your best Eradicator impersonation and shoot finger guns at a boy when he's saying goodbye. It's basically a frickin' proposal...

"It's definitely the City of Lights, too. I think it's prettiest in the rain, when you can see everything in the city fizzle. Not so great if you like to stargaze, but I never really minded. You should stick with Hasta, though," she advised knowingly. "You'll sound like a real tourist if you call it Paris, though."

The rattling of the ship oscillates between a low hum and a noticeable turbulence as the conversation continues on, beginning to build once again after several minutes more. The tremors soon become great heaves, the whole cabin and everything in it jostled violently back and forth for a span of hair raising seconds before things become still once more.

But they don’t remain so for long.



Outside the window the foggy gray landscape is suddenly obscured, like a curtain has been shuttered abruptly closed over the viewport. It seems are first like a wall of darkness—until the void opens to reveal an enormous, blood red eye. It dominates the entire window frame, one glowing red pupil that casts the entire cabin in a scarlet spotlight. It darts back and forth, scanning, and then vanishes out of frame as the dark shape its attached to heaves further upwards.

The entire vessel shudders again with the movement, listing sharply to the side. From somewhere above, likely the deck, comes a cacophony of noise; shattering glass and groaning metal.

Things happen very fast after that. The cabin seems to become weightless as the ship drops, careening downward and sideways. The sky becomes visible from the window again, clouds rushing and tumbling past as gravity throws the five occupants of the room left, then right, sending them scattering around the room as the airship plummets.

And then with a final shudder it stops.


The howl of wind subsides, and the controlled hum of the ship returns as the vessel regains control over its own momentum. In the cabin’s window open sky can be glimpsed for just a second before the viewport is obscured again by inky black clouds.

Yet before the five girls have much time to even catch their breath a new problem arises. The cabin lights, tube-shaped bulbs set along the walls, begin to buzz and flicker erratically. From outside comes the sound of slamming doors, heavy footfalls, and garbled voices. From immediately outside comes the sharp, electrical crack of magitech weaponry. Once, twice, then silence.

The dying hum of electricity fills the air.

The lights give one final flicker before the cabin goes dark.

WARNING: Swearing, coarse language.



Penny was about to answer when the latest in a series of bumps rocks the airship. She ignored the previous bumps because the crew seemed to be handling it well, but now it really is getting worrisome. She's about to ask how things are when suddenly the clouds part to reveal a massive goddamn eye from hell. Penny guesses that's not something you see on an airship trip, and the sight fills her with dread. The eye disappears after a bit, but the sense of dread it inspires stays with Penny.

Then all hell breaks loose. The sound of breaking glass and shearing metal causes Penny's heart to sink; she's only ever heard that sound in a particularly bad accident downtown back in Siscia, where she happened to pass by. She's guessing that being in an airship, suspended miles above the ground, would be the absolute last place you ever wanted to be when an accident like that happens.

She's immediately proven right, as the airship suddenly starts plummeting. The girls and crew, Penny included, get tossed around like a child's toy inside an industrial mixer, slamming into furniture and surfaces. Penny cries out in pain as she feels her shoulder slam into what felt like a doorknob, before getting thrown into a bench and tossed around.

'Well, this whole thing went right into the shitter faster than a mess hall bean taco,' Penny thinks, considering it an entirely appropriate time to use her mother's military-grade vocabulary. 'This whole thing's gone FUBAR; tea party one minute, then Satan's eyeball shows up from hell, then the goddamn bird folds like an old geezer with a rebar up his ass.'

She forces herself out of the pity party and tries to grab onto something when the airship recovers. She reaches for her glasses, realizing she lost them somewhere in the ride, and feels a throbbing pain in her temple. Must have hit her head again on something during the fall. Despite her lack of vision, she's aware that the power's going out all aboard the airship, and the sound of magitech weaponry being fired.

"Well, shit," she mutters aloud. She snaps her fingers a few times to summon electric sparks, trying to see everyone in the glimpses of brightness. "This might ding the flight review a bit, girls, but right now I just wanna know if everyone's okay? Also, I lost my glasses, so I'd really appreciate it if anyone finds it."

---

Dejected faces and hollow praise.

The usual.

It was unfortunate really; she'd still been holding onto a slim hope that things might be different amongst the other initiates. A hope that others would have put in at least some level of effort before entering the academy. Or at the very least that others wouldn't be so quick to take her every word as a slight and lock her away on some faux pedestal. Not that any of that mattered. She was used to all this. It was the norm. The standard. She'd just have to work harder. She'd push forward alone, like she always had, nothing had changed.

It never really does.

It didn't take long though for the other girls to move on to discussing the intricacies of their favorite forms of entertainment once more. Interspersed somehow with discussions of their siblings. Honestly the ability of others to jump from topic to topic was equal parts amazing and exhausting.

No perhaps that was too harsh an assessment of the other girls. It wasn't their fault that Vanna tired of the current chatterings, she'd simply had a long few hours. And with nothing of interest to direct her focus towards... well it was an unhealthy mix to say the least. At this point Vanna was surprised she hadn't completely zoned out. It was certainly tempting as improper it may be.

Then, as if angered by her brief flirtation with impropriety, the entire cabin shook once more. The violent uptake in turbulence cared little for conversations of Hasta and romance, and the Lady of Diana found herself reflecting back to her earlier concerns of why their host had so rapidly departed the cabin. She had but a singular moment of eerie calm to ponder such thoughts before the windows became engulfed in darkness. A darkness that soon gave host to a lone red eye.

The Void?

This time Vanna didn't even receive a moment to process the creature, to compare it to those she had seen at the border of Potentia, before the cabin was thrown into disarray. The first upheaval caught Vanna completely by surprise as she found herself thrown to the far left of the cabin. Her already sore body got a rude awakening as she collided with one of the walls of the cabin. The following upheavals would not be so fortunate.

Surprise only worked against a Diana once after all.

Her hand was quick to grab hold of a railing above her head. Furnishing designed originally to hold luggage would now hold her. While her own movement may have been somewhat rooted, she still had to take care to not be hit by flying (falling?) objects like the chairs they had been so daintily sipping tea in moments before. During the height of the ensuing chaos her free hand ended up reflexively snatching a small object out of the air. Not that she had a moment to take stock of what exactly she had grabbed, not yet anyway.

Finally the turbulence subsided, and as she regained her balance her right hand, the one not currently preoccupied with clutching a small foreign object, found itself grasping at her side for a familiar companion that was unfortunately not there in her time of need. Where was a lady's sword when she needed it most?

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

With one final hum the flickering lights gave way and the room became engulfed by the darkness that surrounded the cabin.

Beasts outside.

No guards within.

No lights.

No weapons.

It was... bleak.

The odds were definitely not in their favor.

And yet, in the darkness, where no one could see her, for the first time all day, Vanna smiled.

This was but another trial for Diana's daughter.

Composing herself, Vanna allowed her diligent training to take over as the smile faded back to neutral. Glasses? Yes that was the foreign object in her hands. The shape was rather distinct after all. The brief flickers of light that soon illuminated the cabin provided confirmation to the young lady's hypothesis.

Wait... Sparks?

Hadn't the one with the Electricity Elementum already used her magic? How was she still able to summon forth more of her Elementum with the meagre mana pool of one without an Ars Armagus? Unless... Of course. Nox. The fact that it had taken her so long to notice was a mark of shame. Mentally reaching out Vanna could feel the power of Nox throughout the cabin. For most it was a poison, but to one with the potential of an Ars Magi it was a source of power. Sustenance.

As she had so often trained Vanna began the familiar process of circulating her own Elementum. It was still only a faint boost but in situations like these every little bit mattered. As new found strength began to pool, Vanna reached around in the dark to find the wooden chair that had nearly slammed into her during their descent. The back post had shattered during the initial collision but that was unimportant. What Vanna required was one of the legs, and she found it easy enough to snap one such leg off of the chair.

It was no sword, but she would make do.

Wits regained, magic circulating, and finally armed, well legged, Vanna turned her attention towards her fellow students. "Miss Noel," her calm voice called out through the dark, "I'd be much obliged if you might illuminate our surroundings. You should find your mana reserves finding an abundance of power in the cabin."

"As for our current situation," she continued, "as far as I see it we have two options. Wait here and passively hope for a rescue from a situation well outside the bounds of our control. Or..."

She let her word hang for a moment, another second for any still uncomposed to find themselves.

"We can head out this door and find a way to make ourselves of use. Become active arbitrators of our faith. I can't promise we can truly help anyone, but we can at least look for an opportunity." Another pause as Vanna allowed the others to consider the two choices she had proposed, "Obviously I lean one way, but duty also dictates I do not abandon you all. So, until we come to some form of agreement, I won't pass through that door myself."

"Oh and Miss Grenoble," she turned, "catch."

The underhand toss was gentle and on target, Dana's light had made sure she wasn't throwing blind, but even as she committed to the action Vanna realized it wasn't exactly proper. Her underlying excitement during the whole ordeal had slipped through ever so subtly.

Ah well.

The conversation about television series continued as Astrelle sat back and tended to her cup of tea. The class division appeared more prominent, observing that Vanna scarcely contributed to the conversation either.

Before long, the tremors started up again. A low rumble shook the ship, accompanied by the rattling of the silverware in front of the girls. The shaking was enough of a distraction that Astrelle could pay attention to little else, as anxiety crept into her heart. The thumping of her heartbeat accelerated with the intensity of the tremors. Keeping her teacup still was hardly a concern anymore, and she allowed the porcelain to slide off the table at the peak of the ship’s shaking.

Then, a stillness, though momentary, washed over Astrelle with relief like ebbing waves, slowly purging bits of her anxiety with every push and pull of the tide.

Astrelle’s distress had almost been erased by the deceptive calm, before the cabin was bathed in a red light. Its source was clearly visible from the cabin window—a glowing, disembodied eye that few around before disappearing into the dark abyss below. Astrelle’s body tensed up at the eerie fright, and as quick as it went, her panic returned.

Nothing could’ve prepared Astrelle for the calamity that came next. A terrifying weightlessness instantly flooded her senses as the airship plunged downwards and inertia lifted her body from the seat. There wasn’t enough time to find something stable to hold on to; she was powerless as the force of the ship’s movements flung her around the room like a ragdoll. She shrieked in pain when her back slammed against the window, though she managed to lift her arms in front of her face to shield from shards of broken porcelain and glass amidst the frenzy.

When the turbulence finally subsided, Astrelle dropped to the floor with a thud.

Her body ached from the assault. She barely registered the flickering lights, though the distorted voices and sounds outside their cabin posed some concern. Astrelle focused on recovering from the fall, and groaned as she lifted herself to a standing position.

The lights died and the cabin was dark, but the flow of magic was palpable in the air. Astrelle focused it to her eyes. In an instant, the opaque dark lifted its obscuring veil, and though visible, everything looked washed with a tint of grey. It didn’t seem like her ability was needed however, when Dana cast her light magic and dispelled the shadows for the others. Astrelle was somewhat satisfied to keep her cards hidden for the time being.

Vanna was quick to take leadership of the situation. Astrelle’s impression of Vanna after the short-lived tea party was that she took everything too seriously, but nevertheless, her steely nature was commendable and helpful in this moment of uncertainty.

“Sitting here seems rather useless,” Astrelle chimed, regaining her usual composure and cold-hearted smile. “There were some voices outside the cabin earlier. We can go in that direction.”

Dana smiled and nodded as Penny gave her explanation for why she preferred Altea over Alexis, knowing that everyone had their own unique tastes and that Penny’s opinion as well as her own were both completely subjective, and thus, completely valid. And that was perfectly fine. After all, such differences usually led to some of the best discussions, at least in Dana’s personal experience. Indeed, just after Penny had finished describing her sisters, Nicole had joined the conversation, professing her love for Eradicator II.

“Oh, totally!” Dana agreed. “I’m a big fan of that series, too! And you’re right about the second being the best,” she added after Penny voiced her own thoughts on the series. “But, like, isn’t that the case with most series? The second installment is usually the best one. I mean, ya got Aliens, Wrath of Khan, Empire Strikes Back, Judgment Day…”

By this point, the conversation had shifted to home cities, leaving Dana to take up the role of a passive listener. Hasta sounded really cool, and she couldn’t help but feel that it was a shame they weren’t heading there instead… Still, Palmyra was probably cool too, in its own way. After all, it was home to Nova Lux Academy! That alone made visiting it something to look forward to.

If they ever got there…

“Woah!” Dana yelped as the airship shuddered violently. She then felt her heart stop as a glowing, red eye appeared outside the viewport. It departed moments later, but it still left Dana more than a little shaken up. She had never seen a void up close before, and she doubted any of her fellow Ars Magi candidates had either. Before she could confirm that by asking, or even glancing at their faces, they were all thrown into the air by a massive jolt. Dana was sent flying into the rear wall, slamming her head in the process. The vessel finally regained control a few seconds later, but before Dana’s dizzy mind could even take note of that, the lights flickered off, bathing the room in darkness.

“Owww…” Dana groaned, wincing as she clutched her aching head. “I’m a little beaten up, but I think I’ll live,” she replied to Penny’s inquiry as she slowly got to her feet. “Anyone get the number of that giant eye monster?” she asked after a moment, in a meager attempt to add a bit of levity to the situation.

She could hear the sounds of weapons fire from beyond the door, so they clearly weren’t out of the proverbial woods just yet, and it was still quite dark, although Penny seemed to be providing some sparks to help with that problem. Dana was just about to add her own powers to the effort when the calm, but commanding voice of Vanna requested she do just that.

“Sure thing!” she replied. Gathering her magic, she formed a small sphere of glowing, golden light above the tip of one finger.

After that, Vanna swiftly took charge of the situation, providing two possible courses of action. Astrelle was quick to give her vote to the second option, and Dana found herself in full agreement with the other girl’s sentiment.

“Sounds like a plan!” Dana declared with what she hoped was a reassuring grin. “People may need our help, and if there’s a chance we can make a difference, then we gotta take it!”

---

Maybe she should have asked one of the sailors if it was okay to invoke a doomed ship on a voyage, because when Laurus jolted underneath them, it reeked of such perfect ironic timing that Nicole wondered if she'd cursed them all.

She had never before felt the surface buckle underneath her the way that the ship did then, a sudden lurch that left her with the sick feeling of her organs having to catch up with their proper positions. She watched the other girls lose their footing one by one, heads and limbs slamming into the room that had been so comforting moments ago. Even with the ship's screams of protest overwhelming her ears, somehow she could make out the yelps and cries of pain from her fellow would-be students. Wait, would-be?

Is this it? We're not even gonna see the school? Fuck, dude.

Fuck, dude? The strange serenity of her reaction surprised her, even in the split second she could register it. She supposed that was who she was: Nicole Cognoscenti, queen of vibes, always going with the flow. Even at the end, her smile would be on the wind.

--and then the gods noticed her, and decided it was her turn to be tossed about.

The ship bucked again with a squeal of metal, and Nicole was launched off her feet, thrown in the same direction as the table she'd been snacking from minutes previously. One of the other girls hurtled past her, and Nicole reached for her hand out of desperate impulse - Astrelle's, maybe, or Dana's or even Vanna's - but the girl was gone before their fingers could do more than brush. The table had slammed into a wall, two of its wooden legs snapped off. It was a recipe for impalement; at best she would slam into the table face first, and after that any case she might have had for being the prettiest girl in the class would be dead in the water.

My smile is on the wind.

Nicole closed her eyes, let go of her body, and smiled.

She felt herself curl up into a ball and undergo a single, controlled somersault. When she had finished her rotation, her legs outstretched, and the tip of her boot bounced off the shrapnel-studded wooden surface as easily as it would have bounced off a trampoline. While she was in the air, the ship's uncontrolled fall into hell finally halted, and the girls began to haul themselves upright from whatever they'd grabbed onto or fallen against. Nicole, the lone girl still suspended in the air, was panting softly when she landed on her feet, but it was hard to wipe the goofy, exhilarated grin off her face. The whole thing, from initial turbulence to her graceful magic gymnastic routine, felt like the longest hour of Nicole's life.

It had only been six seconds.

She looked around to see if everyone was okay. Most of them looked sore, slightly ruffled up, but like they could handle themselves in what seemed like an imminent fight. Vanna was already giving out orders about as effectively as any veteran Wing of Justice, even though inside she must have been as taken aback as the rest of them. While she was talking, Nicole bent down to pick up her beret. She pouted slightly when she saw a couple condiment smears from one of the sandwiches, but pulled it back on, just facing in a different direction from the rest of the girls. Hopefully her hair was enough of a mess to distract from that kind of thing anyway, and besides, who was she going to be vain for? Vanna? Astrelle? The giant demon eye from the blackest flames of hell?

If that was her audience, she would rock her mayo beret with pride.

"Speaking of people, and uh, help, and all," she said, once she had collected enough breath and felt the tingles of her instinctive magical display fading from her extremities. "How far could the Wing of Justice have gotten? Hopefully she's not too beat up to pitch in, but either way, I kinda want a couple answers. 'Cause I'm feeling a little screwed right about now. Anyone else feel like she definitely knew we were getting perved on by that giant eye? Not just me, right?

"Well, we didn't exactly crash," Penny says, looking outside. "We're a lot lower than we used to be, but still high enough off the ground. Do airships do this all the time, or did Nichole jinx us by mentioning an airship crash?"

When Vanna called her name, Penny turns to her, and nearly fumbles catching the glasses.

"Hey, you caught them, thanks Vanna," she says. "Not even scratched."

She puts them on, glad to be able to see normally again.

"I'd try and look for emergency kits," Penny says, looking for the nearest emergency cupboard. "I'd rather have a flashlight than try to find a non-smashed lightbulb to hold, and trying to see with bursts of sparks is giving me a headache."

She notices Dana's smile in the dim light.

"You're smiling despite all this?" Penny asks incredulously. She then breaks into a smirk. "Well, at least nobody can accuse you of bringing down the mood.

"I'm with you girls on this," she says regarding the plan. "No sense sitting around waiting for someone to help. Besides, even though we're supposed to be able to process Nox better than most people, I'm not gonna sit around soaking it in, trying to find how long it takes me to cough up a lung or something. They give Surgeon General's warnings about this stuff, you know.

"And yeah, now that you mention it, Ms. Wings of Justice seemed to have gotten some news right around the time the turbulence started."

She looks around in the cabin, but to no avail.

"Shit, no emergency kits," she sighs. "These guys really need to work on their prep. Let's get going, then."

Penny resumes lighting up sparks to light the way, though she realizes it's neither as elegant or as reliable as Dana's light.

Dana’s magic illuminates the cabin again as composures are regained and the passengers find their feet again. Little remains wholly intact in the wake of those few violent seconds of turbulence, and at least one chair has to be shoved aside to reach the cabin door. There’s another round of staccato gunfire as the girls emerge into the hall.

The hall itself runs through the center of the ship, rows of cabins on either side. Toward the fore of the vessel are stairways to the deck, now shut tight. Toward the aft the hallway widens out into a circular common area, more stairways leading down to both the lower decks and up to the control rooms.

It’s a quick matter to determine that Vanna’s instincts were correct. In the sphere of Dana’s light they can see tendrils of dark fog creeping along the floor, slowly rolling down the wooden corridor. The cloud-bank outside isn’t an occurrence of nature—it’s a cluster of Nox. A deadly fog that’s begun to leak into the Laurus, both strengthening their magic and poisoning the air around them.

The expanse of the hallway is darkened, marked only by a few dots of slowly dying light-bulbs. As the girls step further out of the cabin they see two cones of light heading their way, hurried footsteps attached to them. Two shapes appear shortly at the perimeter of Dana’s ring of light, soldiers in NOI inform wearing protective masks and carrying magitech rifles.

“There’s been an emergency.” The voice is distorted slightly through the filter. “You need to come—”

The request is cut off abruptly as one of the approaching flashlights and the man attached to it vanishes into the darkness behind. The other crewman turns to fire after, and the crack of his weapon sounds painfully loud down the hall.

The arc of lightning-like magic fired from the weapon finds its home in a monster. It looms up out of the dark, humanoid shaped but recognizable instantly as something alien. It must be somewhere around seven feet tall, its entire body made of inky black substance. Crimson lines trace across it in strange geometric patterns, glowingly with sinister energy in the darkness. Nox seems to roll off it as it moves, black smoke that blurs and shifts the void’s outline, and a throbbing crown of crimson light hovers above its head.

The impact from the rifle spears through it’s chest, an arc of blue electricity rippling across the creature. It’s response is violent and near-instant: One long black arm rises, the pointed claws at its end driving into the remaining crewman’s chest with enough force to lift the man from his feet and pin him to the nearby wall. There’s a strangled cry that follows, along with a clatter as the soldier’s weapon falls from his hands to the carpeted floor.

Though the guard struggles, it seems unlikely the conflict will last much longer. The void’s other arm rises, preparing to deal a quick and fatal finish to its dangling prey.

"Shit," Penny hisses, any sense of propriety going out the window when the monsters attacked. Half of her is of a mind to run and grab the gun, but she realizes she'd have little skill actually using it; she might even be more of a danger to everyone present than the Void. She also realizes she can't stand there, gawping. The other half is terrified; she's read horrors stories about Void, but never actually seen one up close - now she's practically within reach of a living nightmare creature. It's almost all she can do to keep calm.

It takes her a moment before she realizes she's running right at the Void.

"Hey asshole!" she cries out to the Void, hand clenched tightly into a fist as she fills it as best as she can with with a surge of electrical elementum. "HEADS UP!"

Performing a running jump, she gives a war cry as she slams her fist into the Void as hard as she can, amplifying its power with lightning.

'Welp, it was nice while it lasted,' she thinks. 'Doubt it'll do more than piss it off, but worth a shot...'

Continuing to provide illumination, Dana cautiously led her fellow candidates into the darkened corridor. They had barely left the cabin, when they were approached by a pair of soldiers. One of the soldiers began to inform them that there had been an emergency (no kidding…), before he was suddenly yanked back into the darkness by some unseen force. Not wasting a moment, his companion whirled around and opened fire on the unknown attacker, the glowing discharge of his magitech rifle revealing the identity of their enemy.

“Holy crap…!” Dana gasped as she beheld the void’s terrifying appearance, as well as the following horrific sight of it impaling the second solider and pinning him to the wall.

With a roar of outrage, Penny charged the creature, a crackling orb of lighting clenched in her fist. The strike staggered the monster enough for it to release its hold on the soldier, giving Dana the opportunity she needed.

“Hang in there, pal!” Dana called to the wounded soldier as she rushed over to kneel down beside him. “I’ll get ya all patched up, so don’t worry!” she added, flashing him reassuring smile.

Even with the increased quantity of Nox providing additional power, Dana wasn’t sure exactly how much healing she could perform, but she knew that keeping a positive outlook was crucial in situations like these. As she set about her work, she only hoped that her new friends could finish what Penny started and take care of their monstrous foe for good.

The girls slowly made their way through the corridors. Dana, with her light, stayed at the front of the group. Gunfire sounded from a distance and rang throughout the airship, and dread twisted in Astrelle’s gut. Someone, people, were fighting something, and as much as she didn’t want to believe it, she had an idea of what it was. Her hands were clenched tightly in fists as they proceeded through the eerie passage, with only the sounds of their footsteps and distant warfare as company.

Astrelle spotted the figures in the darkness slightly sooner than the others, with her eyes that pierced through the shadows. She let out an audible, sharp gasp and reactively covered her mouth with her hands, as if it were a mistake to make a sound. The sinister aura of the humanoid being sent a surge of panic through her body, and she found it hard to control her trembling. Fear froze her, and Astrelle could only watch helplessly as a soldier was impaled with the creature’s claws. She regretted, in that moment, the clarity of her vision; she could see the glisten of the victim’s blood still trailing off the monster’s appendages.

Astrelle watched in disbelief as Penny charged at the Void, seemingly unfazed by the sight of the monster quite literally pinning a full grown man onto a wall with little effort. Her willingness to fight was interpreted more like an idiotic death wish in Astrelle’s perspective. Regardless, it worked out better for her that Penny was on the offense; Astrelle’s abilities were not suited for attacking, and if someone had to be sacrificed for the others to survive, she was satisfied as long as it wasn’t herself. The way Astrelle saw it, Penny seemed more than willing to risk her own life.

Something in Astrelle snapped and dispelled her fear. She had connected the right dots or found some rationalization that allowed her to come to terms with reality, and couldn’t help but laugh. The scene before her only affirmed her pessimistic expectations of being an Ars Magi. Her predictions were merely accurate. Her boisterous laughter filled the small hallway.

“I’m so excited to be an Ars Magi,” Astrelle mimicked sarcastically, recounting the girls’ statements from the tea party. The thought of imminent death overruled any desire to stay polite to the others. An eerie grin stretched across her face, “Wouldn’t it be so fun to be impaled by a Void like the poor guard?”

Perhaps now, their naiveté would be replaced by caution. She didn’t care about how wonderful the government tried to sell it on TV, or how honorable the station was in society—she just didn’t want to die. Unlike the others, she never asked to be an Ars Magi and never wanted to be one. She wanted to go back to her life of luxury—even becoming a dog to the Venus clan seemed like a better idea than this.

In reaction to Penny’s attack, the menacing creature released the injured soldier from its grasp. Dana was quick to act, rushing to the injured man and performing healing magic. The monster looked distracted now, but it was only a matter of time before it turned its attention to its assailant. Astrelle kept silent and maneuvered to the back of the group, giving no heed to how self-serving the action appeared. She could feel her power building amidst the shrouds of Nox, but even then, her abilities to sink into shadows and generate darkness were not skills that dealt damage. The most she could do is evade the monster’s attacks, but that would only help herself. There was the possibility that her high evasion would be useful if Astrelle acted as bait, but there was absolutely no way she would suggest herself for that position.

“Unfortunately, my abilities aren’t suited for fighting,” Astrelle smiled, finally regaining some sense of calm. She gestured to the darkness of the corridor behind them. “The most I can do is act as a guard dog for your backs, or I can go and try to find Victoria.”

---

Nicole's breath left her lungs for a moment at the sight of the Void's savagery. It was strange - an airship crash, the screaming and gnashing of metal and wood around her, had left her serenely calm, and yet this...this...an airship crash sucked, but at least it was an act of God. This was something else.

Penny, no doubt similarly terrified beyond measure, charged right in without consulting any of them. Before Nicole could even call out for her to wait, the bespectacled girl ran in with a war cry to haymaker the Void with as much lightning and power as her little body could cook with. Dana was doing her thing on the guard, probably saving his life, which almost brought a smile to Nicole's face despite herself. Even Astrelle's snide, panicked barbs didn't quite touch the fuzzy feeling that Dana's act of altruism gave her...

...although it did make her roll her eyes a little.

“I’m so excited to be an Ars Magi. Wouldn’t it be so fun to be impaled by a Void like the poor guard? Unfortunately, my abilities aren’t suited for fighting. The most I can do is act as a guard dog for your backs, or I can go and try to find Victoria.”

Nicole tilted her head and smiled back.

"Well, you and me both. So why don't we both go ahead together? Maybe find Victoria, maybe find some answers, maybe die screaming. Your date, your call, babe."

---

Things don't always go as planned. Some days you wake up planning to eat cereal for breakfast and end up settling for toasted bread, other days you board an airship expecting a smooth journey and end up traversing darkness accompanied by girls you barely know. Suffice to say the day wasn't exactly going the way Vanna had anticipated, but there was no use bemoaning one's fate. All she could do was persevere and follow her training. Today was simply a crash course. An expedited curriculum if you will.

And now, as two soldiers approached them, flashlights uncomfortably bright in the darkness, it was time for the next class of the day. Survival? A dour topic to be sure. And as a tendril interrupted the no doubt important instructions Vanna's early expectations all came true: Their host had been called for a crisis and that crisis was the Void. Vanna had been right. Again.

Not really a thrilling comfort in this situation.

She was not, however, the first to respond to the creatures before them. That honor went to the bespectacled user of the Lightning Elementum. Equal parts foolhardy and brave the girl had charged into the unknown with an electrified fist dedicated to the Void beast. Surprisingly the blow was at least successful in momentarily saving the absconded soldier. Dana Noel was quick to follow up with treatment while the daughter of Lennox let loose her frustrations; frustrations her fellow Venusian did her best to assuage. A half baked plan of reconnaissance appeared to be forming. All the other players had taken their place on stage.

Thus the daughter of Diana found herself at a crossroads.

She knew better than most the dangers of the Void. She had watched her brothers shoot stragglers at the borders of Potentia for years, she had seen injured soldiers rushed to the ICU. And she had seen those they left behind. Her father had made sure Vanna knew the stakes for the lives she would one day be tasked with protecting. A creature of the Void was no easy target, not some practice dummy to learn the ropes against.

They were humanity's greatest enemy.

Oh how easy it would be to run, to escape and find reinforcements. Truthfully it was probably their best chance of surviving, who knew how strong the creature in front of them was and whether their underdeveloped magic even stood a chance of harming the monster. She could do it too, the Aether coursing through her body would provide more than enough speed. The monster was distracted, now was her opportunity. Sacrifice others for a greater good?

But that was never an option. That was not the Diana way. That could only be called one thing: Disgraceful.

One breath, one deep breath was all she needed to steady herself and let her training take over.

"Miss Cognoscenti, Lady Lennox," she called out, as her mind worked fast to formulate a plan, "take Miss Noel and the soldier with you. The three of you should be able to make it to the control room with him. I suspect that's where the other soldiers will be stationed and with any luck a few Ars Magi will be in their ranks. Regardless that man had instructions for us so whenever he regains consciousness I'm certain he'll be able to guide you to reinforcements."

As far as Vanna could tell, this was the ideal maneuver. It didn't appear any of the other girls had received any sort of combat training. Asking them to fight would be suicidal. Their best hope was regrouping with the ship's main forces.

"I'll assist Ms. Grenoble, as soon as we can disengage from the Void we'll catch up with you. So now please. Get going."

Vanna didn't bother looking back to see if the other girls followed her instructions. She didn't have that luxury. But she hoped they were already moving. It was truthfully the only path to victory she could see. If they made it to the control room, or wherever the soldier had wanted to take them, if they found reinforcements, they may yet survive this doomed voyage.

But Pennelope Grenoble's fate would depend upon Vanna.

As she approached the other girl Vanna's mind once more drifted back to her youth: words from her eldest brother the day he found out she would be joining Nova Lux. 'Well if you're going to be fighting the Void, I'd be remiss if I didn't teach you the basics...'

"Miss Grenoble," Vanna began as she took her place by the other girl's side, makeshift weapon in hand, "if nothing else you have courage."

It was an earnest compliment, dangerous as the other girl's actions had been, they had also saved a life and that was admirable.

"If you wish to survive today's harrowing adventure please listen closely. The Void are dangerous, especially for incomplete women like ourselves. I do not know what class of Void creature stands before us, but I suspect our odds of defeating it are slim, I believe our best bet is to find an opportunity to extract ourselves and run from the creature. But if we can't escape."

And so her brother's words came back, an echo for a new recipient.

"Low level Voids are relatively dimwitted beasts, using their raw strength to overpower humans. Magic is the most effective weapon and they have a core hidden somewhere in their body. Find the core, break it with magic, and you get a dead Void." 'Simple right?'

She didn't add her brother's last words to her instructions.

"Now brace yourself, I believe you angered the beast."

And thus Vanna stood ready, poised to react and find some way to achieve victory against the monster before her. She would win, that was her job after all.

She would win.

Definitely.

Penny's running very high on adrenaline right now, or she'd be puking up what's left of breakfast. Right now, her main jobs are avoiding getting skewered by the Void's sharp claws, and concentrating enough Nox in her body to charge up for another thunderous fist. It was sort of like building up enough pressure in a potato gun, only each shot had to be pumped strong enough to send a piece of potato through a heavy door. Having to dodge made the charge-up process take longer.

“I’m so excited to be an Ars Magi. Wouldn’t it be so fun to be impaled by a Void like the poor guard? Unfortunately, my abilities aren’t suited for fighting. The most I can do is act as a guard dog for your backs, or I can go and try to find Victoria.”

"Well, you and me both. So why don't we both go ahead together? Maybe find Victoria, maybe find some answers, maybe die screaming. Your date, your call, babe."

"Getting some reinforcements would really be appreciated right now, girls," Penny calls out, dodging another swipe by a claw. "Not sure how long I can keep this thing back - it really likes the idea of bringing out my inner beauty with its claws." She'd be a bit more annoyed at Astrelle's tone, except part of her agrees jumping in to fight this thing single-handedly was a bad idea.

Fortunately, she doesn't fight it alone for long.

"Miss Grenoble," Vanna began as she took her place by the other girl's side, makeshift weapon in hand, "if nothing else you have courage."

"Vanna! Thanks for the save!" she calls out breathlessly, glad to see the Void beast forced to halt its attack and split its attention between the two. "Really needed it here. And yeah... that was kinda stupid of me, I guess..."

"If you wish to survive today's harrowing adventure please listen closely. The Void are dangerous, especially for incomplete women like ourselves. I do not know what class of Void creature stands before us, but I suspect our odds of defeating it are slim, I believe our best bet is to find an opportunity to extract ourselves and run from the creature. But if we can't escape."

And so her brother's words came back, an echo for a new recipient.

"Low level Voids are relatively dimwitted beasts, using their raw strength to overpower humans. Magic is the most effective weapon and they have a core hidden somewhere in their body. Find the core, break it with magic, and you get a dead Void." 'Simple right?'

"Well, that's a step up from my previous plan; beat it till it stops twitching," she says breathlessly. "Let's try that!"

Of course, she guesses it's not going to be all that easy, but at least Vanna has an idea of how to fight these things, so that takes the edge off Penny's anxiety.

"Now brace yourself, I believe you angered the beast."

"Oh, it's plenty mad, alright," Penny says, bracing herself for attack. "On three, we both smack this thing as hard as we can, then make a break for it while it's reeling.

"One, two...

"THREE!"

Penny slams a particularly super-charged lightning fist into the beast's face to stun it.

The crack of electricity from Penny’s strike echoes down the hallway, sparks flashing as lightning is discharged into the air and the pitch-black enemy she charges to meet. The blow strikes the Void center mass, lightning rippling across its dark surface. There’s a noticeable effect in the way it sways backward, a half-stagger as a black plume of smoke rolls off its body. The soldier in its grasp is set suddenly free, crashing to the ground as the monster swings its head toward Penny. It has no eyes—just dimly pulsing lines etched across its ‘face’—but there’s little question that she has the Void’s full attention now.

Vanna, prepared and observing, is the one who notices the crack in the monster’s proverbial armor. When Penny’s attack pulses through it the dark exterior shifts and churns, revealing for just an instant a point where the geometric lines converge. A marble sized red dot on the left side of the Void’s chest, pulsing with energy. It appears for only a second before vanishing beneath the monster’s skin once again.

The fallen soldier, meanwhile, is in sore need to Dana’s help. When she scrambles to his side she finds that the Void’s claws have pierced deep into the man’s chest, the wound leaking crimson and oily black. His breath comes in pained and hissing gasps, hand making vain gestures toward his fallen weapon.

Dana’s magic, even enhanced by the influx of Nox, is only enough to stave off the worst of the damage. Her healing light stitches the wound together into something less imminently fatal, something that will give her the opportunity to at least help move the man out of the immediate area.

Astrelle and Nicole also find that they have a clearer path to the hallway and the stairway to the control room at the end of it. They’ll have to risk passing by the Void, but their only other option is taking the opposite path up to the deck and making it to the control room form there. Judging by the cacophony of splintering glass they heard earlier it’s doubtful said route is much safer of an option.

Thankfully, the Void seems now preoccupied with Penny. The magic thrumming through her gives her the barest edge she needs to avoid the swipe of the Void’s claws, though each strike leaves only inches between herself and the end of a razor-sharp finger.

Until she comes in for a second strike.

She has to aim up. The Void is very tall and her arm has a long way to travel.

Her sparking fist nearly makes it to the featureless head of the monster before one of its long hands snatches her arm abruptly from its course. Its fist closes around her forearm with enough force to fracture bone, applying inhuman force. It’d likely do far worse after-—if it not for the fact that Penny’s electrically charged hand makes her difficult to hold for long.

But it does not release her gently. Its face splits open to let loose a harrowing screech as electricity rips through its grasping limb. It jerks Penny violently to the side with easily enough force to dislocate the short girl’s shoulder, hurling her against the hallway wall.

The Void pauses a moment as it straightens itself. Its left arm has lost some of its mass, the gaunt limb now positively skeletal. Yet the crimson lines that trace the dark figure still pulse with a steady heartbeat, thrumming in the ring of Dana’s light.

Penny's eyes widen in surprise and terror as her fist misses, and her arm is grabbed by the creature. Suddenly, she feels a powerful, crushing grip around her forearm, sending a strong, piercing pain through her arm. She cries out in pain, and realizes from the wet breaking sound and the intense pain shooting through her arms that her bones just got broken. The pain is blinding, and she feels tears fill her eyes. Yet she still keeps lightning shooting through her arm to spite the thing, try and electrocute it into letting go.

The response is... much more vicious than she anticipated. It tosses her around like a rag doll in anger and pain, and she hears a wet pop and feels another sharp pain in her shoulder. Not only are her forearm bones broken, she can't move the arm as a whole without severe pain; the thing must have dislocated her shoulder in its anger.

She looks up at the monster, and even through blurry vision sees its face split open in a roar of anger.

"Heh, that all you got you little bitch?" she can't help but say with a grin. She can probably use her other arm, but it's currently propping her up, and she's not sure if she can react in time with the pain clouding her mind.