Episode 4.1: Piracy in the High Skies

"Damnit! Damnit all to the nine Hells!" Kiera's furious yelling roared out through the small circle of tents that made up the Bravo's campsite. The early morning sun was only just beginning to peek over the horizon, shedding light and warmth in equally precious traces over the snow swept lands.

They had settled in for the night just outside of the frigid northern lands where their most recent mission had taken place, eager to be as far away as possible from that ice-scape and all of the horrid memories of their most recent and by far most brutal mission. Though it had been a painful ordeal, it had at least been a success. The Bravos had recovered information from the bizarre ruins that stretched seemingly endlessly beneath the frozen soil... if that unintelligible book could truly be called anything akin to information, that is.

"Gods damnit, its gone! How in the Hells can it be gone!" the sound of Kiera's great blade smashing into the ground was enough to finally wake the rest of the sleeping Bravos. Fuu was quickly at her side, hovering out of reach until Kiera calmed enough to meet her gaze. Fuu didn't need to say anything before Kiera spoke.

"The book! The fucking book is gone!" Kiera gave another frustrated yell, slamming her sword into the ground once again, sending rocks and chunks of dirt flying in every direction.

"Liv," Fuu said, looking around for the sniper, but she was already on the case, her hawk-like eyes following the tracks that lead away from their camp as they lead off into the distance.

Fuu followed her vision, but they seemed to fade off a good distance away. She stepped forward to start following them when Liv stuck out her arm, stopping her and pointing up into the sky. Fuu could make out a distant shape far off in the distance, like a strangely round hawk growing smaller and smaller, but as Liv handed her the rifle to look through, the truth quickly became clear.

"Sky pirates." Liv said flatly. Though Liv spoke plainly, the sounds of anger and recognition that came from the other Bravos echoed Fuu's own reaction. She had never met a sky pirate, but stories of their crimes were commonplace throughout the empire.

"Arañilla" Becky said stepping forward the join the other two. Unlike Liv, her voice was dripping with anger. "That's where all the pirates go to port. We won't make it there before them, but there's no way they'll pass through without leaving some sort of trail we can follow."

"We'll make our way there then." Fuu said. The others nodded and quickly began breaking down their camp and fitting it into the back of the magical vehicle that had brought them here. It didn't take Becky long to input the coordinates for their new destination, and before long they were chugging along, their magitek and steam propelled vehicle climbing jumpily over the hills once again.

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This chapter was a collaboration with gamer.1171(https://chyoa.com/user/gamer.1171) please check out her other writing!