Alexey woke up with a start, gasping for breath. His hair was wet from cold sweat. Heart beating fast by those dreams. No. Not just dreams. That was all his memories.

"Goodness! Brilliant! You scared me!" Dryad said, a worried expression on her face.
She was kneeling down next to his bed while placing a cold cloth on his forehead.

He can feel the cold on his skin. He blinked a few times, trying to get his bearings before all of his vision became clear.

"I'm not sick...," He took the cloth away. "Why are you in my room? What happened?" he asked, his voice hoarse. He winced as he sat up straight.

"Not sick, huh?" Dryad gave him a concerning look, "You're burning up now. You just passed out."

"Hm? When?" Alexey frowned.

Dryad sighed, "We were talking in the cabin, remember? I asked you to rest, and you walked away, but before you reached your room, you just... suddenly blanked out."

Alexey nodded slowly, remembering the conversation they had before he passed out.
"Ah, I see," he said. "I must have been more tired than I thought. Sorry about that."

Alexey rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. He looked around, noticing Haze standing near the door and leaning against the frame. Arms crossed. Haze was the one who helped Alexey back to his room and has been waiting there since some times ago.

Alexey smirked. "Ah.. you... come here," he said, beckoned with a finger.

"Huh?" Haze tilted his head in confusion. "What for?"

Alexey smiled, "Just come here," he repeated.

Haze sighed and rolled his eyes, but approached anyway.
"Do you need something?" Haze asked worriedly.

"Yes," Alexey nodded, and smiled softly when he suddenly hit Haze in the stomach, sending that pity young man to the floor.

"Brilliant!!" Dryad gasped in surprise.

"What was that for?!" Haze growled, glaring at his assailant.

"Payback," Alexey replied easily, grinning widely.

Haze glared harder, "For what?!"

"Oh... It feels so good... you have no idea how I always wanted to do that so badly, haha.." Alexey laughed a bit, almost like a villain. "Because you- bastard.. you disobeyed me, your own commander! I nearly died because of your disobedience! In the middle of the battlefield, that selfish action would endanger the whole team! Little mistake would lead to disaster! You've learned the lesson now?" Alexey's gaze suddenly softened, "...Red Wolf?"

Haze's eyes widened and he was stunned at the code name he mentioned. It seemed that Alexey has regained all of his memories,

"...Alex..?" he whispered, his voice shaking a little, "y..you remember?" he smiled a bit tearfully,

Haze looked down, still sitting on the floor, "I'm sorry... Truly. You have no idea that I've been gnawed by a guilty conscience all this time..."

Haze glanced back up again, surprised by the smile that appeared on Alexey's lips at that moment.

Before Alexey could answer, they heard a very loud sound of a crash from outside. The sound wave made the blimp have turbulence, and everyone on board held onto whatever they could.

"What was that?!" Alexey yelled.

"I don't know!" Haze shouted back, clutching a handrail.

There was another deafening roar, and the blimp shuddered again. Alexey tensed up as he heard the loud sound, the shake of the blimp confirming his suspicions. He looked out the window, trying to see what's going on outside.

"Was that an explosion?" he asked.

Alexey ran outside the room to the cabin, followed by Dryad and Haze. Their hearts were pounding in their chest. They were not sure what's happening, but they could feel a sense of urgency in the air.

"What happened?!" Alexey asked one of the crews who were gathered by the window with a shocked expression.

They saw through the window. The land below sank. The town was destroyed.
It was a sinkhole phenomenon!

They all watched in horror as the town was slowly destroyed, sinking into the ground. His mind raced, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest so that he could barely breathe.

"This... this can't be real," he said, his voice shaking. "This can't be happening..."

As the building sank within the ground, some of those buildings even exploded and caught fire.
As more buildings exploded, Alexey flinched back, his body tensed up. He could hear the sound of destruction, the chaos of the situation around them. His heart racing even faster, his mind trying to process everything that's happening.

Alexey ran to the cockpit, where captain Skye was looking through the glass windows at the scene before them with an equally terrified expression.

"We're going at Full speed!" Captain Skye barked an order "Full power ahead!"

The crew immediately began to work to take Cyruss, the blimp, further away from the sinking town.

Suddenly Dryad bursted into the cockpit,
"Brilliant!! Please, we have to go back!!"

Alexey gave her an incredulous look, but did not say anything in response. He simply turned to Captain Skye whose in charge.

"Get back to the cabin!" the Captain told her firmly.

"But Eurydice... Sir Alvard..." Dryad almost cried, "they're still in the town!"

Alexey's eyes widened as he heard her words. The realization hit him like a punch in the gut.

"Alvard... Eurys..." he repeated, his voice choked with emotion. "They're still down there, in the town?"

He looked out the window, trying to see if he could spot any sign of survival, but all he saw was destruction and chaos.

"No chance!!" Skye snapped.

"No!! There's still a chance! Look!" Dryad pointed outside the window, "The sinkhole only happened right in the middle of the town! It didn't reach Eurys home nor the mansion!! PLEASE!! Fly the blimp closer to the mansion! Please!!" Dryad shouted on the top of her lung, desperation dripping from her tone.

Captain Skye hesitated for a moment, but soon he quickly turned to Alexey,
"Commander, we have two aircrafts in this airship. If you want to go back, you can use them," Skye said. "But I must take Cyruss out of here."

"Right. Open the Hatch when I'm ready!" Alexey nodded firmly.

"You still remember how to fly an aircraft, right? Commander? Don't want you end up crash or something," Skye asked to make sure he'll be fine.

"Tsk! Of course, I know!" Alexey said before turning to Dryad, "You! Wanna come? Then be my Navigator! Come on!" He ordered.

Dryad's eyes widened at the sudden command before smiled gratefully, "Yes!!"

Dryad ran following him behind. As they past the cabin, Alexey shouted at Haze,
"Haze, follow me!"

"Yes Sir!!" Haze shouted back and started running after him.

Alexey hurriedly moved down to the Hatch space, where the aircrafts were kept. He got inside and strapped himself, checking the control panel for the aircraft. Dryad hopped inside, right behind Alexey in the navigator seat.
Meanwhile Haze took another one.

"What were you thinking? I've never been a Navi before!" Dryad said anxiously.

"It's okay," Alexey said. "Just follow my lead. Tell me about what I ask later. That's all."

Dryad nodded, trying to throw away her fear and brace herself instead.

"Silver Husky to Cyan Albatross, open the Hatch!" Alexey ordered Skye through the radio.

"Confirmed. The Hatch will be opened!" Skye responded from the cockpit.

"Clear the deck for takeoff!" Alexey instructed, "Everyone to their posts!" he ordered sternly.

A chorus of replies came from the deck of the blimp.

The metal door slid open, revealing the clouds that covered the skies outside. The engine roared, and the two aircrafts fastly launched from the Hatch, speeding towards the sinking town.

Alexey gripped the handle, steering the craft carefully while keeping track on the course.
The engines roared as the pair sped up. In the meantime, Alexey was watching as the city beneath them started falling into ruins. The sinkhole began expanding further, sunk deeper into the depths. He knew it was going to get worse before the end.

"Red Wolf, you hear me?" Alexey asked over the radio.

"Here, Sir!! I heard you loud and clear!" Haze replied.

"You go to Eurys' place. I'll go to pick Alvard." Alexey said. "We'll meet later at the extraction point. Cyruss went far back to the south of the town."

"Copy that!" Haze confirmed.

Alexey glanced around, finding the fastest route. He chose to fly north, where they could see the sinking town better.

The two aircrafts then split off and went separate ways. Leaving smoke trails behind as their engines roared louder with each passing minute.

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Thank you for reading
Here I present you someone, can you imagine his face?

Captain of the Cyruss Airship ;

Captain Skye Ashfield Mallord
_code name Cyan Albatross_