Everything seems so close yet so far. The truth is out there . . . I need to find it. This will save the world

         I know it

»»-------¤-------««

Kirin couldn't help but feel her hairs stand and chills running through her body. She couldn't place a finger on exactly what it was but it was affecting her more than the Fissure.

Jaeger closed the door to their cabin where two beds laid parallel on opposite sides of the room. Two desks sat side by side on the wall opposite of the door with a lamp head hanging from the ceiling just above them. There were two bunker lights dimly lighting the room on the two walls on the side, revealing a green room with yellow tints due to the lights. There weren't any windows but they would've been pointless either way.

"Sure as hell beats spending the night in a dumpster," he said, checking every nook and cranny the room had to present.

"That was no fun," Kirin replied, checking her side of the room.

"This ain't no cruise that's for sure." His last word strained as he got up from looking under a bed. He moved on to the drawers of the desks but they were empty, just dust crumbs.

"They say security detail but they didn't give us any weapons," said Kirin, as she thudded on her bed. Her face winced in slight pain as she realized it wasn't even a spring bed. "And who do we have to protect it from?"

Jaeger sat gently down on his bed and let out a deep exhale. "Or what we're protecting it from."

"Do you know if there are monsters or demons down here?" Kirin asked.

Jaeger shrugged his shoulders and put a cigarette in his mouth but he didn't light it. Kirin sighed as she fluffed the pillow on her bed before she crashed her head on it. Despite her doubts, it had a decent amount of cushion.

"I guess we'll find out together."

Kirin closed her eyes as she began to find comfort. For a moment, all there was was the deep humming of the engine and the occasional foot falls that faintly pierced the thin walls. Just before her mind shut off the intercom on the ship came to life.

"There's a switch by the door," the speaker said. Easily recognizable as Escolas' voice. "Flip it and it'll ask for a specific pin. Take a guess and maybe you'll get it right. You'll have access to the weapons that will help you."

The intercom clicked and the room was silent again. Jaeger walked to the switch Exodus mentioned. He flipped the switch and it slid up revealing a keypad underneath. Kirin, intrigued, shot up from her bed and walked to Jaeger staring at it with him.

"So we're supposed to guess?" She asked, the gears in her brain overclocking.

Jaeger began to brush his fingers over the keypad as if he would be able to feel a difference in the buttons.

"Try our birthdays or something,"

"Really?" Jaeger's reply was almost followed by a laugh as Kirin could see a smile on his face. "We get one shot at this and the system could lock us out and you think it's our birthdays?"

Kirin raised her shoulders and raised her eyebrows. Though it was a longshot it was the only one they got.

"Alright, kiddo. If we don't get weapons to protect ourselves out there then that's on you."

Jaeger began to put the first two parts of his birthdate on the pad and then paused once he got to Kirin's. He gave her a glance and she reached out to the keypad, inserting her birthdate with a chuckle. A moment passed and the pad lit up green and a click was heard from behind the wall. Both their heads spun to the revolving door as it revealed a rack of ballistics and edged weaponry.

"What kind of security are we providing?" Kirin asked

Jaeger walked up to the wall and looked at what they were giving them.

"I don't know . . . but it's sure gonna take a lot of firepower."

They both picked up weapons they thought were suitable for the mission. Jaeger picked up an intricate looking pistol. The design was that of a revolver, black and then gold around the edges. He opened the cylinder to find only one - what seemed like - power cell. He picked up three more cells from where it sat and shoved them in his pocket. He then picked up a gravity blade and put it in his inner coat pocket.

Kirin stood and pondered what would be useful. Her glance kept going back to the larger firearms but she knew she wouldn't be able to handle them. Jaeger saw her struggle and gave her a small pistol.

"You know how to use it?" He asked. Kirin twisted the gun around and finally shook her head. He pointed at the essential parts of the gun and explained it to her in great detail for her safety but mostly for his.

=*=

Kirin and Jaeger walked around the deck of the ship, familiarizing themselves with their vessel thanks to Jaeger's recommendation. As they emerged from the inside of the ship, a gust of wind blasted them causing Kirin to brace herself on to the door. She realized that the Fissure didn't have a scent other than faint smoke or perhaps moisture. She saw that in the middle of the barge was a large opening, assuming that that was where they loaded the crates and merchandise in by crane.

She couldn't help but feel her pistol through her clothes, making sure it was secured. Jaeger, she observed, acted like his gun wasn't even there.

The Fissure's smoke passed by them as the barge moved forward. In the distance, a silhouette of a large tower-like structure began to form, emitting a blue light towards its center. A silver monolith almost exactly like the one from the start. It stood far beyond what they could see up above.

"I wonder how far we got," Kirin began to wonder. Because it sure doesn't feel like we got far.

~x~

Bor pulled himself up from the floor. With the little rest he had he felt his Starcanum gather within. A lot more than usual, he realized.

The loud humming of the giant engine began to intrude on his thoughts. Its energy warming and bright. Bor began to walk towards the large mass of energy at the center of the large room. As he got closer his hand, unknowingly, reached out to it. He felt an energy rush in through his hand and into his veins. Pulling his hand back he felt his Starcanum almost full, nearly spilling. Whatever power source this engine uses, it's the same energy as Starcanum itself, he thought.

He let out a burst of air one after another and just as much as he used, he regained almost instantly. This is too much power for criminals to have. Bor gathered water from the air and hardened them into ice spikes. Hesitating as he thought about what would happen if he destroyed the engine, he would be stranded in the fissure and the odds of survival are horrifically unknown.

Bor lowered his hands and the sharp icicles shattered onto the ground. He turned and walked towards the staircase leading out of the engine room. Voices began to echo through the noise of the engine as the door screeched open. Bor hurried behind a large control panel. He reached out his hand at melting ice shards and they began to wiggle their way towards him and eventually in his grasp. The footsteps began to descend on the metal staircase and their voices got louder. Bor prepared himself, holding the now large icicle in a reverse grip.

Violence isn't the only answer, Bor! A familiar voice yelled within his head.

Bor swung the icicle behind him only to find no one. The voice was of the girl in his memory, the repeating dream he's had since he joined the Crown. Why now?

The voices got closer to him. He readied his icicle once again but he thought about a different approach. With a deep breath he revealed himself and slapped one of the metal boxes. The two men jumped and stared at him in shock. Bor nodded at them and walked passed. They looked at him and mumbled words to each other but kept walking. Bor kept his head low as he walked out of the engine bay.

He once again found himself in the hallways of the ship. He kept his head down as he walked past guards and passengers only to find himself at a staircase leading up. Bor tried his best to look around but found no one and so he climbed the stairs. He felt a strong gust of wind barreling down the stairs and so he used the handrail to help guide him up leading to the deck. There were several groups of people circling around the edge of the ship. Mostly in pairs. Most look like Coins, people for hire. He couldn't help but feel that something was close, as if it were tugging at his arm but he didn't know what direction it wanted to lead him.

A ground shaking growl echoed within the Fissure, breaking Bor out of his search for nothing. He tried to look through the yellow smoke on both sides of the ship but nothing lurked.

At least nothing he could see.

The grumbling of the metal beneath him didn't help set a safe atmosphere for traveling. The ship wouldn't last one attack and Bor didn't see any defenses other than the people walking about. Bor rushed to the nearest rail and looked over in time to see something move from underneath. The humming of the engine began to die down and the winds began to dissipate with it. Words started to mumble out of people's mouths and started to panic. The groaning of the ship whaled once more as the ship finally halted.

A man with a weathered coat and face exited the captain's deck and began to look over. With careful eye he surveyed, not the floor beneath, but the mist below the ship. Another growl echoed but it didn't sound far this time.

The ship shook violently. The rust screeched against whatever damaged the hull. A colossal tentacle-like arm rushed upward above the ship and slammed itself onto the front of the deck. The gravity of the ship shifted and everyone started to slide forward. The man jumped from the captain's deck with a gust of wind following him. He landed moved his arm in an upward motion, like a sword cutting upwards, and the tentacle was severed. But it was already too late. The tentacle was like a bridge and these large six legged creatures jumped onto the deck.

Abyssals, though only one of many species, if not creatures.

All black and glossy, as if their skin was made out of muck and oil. Their eyes glowed white and their long mouths always snarled. They lurked like hunting cats as they looked at the crewmates.

Bor didn't mind these Abyssal creatures. His eyes narrowed at the Ursu. The Ministry didn't allow Ursu's to exist outside their jurisdiction. Those that did had a choice to either be converted one way or the other. Bor already knew what this one would become if the Ministry got hold of him. He thought it would be best if he eliminated the biggest threat first and then everyone else. Bor began to make his way towards the Ursu but got bumped into by a girl with black hair. He didn't realize at first but he didn't hear anything, just a bunch of muffled chaos. She was holding a small pistol, aiming but hesitating to shoot. Another man hurried beside her shooting a hand cannon.

"Get out of the way, idiot!" His grumbly voice yelled.

An Abyssal creature leaped at them and the man lifted his hand cannon and shot it twice, once in the chest and the other in the head. The creature yelped and collapsed by their feet. A glittery amber colored substance poured from its wounds. Their blood looked like the night sky during the day.

More and more of those creatures started to pour onto the deck. Soon the deck was swarmed with Abyssal creatures. The crewmates couldn't handle all of them as they came, each dying one by one. Some thought jumping overboard would be the safest idea and maybe it was. They wouldn't be around to tell anyone.

Screaming and snarling was all that filled the deck other than the mixing of human and Abyssal blood. But as time passed by, less and less humans were amongst living things.

"We're gonna have to get back into the ship and strap in. I don't think this hunk of metal's gonna stay in the air!" The man began to push Bor and her back into the ship. "We gotta get a move on!"

The ship violently shook and tilted, throwing them against the wall. The groaning of the ship signified the ship's orientation was changing again. They began to slide back. The man reached out to the girl and she grabbed his hand. Bor reached out to the hand rail and began to pull himself up as he ran with them.

A scream came from behind them as someone fell and slammed against the wall. Abyssal creatures tumbled through and began to devour them and a couple more fell through and looked down the passageways. One spotted them and alerted the others. Their attention is no longer on the bloodied body. They begin to charge the three, climbing on each other's backs and slamming their shoulders against the bulkheads. Eventually the Abyssal creatures came running down at them. The man whipped his hand cannon behind him and began to shoot. Despite what he killed, another took its place.

"There's no end to them," the girls said. "We gotta get into a room!"

"Our room is at the next turn," the man said. "Unless yours is closer."

"No," Bor paused. "It's quite a ways away."

The man turned and fired a few more shots until it clicked a couple times. Though it was futile, it bought them a few more seconds.

They slowed to turn a corner and Bor looked behind him and watched as the Abyssal creatures crashed against the wall and into each other. Some yelped as others snapped at another. The man and the girl turned into a room. Bor waited to enter as he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The ground beneath him started to frost and sheen. With a quick step, he was in their room and the door looked behind him.