Axel slowly sat up, the pressure from the sudden blast slowly alleviating, the ship adjusting.
He looked outside, all he saw was a blur, lightning streaking around the window, they were still moving extremely fast.
"Sorry about that, it takes a moment to adjust," Amy left the controller, leaving the craft in auto pilot mode.
For the best, considering the speed they were moving at, speaking of which.
"How fast are we moving," He asked, eyes narrowed.
"I think above speed of sound…approaching light speed," She tapped her chin, contemplating.
Axel looked at her with eyes wide, a puzzled expression on his face as if asking how is that possible.
"Zvezdan," Amy answered the unasked question.
"It isn't just useful for making anima, it's also a power source and…well my dad is a damn good engineer." She explained, tapping a holographic screen, increasing its size.
Does that mean the so-called "Tihodol" will be technologically advanced? Axel wondered, now eager to see the village.
"We're here." Amy said, swiping the screen away.
Axel looking around through the windshield, searching for any sign of a town, but all he saw was tall mountain ranges, peaks covered with snow reaching
for the clouds, but no sign of civilization.
"Where exactly?" He asked.
She blinked and tilted her head, "Tihodol of course."
His eyebrow rose, as the ship slowly started descending.
"Oh right, you don't know," She looked out the window, "The Pakenar mountains of Krovai, the village is hidden in a valley here," Amy explained.
Pakenar, his eyebrows raised, lips slightly parted, "That's on the other side of the planet, within seconds."
"The thunderbird's awesome right," she snickered, a grin on her face.
"Yeah," Axel nodded his head in agreement.
His eyes twinkled with expectation as a waterfall came into view, the village was probably behind the waterfall, he concluded, grinning from ear to ear.
The Thunderbird slowly drifted into the waterfall, the sound of water hitting the hood overwhelming the faint hum as it entered a cave, Axel looking on eagerly.
His eyelids dropped, face contorted in confusion at the view of what's behind the waterfall.
There was no village, just mist and the rock wall at the end of the cave, perhaps it's a false wall like in E town.
But the Thunderbird slowly drifted down, landing, the humming sound slowly dying off, the ship powering off.
Axel turned to Amy with a scrunched up face.
"What," she asked, eyes narrowed.
"You lied."
Her brows lifted in confusion, then realization dawned on her face.
Amy burst into laughter, "I never said this was the village." She said between laughs, hand over her mouth.
"We're just leaving the thunderbird here, we can't exactly fly into Tihodol," She continued laughing.
"Should have said so, no need to keep laughing," he mumbled.
"Anyways, why can't we fly in," he asked.
She stopped laughing, cleaning imaginary tears from her eyes and swiping the holographic screen away, "let's just say, they aren't too hospitable."
She stood up and headed down the corridor, while a whirring sound came from the floor, part of it going down, mist flowing over it, as it opened to outside, the thundering of waterfall echoing.
"Here," a familiar voice came from over Axel's shoulder, a hand holding out a necklace.
"Oh, I see you're finished with your beauty sleep," He said, with a smirk collecting the necklace, "and what's this, a gift, am I finally growing on you."
Axel grinned as he poked at Serif who simply turned away, ignoring him, heading for the exit.
"It's a gift from Hermes to you," Amy's voice rang out, as she came back from the corridor, a bag slung over her shoulder.
A gift huh, why though, he looked at the necklace, it was made of a sort of twisted rope, which upon looking closer appeared to be flowing, like a liquid.
"An anima," he guessed.
It suspended a small circular pendant with small inscriptions in a circle, too small for him to make out what it was saying, but the ropes were more interesting anyway.
"The thread of continuity, a B-rank anima," Amy said confirming his guess, as she headed for the exit as well.
Thread huh, the rope does look like a thread, Axel conferred, but "what do you mean by B-rank?"
"Come on," She hollered from outside the craft.
Axel quickly followed after her, not before taking one more look at the cockpit, taking it all in.
Outside, the cave was damp, cold compared to the warmth of thunderbird, it smelled like mud, and mist clung to the ground, to the extent he couldn't quite see it.
"What do you mean by B rank?" He shouted the question, the sound of the waterfall damping his voice.
"Just something we came up with," she answered dismissively, fingers dancing across the holographic screen from her watch.
"Your brother?" Axel asked over the whirring sound of the tramp lifting up.
She nodded and swiped down, closing the screen.
"Sounds like an interesting guy, do you mind telling me about him." Axel asked.
"Yes I do," She answered, her tone a bit hostile.
Axel glanced at her, she looked serious, a distant expression in her eyes.
A bad memory, he looked away, at the thunderbird, its parts flickering and turning invincible, "hey, how about the rankings," he said aloud.
Hesitation flickered across her eyes then she sighed, "the rankings are just something we came up with so it isn't a standard."
"It's basically based on how special an anima power is, basic elemental anima are like D grade, then reality bending anima are S rank, the rest are between." She explained.
"So what makes this B rank," he said, holding up the necklace.
"Because it's a rule breaker, it's supposed to be S rank, but no one has had compatibility enough to reach that level with it, so it's just B rank." She cleared the holographic screen as the thunderbird totally became invincible.
Axel nodded his head and went towards where he remembered the ship to be, hands reaching out.
But clank, his head collided with the invincible body of the ship.
Ouch, he held his forehead and stepped back, definitely here, a camouflage huh.
He glanced over his shoulder to see Amy, hands over her mouth, eyes narrowed, she quickly turned around upon noticing.
He reached out, touching the surface of the ship, it was slightly hot, static electricity crawled up his wrist, he smiled.
"Stop gawking," Amy shouted, "let's go."
As he headed for the waterfall, Serif's chain extended and he started swinging it overhead, spinning, fast.
He stopped next to Amy who muttered, "get ready."
"For wh…" he paused as Amy's smooth and soft hand slid into his, gripping it tightly.
Then with a thunderous crackle, Serif lashed up, at the water fall.
The chain streaked across the length of the waterfall, cleaving it into two, a temporary divide appearing.
Amy leapt out dragging Axel with her, Serif following behind.
His gaze was focused on Amy, the cold wind blowing her hair, their hands interlocked, a smile on her lips, that's why, he didn't realize when she left his hand.
Resulting in him sprawling into mud, face first, while Amy landed perfectly on her feet.
And Serif, let's not talk about that one.
Just great, he mused as he got up, some of it got in my mouth, he blew a raspberry trying to get it out.
His clothes were ruined, mud clinging onto it, his hair clinging onto his skin, matted in mud.
"You okay," Amy came over, her voice softening, reaching out trying to lift him up.
"I'm fine," Axel moved back avoiding her hand.
A slight frown along with concern appeared on her face.
Axel chuckled, "we wouldn't want you getting yourself dirty now." He explained.
"Oh okay," she blinked.
"Good thing we're close to a river," he joked.
He looked around, a river stretching forward, winding and disappearing behind trees, the chirping sounds of birds in the woods and trees around the river, they were in a forest, a pretty cold one though, Axel shivered as the cold wind blew over him.
Axel washed off the mud in the river, although his shirt was totally ruined, the dirt clinging tightly to the fabric.
"Here," Amy flung a blue hoodie at him.
"Thanks," He smiled, standing up, revealing his toned body.
She nodded and quickly looked away, looking in her bag.
"You don't happen to have extra pants in there do you?" He asked, sarcasm in his voice.
"I do, but unless you are trans…" a mischievous smile appeared on her lips.
Axel shook his hands, I'd rather stay wet, he put on the hoodie and made his way towards Serif, trousers clinging to his skin.
"Where to now?" Axel asked, "I'm not particularly packed for the outdoors."
"The gateway, it's not too far from here," Serif said, standing up, he looked towards the west at the setting sun.
"Lucky for me then," he muttered.
"Let's get going, it can get dangerous at night here," Serif said, walking towards the jungle, he glanced over his shoulders at Amy who was looking around, "even for wielders." He added aloud.
And as if agreeing with him, a howl came from the jungle, a howl of a wolf I hope, Axel thought, "let it not be some monstrosity due to Zvezdan or whatever," he muttered jokingly.
Amy smiled, "You mean Aberrants."
He paused, dang it, I had to go and say that, he thought, now I'll start imagining monstrosities stalking me.
"Wait," he whispered, hurrying after Amy and Serif, into the jungle.
"Don't worry," Amy said with a smirk, "they aren't hostile, at least most of them aren't." She grinned.