After a few minutes of being pushed back, digging into the chair, the force from the blast slowly alleviated.
Axel looked outside, all he saw was a blur, lightning streaking around the screen, 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.
His eyes narrowed, "How fast are we moving?"
"I think above speed of sound…approaching mach-3," She tapped her chin, contemplating.
Axel looked at her, wide-eyed, as if asking how?
"Zvezdan," Amy answered the unasked question.
"It isn't just useful for making anima, it's also a power source and…apparently 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 technology advanced? Axel wondered, his expectations for the village climbing up.
"We're here." Amy swiped 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?"
She blinked and tilted her head, "Tihodol of course."
His eyebrow rose.
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 minutes…"
Amy grinned,"The thunderbird's awesome right."
"Yeah," Axel nodded his head in agreement.
His eyes twinkled with expectation as a waterfall came into view.
Based on experience, the village should be behind the waterfall, he concluded, a smile stretching from ear to ear.
The Thunderbird slowly drifted into the waterfall. Water thundered on the roof, overwhelming the faint hum of the ship. Axel's eyes sparkling.
His eyelids dropped, face scrunched.
What is this?
There was no village, no building, nothing.
Just mist and the 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.
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, covering her mouth.
"We're just leaving the thunderbird here, we can't exactly fly into Tihodol."
"Should have said so, no need to keep laughing," he mumbled.
"Anyways, why can't we fly in," he asked.
She stopped laughing, swiping the holographic screen away, "let's just say, they aren't too hospitable."
"But man," She chuckled, "what were you expecting."
"Haha," Axel said with a static voice.
She stood up and headed down the corridor, laughter echoing.
A whirring sound came from the floor, part of it going down, mist flowing over it.
It opened to reveal outside, a ramp of some sort.
"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," Axel said, with a smirk while collecting the necklace.
"What's this, a gift, am I finally growing on you."
Axel grinned.
Yet Serif didn't answer, he simply walked away, down the ramp.
"It's a gift from Hermes," Amy's voice rang out, as she came back from the corridor, a bag slung over her shoulder.
A gift huh, he looked at the necklace.
It was made of a sort of twisted rope, which upon closer inspection 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 confirmed his guess, heading 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.
Outside, the cave was damp, smelled like mud.
Mist clung to the ground, to the extent he couldn't quite see beyond his knee.
"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.
"Sounds like an interesting guy, do you mind telling me about him." Axel asked.
"Yes I do," She answered, with hostility in her voice.
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 invisible.
"The ranking then?"
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, from basic elemental anima at D grade, to reality bending anima at 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, the sound rang out clear and sharp as his head collided with something.
Ouch, he rubbed his forehead and stepped back.
He glanced over his shoulder to see Amy, hands over her mouth, eyes narrowed, she quickly turned around upon noticing.
Reaching out, his hands felt something solid, smooth and warm, static electricity crawling up his wrist.
The surface of the ship.
"Stop gawking," Amy shouted, "let's go."
Axel smiled, swiped his finger across and left, heading for the waterfall.
As he reached the waterfall, Serif's chain extended, growing longer, like a snake slittering out of his wrist.
Axel looked on, a glint in his eye. That never gets old.
Then the chain whipped through the air, drawing a circle.
It whipped through again, and again, spinning.
"Get ready." Amy whispered.
"For wh…" he paused as he felt Amy's smooth and soft hand slid into his, gripping it tightly.
Then with a thunderous crackle, Serif lashed the chain upward, at the water fall.
The chain streaked across the entire length of the waterfall, cutting it across.
Forming two curtains, a water free zone between.
Amy leapt out dragging Axel along, Serif following behind.
Axel's gaze focused on Amy, the wind blowing her hair, a smile on her lips.
He could feel the sensation of her hands around his. He was absolutely engrossed in the moment.
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 the mud out.
His clothes were ruined, mud clinging onto it, his hair clinging onto his skin.
"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 singing of birds echoing in the woods around the river.
Axel washed off the mud. But his shirt was totally ruined, the dirt clinging tightly to the fabric like glue.
"Here," Amy flung a blue hoodie at him.
"Thanks," He smiled, standing up.
He took off the ruined shirt, 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…" 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."
"Let's get going, it can get dangerous at night here," Serif said, walking towards the jungle.
And as if agreeing with him, a howl came from the jungle.
A wolf I hope.
"Let it not be some monstrosity due to Zvezdan or whatever," Axel joked.
Amy smiled, "You mean Aberrants."
He stopped.
Dang it, I had to go and say that.
"Wait," he whispered, hurrying after Amy and Serif, into the jungle.
"Don't worry," Amy said with a smirk, "they aren't hostile…If you're a plant."