"The flight to the storm will take most of the day. There will be meals, of course. I wouldn't expect mages to not be hungry along the journey." Commander Hayes replied, giving a small wave back to the stairs. "It will be served in the serving section of the ship, and while it won't be anything extravagant it will be filling, which is what I hope is enough for you all. So yes, in-flight snacks will be served. Downstairs, and then to the left, and don't mind the cook's unique sense of humor. He likes to see the looks on faces when he tells them what he serves." 

As the ship finished the takeoff, and began to turn to move northwards, Commander Hayes turned his attention to Eve, regarding her, then the rest of the mages as the ship finally began to make speed towards their destination. With the wind now picking up as they moved, he grinned and gave a small wave now to the mages. 

"I am assuming you know of each other, at the very least. And that is something that can play a part in what you do. In this case, the reason is that we believe the Academies in the north can't be trusted. Not in this particular situation, because we believe that they may have been a part of the problem. Good luck getting them to admit to that even if you throw it at them...Personally, I'd like it thrown at them from a cannon, but it is not my choice. Yet. Perhaps it won't come to that, but for now I would not trust any of the mages to the north..." 

With that said, the Commander made his way to the front of the ship, turning away from the Elementals. "For now, I would suggest either sleeping off the previous evening, or having something to eat down in the mess hall. Until then, I have a ship that needs to be guided...Feel free to mingle with the crew, just don't attempt to take anything. The Iron Guard won't be quite as...forgiving as anyone else, and I'd hate to see someone lose a hand so early. As for boundries, keep your wits about you. Stay out of the other cabins, engine room, and weapons rooms. I won't have you bothering the crew, bringing us out of the sky, or blasting a damn hole in the ship. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a ship to manage. "

And with that, the Elementals were largely left to their own devices for the beginning of their journey...

[hr]

[b]Hours Later...[/b]

The Elementals, crew, and pretty much anything on board the ship was awakened and alerted by a collection of shouts, bells, and other assorted alarms. As many of the crew made their way to the deck, they were greeted by the sun starting to lower from the sky. While the sunset itself was nearly idyllic, what was in front of the airship was far more captivating. 

The Storm, the Divide, the Elemental Scar, the mark had gone by many names. And many of them were a good description of what it was. A giant storm of elemental forces constantly raging, raining their power down upon the earth. Some might say it was a thing of beauty, as some elements combined into something greater, sometimes temporarily shifting the landscape to do impressive and destructive arts. Ice combining with shadows to make ice that would shatter twice, fire and earth combining to rain meteors, light and metals slamming into the ground and then projecting a beacon from where they struck for a small while. 

While the storm raged, Raven Hayes was stepping about the deck, his voice at times booming to make sure the right person heard him. As he finally stopped and noted the arrival of the Elementals on the deck, he marched over looking rather displeased at what was in front of them. 

"Elementals, welcome to the Scar. I imagine many of you have never seen it, so you might as well take a good look. Quite the sight, isn't it? Some scavengers say the metal from the sky is of the finest quality, though you'd be quite insane to go down there to gather that stuff without something special." Raven Hayes said, gesturing over the side of the ship. 

"Since it has now become a direct problem, I might as well explain why you are here. We have learned that there are groups of mages running around with something that pulls the storm. At first, we thought it was just slowly beginning to expand, but then it began to expand in very specific directions. Selective Elemental Camps, more often than not, seemed to be in the general direction. Upon attempting to investigate, they smashed an entire room to nothing before we could get close, and scattered to the winds. I'm betting you can guess what the storm did when the group suddenly relocated?" Raven Hayes continued wryly, turning his back to the storm to address the mages direction. 

"Now, as you can see, the storm seems quite solid here, but we did not fly through the storm to get to your Academy. There was a valley that was relatively clear here, but is here no longer. Which means someone decided it would be handy to close this pass, at least for a time. Hard to imagine whatever moves the storm being able to stand up to it for long. So, we have a pair of options, but technically I only see one that works for us."

Putting on a grin that could be considered a bit too joyous for the occasion, he counted off the pair of options on his hand. "One, we sit here and wait for who knows how long it takes for the storm to finally retreat back enough to where we can eventually go through. Could be a day, could be a week. Obviously, we can't sit around that long when more of this garbage is spreading. Two...we shield the ship, with your help of course, and fly through the damned thing. I would like to think that you could help in initial shielding...perhaps some additional metal or elemental reinforcement, before we make the attempt. And then some additional help as we fly through. So, what do you think? Think you can all handle it? Because otherwise this trip might take a bit longer with a few bits missing from the ship...but let me be clear that we will be going through, as we don't have time to simply wait for this storm."

Raven proceeded to go about inspecting what his crew was up to and making sure things were being done properly as cannons and other weapons were brought out. It seemed as if many of the soldiers on the ship intended to fight the storm, as insane as it seemed. "You'll have a bit of time to choose a position Elementals! Or find a better idea to dissipate a storm of otherworldly power!"