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[color=silver][u][b]Arc 1, Chapter 1[/b][/u]; [i]Chasing Sky's Edge[/i][/color]
[h3][u]Banksia Skyline Route #14: En route to the 5th Hierarchical Realm, Suphlatus[/u][/h3][/center]

The lifeless, mechanical drone of a Librarium sky-train cut through the roaring winds and deafening downpour. The great, silver machine swam through the blackened sky, undisturbed by the hail bucketing down upon it. On closer inspection, a keener eye would notice that the train itself was bone dry. The hail was dispersed by the train’s atmospheric disruptor before it had a chance to cause any significant damage.

The Cloud Chasers had a similar device on board; a necessity for anyone who so desired to sail the free skies during Pandora’s wet seasons. Only, the atmospheric disruptor aboard the Chasers was much more archaic in design. Much like everything else about the airship, wear and tear throughout the generations had greatly impacted its effectiveness. It was for this reason that the majority of the crew found themselves huddled in the barracks whilst some of the more mechanically savvy members attempted to strengthen the disruptor.

Ull’Mona Kwenda was among them. The ships navigator, the girl also had a knack for Magitech devices. A large pair of goggles covered most of her face, largely to stop the rain from obscuring her vision. She was covered head to toe in a plastic raincoat, which helped keep the wind and rain at bay while she worked. In front of her were three Archive Interfaces which held various data on weather patterns and the functionality of the ships disruptor. Mona bit her lip, a bad habit of hers that most knew to mean she was deep in thought. It only lasted a moment before the girl waved her screens away and delivered a good kick to the run down machine.

“Ah bugger it! We’ll be ripped apart by the storm if we can’t get this piece of shite to work.” Mona sighed, gazing around the drenched deck. The disruptor needed to be exposed to the surrounding atmosphere, a fact that Mona was well aware of but did nothing to prevent her from whining about being wet and cold. She gazed up at the sky just as a fork of lightning streaked across it, bringing everything around her to life with a brief flash of light.

The deck was abandoned, save the few working to fix the disruptor. The Chasers would be considered obsolete by today’s standards of airships, yet there was something about its vintage nature that held a certain charm. The way it still relied on both steam and magic to run, how it still used sails and even the material it was made of. Wood. It was sturdy enough, but lacked the sleek, shiny finish of a Librarium Mothership. What it lacked in modern technology and ease of use, it made up for in character. Generations of rebels all living aboard this ship, passing the torch down to a new group of Mages.

Captain Ragnar had a similar thought as he watched over the pirates having a grand old time in the barracks. During a storm, personal space was a luxury that few had. The crew were practically arm in arm, singing sea shanties and drinking grog. Why, few would be too merry to even notice the crashing of thunder and lurching of the ship from intense gales.

The Captain sat at a large desk, a map of the free skies laid out in front of him. Very clearly imprinted on the map were several dotted lines. These lines crossed the skies between Hierarchical Realms in patterns that interwove and split off from one another at various intervals. It was a map of the sky-train routes. In particular, one route was marked with red ink. Route #14, leading towards Banskia Central in Suphlatus.