The Knight Captain and The Spider eagerly jumped into the fray.  It did not surprise the battlemage much as soldiers either learn to love battle or abhor it all together.  He felt a certain welling up in his own being.  Many would claim that the young mage was cold and lacking in emotion.  What few knew was that he was more akin to a volcano.  His feelings often remained repressed in fears of losing his cool and blowing up into the version that had given him his nick name.  Yet, every time before a battle, something woke up in his soul.  

Perhaps it was the expectation of death.  Perhaps it was the voices of all those who had perished and which now inhabited the invisible threads of the Aether.  Whatever the reason, these emotions were his way of connecting with Gia and drawing from her power.  The young mage took a deep breath and steadied himself.  There would be time enough to unleash the spirits. 

Arn neared the airship’s door and looking at the drop master who merely stared at him back, he jumped.  The wind filled his ears and he closed his eyes against the force of the air.  He spread his arms and legs to guide his descent.  He was a small red speck in the vastness of the twilight sky.  He was just a small life force in the vast broken word of Ith.  He maneuvered his descent with small alteration.  He was a veteran and had made plenty of such jumps.

His squad was named the Shooting Stars and not just because of the high mortality rate.  Hey always jumped behind enemy lines.  Some wore one time use jetpacks.  A few others such as himself, were skilled enough to utilize magic to facilitate their descent. 

Once he evaluated he was close enough he concentrated.  His eyes began to shine as he tapped into his connection to the world to the spirits.  He used his will to excite the threads near him.  Pushing them from their tranquil slumber.  The manifestation of such an action was the creation of a force of wind he directed downward.  Immediately, he felt the lift like those of jet engines.  His rate of descent slowed considerably until it was comparable to someone using a parachute.  

Enemy soldiers on the deck soon became aware of him and started to fire in his direction but it was too late.  He was already inside the big gun’s range so only small arms could hurt him.  A few nicked him with superficial wounds.  He gritted his teeth.  Allowed the pain to course through him igniting his reservoir of magic.  He sported many such wounds from many missions. 

The battlemage used this merely as fuel.  It could have been the wind in his ears or the adrenaline pumping in his veins but he always seemed to hear voices of the spirts that flowed in the Aether strings.  Just before he landed he tapped into those emotions, emotions he had kept pent up.  Arn felt his heart burn and the flow of magic course through is veins.  As if to answer this reaction, the Aether ignited just as he touched the metal deck and with a roar, he ignited the air around him into a burst of explosive flames.  Any men and equipment near him were quickly engulfed in hellish tongues of fire
.  
The expending ball travelled just a bit farther thanks to the wind generated by the air cushion the battlemage had generated to slow his fall.  These were tried and true tactics meant to confuse and alarm.  Next, the battlemage manipulated the Aether and wrapping his arms around the threads, generated jets of flame the cleared a path in front of him of anyone foolish enough to bet out of cover. 

Once this initial shock and awe evolution caused its necessary havoc, Arn moved to actual clearing and elimination.  Using duck and move tactics he sprayed the defending soldiers with blasts of powerful air that was enough to cause concussion damage and break bones or crush skulls.  He slowly made his way towards his goal.  


He had landed amidships on the port side of the frigate that had been their goal.  There was chaos all over.  No doubt the blades of the knights were eating hungrily.  He hoped that such a disarray would draw enough people away from him.  His tactis were to engage the enemy and keep them ocopied so that soldiers would come and clean up.  This time however, soldiers would not come.  He needed enough time to lock the rudder into place. 

Arn was not one to overestimate or oversell his skills.  Despite the initial success, it was getting harder to progress.  The Viemiesse were very well trained.  Despite what he thoughtaQ	1`, they were capable warriors.  He hoped that he would be able to reach the rudder and lock it in place before he or the two knights were dispatched.  He was bleeding in multiple places but nothing too serious.  He made a quick inventory of his wounds and decided that the med pack he always wore on the belt that supported his Daisho and decided the bleeding was not profusely enough to require bandaging.  
He gritted his teeth and pushed forward.