As soon as we exited the dungeon, Ed, Lana, and Andy headed out into the dense fog. I'd hoped it might disperse after I killed Alpha, but apparently Cyrus wanted to complicate everything until we finished the stage.

My lounge platform appeared hovering in the air in front of us, a flat deck devoid of furniture. We all jumped on and I willed it to expand to 20 feet across to give us a bit more room as we lifted into the air.

"I thought you said this thing can't move horizontally," Steve said.

"Not by itself. Doesn't mean I can't tow it," I responded as Switchblade popped into view in front of me.

Jane sighed and ran a hand along one of the sleek farings. "Sure you don't want me piloting this for you?"

I shrugged. "Actually, it shouldn't matter who drives."

"Hey," Tomas objected, but Jane leaped into the saddle and blew him a kiss. "You're the love of my life, babe, but I get dibs."

Nigel landed in front of her and activated his bracelets to lock himself to the front of the bike. "I will permit you to fly for me."

She didn't even need me to translate to get the gist of that one. Jane ruffled his fur and said formally, "It's a pleasure to serve as your chauffeur, master Nigel."

"You may pet me as often as you like."

Jane laughed when I translated, then added, "Careful, or Tomas will get jealous."

Nigel flopped one ear in a cat shrug. "He can't get jealous until he grows more fur."

"Um, I hate to rain on this fun parade, but Switchblade's not a flying bike," Steve protested.

I looked to Ruby and she flashed a smile as her eyes lit up with understanding. I raised a pillar near the north-facing side of the platform and Ruby summoned one of her long, glowing magical chains. It snaked around the pillar to anchor the platform, then stretched out to attach to the back of Switchblade.

"Fine, if you want to make it that easy," Steve said with pretend annoyance. "It'll be rough, though. Not even any snacks."

I ordered the elegant endless fruit dispenser to rise next to him and he grinned when a plate of melon and grapes appeared. "I can rough it with this, I guess. Anyone want a margarita?"

"Should I feel guilty enjoying myself this much when we're embarking on a rescue mission?" Tomas asked after accepting a glass from Steve.

"Embarking. Good word," Jane said, then shrugged. "It's not like alcohol affects us much any more, especially if it's Steve's."

"You don't get one," Steve said with an affronted tone.

"I get this baby," Jane said, patting Switchblade.

In seconds, I raised comfortable seats for all of us and loaned my goggles to Jane. With a whoop, she gunned Switchblade and launched the bike off the edge. Ruby lengthened her chains to absorb the shock as it went taut. The platform barely shuddered before starting to move.

With Switchblade's motors whirring, we accelerated smoothly and the tension on the chain kept the hover bike at the same elevation with us. That was a clever trick. Why hadn't I thought of that before? I'd definitely use it again in the future.

Once we reached a fast cruising speed slicing north through the clouds, using our maps to guide our blind progress, I got another idea. The platform started rising slowly, pulling Switchblade up with it, and within a few minutes, we broke through the top of the fog bank.

The magical fog rose for thousands of feet, but like all fog, there was a limit. The sky above sparkled with brilliant starlight and the one bright orange moon with its brilliant blue rings hanging almost directly overhead. I didn't see the black moon. Weird. It was usually fairly close to the orange moon.

Was it really the giant maw of a planet-sized monster? Had it just closed its mouth for a minute? No, that would be stupid. I pushed those fears aside and focused on the billowing fog forming a fluffy carpet below. We soared in an empty sky between the fog and the stars, a patch of beautiful calm in a crazy world.

Thankfully, I spotted no giant flying monsters and for the moment, we could sit back and enjoy the panoramic view of the alien sky.

"Beautiful," Ruby whispered from her seat nearby. She glanced at me, then at the distance between our chairs. With a bit of will, her chair slid closer to mine and she placed a warm hand over my own.

"Despite all the crazy battle and monsters and looming apocalypse, Arasha can be pretty amazing."

She nodded, but didn't speak, and we sat together, gazing up at the stars for a few minutes.

Steve dropped to his knees behind us, clapping us both on the shoulders and sticking his head between ours. "Lovely view, eh? Stirs the heart, doesn't it? Makes me wish I had someone to snuggle with and enjoy it."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Ruby sighed. I chuckled. "Hey, Steve. I was starting to worry you were going to miss an opportunity."

"Me? Never," he laughed before returning to his seat. During the whole interruption, Ruby's hand never left mine. I took that as a win.

For several more minutes we skirted just above that carpet of cloud, heading north. Jane must have started getting bored because she started swaying Switchblade back and forth on the chain. It swung the platform side to side in a swaying glide.

Jane started singing in time with the movement of Switchblade, her voice faint but clear as crystal in the quiet night. She'd always had a great voice and one of her stats improved it a lot more. Her voice rose and fell like she'd inhaled an angel.

As her volume slowly increased, the song mesmerized me and wrapped the entire group in a lovely melody. Nigel jumped to her shoulder to nuzzle her cheek. Then Jane shifted to another song, some kind of ballad I'd never heard before.

Ruby joined in, her lovely voice rising in perfect harmony. I sat transfixed by the otherworldly beauty of their superhuman enhanced voices. I didn't have a singing stat. It sounded like they both did, maybe a high-leveled ability too. The song was like a spell that wove into my heart and filled me with a sense of peace and joy like I hadn't felt since crashing down onto Arasha.

Then 5 of Steve's clones appeared around him and all raised their voices together. They were like a one-man barber shop choir, different clones taking different parts, all in perfect harmony, and they sounded amazing. Steve's multi-layered voice melded into the song with Ruby and Jane, elevating the entire performance to a concert worthy of the most exclusive venues on Earth.

Ruby sang the soft melody with her eyes closed and her head tilted toward the stars. The soft light played across her beautiful features and not even Sixel with her elven perfection could match her pure beauty.

When the song faded away a moment later, Tomas and I clapped loudly. The others grinned at each other.

"I didn't know you could sing," I told Steve.

He shrugged. "Life as a plumber gets boring sometimes."

"Your range has definitely improved," Ruby said.

Steve wiped away a pretend tear. "I don't know what to say."

"I doubt that."

He grinned. "Great tune. That was fun."

"You all sounded amazing."

"Thanks," Ruby said. "I haven't sung much since we arrived, but it felt like the right moment."

"I hope you do it more often."

She squeezed my hand, and the reflected stars and hint of golden sparkles in her eyes mesmerized me. I couldn't look away, didn't want to, but I forced myself to blink and managed what I hoped was a casual smile. "Best few minutes I've had all night."

"Just in time too," Jane called from Switchblade. "According to Nigel, we've arrived."

I double-checked my map, and Nigel was right. Without our Navigation utility spell maps, we never would have found the castle without blundering around in the fog for a long time. The high cliff above the lake was concealed by the fog, but I still couldn't see anything to the north. When I focused on that area that should be the third stage, my vision blurred. Cyrus wouldn't let us get a sneak peek into the next stage just by flying higher.

"So what's the plan?" Ruby asked after reeling Switchblade back onto the larger platform. Jane jumped off and Tomas swept her into a bear hug and kissed her. "I love your voice," he whispered.

"Gotta keep you interested," she teased.

"Never going to be an issue," he promised.

Nigel jumped to Ruby's shoulder, already sensing I wanted him to wait with the others.

"I'll go in first. With my access token, hopefully I can get in and talk with Noctarus. If we're really lucky, I can talk Burns out of the mess he got into."

Steve said, "So, can I use that hammock you told us about while you're gone saving the world again?"

I expanded the platform a few more yards and raised 4 hammocks and a small table where I deposited one of the giant cakes I'd taken from Velexis's room, much to Steve's delight.

Hopefully I'd arrive before Noctarus did something we'd all regret. No one had been able to reach Burns or anyone in his squad. They were either dead, or captured, maybe unconscious or with their spells and abilities blocked by Noctarus's runes.

"And if even your crazy luck runs out?" Steve asked around a mouthful of purplish cake.

"Then I call in the cavalry."

"I've never eaten a horse," Nigel commented.

"Stick with elephant steaks."

"Only problem I see is we'll be stuck up here," Tomas reminded me.

I tapped the side of my nose. "I've got a plan for that too. I'll lower the platform to just above the towers."

"I could teleport us down if I could see the landing point," Tomas said with a scowl. "But I can't see 20 feet in this infernal fog."

"I can lower us using my chain," Ruby said.

Steve thumped her on the shoulder, making her jump. "Those are proving pretty useful. We just need to get you the right animal skin toga and we can call you Jane of the Jungle and watch you swing into the wilds, looking for your Tarzan."

A glowing chain wrapped around Steve's torso and lifted him into the air. He yelped in surprise as the chain swung him out over the open air. "Still think that was funny?" Ruby asked.

"You are a woman of grace and boundless mercy," Steve said with a wink.

She rolled her eyes and dragged him back. "I don't know what to do about you."

"Then my master plan is working."

Jane sidled up to Tomas and asked, "Ruby, think I could borrow one of those chains for a while when we get back?"

She gave Tomas an appraising look and he lifted his hands in surrender. "There's no need to get carried away, Love."

"We'll see," she said with a shrug and a mischievous smile.

The banter helped keep nerves at bay, which I appreciated, but we couldn't afford to waste more time. So I ordered the platform to begin a slow descent.

"Nigel, let me know if you smell anything."

He bounded silently to the edge and crouched, leaning over. The others fell silent and we strained our senses as the fog enveloped us once more. It pulsed around us, dampening senses and obscuring everything. I almost dropped the platform right onto one of the crumbly tower spires.

In fact, it was just dumb luck that I missed it. One second, all I could see was roiling fog. The next, a shadowy black form of a tower reared out of the darkness bare inches away from the edge of the platform.

"Tower," Nigel said simply. "Still can't smell it, though."

I stopped the platform, breathing a sigh of relief that we hadn't hit that tower. Any impact would probably knock it over, and that kind of racket would wreck my plan.

"Ruby, can you determine where the other towers are?" I asked in a whisper that still seemed to echo around us from the fog banks.

Glowing chains swept out, disappearing into the fog. After a few seconds, she said softly, "We came down in the center. The other towers are out there." She pointed into the fog, giving me a sense of our location.

"This should do, then." I moved to the edge, but Ruby placed a hand on my arm. She gave me an encouraging smile, although I read concern in her big, brown eyes.

"Be careful."

"You know me."

She snorted, making Steve chuckle.

"She definitely knows you, Brother," Tomas said with a grin.

Jane just high-fived me, her eyes glittering with her suppressed power, and said, "Go get 'em."

"See you soon," I said, projecting as much confidence as I could before I stepped off the edge of the platform and dropped into the fog.

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