He was cold, the sharp shift in temperature a punch to his gut that nearly cause him his dinner as he was hit with a wave of nausea. The fabric of his clothes tore at his body as he felt the pull of gravity snag hold and Ezra was keenly aware of two things. He had no idea where he mount was and he was falling fast. So terribly fast.
His eyes went wide with fear, the unsettling truth that he would plummet to his death washing over him... And though despite the macabre thought, he found there was one thing he could not deny. The beauty of the portrait Hydaelyn painted before him. The night sky was alive with a thousand stars and deep purples, blues, and green stained the darken canvas of the night sky.
If he died, he could think of far fewer beautiful images to last remember.
He found peace at that moment... And smiled as he Adar matched his decent and he took hold of the the Lanner, taking mounting the huge bird of prey who righted himself. No longer faced with death, Ezra laughed out a breath he didn’t know he held and it was then he realized the crate he ported with was no where in sight. Try as he might, he couldn’t recall what happened when he ported. Just overwhelming darkness, and then being spat out into the open sky. Had the box been left in the in between? He shook his head, a mystery for later it would, as he remembered what transpired below turned his mount around to return to the ship. It was high time he finished this after all.
Ezra skidded to a stop besides Wyatt, pausing to conjure a healing spell the moment he connected his accelerator to his sword and adopted that familiar stance those who practiced the red arts took on while casting. The Roe was trying to wave him off as he did so however, pushing to spur the red mage on.
“Can’t waste time on me!” He argued.
“Still have time left... If it’s on a timer she had to leave herself enough time to escape.” Ezra reasoned.
“Kind of cocky to think you can find it that easy.” Wyatt countered.
“A bomb which uses gas, needs a large enough room to circulate... Open windows perhaps... Below deck somewhere so it rises up and clears space... And it has to look inconspicuous so it would go unnoticed up until now.... Did I miss anything?” Ezra said unable to hide his smirk as Wyatt was was bathed in a warm bright light and the wounds he endured began to shrink back.
“... Smart ass... Go, I’ll secure our traitor here.” Wyatt said with a chuckle as he rushed over to Sumi.
Ezra wasted little time, racing to the stairwell and opting to leap downward to the deck below as to not waste any more time. Landing with a thud, he looked around to ensure there were no more surprises for me him. All the while he hoped he wasn’t just being cocky like Wyatt said and knew what the hell he was talking about. Maybe there was no timer at all and it would go off any second.
He shook his head in disagreement though.
No, She needed to stay alive to set the scene afterwards.
Ezra looked about the ship, frozen in place as he tried to reason where Sumi would store the bomb. Somewhere it would go unnoticed. Curious eyes would notice anything odd around her footlocker as a ship hand as herself wouldn’t have private quarters. Any good spy wouldn’t keep anything condemning around their person while under cover as well. It needed to be something she had access too but could store out of sight. He then thought to the first time he saw her. She had been playing cards and moving to get refills for her drinking partners. However when Ezra told her who he had been there to meet, she headed off in the other direction, forgetting about the drinks in question.. Which meant...
Ezra raced off to where she had moved towards and ran right into a store room. Pausing at the entry, he frantically looked about and saw nothing out of the norm. Just crates. He was beginning to feel nervous and prayed he didn’t choose wrong again but then his gaze shifted to a grate that was out of place. Not as large as the others, it stood by itself, not stacked along with the other crates.
This has to be it!
Kneeling behind the crate he brought one had up to it and was about to lift the lid when he paused. Was it a trap? Did she set something up in place in case someone found it?
Think! Think! Think! He chastised himself then paused. Think, think, think... His thoughts followed a pattern, a repeating tone.
Pressing his ear to the box he found he wasn’t crazy.
Tick, tick, tick.
A clock was inside, perhaps something used to count down. Now convinced this was the box he looked around the room frantically. Could he risk moving it? If he was afraid to open the lid out of fear of it going off could he even risk trying to lift the damned thing? He was running out of options fast and he knew it. Could he managed to get everyone one off the ship in time? What about the supposed sharks which were out there?
“.... This better work...” He said to himself before he whistled long and hard.
Ezra heard the fluttering of wings upon the window and didn’t need to look to know his mount was just outside. “Fly high Addy...” He ordered his mount who responded with a squawk and took off.
Hand placed on the box, Ezra took a deep breath and began to pour his aether into the accelerator. For about two years now he had been studying aetheric currents. He studied with Master Matoya, read his grand fathers journals, and even came up with his own theories regarding the use of teleportation magics. So he was fairly certain that he would be able to port the small distance from the ship to his mount high above with the bomb in toll.... Or he would somehow fuse with the crate and explode..
“Well... Here goes...” He said as he focused on his mount, creating the mental image in his head as the store room was flooded with blinding light. The light continued to building, bathing everything with it’s luminous glow until Ezra was forced to close his eyes and then just like that, he was swallowed by darkness... Black inky darkness that stretched on for all eternity.
Meanwhile, Adar continued to rise higher and higher, his master no where in sight...
