Time seemed to freeze as it walked inside. The creature waved its hand and a wall of shadow blocked the doorway, stopping the rushing air from pulling them out of the ship. It moved silently toward the group. It ignored Ash, moving toward Esther. It started to reach out to her. Seeing someone who had treated crashing a plane like a slight stumble scream made the monster approaching even more terrifying to Ash.

Ash felt a deep, burning feeling that she wouldn’t let anything, especially this thing, hurt Esther. She grabbed Ihli Azariah’s sword and clumsily unsheathed it, pointing it toward the monster.

Ash felt a surge of energy in her hands. The sword lit up in a brilliant golden light. The creature screeched, backing away as Ash swung wildly.
 
“Get back! Get back!” She yelled.

The monster backed away from them and slipped, breaking the shadow wall in the door and tumbling out. It fell into the sky and they didn’t stick around long enough to hear the splash.

Sai and the dragon smashed all the switches they could to make the door close, but the warning lights were still blaring. Ash quickly put the sword away as it went dim.

“Maybe a rocky landing incoming!” Sai yelled.

“At this point I’d be surprised if it was any other way!” Esther said.

One more dive, and the group careened towards a large fortress near the shore of the nearest land mass. Before Ash could even anticipate it, their ship skimmed the top edge of one of the leviathan ribs jutting out of the water, and they were spinning. They skidded to a halt, their landing somehow less dramatic than Ash braced for. She instinctively patted herself all over to make sure she didn’t have any serious injuries.

“Everyone OK?” Sai called out.

“Yeah,” Esther said. “A bit banged up, but nothing broken.”

They all gingerly climbed out of the ship. They were all alive, somehow, walking around. Ash made it out of the city that had felt like a prison for so long. Snow coated the ground.
 
“I can’t believe we just did that,” Ash said. “Do you have any clue what that thing was?”

“No idea,” Esther said. “Hopefully it’s rotting in the sea with the leviathans.” She patted Sai on the back. “Great flying.”

“Thanks,” Sai said.

“She just crashed her own plane so I’m not sure she qualifies as a good judge of pilots,” Ash said.

“They got us here safe, that’s the most important thing,” Esther said.

Sai blushed at the compliment.

“Just keep in mind if I had flown the whole time you would have had a much smoother ride.” The dragon said.

“I can’t believe you were keeping a dragon hidden on Quatra.” Esther asked.

“I’ll explain later,” Sai said. “Or not, this was as far as we planned this out.”

“Also, I have a name.” dragon said. “I’m Serril.”

“Pleasure.” Esther said.

Sai could sense the tension. It was understandable, the sapient dragons were the ones that were responsible for building a lot of the Verdant Colony’s machinations.

“We’ll look around for a good place to sleep.” Sai said. “You two hang out here for now.”

“Can’t we sleep on the ship? Or just keep going?” Ash suggested.

The ship looked like it was about to explode, so that was out. They were all completely drained as well, so carrying on wasn’t the wisest option. Fortunately, there were some abandoned buildings nearby.

As Ash wandered around a nearby building, not thinking much of scouting it for safety, she was still reeling and a little dizzy from everything that happened. But still alive. The building was abandoned likely due to the entire ceiling and roof being missing, giving Ash a beautiful view of the blanket of stars above. She sat down on a small stone bench, grateful to sit on anything that wasn’t gonna leave the ground anytime soon. Esther came up behind her with a bag.

“Alright, Ash. Time to check you over while we’re waiting.” Esther said.

“Sure.” Ash said, her voice a bit hoarse.

Esther had Ash take off her jacket and overshirt, to which Ash realized how chilly it was in this new wintry environment they found themselves in. Cold wind ran past the open part of her tank top, and she shivered. Esther took out a flashlight and prodded Ash's arms while she searched.

"Um...very thorough, huh?" Ash said.

Esther patted her shoulders.

“A few cuts. Nothing too bad. Anything feel out of place?”

Ash shook her head. “You really know a lot about all this stuff, huh?”

“Ever since I was young, I read the legends of the heroes," Esther said. "Endora was always my favorite, and she was the healer. I wanted to be like her. Even without her, though, I feel like it’s my calling. Ah, wait..."

Ash felt the cut on her upper back as soon as Esther found it.

“You might not like this part.” Esther said as she swabbed something over it. “Disinfectant. That must have cut through your jacket. Let it air out for a bit.”

After the checkup, Esther looked pensive. She walked over to probably the only functioning door in the building and shut it, sliding its chain lock shut. Ash's heart pounded as Esther whirled on her heels and sat beside her.
 
“Ash…” She said. Her eyes were shut.

Ash had to marvel for a moment how Esther still looked really pretty even after battling a bunch of Colony drones (including a freaky shadow monster thing) and going on a harrowing flight. It was really impressive.

Esther hugged her, and shook a little. It took Ash a second to register that she was crying.

“Thank you,” Esther said softly. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

Ash was red in the face from the compliment but I hugged back just as hard as she hugged me.

“Of course. I’m happy to help.” Ash wasn't sure what to say. She felt her answer was a bit stiff and maybe sounded forced, but it was succinct and true.

Esther had helped her too. Ash don’t know how much more she could have taken of the grind in her city. Deep down, she'd known for a long time that she desperately needed to get away. Now, thanks to Esther, she was free.

“So what’s next?” Ash asked.

"Myles sent me to get you, so now that we have you aboard, we catch up with Cloudy Eye – that's my mentor – and show him the sword. We need Ihli back, and this sword's the only way."

"What about Myles?" Ash asked.

"I'm sure we'll find a way to get her safe, too," Esther said. "If she hasn't broken out already."

Ash knew her sister was tough, and was probably giving the Colony hell while they had her. Still, it was a huge relief to know Esther hadn't forgotten about her.

"We'll find her, and find Ihli," Esther said. "And fix all of this."

A few days ago, all of this would have sounded absolutely insane, but Ash believed her. She learned that night how good Esther was at making someone believe in her. Ash could only nod before they stared at the stars for a while.