As soon as we jumped off the cliff, the angry jeering of the mob was replaced with rushing wind. We were falling fast. Even at such a massive height, it wouldn’t take long till we hit the bottom. So as soon as my feet had left the ground, I shouted out, “Ostorox!”

Hugo, who was doing a controlled dive beside me, summoned his large Void Spawn spirit. It formed below us and we landed awkwardly on the giant, fleshy head of the creature. On impact, Daisy fell away from me and momentum forced my body to roll over to the side. I glimpsed the waves below and panicked as I felt myself slipping. Hugo had nothing left to summon that could save me. If I fell off of Ostorox then that was it.

Daisy’s hand reached out and grabbed me before I fell. She then hauled me back up with a surprising amount of strength.

After I caught my breath, I thanked her and Hugo. Of course, I then realized we were still falling but slower, which meant my gamble hadn’t entirely paid off yet.

Ostorox in life, and in death as Hugo’s spirit summon, had some passive ability that allowed it to float off the ground and propel itself around. But whether that ability would work over water or be actively controlled by Hugo was the real question. Which, if the fast approaching waves and jagged rocks were any indication, we were about to find out.

Daisy and I held on to Ostorox as we hurtled towards the rocks. There was nothing either of us could do directly. Hugo would either succeed and steer us to safety or we’d die. Daisy’s hand found mine and gripped it tightly. Despite her earlier bravado, she didn’t want to die anymore than I did.

Hugo strained at the invisible weight of the thing. “Come on. Rise!” Hugo yelled.

Our descent was slowing, but not enough to save us, and the rocks were getting closer. I closed my eyes and braced for the end.

My body then jolted like we’d hit something. A spark of fear ignited in me thinking that we’d hit the rocks. But then Ostorox shot forward.

“You are now flying with Corvus airways,” said Hugo in a cheery voice. “Please keep your hands and feet on top of the floating tentacle monster at all times.”

I opened my eyes. Hugo was sat in front of us as he piloted the spirit summon.

“You did it!” I said, amazed that he was flying the creature.

“You sound surprised,” Hugo noted, while staring straight ahead.

Daisy narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, why do you sound surprised?”

“Its just the adrenaline from the fall,” I said unconvincingly. “It’s messing with my voice. I always knew Hugo could do it.”

“Oh god, you had no idea on whether this would work or not.” Daisy punched me in the arm harder than I would’ve liked.

“Ow!”

“You acted like you had a plan!”

“I did. It just wasn’t guaranteed to work.”

“Wasn’t guaranteed?” Daisy repeated, her voice rising.

She hit me again.

“Ow!”

“Stop arguing. I need to focus,” Hugo said. “Don’t think I won’t turn this cosmic horror monstrosity around if you two don’t behave.”

Daisy reluctantly let the matter drop.

We stayed low, floating just a few feet off of the ocean’s surface. Two ships forming part of the naval blockade that surrounded the island were in the distance. I told Hugo to stop, and we hovered in the air, waiting until the others arrived.

A few minutes later, a large golden rectangle of light came flying around the corner of the island carrying the rest of our group. Hemi sat with his legs crossed at the front with his book open in his lap. He appeared relaxed but focused on keeping his magic carpet barrier active.

Elise stood with her shoulders hunched. Her knuckles white as she gripped her staff tightly. She did not even glance at us or appear surprised to see how we were flying. Pete, the only non-tower climber, stayed close behind her with his legs bent as if he were about to fall. While Sebastian, the final member of the group, chose that moment to vomit over the side.

“Does he need a health potion?” Daisy asked.

Sebastian shook his head. “It’s just motion sickness,” he muttered.

We both knew it was more than that. Hell, he was probably still drunk at this very moment. But this wasn’t the time for an intervention.

“We’ll have to move quickly,” I said to the group. “Others will have been contacted through party chat and once we break through the blockade, the other ships will be on us fast.”

“What do we do once we’ve broken through?” asked Daisy. “Are we stealing a ship?”

“Hugo’s got that covered,” I assured her. “We’ve just got to get past those two ships.”

Gunpowder exploded in the distance in a sequence of one-two-three from both of the ships. A shot of air rushed past us before there were multiple splashes into the water behind us.

“They’re firing on us,” I said.

Hugo made Ostorox veer to the left just as the cannons were being fired again. Hemi and the others swung hard in the other direction so that we were two smaller targets. We were both still potentially in range though.

“Take us higher!” I yelled to Hugo over the wind.

“It won’t let me!” he shouted back.

Ostorox could only float a few feet above surfaces rather than fly completely. We were stuck dodging cannon fire until we could get past the ships.

“Do you have any ranged spells?” I asked Daisy.

She frowned, considering the question. “Nothing that could hurt them. I could make a wide blanket of smoke to hide our location, but none of you would be able to see through it, so we’d be flying blind.”

I nodded and formed a short blood sword. Previously, I’d been able to create a devastating ranged attack with my Arc Slash ability. It would send out a magical cut far beyond my sword's natural range. I tried using it now to destroy one of the ships. I swung the sword, and as I tried to use the ability, my control faltered and the blood became liquid. It fell on an occupied Hugo.

“Hey! Did you just throw blood at me while I’m driving?” Hugo sputtered.

I muttered an apology and sat back down, frowning. My control over the blood wasn’t good enough. Maybe I should pick up another steel sword or work on leveling up the ability? Whatever the case, my current abilities weren’t enough. I had to do more than simply increase my level. I had to be more.

Meanwhile Elise didn’t lack for either control or power. She ordered Hemi to get closer and the magic carpet sped ahead of us. Her group rose up out of cannon fire range until they were over the ships. She pointed her staff and blasted the ships with fire, one after the other.

I grimaced, but said nothing. She was angry. Angry at being betrayed and having something she’d worked so hard on be taken away. And so she rained that scorn down upon them.

Men and women screamed. People whose names she might have known. Nobody below fought back with magic, which suggested that there were few tower climbers aboard. At least none with ranged abilities.

There was no more cannon fire after that. We’d been quickly forgotten as survivors jumped overboard or rushed to quell the flames. Hugo flew us between the two burning ships and out onto the open sea where Elise and the others were waiting.

“Okay, so now what?” asked Daisy.

“Hugo?” I asked.

The crow yawned and was barely able to stay on his tiny feet. “That was a lot. I need to sleep.”

“I know,” I said sympathetically. “But didn’t you have one more thing to show off?”

His eyes lit up. “Oh right!” He coughed to clear his throat and spread his wings out like a magician. “Pocket ship, I summon thee!”

A large galleon ship with full sails appeared and dropped into the water, causing big waves to form.

Hugo didn’t have to say anything to make the ship appear. Somehow, he’d found a way to store a ship in his inventory and had been saving it for an emergency. Elise had begged him for the secret, but Hugo said there was no secret. He’d wanted to loot one, and so he did.

So far, he was the only one who’d been successful at it, much to Elise’s and Hemi’s disappointment. They’d both wanted a pocket ship, as Hugo had called it.

Hemi widened his magic carpet to allow the rest of us to step aboard. Once we were clear of Ostorox, Hugo dismissed the spirit summon and promptly fell asleep in my hands.

Hemi then flew us up onto the ship, but the barrier beneath our feet wobbled. He too had pushed himself to the brink of exhaustion and was now running out of magic.

Once we were on the deck, he muttered something about sleeping for a while and went below deck in search of a bed.

The rest of us went into the captain’s quarters. There was a single bed to the side, an empty desk, and a large table. On that table, I rolled out the map and had everyone touch it. Once physical contact was made, they could see what I saw, which was that the map had changed. The town had gotten much smaller and now lay at the bottom of the map. Our ship had been drawn on it and now the arrow was pointing north west out to sea.

“There’s nothing out there,” said Pete, who’d been too intimidated by the others to speak till now.

“It’s uncharted territory,” concurred Elise. “But then that makes sense. The System wants us to explore the dangerous unknown.”

Pete frowned. “What about supplies? If we don’t know how long the voyage will be, how will we survive?”

Daisy stepped forward. “I raided several apothecaries before coming here. If we ration the health potions carefully, then they will keep the hunger and thirst at bay for quite some time.”

“And we’re supposed to just trust you with our lives?” asked Elise.

Sebastian snorted. “Uh oh, in fighting already. You better get on that fearless leader.”

“Shut up,” Elise and I said to him at the same time. We then looked at each other.

“Wait, who’s in charge here?” asked Pete.

Elise and I both declined to answer, but we knew it was a conversation that we’d need to have in private once we were safe.

“We should focus on getting out of here,” I said.

Elise nodded. “Pete, you’re our best navigator. You should have the map.”

I quickly agreed before any doubts could be expressed.

Boom!

An explosion of cannon fire erupted in the distance. I looked out the window and saw five ships racing towards us. I hastily shoved the map away. It still needed protected until we were free and clear.

“More ships, closing in fast,” I reported.

There was a clap of thunder as the sky darkened and lightning flashed.

Somehow I doubted that it was just the natural weather.

“We’ve got to get this ship moving. Who knows how to sail?” I asked.

Sebastian, Daisy, and Elise all shrugged before looking at Pete, who sighed. “This is going to be a long voyage.”