The whistle echoed through the night sky, as it usually did when the sky train passed. Steam was the only thing to follow the ongoing machine. No one knew why it didn’t blow smoke, or what even kept it in the sky. They could only believe that the king was on board, and hadn’t come back down in years.
The train’s loud whistle carried onto some of the zeppelins that couldn’t reach its altitude. It seemed to carry a higher pitch when it echoed over brass and copper surfaces.
Inside the cells on the deck of one of the largest zeppelins flying in the night, a man jolted up from the small cot. The sky train’s whistle dug at the insides of his ears as his vision spun. His name is Xantae Gaspar.
“Where in the bloody hell…?” He asked out loud.
Xantae’s vision settled. The metal floor of his cell reflected the moon that lay high in the sky. He looked to his left to see the deck of the zeppelin. A metal barred door stood between him and freedom, wherever that freedom may be.
“You awake, mate?” A voice questioned from behind Xantae, on the other side of the wall.
Xantae stood up from the cot, the metal groaning as it became relieved of weight. The moon’s light made Xantae shield his eyes. He looked out towards the direction the voice came from.
“Are we prisoners?” Xantae asked.
“Well I am. I don’t know about you. I was listening to the pirates-”
“Pirates?”
“Yeah, you know, sky pirates. The ones who got away from the politics of the Prince in power. Anyways, the buggers got frantic during yesterday’s storm. Said something like someone appeared on the ship randomly. I figured it was you. I was the only prisoner after all.”
It began to come back to Xantae. He was in Neasil, his home world; a world full of corruption and poverty. The noble only care for themselves and royalty was the same. At least, that’s how Xantae remembered it.
His blue eyes scanned the deck. “Where are all the pirates at?”
“Below deck, where it’s warm. All that fire they use to power this bloody thing. Steam and what not. So was it you?”
“Was it me what?”
“Were you the one that appeared out of the storm?”
“I guess so. I can’t really remember anything,” Xantae replied with a sigh.
“From before or at all?”
“Mostly at all…I know who I am, I know where I am…now…but I can’t seem to think of how I got here or just about anything before.”
“Strange indeed. Name’s Danlet, by the way.”
“Xantae, nice to meet you.”
“So are you an Elementalist? Thought maybe you were a Water Elementalist or something to come out of a storm.”
Xantae scratched his head. He was surprised to find a top hat on his head that had a pair of brass goggles wrapped around the brim. Elementalists were the majority of people on Neasil with the power to control Elements such as water, fire, earth, or air. Elementalists could pull their specific Element out of what they called the Elemental planes. Each Element had its own respective plane. Elementalists could also bend their Elements from the world around them. It was easier to just summon whatever they needed from the planes.
“I am an Elementalist…something of a rare sort.”
“Ah, me too mate. I’m a Dark Elementalist.”
Xantae remembered there were also Dark and Light Elementalists. Light Elementalists were killed off several hundred years ago due to the Dark Elementalists.
With a low pitched vworp, Danlet appeared in Xantae’s cell from the shadows.
“Whoa!” Xantae said as he jumped back, as much as he could.
Danlet was maybe a year older than Xantae, who was only 18. His hair was short and spiky; black as darkness. Danlet’s eyes almost seemed to light up the cell with the bright crimson.
“The Dark plane is an excellent tool at night. Now how about we bust out of here?”
“And go where? We are flying hundreds of metres in the sky!” Xantae exclaimed, but still remaining as quite as possible.
“What Element did you say you were again? We could probably take the lot out,” Danlet said as he examined outside the cell, his pale skin matching that of the moon.
“I didn’t. How many are there?”
“Mysterious one, you are,” Danlet said as he eyed back towards Xantae, “I think I’ve counted about 20 or so.”
“Are all of them Elementalists?”
“Pretty much.”
Xantae considered his options. He wasn’t sure what the pirates planned to do with him. They could easily throw him overboard if they couldn’t find a use for him.
Xantae could feel the blood rushing in his body. He stretched his arms up. He was wearing a maroon three piece suit. His reddish-orange hair was long and tied in a ponytail that came down the front of his shoulder. He remembered his Element. Blood.
Xantae instinctively reached into his coat to find a knife.
“Brilliant, we can pick the lock to get you… wait, what are you doing?” Danlet questioned as he watched Xantae cut his palm open.
“Just stand back. I’ll get myself out.”
“Well alright…” Danlet mumbled as he took the only step back he could, “Glad you have a plan. I can’t take non-Dark Elementalists through the plane. Not like they couldn’t just go themselves.”
Xantae didn’t react at Danlet’s joke. He raised his bleeding hand to the cell. The blood from his hand extended out and quickly engulfed the surface of the barred door.
The red liquid coated the door. Xantae looked back to Danlet, who stood in awe of what was happening. “You may want to do your own plane thing, because this would get messy for you,” Xantae said bluntly.
Danlet nodded. Xantae turned back to the door. He then took a step forward, walking right through the blood covered bars. His suit remained untouched by blood. Danlet stood a few steps away from the cells.
“So are you some sort of Blood Elementalist?”
“That I am.”
“Huh, never thought I’d see something as strange as that in my lifetime. Danlet Lokar, pleased to meet you, mate.”
The word Lokar made Xantae clench his fists. He couldn’t remember why, so he replied, “Xantae Gaspar.”
“Gaspar, eh? You from Gilwich?”
Xantae gave the man a look of confusion.
“Oh right. You don’t remember.”
“Yeah…so if you could just go into the Dark plane to get out of the cell, why not do that to the ground?”
“Your Element doesn’t have a plane, does it?”
“Not that I know of honestly.”
“Well yours might be like air. Air Elementalists haven’t been able to access their plane even though air lies just about everywhere. Anyways, I’ll forgive you because you seem to not remember.
Planes can be accessed for only short amounts of time. Otherwise, our bodies can’t take it. So to reach the ground from here would almost kill me. The Dark plane is hard enough to navigate in longer than second visits as is.”
Xantae looked off in the distance. He could see lights. He turned to Danlet and asked, “What city is that?”
Danlet looked to the front of the zeppelin. In the direction it was heading, lights trailed across the dark lands of Neasil.
“That’s Tavingham. Largest city of the entire planet. Mostly industrial until Prince Kardian moved in.”
“Prince Kardian…” Xantae mouthed quietly as he recognized the name.
“Aye, the bloody king of Neasil…or at least he pretends to be. I figured if I ever escaped, I would go for his head.”
Just then, Xantae felt a sharp pain in his head. Images of the Prince flooded his mind, followed by the sound of screams and burning buildings.
“Is that so?” Xantae asked as he rubbed his forehead slowly.
Danlet’s expression darkened. “Nobility!” He spat. “Always looking down on the poor. I’ve been treated like dirt by just about everyone of higher status.”
Danlet examined Xantae’s attire in the moonlight. “I’m honestly surprised you haven’t turned your nose at me.”
Xantae smirked. “I’m no noble. Perhaps I was at one point,” Xantae explained as he acknowledged his own attire, “But I have this feeling inside me that hates them as much as you do.”
Danlet was amused by Xantae’s words. “Well, with our unique Elements, maybe we can knock the crown down a few levels, eh?”
The screams continued to sound in Xantae’s mind. He began to hear his name being called out, followed by ‘Run!’ Xantae shook his head and gave Danlet a smile. “Let’s take this zeppelin over.”
Xantae followed Danlet below deck. It was a dramatic change in temperature. It was humid. Steam and smoke filled the air as it made its escape to the outside. Xantae wasn’t sure how the pirates managed in the conditions, but right now, he didn’t really care.
The screams echoed in Xantae’s head as he walked the narrow hallways of the zeppelin. He tried to think of why the screams were haunting him. He began to focus on his surroundings more and more rather than what was going on in his mind.
Danlet was hopping in and out of the Dark plane. Xantae kept his steps quiet as they neared the bunkroom. Danlet was already inside, looking out to him. He beckoned Xantae to hurry inside the bunkroom.
“I can get about five of them before the others would be upon me,” Danlet whispered, hardly auditable over the hissing of steam. “How about you mate?”
“I could probably take care of the lot after you take your five, and I take one.”
“I like your cockiness. Let’s see what you can do with that blood of yours.”
Xantae held his knife ready as he approached the nearest of dozens of single bunks. The bunkroom was only small walkways between several bunks all lined up. They were bolted into the metal floor so they didn’t move around. There were a few small windows on the opposite side of the room that gave it light.
Danlet popped out of the plane next to a bunk, quite far from Xantae. Snoring and sleep mumbling was all that could be heard, but for Xantae, the screams were unbearable.
Danlet looked over to Xantae and began to count down from five. Xantae was fidgeting and sweating. His fingers drummed along the knife’s handle.
Four. Xantae tried shifting where he stood. His head felt like it was about to burst from the screams.
Three. He couldn’t take it. He wanted to stab at his ears, but he knew that wouldn’t do any good. So Xantae did what he think would stop the screams.
Two. Xantae brought his knife down upon the pirate that slept before him. It was quick and over silently. The pirate made a low gurgle as blood oozed from his mouth. The blood from the knife wound trailed along the knife to Xantae’s hand. The screams stopped.
Danlet was taken aback by the first kill. He began to blast darkness into each pirate around him. The darkness moved like a smoke-like substance that could stab or cut. Elementalists always had some sort of immunity to getting killed instantly from Elements. Elementalists usually made it a habit to keep weapons like swords, spears, and most other melee weapons, alongside of bows and arrows. Besides bows and arrows, ranged weapons couldn’t quite project Elements as well, if at all.
The pirates awoke to either the screams, or the pain of having darkness blasted into their chest. Whichever it was, Xantae knew a fight was about to go down.
“Prisoners?!” One pirate asked out loud as he jumped out of his bunk.
Xantae quickly turned towards the remaining bunks. With the blood from his first victim, he moved his hand to his side, the blood forming a long rope-like strand. He remembered that a whip was always an easy weapon to use with his Element.
Danlet swung his hand into the air, making all the bunks break from the floor and flip mid-air. Xantae clenched his fist. It caused all the blood from Danlet’s victims to quickly form a spiral along his arm. The crimson liquid moved slowly as if it were alive.
Xantae decided to take advantage of the pirates’ distraction. He could see light from a few Fire Elementalists in the room. ‘Figures.’ Xantae thought to himself.
“Bloody Elementalists,” Danlet spat as he ducked into the shadows.
Xantae tossed the knife aside now that he had blood to use. He ducked as the bunks hit the floor and fire came roaring by. His top hat nearly singed on top. He grinded his teeth as anger grew inside.
“Come on now! You don’t go and nearly take my hat clean off!” Xantae yelled.
Danlet tilted his head in confusion. Xantae shot him a glance as he realized that he wasn’t sure why he was protective of his hat. With a quick shrug, Xantae turned back towards the pirates.
“How the hell did you lot get out of your cells?” A gruff voice asked from behind.
The two turned around to see a man standing in the doorway. “The captain,” Danlet whispered, “You can always tell by their coats and jewellery.”
Xantae eyed the captain carefully. He noticed that the coat was trimmed with gold and had makeshift badges of rank pinned to the chest. It was a black coat with buttons of gold and yellow ropes stretched across the sides. Xantae remembered that sky pirates were notorious for coming up with their own sorts of fashion.
“Answer me now, or I will kill you where you stand.”
Xantae looked to the remaining pirates. There was a little more than a dozen remaining, all ready with Elemental Fire. He rose from where he hid. “Captain,” Xantae said as he looked to the man.
“Well?”
“No pirate will move a muscle, and my friend and I are going to take this zeppelin to Tavingham,” Xantae explained to the captain.
The captain laughed. “I don’t think you’re under the terms to negotiate, noble. You’re out numbered!”
“You seem to rely on numbers, captain. But I’m here to tell you, numbers don’t matter when you face me!”
The captain stopped laughing. He looked sternly to Xantae. “I hate to tell you this, but we are already heading to Tavingham. Almost there now. No one will make it off the zeppelin without my men and me alive. The royal guard won’t hesitate to shoot us down if they don’t get my signal.”
Xantae looked at Danlet, “Brace yourself.”
Danlet’s expression changed from confusion to worry. He had no idea what Xantae was about to do, and it didn’t take long to find out.
“So you surrender now, and let me make my signal, or in the next few seconds we will be shot down.”
Xantae smirked. “Why don’t you bugger off already? You can’t…rather, you won’t capture me again.”
The other sky pirates began to worry. It was too late. The captain sighed and readied his own Fire Element. The others pirates dashed towards Xantae. The battle cries were so loud that none of them heard the cannon fire.

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