Setting Off

'☝︎☼︎✌︎✞︎✋︎❄︎✡︎📪︎ 👍︎⚐︎☠︎👎︎☜︎☠︎💧︎☜︎📪︎ ☼︎✋︎💧︎☜︎📬︎'

'☝︎☼︎✌︎✞︎✋︎❄︎✡︎📪︎ ☜︎✠︎🏱︎✌︎☠︎👎︎📪︎ ☞︎✌︎☹︎☹︎'

'☝︎☼︎✌︎✞︎✋︎❄︎✡︎📪︎ 💧︎🕆︎☼︎☼︎⚐︎🕆︎☠︎👎︎📪︎ 💧︎⚐︎☹︎✋︎👎︎✋︎☞︎✡︎'

'𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦-𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴.'

Omni was experimenting off in a corner using single digits worth of energy so as not to cause a problem. Gravity magic was obtuse to use, and while having knowledge from its previous life is a little helpful, it never really got the chance to go to school, so it still struggled with the nuanced control of gravity.

Eventually its focus is broken by a tapping on its shoulder.

"Things are mostly ready to go." Came the familiar voice of Dean.

"...? When did you get back?" Omni wonders.

The sly demon motions around to the table where the Queen was sitting, now empty and covered in used plates. "About ten minutes ago, had lunch with the Queen and the others. Charlotte and Silverbeard have already started heading to the landing and the Queen went back to the palace." He explained.

Valentina and Christoph were in the kitchen dealing with the remnants of the lunchtime rush as they had decided to flip the sign back to open.

"We won't be back to Formeldr for quite a while, so say your goodbyes and let's get a move on." Dean says with a grin.

"Mmm." Omni inclined its head slightly, moving from its spot in the corner to the bat wing doors to the kitchen. "I'm leaving, try not to let the place fall apart." It states succinctly.

"Ah... Okay, stay safe!" Valentina chirps with a smile. Christoph gives a simple nod and continues to work.

Dean can't help but chuckle. "You're all terrible at this." He says, swinging around and heading out of the building. "Come on friend~."

The golem gives a simple shrug and follows along, it had no reason to be 'good' at goodbyes or conversing in general. Or at least it never used to.

"The landing is northwest, not too far away from the entrance of the Labyrinth. They had to tear down a bunch of houses to make room for it once we got a decent amount of airships up and running." Dean exposits, glancing at the elegant androgynous frame Omni had created. "You're quite different from before, yet still quite the same."

"What do you mean by that?" Omni asks with a slight tilt of its head.

"Well, before the bodies you carved out were just like you would expect from a golem, simple armored designs, and now you could be mistaken for a person if you had the right color of material."

"I chose this form to make it easier for others to converse with me. It seems to work a bit too well with some people..." It sighs as it thinks about how clingy Valentina seemed to be.

"Mmm. I heard you teamed up with Saric and his buddies when you were still 'Atlas', I would have guessed you had trouble with co-operation based on how you treated me, but you're a lot softer than I thought you were." Dean chuckles.

"I am not 'soft', it was simply more efficient, and also served as a learning experience on how 'knights' fight, even if they aren't properly recognized." It states flatly.

"You haven't heard? They recently got properly knighted by the Queen. They don't have the same authorities as the knights you see around, but they kept their degree of freedom in exchange for continuing to make regular delves into the Labyrinth."

"Oh? They must be quite busy then."

"Eh, not really, it's pretty much the same as what they were doing before being knighted. You didn't visit them after you were brought back?"

"The thought never occurred to me to visit them." It replies simply.

"Hmm, the time for take-off is pretty soon, so I guess you'll have to wait until you get back to see them."

"I don't see a reason to go out of my way to visit them." Omni says coldly.

Dean chuckles. "Hey hey, I heard you 'went out of your way' to protect the trainee knights."

"That's only to build rapport if I ever need it in the future."

"Aha~, then isn't that all the more reason to visit them?"

The golem frowns slightly, having talked itself into a corner. It decides to just not respond to the fair point. Dean shrugs after a bit of silence and keeps leading the way. The two pass through the city square containing the entrance to the Labyrinth, filled with adventurers preparing to go down or coming back.

Omni watches them for a bit as it walks. Despite fighting with their lives on the line to make a living, they all seemed to be cheerful to some degree, even the ones coming back injured.

It can't really understand risking your life when there are plenty other ways to make money, but chalks it up to a difference in worlds. It did find fighting here interest, almost fun even, but it had a body that couldn't feel pain and could resist most attacks.

'𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯.'

Omni hums a little as it shakes off the thoughts. A few minutes later they arrive at the landing where a smaller version of the airships that can be seen circling the city sits. Up close they look more like blimps than anything else, with the chalky white stone replacing the balloon and a single harness for a wyvern, though this model didn't have any propellers. The golem takes notice of the large wyvern eating at a trough nearby.

'𝘐𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯.'

It remembers visiting an archeology museum at one point when it was a child and seeing a skeleton very similar to what this living wyvern is.

'𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵... 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘘.. 𝘘.. 𝘘𝘶𝘦... 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘵𝘻𝘢𝘭? 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘭𝘶𝘴.'

Seeing a live 'dinosaur' stirred a bit of childlike wonder that had long been dormant in its soul, making the static slight smile on its face widen a little.

Dean taps it on the shoulder, once again snapping it back to attention. "We're almost ready to set off. You coming?"

"Of course." It replies flatly, the smile on its face returning back to normal. Handlers from the office building come out to hook the wyvern up to the harness, a heavy leather ensemble connected with metal chains to the front of the stone balloon with plenty of slack. Omni watches as the wyvern climbs up to the top of the balloon where there appears to be a platform with guard rails.

"Once we're up to a good altitude the wyvern will 'take off' to begin pulling us." Dean explains as he leads Omni into the airship. The bottom reminded it of a gondola lift but larger, with a large logo emblazoned on the largest window depicting a silhouette of a wyvern's head. In the middle sat a spiral staircase leading up into the stone balloon.

"Is it hollow?" The golem asks.

"Not entirely. There still needs to be enough stone to lift the airship, but there is a cabin in there and the stairs lead all the way up to the top in case people want to catch some fresh air or need to defend from airborne assailants." Dean explains again. "Charlotte and Silverbeard are resting in the cabin. Charlotte gets motion sick rather easily, and Silverbeard drank a lot of alcohol. He says he's not drunk and it's just motion sickness, but we haven't even moved yet, so I think he's a lightweight."

"Hmm. And you?"

"Oh please, I wouldn't be very good at my job if I got sick, would I?" Dean chuckles nervously.

"... I see. So the Queen purposely chose you to pick on you."

Dean sighs. "... Yes."

"Did you make up the bit about the red tape because you get motion sick?"

"No, that was unfortunately not made up." Dean sighs again. "I just can't catch a break."

"Uh-huh." Omni meanders about the room, looking out through the windows and examining what appears to be controls.

"There's a magic tool at the back of the balloon that produces a propulsion force, but it's only used in case the wyvern is unable to continue flying." Dean pipes up again.

"You seem rather eager to explain everything."

Dean chuckles. "I have to show my usefulness somehow, right? I don't want you thinking I'm useless."

"Are you not?" Omni asks with a tilt of its head.

"Oh, how you wound me~." Dean wipes a non-existent tear from his eye.

The crew come in shortly after, consisting of a leopard-man on the bestial side wearing a bomber jacket and a newsboy cap who is clearly the 'pilot', and two robe wearing mages with their hoods up to hide their features. Omni gets suspicious at first, but the robes have the same logo as emblazoned on the side of the airship. The three pause to look over the fancy golem, but continue about their business after a moment.

"Hmm..." It turns its attention to the roof which consisted of the chalky white stone. "Does the stone have a proper name, or are we just to keep calling it 'that chalk white stone'?"

Before Dean can open his mouth the pilot replies. "Interested? Scholars named it Quetzalite."

The golem stops in its tracks. "That's rather on the nose, isn't it?"

Both the pilot and Dean look confused. "What do you mean?" Dean asks.

"... These 'wyverns' resemble a creature I know as a Quetzalcoatlus. It seems like a rather absurd coincidence if not purposeful." It explains.

"Huh. First I've heard of that. We've just always called them wyverns." The pilot shrugs.

Dean strokes his chin. "Quetzalcoatlus, that's a bit of a mouthful. Was it a creature from Phycaster?"

Omni pauses to look at Dean. "... I find it odd you know about that. But no, they were far older."

The demon shrugs. "It's my job to know things. It's not exactly a secret."

The golem shrugs in return.

"Anyways, everything is ready to go." The pilot states. He waves to the handlers outside as they do a final check circling the airship, giving the thumbs up back to the pilot and the mages, who connect pump-like magic tools to carved ports on the roof of Quetzalite, infusing energy into it to create buoyancy. The pilot shuts the sliding door and locks it in place, then shouts up the ladder to let Silverbeard and Charlotte they were taking off.

The airship begins to lift off the ground, slowly at first then speeding up until they come to a rest at a lofty height. Omni can't resist moving over to a window, gazing out at the beautiful sight of the massive redwood canopy below them, stretching out as far as the eye can see.

The airship jolts slightly and begins moving as the wyvern hops off the front of the airship and begins flying, setting off at a steady pace southwards.