Aboard the Airboat

Leading in front was Arsen, mounted on his loyal steed. Tereus was beside him also mounted. And behind them, two harions were pulling a carriage with Rhene as its coachman.

Once inside the gate, Arsen went down off his mount. Aeneas and the two girls rushed towards the main gate to welcome them, and so did Lyra and the others inside the main residence.

The door of the carriage opened. A young woman with long straight red hair emerged. She was slim. Her amber eyes were stunning, and some would say that she was a younger version of her mother. Although, unlike Lyra who most of the time has a smile on her face, Lois's base expression is a serious and composed one.

But Lois's mouth formed a smile as soon as she saw her little brother also smiling from ear to ear.

"Aenie," she called with her arms wide open.

Aeneas rushed towards Lois and gave her a tight hug, "I've missed you, older sister," he said.

"Me too," Lois let go of her younger brother. She scanned him, then measured his height with his hand, "You've grown. We're almost the same height," she said.

Aeneas let out a chuckle, "Next time, I'll be much taller," he replied.

Lyra also went closer to them. Lois's smile disappeared when her gaze turned to her. With a nervous smile, Lyra enveloped the two of them with her hug and said, "It hasn't been long but I also missed you, my daughter."

"Mother. I know about your wild spending before you returned home."

With a nervous chuckle, Lyra kissed her daughter on the head, "Oh, how I've missed you, my beautiful daughter."

"We still need to have a serious talk, mother," Lois replied. To which Lyra acted as if she didn't hear her.

Lyra diverted her attention toward her friend who just walked out of the carriage.

"Ana!" she exclaimed. Lyra let go of her two children to hug Anastasia.

Anastasia Parda is Lyra's best friend since her childhood, a sister who doesn't share the same blood, if you will. She doesn't have a spouse or children and was known to Lyra's kids as their aunt. Though currently, Aeneas doesn't know her since the last time she visited them was when Aeneas was but a toddler.

Similar to Lyra, Anastasia shared the same interest in research and became a prominent figure in their field. She is the same young age as Lyra, has blond hair curled around the end, blue eyes, flawless fair skin, and a great figure. 

With a grin on her face, "How much did you spend to make poor Lou mad?" Anastasia said.

"It wasn't even that much."

Lois heard what her mother said, "We'll be dirt poor in a month if you continue with your spending and still think that it wasn't 'much'. Please talk some sense to her, Aunt Ana," she scoffed.

"Oh Lou, I wish I could," Anastasia paused, she stared at Aeneas and smiled, "Is that you Aenie? You've turned into a man now," she said while walking to Aeneas and hugged him. 

Aeneas was a bit embarrassed at first since Anastasia was already a stranger to him. But when she embraced him, the boy could slightly remember the same feeling from when he was a toddler.

"It's nice seeing you again, Aunt Ana," Aeneas replied, copying what Lois called her. Anastasia was happy and hugged him even tighter while saying how cute he was.

While the others introduced themselves to Anastasia, Kyra, who hadn't had the chance to meet Lois went towards her and introduced herself. Aeneas also noticed that both Neoma and Tiriara were staring at them from a distance. He called for them and asked the two to introduce themselves.

With the addition of Anastasia and Lois, the Caspius manor's vibrance went up a notch. The already lively dinner table has become boisterous. Stories and laughter didn't seem to have an end.

One of Anastasia's stories was about how the airboat they were riding was close to hitting a floating island in Akrisia. She told the story with grand gestures and a befitting tone, on the other hand, Lois was saying that she was exaggerating it and that the crew already took account of that hurdle and steered the airboat as planned.

Hours after the joyful dinner, the time when most of the residents of the Caspius manor were inside their rooms, sleeping, four people remained awake inside the confines of Arsen's office. It was Arsen himself, Lyra, Anastasia, and Donos.

Anastasia hadn't found anything about what Lyra asked her to look for in the newly discovered ruins. Still, the ruin was filled with interesting artifacts and carvings on its walls. It is believed that the newly discovered ruin dates back thousands of years ago.

Lyra felt hopeless, "What should we do?" she muttered. Her friend consoled her, saying that there were more ruins to be found. 

"I know you worry, but I still think that we should tell him, Mother."

Lyra looked up at Arsen, "Maybe you're right. But, it's still too early," she said.

Anastasia looked Lyra in the eyes, "I didn't find anything in the ruin but…" she began telling them that she'd heard a rumor that might lead to something helpful to them. She has been chasing leads and making more progress than she thought she would.

The next few days passed by in a blink of an eye. And before they know it, the time for the summit games has arrived. 

Thirteenth of the month of Leo (August), early in the morning, the Caspius's arrived at the port of Lapoli to go to the centermost city in all of Nusterra, Laochyro. All of the four Caspius, Eluard, the female knight Kyra, and Neoma have come together with the Chronis's, the knight Konon, and Anastasia. Going via an airboat wasn't to the liking of Lord Nireus, he even protested at first, but Lyra convinced him.

On the other hand, adding to the black dye on her hair, Neoma's eyes were covered with a thin layer of rubbery glass lenses to change its color to dark brown, and the clearskin covering her Zeal was replaced with a new one. It was Lyra's condition to Neoma when she begged to take her with them.

Once the airboat took off to the skies, Aeneas and the others who were new to the experience marveled at the sight of a seemingly new world. The rich Nusterran land appeared livelier from above.

The airboat the group boarded passed by a couple of floating islands of differing sizes. Although these levitating rock formations existed everywhere in Nusterra, the kingdom of Akrisia had it in abundance. Some say that it was due to the power of the God Libra, while researchers explained that it was due to some force repelling the islands from the ground, a case of magical nature.

Some of the floating islands were huge enough for an ecosystem to exist. Although a huge percentage of creatures living in such places were avian, there still lived a large population of creatures incapable of flight, leading to the theory that these islands used to be on the ground.

Aeneas and the other passengers remained on the deck of the airboat. Meanwhile, the lord of Arsida, and people similar to him who don't enjoy being up in the sky, were inside their quarters.

Neoma would point out everything that took her interest, even the top view of a house which appeared small to her gave the girl giggles. Aeneas would also look in whichever direction the girl was pointing. Meanwhile, Tiriara would give a fun reaction even though it wasn't her first time boarding an airboat.

Then, everyone heard a loud screech from one of the floating islands. When they looked in its direction, they saw a huge beast flying towards them. It was as huge as a buzgal, had a long neck and sharp beak, and its wings were longer than its body. A Separo, which is an avian beast gray in color with white highlights at the ends of its feathers, its eyes were supposed to be white, yet it was blood red.

When the crew realized that they were dealing with a maddened beast, they assisted the passengers on the deck to go inside the airboat. The crew members were all smiles and didn't have a single sign of panic on their faces. Those who were also experienced in riding an airboat walked at a decent pace while following the directions of the crew. 

Then, a squad of three people went outside. Two of them bearing the Zeal of Libra. One of the Zeal-bearers of Libra wielded a spear as his weapon, while the remaining two used a sword. The spear user was bulky, had short white hair, gray eyes, fair skin, and was in his forties.

All of them appeared calm, they looked at each other as if deciding who would deal with the problem. In the end, the man with the spear used his Zeal to float into the air and stand at the top of the airboat's mast. Then, he raised his weapon, aimed at the beast and enveloped it with wind. Paired with his scream, the man threw his spear, piercing through the maddened separo and bringing it down.

Only after he threw his weapon did the man realize that there was no way for him to take his weapon back aside from chasing after it and leaving the aerodin, which wasn't an option for him. His face was also painted with worry, praying that the spear he threw wouldn't hit anyone on the ground. Though the fact that they were above a forest gave him a little sense of relief.

The three of them were from a special squad from the Order Against Chaos of Decatris.