Chapter IV: The Divide III

26 Degrees Grand Republique evening.

Edwin Marsh, 12th March 1894, Pariol;

After goodbyes and kneeling, I follow the two ladies towards their vehicle, a tall elf sitting in front with deep flaring midnight blue hair.

"Ah, madams, you made it back, from the looks of your faces it seemed to go fluently." He shares a warm smile while looking at me in wonder.

"Ah, Sophie this must be Edwin Marsh?" The onset of this idea begins to worry me. He knows me, have we met? Questions stir around my head for a while. A little distraught I look straight at the vehicle. Paranoia sinking in.

"Are you alright Edwin, I understand that this seemed like a strange request to ride with us, but I have matters to discuss with you. You seem rather mature for such a young age." I am only twenty-one, I didn't know whether to feel insulted or not...

"It's about a potential job hire, trust me we provide good wages and we have an open highly skilled job available. You seem to be the perfect man for the job." She continued,

"And this will all be done privately, and trust me our driver will keep this confidential." He nods and starts up the automobile, a flash of light ignites. As we hop in we slowly make our way from the châteaux's New Viridis Hortus. The Hidden Green Gardens, the private property of the Evergarden Household. Closest to my old protected villa right outside of Pariol. Vast gardens branched out of the mansion that settled itself comfortably with the nature around it, a truly beautiful sight of pure elegance and greenery. The machine gains motion, zooming past the gardens and heading near the gates outside. I hold on to dear life my heart pounding slightly, the comfort of safety whispering away. The officer who maintains the gate gives the clear and magically unveils the exit. We throttle past it gaining distance away from any feeling of security.

"I'll think about it. But uh... is this safe?" I tighten my grip every turn we make whizzing past.

"Ah yes, we have been doing some testing." She smiles while Claire looks in arrogance. Sophie chuckles reluctantly;

"We still are in the testing phase, but our driver is very experienc-" Her words were flushed away by a harsh turn.

"Don't worry I have things under control."

My paranoia continued to elevate, yet the brush of fresh air filled me with joy, it has been a while. Yet in the corner of my eyes hidden near the exit of the road leading to the gardens, a bunch of automobiles stand stationary with men dressed in black. My heart sinks. Claire looks in the other direction while Sophie looks directly in confidence.

"If you still would care to say no to my deal why not see what my baby can do, do it now Silver!" We exit out the oneway road and into the rural roads, as the other machines follow suit.

"Why of course madam, but as you know we need more of a clearer path, and it seems their automobiles have quite the speed." Silver throttles the machine faster, whilst it starts... shifting? Metal panels twist and turn as the shape of what appears to be a ram slides in front of the vehicle; the sides tightening around us. Silver waves his hand and steers. On the opposite almost as if it came from thin air reveals a cannon, is this a dream?

"What in Irene's name is this?" Claire who also seemed to be in a state of stupefaction finally gave in and looked back at the automobiles gaining on us.

"All offensive capabilities operational, launching tracker orbs now." A bolster of lights shoots up towards the darkened sky as they dissipate in different paths homing in force, marching towards their enemies at quick speeds. "Those types of automobiles are only from the Troubon Union, they should be easy to spot via my calculations," Sophie speaks in determination handling the cannon. Me and Claire stare in anticipation as she handles the panel I assume is used to control the cannon situated on a moving ram of a vehicle. And I thought my inventions were strange... Suddenly men in black appear out on top of the vehicles shooting magical missiles of flames at us.

"Watch out!" Claire screams in fear and in doing so tortures my ears.

Silver swivels dodging shot after shot as we turn to get closer and closer to the urbanised part of the city. Wait... why are we taking the long route... The Populus in the background staring at us in deep confusion. Sophie holding the trigger aims at a precise point;

"Silver, I need accuracy!" He nods with a smile glowing with anticipation that fills me with concern.

"Annnnnnd..." Silver turns at a straight long road, I look in suspense, my heart racing.

"Fire!" We take sudden turbulence forward. Claire and I grip on for our dear lives.

"Ah I forgot we have these new safety measures, we call them seatbelts you can acquire them from the side and middle near your seats."Only now has she decided to share this little detail... We hastily put them on watching the spectacle behind erupt, Sophie's cannonball turns into a bright blue inferno targeting straight towards the automobiles. Trying to escape it, one drifts right towards it as it is engulfed in flames, the individuals hopping out just in time for it to explode.

"Way to go down in style." Sophie cheers clapping Silver in the air. She then turns back to the cannon ready to fire another volley. She is absolutely... Insane! Claire and I look at each other with fright, in unison we grip tightly onto our seatbelts. As another bullet flies right above us. The closer we get towards the central city the more automobiles drive around as chaos ensues, a couple casually honking their horns racing by us.

"May Irene forgive me for my transgression." Silver takes a rapid detour noticing more automobiles up ahead. We land at a marketplace, all the people take a little pause, and a second later they're running for their lives. As the ramp in front smashes through stalls and merchandise alike.

"Claire and Edwin, are they still pursuing us?" Silver speaks in guilt as cabbages fly through the air.

"My cabbages!" A man shrieks in despair. I stir my head around, their engines roaring ever so closer.

"I thought you said we can go faster?" Claire looks forward for hope, as the roar of lightning hints at their chase. "We need a straight road for that and well, to say the least, they also are going at sixty miles per hour."

Claire had a mixture of emotions that even I couldn't quite describe.

"But we got a card up our sleeve." He waves his hand as the vehicle suddenly violently rattles as if Terra began to tremble.

"Not to worry." The wheels suddenly beneath us transforms into tracks as the front ramp bends into a drill. Looking back ahead I noticed a dead end, before I could even respond another collection of events prevent my thought process further.

"Boom!" Sophie cheers as parts of rubber and metal ricochet to the side of us as another one bites the dust. Just three more left, I begin to find promise with how things are looking. Except for the fact that we were about to collide head-first into a wall, of course, that didn't look so promising...

"Brace for impact! As a spark of light in the front emerges; a bountiful of colours spring with flames supporting the drill. As we clash the wall. Shaking we somehow continue our speed. Their automobiles, too large to traverse the hole as we go through building after building.

"I pray to Irene for fortunes to fall to those who have to go through with my drilling." Silver said, as we go through room after room. Until finally, we crash through another set of walls and out into the sky, no land lying beneath us. We start to lose altitude, the path far down.

"Ah, we can handle this." Flicking his hand we boost through the air piercing the sky. As we take a somewhat smooth landing, luckily. Somehow, the remaining vehicles had detoured and still kept chase.

"Silver this should be the perfect chance for us to unleash our secret weapon." Sophie spoke fairly whilst she nonchalantly fired her cannon. From the looks of it, we appeared to have made a complete circle back into the direction where my villa sits. With the road straight and crystal clear. Although besides the chase and circles we've made; the one thing I couldn't get out of my mind was... is she even human?!? Silver nods,

Brace for impact once more, this should be the last." The machine grinds to a halt.

"What are you doing, they are gaining on us!?" Claire speaks in haste, she closes her eyes waiting.

"Three, two and-" A bright blue light emanates from the back and front exhausts.

"One!" The screeching of the now reverted wheels shrieks as my head is blasted towards a rather soft part of the seat. We flurry through breaking the speed of sound. Blue flames ignite at the back as they quickly lose us. Unable to move I simply scream in horror, Claire joins in. As the air resistance batters us; we slowly after what felt like an eternity come to a halt.

Somehow, we managed to make it a mere walk away from my villa.

"Ultra magical boosters were a success." Silver seeps in a sigh of joy, he wavers his hand for the last time as the automobile transfers fully back to its original normal-looking self. The dark steel colour brightens to gold; the cannon folds within the trunk as the Astonian Martly emblem is revealed. The heated metal wheels turn silver, bringing back the white rubber. Sophie comfortably lands back in the middle, squeezing in.

"So did you like what my inventions can do, and would you like to join us?" She lends a hand over. Even with her maniacal will to obliterate anything, she... I can't believe I'm thinking this... seemed alluring. And well, they manage to flee from elite Troubon forces. Everything else in my body except my gut was saying no. But after a quick thought exercise, I come to my conclusion.

"Yes I will, but after the seven sins period, if that's alright." I shake her hand, she seemed a little saddened but she still flared with joy.

"That's settled, now driver let's head on!" Her cry of action had no response as the engine whispered.

"A slight side-effect of the boosters is a necessary cool down for the engine, it's overheated." He laughs as Sophie looks in embarrassment.

"It will only take a couple of minutes, they're far enough away to not catch up." Silver continued.

After a couple of sighs of relief, the car regains its power and we drive towards the distance, the feeling of happiness had never been enriched for a long time now. I felt like I was opening a new and bright path. Even if, the world crumbled to chaos...