Crimson Road

The cold wind was rushing past the three of them until the sledge left the ground after Leona powered the engine with a bit too much magic.

"HOLD TIGHT!"

Phoebe yelled as loud as she could while gripping the handlebar firmly in order to maintain it straight. Thankfully they hit the other side of the hill at an angle, which reduced the impact greatly, but Leona could feel her head spin for a moment before she regained her composure. The high elf kept the sledge going for another two hundred meters before pulling the break.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have used that much magic."

Leona apologized after she got out of the vehicle, whilst Phoebe checked the underside of the sledge, looking for any visible damage. Krieg kept watch, circling around the area while keeping eyes and ears on the environment.

Upon realizing there was no damage, at least none in her layman's eyes, she stood up and turned to the Princess in order to calm her down a bit.

"It's fine, I still don't know how to steer this thing properly and I'm sure there is no way to tell how fast we'll go unless you shoot a spell inside it."

"Yeah… it's complicated. I still don't have the feeling for how much power I should put into it."

Phoebe scratched the side of her head before a thought came to her mind.

"Then give me a few minutes."

She pulled out a small rectangular mirror from her pocket and set it on the side of the metallic chamber, the topside was too hot and she almost burned her hand trying to affix the reflective object on one of the less hot pipes that came out of it. Leona questioned after she finished.

"What's that for?"

"I remember hearing we can estimate speed better if we actually look at where we are going. With this mirror you should have an idea of how much power you should use for the spell."

"Oh, that is very smart. Thank you Phoebe."

"This is nothing. Now, shall we move?"

"Yes, let's go. Krieg! We're heading out!"

She called the knight and not long after they were all set. Looking in the mirror, she noticed Phoebe giving her a thumbs up before turning around.

Leona took a deep breath to focus her mind. The image of a black space being gently lit by a smoldering ember slowly and gently burning away in a bright blue hue came to her mind, her hands started to tingle ever so slightly as the mana circuits of her body carried the magic necessary to cast the spell. Much like roots, raw blue mana started to grow out from the extremities of her fingers into a spiraling orange colored flame, then shortly after that, the same mana began to change trajectory and swirl around the small flickering fire until its color changed to a dark blue. The mana ceased to exit from her fingertips and swirled even faster, turning the murky blue into a bright azure color.

"Alright let's depart! To Londria!"

Leona cheerfully said as she released the spell into the engine. In a matter of milliseconds, the hatch closed and the pistons started to move, spinning the spiked wheels on each side taking them off the muddied sleet back into the path between trees.

Krieg had his greatsword lying diagonally against the front of his chest, while he wore the protection goggles, he didn't seem too bothered by the wind as much as the high elf who was struggling to keep her body at a comfortable temperature. His eyes wandered around the landscape rushing past him, observantly.

'Judging how fast we are going, we might be able to reach the Londrian borders at the end of this week…'

The knight had a knack for calculating distances based on speed, but it was his first time ever witnessing such a fast method of transportation, it was exciting albeit more dangerous than what he was used to.

Snow was kicking up the back of the vehicle, some flew on top of the engine before quickly melting and vaporizing. Leona's eyes checked on the mirror seeing they were losing speed she charged an orange flame and tossed it inside the chamber, giving the vehicle a small omph. Phoebe was starting to get the hang of it, but it was rather difficult to keep track of how much they would speed up since it all depended on Leona's magic to accelerate.

'No matter how you look at it, this is just bad design.'

The high elf had a bitter thought.

'Damn elves.'

She gritted her teeth.

While originally from the west, elven population had spread out to the east due to the encroaching war in the Empyreal Mountain Range, in turn, many decided to head east and start new life. Phoebe's mother was no different, after serving the queen for a long time, she decided to settle down in the coastal village of the Allied East Front.

Phoebe spent most of her childhood there living and training to follow her mother's footsteps as an assassin and more often than not she would find herself at odds with other residents of said village, elves who had a common hatred for their high elf counterpart.

"Mom, why do they hate us?"

A young Phoebe asked the woman sitting beside her underneath a tree shade. Her long straight golden blonde hair swayed with the gentle marine breeze, the gentle right hand carefully pushed the little high elf girl's lock of hair behind her ear before answering.

"They don't hate us dear, it's the circumstances that made them this way."

Her mother's deep blue eyes were like sapphires, shining with unspoken happiness while caressing her child's head while continuing to explain.

"One day we will all walk on the same path again and I hope to see that day come with my own eyes."

"You're strange, mother."

"Haha, do you think so? Your father used to say the same."

"Mom, I'm heading out."

Another young female voice came from behind them, promptly making their mother turn around. Upon noticing that, the young girl did the same, tracing where she was looking.

"Just be careful Kaeli."

"Yeah I know."

Standing a few meters behind them, there was a high elf girl just past her teens, straight jet black hair and the same deep blue eyes as her mother's. The moment she noticed Phoebe staring at her, she couldn't help but smile.

"See you later Pho, take care of mom for me."

"Yeah! Leave it to me!"

The high elf gritted her teeth, a mere memory was enough to set her nerves on fire from anger. It had been a few minutes they were on the straight path out of the forest, the cold wind was stiffening Phoebe's angry expression before she pulled up the mask of her shinobi uniform to cover her cheeks, mouth and nose.

Originally a deep forest around Akrapocalis, most of the trees were felled in order to make a straight road to Londria for ease of transportation of goods and trade. However with the death angel menace the construction of such an ambitious project was put on hold and only part of the forest was cleared, leaving a dangerously narrow path ahead of them.

"I don't like this…"

Phoebe muttered to herself before turning her head slightly to shout over her shoulder to the knight.

"Sire Krieg! There may be some stray branches in the way as we go, do your best to protect the Princess!"

"On it."

He unsheathed the greatsword leaving the scabbard hanging across his back. Looking at the mirror, Leona noticed the knight standing up on his seat , concerned with his safety she turned around to warn him but instead was met by a branch that flew so close to her face that it would have removed a tooth or two if it hit her.

"Leona, you might want to keep your head down!"

He shouted over the excruciatingly loud engine while his blade flawlessly met all the branches that could pose a threat to his liege.

"Thanks Krieg! But couldn't we just keep our heads down like Phoebe?!"

"I fear that won't be possible. The rear part of this transport would be hit if I stopped!"

Leona glanced at the engine and it was indeed a bit taller than her own seat so it meant if a branch could hit her, it would be able to hit it as well.

"Shouldn't I slice them off at range then?!"

"We need your spells to keep this thing moving!"

Phoebe shouted as she carefully steered the vehicle to the right as part of tree roots passed by on their left. But in doing so a thicker branch on the right was approaching quickly.

"Ah dammit!"

The high elf suddenly jerked the handlebar to the left causing the knight to lose his balance and as result, he swung his sword in an awkward position only partially cleaving the sizable tree branch and getting the blade stuck against the snow to prevent him from falling off the moving vehicle. With just seconds to react and without being able to swing his blade he decided to plow through the hanging piece of wood with his shin.

A loud crack startled the Princess who just had time to see a thick branch hit the top part of the engine, bending the metal exhaust pipe in a ninety-degree angle before rolling off in the snow behind them.

"Krieg are you ok?!"

"It's just a flesh wound."

His left shin was torn to the muscle, part of the uniform was ripped on the impact and there was a streak of blood coming off the wound. But instead of saying anything he picked off some snow with the edge of his sword upon regaining balance and pressuring it against the wound, staunching some of the blood. He winced slightly in pain but upon seeing the forest opening up little by little he decided to sit down, sheath his sword and tend to the wound.

"We need more speed!"

Phoebe shouted since they were gradually losing speed faster than usual. Leona answered by casting another fire spell but instead of the usual rumbling pistons, it sounded much less powerful.

"Huh?"

Confused, Leona cast a spell of similar strength but it was the same, but she could feel the heat rising from the engine but it didn't get any faster, in fact it was slowing down with puffs of darkened smoke exiting from the bent exhaust.

"Phoebe my magic isn't working!"

The high elf turned around and saw the bent exhaust pipe coughing up dark smoke.

"Dammit… hold tight I'll try to slow us down!"

She grabbed on the lever on the right side and pulled it. A terrible loud screeching noise echoed from the backside of the vehicle and they gradually lost speed. Though upon stopping, Leona stumbled out of the vehicle holding the sides of her head and fell on the ground in pain.

The loud noise caused her ears to start ringing, disorienting and causing discomfort as she fell on the snow.

"Leona!"

Krieg quickly made his way beside her seeing how she was on all fours on the ground.

"I'm fine… I'm just a little dizzy, my ears started ringing as we were stopping…"

The moment she looked at him, she noticed blood dripping on the snow from his left shin.

"Your leg… Krieg-"

"This is nothing, I'll ask Phoebe for healing magic before we continue."

"You shouldn't let things like these for later that could cost your-"

She stopped mid-sentence and threw up on the snow in front of her. The ground felt like it was spinning and her hearing seemed to be recovering little by little as she repeatedly took deep breaths to stabilize herself.

"Leona hang on tight I'll call Phoebe."

The high elf was trying to unbend the exhaust but the part didn't even budge even with her pulling at full strength.

"Ah dammit. We need to fix this thing if we want to keep going."

She checked around the engine for other damages but thankfully that seemed the only one at the time. Krieg approached her with his left leg slightly hidden behind the right one as to not get her attention.

"Phoebe, Leona needs your care as fast as possible."

Without looking at him, she asked.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, she's feeling dizzy and vomiting."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

But before they could do anything else a howl of a wolf echoed from the deep forest around them, shortly thereafter, more howls in unison.

"Great. What's next? Giant spiders?"

Frustated, Phoebe said as she pulled out her bow.