CHAPTER 66: SIDE STORY: ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE (1)

Inside this massive vessel that I still could not identify, I was sitting beside my mother in a small room with a narrow window overlooking the huge frame of the craft as it slowly rose from the ground.

The deep roaring coming from below shook the walls, a heavy noise that sounded like the growl of an autumn giant when it is angry or hungry. Even so, I kept my face pressed to the window, watching the ground fade away beneath us.

I glanced at the nearby bed. My mother was lying there, finally in a deep sleep for the first time in days. I had seen how exhausted she was throughout the trip. She would doze off for five minutes only to wake up with heavy, frightened eyes, as if her mind refused to let her rest in case something else went wrong. Now, at last, her breathing had calmed, and her hands lay loosely on the blanket.

But I could not sleep at all. I closed my eyes several times, yet the image of my father collapsing in front of me returned with the same clarity and the same pain. And after that dream, the memories had become even sharper. Every time I tried to push them away, they returned stronger.

I exhaled sharply and stood up from the chair. Maybe walking around would help in some way. I slipped out of the room quietly so I would not wake my mother, then started wandering through the long corridors. The place was enormous, metal walls, pipes running overhead, and strange devices blinking with white light every few seconds.

My footsteps echoed across the empty metal floor. No one else was there except a few people who avoided coming near me. I wrapped my arms around myself as I walked, feeling somewhat cold and very tense. I did not know where we were going or why everything had happened so quickly.

Then I heard a sharp scream. It came from up ahead, from one of the wide rooms. I froze for a heartbeat, then pushed myself forward. Curiosity was stronger than fear.

I stopped at a large door that was half open, then stepped inside carefully. No one noticed me. The room was filled with metallic equipment, all glowing faintly, and near the huge glass window overlooking the sky, I saw the man we called the sage standing beside the woman who had appeared after that dream.

The sage was shouting at another man who was standing by a round wooden device.

"I told you to stop this thing immediately."

The man at the control panel turned halfway toward him, trying to respond.

"The airship has already moved. I cannot do that."

His voice was trembling, and his hands shook above the controls. The sage’s eyes widened sharply. I stayed by the door, not understanding what any of this meant.

The sage rushed toward the man, reaching for him, but before his hand could touch his shirt, a sudden blast of wind rose from the other side. The man with the glasses lifted his hand, releasing a gust of air that struck the sage right in the chest.

The sage hit the wall beside me hard, the impact driving the breath out of him.

He gasped sharply, one hand pressed against his ribs. Then he pushed himself up, swaying a little before regaining his balance. He looked at the woman standing near the control platform, the one whose expression had not changed for even a moment.

"Can you step in and do something?"

She raised one eyebrow, giving him an empty look.

"Why exactly should I do that?"

He clenched his jaw.

"How in the name of sky and earth is that man able to do this?"

She pointed her chin at the man with the glasses.

"He is using magic."

The man with the glasses looked at her sideways, examining her from head to toe as if thinking deeply.

"You are the hybrid the hunter spoke about?"

She waved her hand lazily.

"You could say that."

The man with the glasses shifted his gaze back to the sage.

"Should I assume that this man is the other hybrid?"

The woman smiled faintly.

"Even though he is extremely foolish, and he cannot use magic because of that hunter, he definitely is."

The sage opened his mouth to speak, but the woman shot him a single look. Just a look, and he fell silent. I still had no idea what had just happened.

The man with the glasses did not react. Meanwhile, the other man at the controls dropped to his knees in front of the sage, bowing so deeply that his forehead almost touched the floor.

"I am so incredibly sorry, please forgive my assistant’s unbelievable stupidity."

His hands were trembling violently. The sage stared at him, clearly just as confused as I was about everything happening.

The woman stepped forward, grabbed the sage by the arm, and hauled him to his feet with surprising force. Then she turned to the kneeling man.

"Do not worry. It is not like he can do anything to you. His magic has already been sealed by that hunter."

I stayed standing at the door trying to understand any of what was going on.

The woman grabbed the sage by his coat collar and dragged him behind her as if he were a child insisting on standing in the wrong place. His body swayed with her steps, and his eyes stayed fixed on the man who had shoved him earlier. As they passed me, the woman glanced at me, grabbed my arm, and pulled me along without a word.

We left the room into the wide corridor, and once we had reached what she deemed a safe distance, she stopped. Then she released the sage, who adjusted his coat with obvious irritation before ignoring me completely and focusing on her.

He stepped toward her and said, "How exactly are they able to use magic? I thought it was something exclusive to mythical creatures. And why did you tell them I am a hybrid?"

She leaned back against the wall and folded her arms calmly. Then she gave me a brief look before returning her gaze to him.

"First, they can use magic because they are followers of the Wind Master apparently."

"Who is this Wind Master exactly?"

"He is a very powerful mythical creature."

His expression tightened even more.

"Even though I still cannot understand what is going on... can you tell me why you told them I am a hybrid?"

She pushed herself away from the wall.

"Telling them that saved you. That man with the glasses is not ordinary. If I had not stepped in, things could have gone far worse for you."

Her voice was steady. Then she looked at me again before grabbing the sage by his coat and dragging him away. They moved quickly, and I almost followed, but something made me stop at the last moment.

I stood alone in the long corridor, then began walking again without a destination. I was trying to escape the memories hitting my mind with painful force. The village, the screams, the fire, everything was returning as if it were happening right now. Each step I took opened another door of pain.

Whenever I passed a group of people here, they moved away immediately, some staring at me sharply, others looking away at once. I could feel the whispers spreading around me. I could not catch the words, but their looks said enough. They did not seem to welcome me at all.

...

I wandered through every corner of this place, from the upper deck to the lower floors. Pipes stretched over my head, some of them releasing faint hissing sounds as steam or gas traveled inside. Strange devices pulsed with dim light along the walls. The whole scene was... confusing?

And while I roamed without any purpose, just trying to distract my mind from everything piling up inside, I passed by the man who had led us to our room earlier. He was walking beside a woman with her hair tied back, holding a file under her arm. She turned toward me the moment she saw me, unlike the others who always avoided eye contact.

"What are you doing here, little one?"

I stopped where I was, not out of fear, but confusion.

"I just wanted to walk around, nothing more."

A soft smile appeared on her face.

"If you wanted to look around, you should have asked a crew member. Walking alone like this is very dangerous."

I shook my head slowly.

"I do not think any of them would agree to that. They avoid me the moment they see me."

She sighed deeply.

"Those idiots... did they really believe those ridiculous superstitions?"

She lifted her eyes toward me again.

"Would you like to take a tour with me?"