CHAPTER 32: HIGHLAND

"What the fuck is that?" Allen mumbled to himself, looking up at the sky with confusion in his eyes.

Whatever it was, it was colossal enough to cover the entire battlefield and it had appeared here in an instant.

Take the drone to its maximum height and try to see what it is, Allen commanded mentally.

High above the battlefield, the drone shot upwards like a bullet, climbing into the thin, cold air.

On the screen in front of Allen’s eyes, the view of the battle below shrank away and the soldiers became tiny, insignificant dots before vanishing completely.

The camera feed flickered. The ground was gone, replaced for a second by an endless and empty blue sky.

Then the drone tilted itself pointing the camera up, and the massive, dark shape of the mysterious object filled the entire view.

Zoom in. All the way.

The lens on the camera adjusted. On the screen, the blurry outline of the object rushed forward, growing larger and larger.

The image was hazy at first, shaking a little as the drone fought against the high-altitude winds.

The stabilizing system on the drone worked hard to improve the picture, its advanced processors sharpening the edges and cutting through the haze.

Slowly, the details began to appear. The blurry shape resolved into jagged, dark rock.

Finally, the feed stabilized. The picture was now crystal clear.

And for the first time, Allen got a proper look at the impossible thing hanging in the sky.

It looked like an island—No, it was in fact, an island. With Allen’s eyes fixated on the feed he scanned every single detail of it.

The island above him was humongous and seemed like a part of land that was ripped off the ground and now stuck in the air.

Still, despite using the drone to its maximum capabilities he couldn’t see much of it. The bottom outline was the only thing available.

After all, the island hung at a much higher height than what the drone was capable of reaching.

System, can you figure out what is the altitude of that thing?

[Affirmative. Activating Laser Rangefinder.]

On the screen in front of Allen’s eyes, the drone’s view of the island remained steady.

A small, red targeting box appeared in the center of the feed, locking onto the lowest point of the floating landmass.

[Target Identified. Acquiring range...]

For a split second a faint, almost invisible beam of light shot up from the drone.

Allen wouldn’t have seen it with his naked eye, but on the screen it registered as a momentary shimmer, a tiny distortion in the air between the drone and the island.

[Receiving return signal. Calculating telemetry data...]

A small progress bar appeared at the bottom of the screen only to get filled up in less than a second.

[Calculation Complete.]

The numbers appeared on his screen in clean, white text displayed with military precision.

[Estimated Target Altitude (Above Sea Level): 10,345 feet]

Allen stared at the numbers, his mind instantly processing the numbers and realizing the possibilities this brings.

Well, that’s a lot more than I expected.

[Alert: 15% battery remaining!]

The alert appeared on the screen displaying the feed from the drone, informing Allen that the drone was soon going to be unusable for a while.

Of course, it ran out quickly. It hasn’t been thirty minutes but I’m pushing it to its maximum height.

After thinking about it for a second Allen instructed the system to call the drone back into the armory, making it disappear from the sky and ending the live feed before Allen’s eyes.

Allen turned to his side and looked at Heath.

"Come on we have to move fast," he said, but Heath didn’t move.

Instead, he kept looking up at the island with a clear sense of fear on his face. It was like he was staring at death itself.

"There is nowhere to go now..." he mumbled to himself. "It’s over, they’re going to kill us all."

"Wait, what? Do you know what this thing is?" Allen questioned, pointing at the island.

"Of course, I know what it is! Everyone does," Heath replied, looking back at Allen.

"Well I’m not from around here, so would you mind telling me what it is?" Allen asked.

Heath looked at Allen for a while before letting out a sigh and calming himself down a little.

"It’s the highland, don’t you know of it?" he said.

"Highland? No, I’m afraid I do not," Allen replied.

"It is pretty self-explanatory. It’s the place where all the highlanders live. It’s a floating island with entire cities on it," Heath explained.

His voice was dull and devoid of any emotion. The only reason he was cooperating with the murderer of his best friend was because he did not want to die.

And he had no way of knowing what would end up upsetting Allen leading to his death, hence he complied.

Highland and highlanders. Hmm, I guess I have just unlocked an entire new source of information.

I’d heard Luna and the others vaguely mention something like that, but I didn’t pay much attention to it then.

Seems like we’re dealing with something much bigger here.

With those thoughts, Allen looked at the MP5 in his hands and realized how low he was running on bullets.

"It doesn’t seem like anything is happening right now, so let’s go," Allen said, moving forward and indicating Heath to follow him.

On the opposite side of the battlefield, Randolf had come running out of his tent and out in the open. His eyes staring fearfully at the floating island in front of him.

"Seems like they’re here," he mumbled to himself, gulping down in nervousness.

"Are you sure this was the correct choice, my lord?" Sebastian questioned, standing a little behind Randolf.

"It was the only choice," Randolf replied. "Now, be prepared. It’s almost time."

He’d already ordered all the knights at the camp to leave the area and position themselves around the camp in a defensive formation.

"Let us hope everything goes as planned, otherwise we’re going to get killed for sure," Randolf said, wiping his sweaty palms with a handkerchief.