Pop.


    Erick held Klaus''s hand as the Little February passed through the bubble that separated Cragg Hollow from the nightsea. Islands of light glowed around them in a sea of darkness, small trails of wispy light stretching out from a few in the distance and toward the slipship. Erick''s breath caught in his throat as he looked out into that empty sea. Every time he saw it, awe welled up in his chest.


    "Look, Klaus, that''s all of Erth stretched out around us," Erick said, dropping to one knee.


    Around him, soldiers went about their work. They would be anchored by the island for a few days while waiting for backup. Messages had already been sent out in a smaller ship the day before. Someone would come along soon, and they needed to make sure nothing escaped the island until that point.


    Erick picked Klaus up and walked him over to the end of the ship as they pulled away from the bright light of Crag Hollow''s bubble to a safe distance. Once they were there, soldiers threw out anchors, black balls that floated out in the emptiness of the nightsea.


    "Activate!"


    With the command and a few flipped switches, the balls arrested their lazy floating, and soon, the ship pulled against all four chains on all sides of the ship. The anchors would ensure that they would not float away as they waited.


    Klaus held onto his chest, and Erick rocked him.


    "It''s alright, Klaus," Erick said. "We''ll have you on a different island soon enough. You won''t have to worry about Cragg Hollow ever again."


    "Look!" one of the soldiers yelled from the rails.


    A single small ship exited the bubble in the distance. Erick sat Klaus down on the deck and borrowed a pair of binoculars from a nearby soldier. The ship was of an odd design. Small sails jutted out from all four sides of the ship, and it looked built for speed and nothing else. It looked closer to a metal tube than a ship, with a small deck reaching out from the back.


    On the deck, he saw the two men who had fought to rescue him looking up at the Little February and waving. The bigger man waved with both arms, while the smaller one waved only one hand. Erick smiled. They had made it out and were on their way.


    "They''re not townsfolk," Erick said as he felt tears falling down his cheeks. "Leave them be. They''re not carrying masks out with them."


    There wasn''t really much of a command structure left without the captain and lieutenant. The next in line for command was the second lieutenant, but he had died at some point during the night as well. Erick didn''t think they could catch up with the tiny ship if they wanted to anyway, as he watched it speed off into the night.


    Days passed, and he helped Klaus around the ship day to day like he was caring for a son. It wasn''t until the third that he noticed Agnes hadn''t appeared or whispered to him once. Taking care of Klaus had just been so distracting that he hadn''t noticed at all.


    They ate, slept, and rested, all while watching Cragg Hollow to ensure no ship escaped.


    On the third day, a slipship arrived.


    "Dreadnaught to port!" the lookout''s yell woke Erick from his nap belowdecks.


    He managed not to fall out of his hammock and poked Klaus awake as the kid slept beside him. He and Klaus had been inseparable since the island, and Erick was uncertain exactly what he would do with the kid. He remembered the figure back in the home that had found Klaus in. Klaus''s brother was still down on that island.


    "Come on, kid," Erick said as Klaus opened his eyes. "Let''s go see a dreadnaught."


    He helped Klaus out of the hammock before getting out and changing into his uniform. He made sure he looked presentable enough in the lantern light belowdecks before walking up with Klaus. Klaus still rubbed at his eyes as Erick walked him over to the railing.


    The dreadnaught was easily the size of a small island on its own. The length of it cast a shadow over the Little February, and Klaus gasped beside him as it came to a stop. Long-barrelled guns and cannons stuck out in all directions from the ship, and it lacked the outside lodestones that most ships had. The reason for this was the ship was built around a massive lodestone. Instead of placing many on the outside, it was just a singular lodestone dug into to make places for troops, a bay for smaller ships, and weapons. It could never enter an island on its own, but it wasn''t built to. Instead, it was an island in itself.


    "We have incoming," a soldier on the rail said as he looked through his binoculars.


    From the ship, even to the naked eye, a line of purple lighting sparked out and through the space between them. It jumped between points repeatedly, zigzagging its way toward the ship. Erick knelt next to Klaus as fear gripped his stomach. He didn''t think the Military Police would kill their own, but he didn''t know what kind of weapon that could be.


    Crack. Boom.


    Lighting struck the deck, and a bright light flashed across his vision. He tried to shield Klaus from it, and Klaus whimpered in his arms. It would be a horrible fate for them to survive the horror of Cragg Hollow only to die out on the nightsea.


    However, he did not die, and after a moment, he looked out into the normal light. A woman stood where the lightning had flashed, dressed in a flowing black and red robe. Her dark skin steamed and hissed with the ambient heat of the lightning as she put her hands on her hips. Her long, curly black hair was streaked with lines of purple, and she looked over the gathered soldiers with glowing eyes.


    "Report," she said.


    Erick had heard rumors, as all who served in the Military Police had. The three strongest people in the Military Police, the commanders who ran the three largest ships in the entire fleet, were known by name and reputation. The first was the Chief of the Ground, a mighty giant of a man who could cleave mountains with his steps alone. The second was the Chief of the Sea, an old man who belied his strength with the subtlety of dark water. The third was the Chief of the Sky, who came in a lightning bolt and rained down destruction on the foes of the Empyrean.


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    "Sir!" every person on the ship stood up to salute, even Erick, because their lives depended on it.


    "Report!" she said again, her tone unyielding.


    "We are the survivors of Cragg Hollow," Erick said without thinking. "The outpost has been compromised, and we have the only known survivor."


    "What happened?" the Chief of the Sky approached him, and he felt small even though he was taller than her.


    "Doctor Livesay had these masks," Erick said, forcing his thoughts together. "He used them to take control of the townspeople, and he used the masks to take control of Captain Hawkins and Lieutenant Tanis. When his plot was discovered, he tried to eliminate the entire garrison. We are the survivors."


    "Your name and rank?"


    "Private Erick Landson," Erick said.


    "And who is this?"


    She knelt next to Klaus and smiled at him. Erick felt Klaus grip the legs of his pants tightly as Klaus tried to hide behind his leg. For a moment, Erick was lost on what to say, but a quick look by the Chief of the Sky silenced him.


    "He is a survivor," Erick said. "I made sure that he was safe when I discovered him in town."


    "Hello, child," the Chief of Sky said. "Do you have a name?"


    "Klaus, ma''am," Klaus whispered.


    "Did my soldiers take good care of you?"


    "Yes, ma''am," Klaus whispered again.


    "Good," she said before standing up. "Tell me, Private Landson, do you know about any logbook?"


    "We discovered one on a ship that crashed into the port," Erick said, still maintaining his stance at attention. "Captain Hawkins sent out a report on it. The last I knew, it was in his possession."


    "And it should still be on the island?" she asked.


    "It should be," Erick said. "None of us left with it."


    She asked him more questions, and he told her as much as he could. He didn''t mention the outlaws, mainly because he wasn''t sure he should. They had saved his life, and he was the only one alive who had met them. He felt he owed them something for that. When he was done, the Chief of Sky seemed satisfied and walked away from him toward the railing.


    "Good," she said, reaching down and pulling a stone from her pocket. "On my name, Adhira Arya, the Chief of Sky, I will initiate the Divine Judgement Protocol."


    "Sir," Erick said, his stomach churning. "What is happening?"


    "From what I understand," Chief Arya said, crossing her arms across her chest. "There was an unknown threat on that island that took out a captain and a lieutenant. On top of it, there was a forbidden object there as well. The entirety of the Empyrean will sleep well tonight, knowing that they will face no threat from either after today."


    Erick relaxed his stance at attention because he didn''t understand what was happening. There was a dreadnaught right above them, and there was a chief right next to him. He thought they may have gone to the island to save the people there, but instead, she had called for a D.J.P.


    "You look confused, private," Chief Arya said. "What''s wrong?"


    "I don''t understand," Erick said. "There are people down there."


    "Those people are already dead, from what you tell me," Chief Arya said, blowing up one of her long bangs as she put her stone away. "I will not risk my soldiers trying to retake the town, nor do I want to risk spreading the infection. Destroying the logbook is just a bonus on top of that. No one needs the knowledge that the book contains, Private."


    Bzzt. Hiss.


    Purple electricity arced out from her finger as she left no more room to argue. She pointed it down at the deck, making quick work of drawing lines in a pattern. Twelve interconnected lines in the shape of a star were burned onto the deck, and the smell of burning wood cut into Erick''s nose. She finished the symbol by connecting the twelve points of the star into a dodecagon and placed a final dot in the center of the symbol. Erick recognized the symbol, and a chill ran up his spine.


    "You." Chief Arya pointed to one of the men, who immediately saluted.


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Are you ready to serve?"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Then step into the circle."


    He did so without complaint, standing in the circle at attention. Sweat poured down the man''s face, and he was shaking. Erick didn''t know what was about to happen, but he couldn''t stop it. He reached down and covered Klaus''s eyes.


    "▇▇ ▇ ▇▇ ▇▇. ▇ ▇▇ ▇ ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇. ▇ ▇▇ ▇▇. ▇▇ ▇ ▇▇▇▇ ▇."


    He didn''t understand a word of the language, but it burned into his mind. The words told him to be afraid. The words told him to bow. The words told him that he was nothing.


    Dark tendrils climbed from the circle, wrapping around the soldier. Erick watched in horror as the man was dragged beneath the circle, screaming the entire way down. He tried to cover Klaus''s ears, but he was frozen on the spot as the man disappeared.


    A humanoid figure in white armor rose in the soldier''s place, easily standing twice as tall as any of the men on the ship. Erick couldn''t think, speak, or move. He could only watch as the armored figure stepped forward and out of the circle. In his hand was a massive hammer, the head made of silvery metal with two ram''s heads in place of the ends.


    "▇ ▇ ▇▇ ▇▇. ▇ ▇?"


    The voice rattled through Erick''s head like a bell, and he knelt next to Klaus, covering the boy from sight. Never in his life had he seen one, but he knew what the armored creature was. Buried in his mind, he knew it was a Scion.


    "That island is a threat to the Empyrean," Chief Arya said, bowing. "It must be destroyed."


    The Scion looked down at the island before walking to the edge of the railing and raising his hammer. As he raised it, the light of a burning sun lit at the head of the hammer. Spots flitted across Erick''s eyes as he stared directly into them. This was a D.J.P. Divine Judgement Protocol.


    "You all are ordered to cover your eyes. If you don''t want to go blind, that is the best option. Ignore anything you hear or see for the next few seconds. It will all be over soon."


    Erick saw light lance forth from the hammer. He closed his eyes tight as the light burned bright behind him. He had no idea what would happen, but Klaus didn''t deserve to see any of it. The Divine Judgement Protocol was something that no one should have to witness.


    Zap. Boom.


    The ship shook beneath his feet as he held onto Klaus. It was like being in a heavy storm with no protection. His body was pushed this way and that, but Erick held onto Klaus. No matter what, he wouldn''t let go. A deafening scraping noise assaulted his ears a final time as the ship leaned heavily to one side before the anchors corrected the ship''s tilt and brought it back down.


    "Alright, it''s done," Chief Arya said, and Erick looked up to where Cragg Hollow had been. "The Judge has saved us all. Be sure to keep him in your prayers tonight."


    The armored figure, along with Cragg Hollow, was gone. Instead of a glowing bright light in the nightsea, there was just a cloud of dust, rock, and dirt, slowly spreading out in all directions from where Cragg Hollow had been. There was not a single sign that there had been an island there. All of the people who had lived there were gone in an instant. No sign of the Scion remained either, only a fading cloud of black smoke at the edge of the railing.


    "Prepare to join my ship," Chief Arya said as purple lightning scattered around her. "Pull up your anchors, and we''ll take you to the nearest bay."


    Crack. Boom.


    She arced back into the nightsea in a flash of lightning, zigzagging a path back to her dreadnaught. Erick fell to his knees beside Klaus and felt Klaus wrap his tiny arms around his shoulders. Erick struggled to breathe, but he managed to rub Klaus''s back.


    "It''ll be okay," he whispered words he didn''t mean. "We''re the good guys."