The streams of magic lashed out and struck the walls of the Castle High over and over, its rumbling from the severe damage causing your footing to slip. You barely catch yourself on the stairway rail, but it's not soon until the myriad of panicking soldiers behind you shove you along the escape route again. You see the blasts rock the brick ahead, sunlight shining where the fortress's defenses have been reduced to rumble.
The wall eventually comes tumbling down, forcing you and all the others behind you backward, cut off from your way out. You can see it now: in the deep purple skies, stained with flames and terror, a second castle in flight, positioned higher than even the Castle High. Its troops armed to the teeth, raining hell onto the castle in storms of steel of arcane magic. You have nowhere to hide from their onslaught; you try to raise your arms to protect yourself, but you know you're not safe--!
"Behind me!" You hear the yell of a woman and look back to see one dressed in a scuffed dark-green suit of bunker-like armor seemingly leap from the top of the spiral staircase and in front of you. She crosses her arms in front of her, and from the bulky metal sleeves around them emerge a shield - no, a full barricade, sparking with spring-green electricity in front of her. But your eyes widen, as the assault seems to hone in on the woman in front of you, punching hole after hole in the barrier and continuing unimpeded.
You try to shout for her to save herself, but before you know it--!
The wall eventually comes tumbling down, forcing you and all the others behind you backward, cut off from your way out. You can see it now: in the deep purple skies, stained with flames and terror, a second castle in flight, positioned higher than even the Castle High. Its troops armed to the teeth, raining hell onto the castle in storms of steel of arcane magic. You have nowhere to hide from their onslaught; you try to raise your arms to protect yourself, but you know you're not safe--!
"Behind me!" You hear the yell of a woman and look back to see one dressed in a scuffed dark-green suit of bunker-like armor seemingly leap from the top of the spiral staircase and in front of you. She crosses her arms in front of her, and from the bulky metal sleeves around them emerge a shield - no, a full barricade, sparking with spring-green electricity in front of her. But your eyes widen, as the assault seems to hone in on the woman in front of you, punching hole after hole in the barrier and continuing unimpeded.
You try to shout for her to save herself, but before you know it--!
"And that's how the nightmare was retold to me, to my memory," Rosemary says, a somewhat worried look on her face. She's speaking to the same woman you saw in that dream you had minutes before, now dressed in simple army-green overalls. She puts down the screwdriver she was using to attach a spare part to what seems to be some sort of gigantic electric generator, filling the chilling warehouse-like chamber you're in with an echoing hum. She turns back around, undoing the band securing her hair in a bun.
You look down to see that your feet are past a yellow-and-black striped line labeled "Do not cross" and immediately try to correct the mistake. But the mechanic shakes her head and waves you past the line again and towards her. "So you're the newest of us here?" she mumbles. "And somehow, despite never seeing me before you dreamed about the entire castle and me being destroyed by a second by second floating castle? Even with all of my armor on?" She points out a small transparent tube to the side, where the same heavy armor you saw in your dream hangs from a pair of heavy metal hooks.
"That's what I heard," Rosemary insists. "I know it's not reasonable, but it still seems like a bad omen... I'm worried, Giada."
Giada sighs and puts a hand to her chin. "It's still far-fetched, not to mention impossible... The magic that keeps Castle High suspended in the air is one-of-a-kind, and if there were other floating fortresses, much less one as powerful as you described, the reconnaissance division would have discovered them by now. Still, seeing me in the dream to that level of detail..." She wanders in her own thoughts.
"What should we do? I hadn't heard of something like this before, so..." Rosemary's look only seems to grow more and more anxious with each ticking second.
Giada grunted. "This is my plan so far... There's no reason to justify any of this as seeing into the future or anything of the sort. But it's worth taking more precautions anyway, since it's still highly unusual. I'm currently working on a new set of artillery for the castle, but I need the resources to build them. We're lacking on all the materials we need for more defenses, since we're strained as is just trying to keep an army afloat."
"But, wouldn't that require us to go on more raids than we need to?" Rosemary objects. "That means more people are going to be injured in battle unnecessarily, and... and besides, if there's nothing that can attack us from up here, we should only fight as much as we need to protect Castle Low, right!?"
"Exactly," Giada nodded. "Which is why I'll need you," she continues, nodding to you, "to follow me while I explain the situation to the rest of Castle High's leaders. You've probably met most of them already - we're two of the five, right here - so I hope it won't be too overwhelming for you." Giada turns back to Rosemary. "Thanks, Rosemary. I can take care of this from here."
Rosemary looks like she has something to say, but eventually pulls back without a word. Giada turns back to you. "The castle's leaders meet every morning at seven sharp, at the tip of the tallest tower. It's the same place Corbin is stationed so he can navigate the castle. If you know what's good for you... you won't be late."
She turns back around and ties her hair back up, eventually returning back to tuning the generator in front of you.
You look down to see that your feet are past a yellow-and-black striped line labeled "Do not cross" and immediately try to correct the mistake. But the mechanic shakes her head and waves you past the line again and towards her. "So you're the newest of us here?" she mumbles. "And somehow, despite never seeing me before you dreamed about the entire castle and me being destroyed by a second by second floating castle? Even with all of my armor on?" She points out a small transparent tube to the side, where the same heavy armor you saw in your dream hangs from a pair of heavy metal hooks.
"That's what I heard," Rosemary insists. "I know it's not reasonable, but it still seems like a bad omen... I'm worried, Giada."
Giada sighs and puts a hand to her chin. "It's still far-fetched, not to mention impossible... The magic that keeps Castle High suspended in the air is one-of-a-kind, and if there were other floating fortresses, much less one as powerful as you described, the reconnaissance division would have discovered them by now. Still, seeing me in the dream to that level of detail..." She wanders in her own thoughts.
"What should we do? I hadn't heard of something like this before, so..." Rosemary's look only seems to grow more and more anxious with each ticking second.
Giada grunted. "This is my plan so far... There's no reason to justify any of this as seeing into the future or anything of the sort. But it's worth taking more precautions anyway, since it's still highly unusual. I'm currently working on a new set of artillery for the castle, but I need the resources to build them. We're lacking on all the materials we need for more defenses, since we're strained as is just trying to keep an army afloat."
"But, wouldn't that require us to go on more raids than we need to?" Rosemary objects. "That means more people are going to be injured in battle unnecessarily, and... and besides, if there's nothing that can attack us from up here, we should only fight as much as we need to protect Castle Low, right!?"
"Exactly," Giada nodded. "Which is why I'll need you," she continues, nodding to you, "to follow me while I explain the situation to the rest of Castle High's leaders. You've probably met most of them already - we're two of the five, right here - so I hope it won't be too overwhelming for you." Giada turns back to Rosemary. "Thanks, Rosemary. I can take care of this from here."
Rosemary looks like she has something to say, but eventually pulls back without a word. Giada turns back to you. "The castle's leaders meet every morning at seven sharp, at the tip of the tallest tower. It's the same place Corbin is stationed so he can navigate the castle. If you know what's good for you... you won't be late."
She turns back around and ties her hair back up, eventually returning back to tuning the generator in front of you.