Heavily, the sound of the motors thrummed above me.

I was a new kind of man, with power beyond anything that I had held since the beginning of time. My body was alive with a thousand emotions - some of loss and agony, others of agitation, excitement, intrigue. Both was I fearful and anticipatory for what I was experiencing: I had been expecting it for two months now, but also had I survived the first. Two apolocalypses, both within my lifetime, both prophecied, both meaningful and at significant moments of my life.

Carefully I clutched the dangling handle that was the strap holding me to the massive balloon above, filled with powerful, explosive air. But it was the type of gas that gave boyancy, and it had been made with the genius of Alerar in hand. By night I had stolen it when the ash had begun to fall, and alone I had managed to manipulate it. After an hour I had tamed the vehicle to my hand, as we floated daringly over the ocean, my ears filled with the clunking of the engines.

Now I was in a world filled with smoke and ash. The air hung thinly with the grey stuff, slowly falling like snow or hovering in the air like small insects. I could taste the foul burnt stench upon the wind itself, and there were moments where I felt as though I was choking because of the ash.

It was getting thicker, the closer I got to the volcano. So far I had managed to get to the islands that surrounded Lornius, where I had known to go because of my research into the nuermous prophecies. I steered mostly with instinct than anything else, even though I had never driven one before. Something inbuilt within me that made me understand their mechanics, although it had taken me some time to come to terms with the complexities here.

I breathed in sharply as I suddenly saw an expanded beneath me. The earth had become flat and smooth, stretching for miles until trees began again. I was still some distance from the volcano, and that had not truly burst into flames yet. Instead only ash had been spurted into the sky. It seemed though that some liquid had erupted, rushing down like a river. Something like lava and magma, yet not, for it was rock like, hard and shimming. Dark and iridescent, an ocean that had condemned possibly thousands of people as it had taken away villages. Hauntingly, I could see the roofs of houses peeking through the odd volcanic rock, that was as beautiful as it was deadly. My heart hammered heavily as I took in the amount of deaths that I had not been able to save.

The air began to grow thick as the tall, pointing mountain appeared before me. One that was severely chucking dark grey into the sky. As I watched it grow bigger I found the ash fog begin to grow thicker, and the feeling of choking became something of a reality. Indeed, I could die and come back but that would not be useful with the six hour difference between the two states. Therefore -

I grabbed what I had been keeping on the surface beside me, nearby the spinwheel that manourvered this hunk of a vehicle. Still holding onto the strap I slipped the leather and fabric over my face, becoming a masked mystery as I began the descent to the foot of the supervolcano. Gas masked and a lone ranger I aimed to do the impossible - stunt this eruption before it got even worse. But first I had to do some investigation.

At least I had managed to potentially save almost ten thousand people, of a variety of races. Finding the sanctuary of the Svek-kal had been a heaven-send. The ancient people who had survived the Great Calamity, only to either die out or become interwoven into the bloodlines of Raiaera. Now my brother was using it to keep his many people alive, those who worshipped him and those who worked for him. That at least I had achieved.

Now I just needed to rescue the rest of the world.

I focused on what I could see. A man moving through the landscape, heading somewhat towards the rocky not-volcanic-rock and me. On the horizon I could see the pokes of house roofs, suggesting a very lucky village. Turning my vehicle with a spin off the wheel I started directly for him. At least it would be something. A place to start than just stumbling up the soon to be exploding mountain.