Pyre Academy

Victoria was still at the port town of Rosefall, since Crystech had pulled out of the Eastern Continent, the ferry service to Karth on the Western Continent had ceased. Victoria had been staying in a nearby guest house, waiting for a way to cross the ocean.

Today was a day like any other, the streets were mildly busy, with the locals going about their daily business. Victoria was sat in the window of the guest house watching people passing by below. Sure, this wasn't home, but it was a far cry from Aranei and the Imperial's steel fist.

Seagulls cawed in the skies above, and the fresh sea air wafted over the town. Victoria climbed back into her room and headed out to the local bakery to get some lunch. As she headed down the street toward the bakery, the smell of freshly baked bread poured out of the windows.

Victoria went to cross the street, when a large bang echoed from the docks, the shock wave knocked most people nearby from their feet, including Victoria. She stood up and looked in the direction of the docks, to see smoke billowing into the sky.

Several more large explosions went off, as people fled the town. Victoria made her way to the end of the cobbled street to see an Araneian warship in sat in the bay, with several small airships making their way toward the town.

Victoria quickly hid in a nearby corner shop. She could hear the airships landing outside and troops exiting. She had to stay hidden, Abyssia had likely either ordered her death or retrieval by now. Probably both.

Victoria quietly made her way to the back room of the shop, and locked the door behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief, and made herself comfortable and waited a few hours.

Around three or four hours later, the town outside seemed to have gone much quieter. Victoria headed over to the fire exit door and slowly opened it, when she stepped outside, she was hit by the heat of the flames that now raged throughout the town.

The blue sky had turned dark, covered in plumes of smoke, and ash rained down on the city below. Victoria made sure the coast was clear then headed out into the street, the Imperial Airship was still parked on a nearby road. Victoria dove behind a dumpster and peeked at the pilot's window, there was no one inside.

The sound of some troopers footsteps echoed down a nearby street, Victoria took a deep breath and summoned her Celestial weapon. The trooper rounded the corner beside Victoria, she made short work of him, silencing him before he even realized what was going on.

She grabbed his radio to see if she could work out why the Empire was here, but the radio was broken. She tossed the radio in the dumpster and made her way down the street toward the docks, while there were a few troopers along the way, for the most part, they seemed to have retreated back to the warship.

The once shiny new Crystech Dock was now charred black, and flames still poured from the roof of the building. Car laid abandoned on the main road surrounding the dock. Victoria noticed a larger airship was sat nearby, unmanned. This was her chance, she made a dash for the airship.

As she ran across the street a gunshot rang out, but she didn't wait to see how it was. Instead, she ran aboard the ship and sealed the doors. She then climbed the ladder out of the hold and made her way to the pilots seat. By a stroke of luck, the ID scanner on the pilot console still recognized her as the Royal Guard Captain and activated the airship.

Victoria quickly ran through the start up sequence and powered up the airship, she looked down at the road in front of see an Imperial Academy student readying their Celestial Weapon, without a second thought, Victoria powered up the main weapon and fired upon the student, killing them almost instantly. She quickly made her escape from Rosefall, before the Empire had a chance to stop her.

When she reached a safe enough distance away, she switched the airship to auto-pilot, the destination, Pyre Academy. Victoria sighed, and ran her hands down her face. She had done what she had to do, but it didn't ease the guilt. She stood up and made her way into the hold, she looked down to see an injured male Imperial Academy student, knocked out by the rough takeoff, he must have been on board all along.

Victoria climbed down the ladder and tied the student up to an iron beam that supported the walkway above, then she tended to his wounds. Thankfully they didn't appear to be too bad, just a bump against his head.

The student had short black hair, and a tattered looking uniform. With any luck, when he awoke, Victoria would be able to find out why Abyssia attacked Rosefall. For now, she would rest. She sat on the opposite side of the hold and closed her eyes.

When she awoke, the moon shone through the small window on the side of the hold, and the low rumble of the airship engines vibrated across the steel floor, the student was awake and staring directly at her, Victoria rubbed her eyes and stood up, she slowly walked over and cleared her throat.

"I wanna talk" She said.