"How is this gonna help me get answers again?" I yelled into the microphone.

Wires ran across my face, supposedly a microphone was attached to my brain. It didn't hurt though, so I didn't really believe them. I had a giant metal box on my back that they promised was some sort of jetpack. I hoped they weren't lying. For all I knew, they had brought me out here to kill me. Maybe this was some sort of tsaban way to "walk the plank."

I stared down at clouds, a bit surprised there were any. Weren't we in the core of the world supposedly? How were there clouds? And wind? I still didn't understand how there was light. The ship's map on the wall did clear a few things up for me though. We were somewhere near the top of the core. I wondered if that meant there was somewhere near us where I could get back to the surface. Back home.

"Just jump already," Mei said from behind me. I made her stand at a distance, I was afraid she would push me off.

"Pilot, can you hear me?" I asked, hoping he would hear me. "Is this safe? You promise it will be ok?" I already trusted Pilot far more than Mei. Not that I really trusted any of them, except for maybe Felix. Surely those adorable puppy eyes couldn't lie!

"Yeah! I hear ya lass! It's ok! Mei's bark is worse than 'er bite. She wouldn'ta brought ya all this way ta just kill ya. Well... she might, but I wouldn't let 'er!" Pilot let out a hearty Santa-like laugh that forced a smile to my face. He was the best otherworldly, tsaban, grandpa-Santa I could ever hope for.

I felt a push, then I was falling. "Have a nice flight!" Mei said, closing the air lock behind me. At first, I wanted to yell at her for pushing me. After I specifically asked her not to! But I had bigger problems on my hands. Like the fact that I was in a freefall.

I guess I had always wondered what clouds felt like, but I never wanted to be falling through them! Almost as fast as I had begun falling, I stopped. I was sort of hovering. I looked back at the jetpack but didn't see any flames or anything. How was it keeping me afloat? Whatever, it was probably magic. It seemed like everything down here was.

"Alright-ee! Now yer flyin'!" Pilot's voice rang enthusiastically through my mind. "Now, yer gonna want to come back to th' ship. As part a yer trainin' yer gonna help me with some chores. Mr. Myagi style!" Pilot let out a massive laugh, I couldn't help but smile too. His movie reference made me like him tons more. It made me feel oddly at home too, despite the fact that doing chores was not what I had signed up for.

"I thought I was out here for answers? I already tried training with Marccus and that didn't go so well." I shuddered at the thought of the queen sucking the air from my lungs again. "That's because you were being trained as a soldier," Mei's cool voice chimed in. "We are going to train you like a Vyron."

"Speaking of..." I said, taking the opportunity to actually maybe get some answers. "What is a Vyron, and why does everyone think I am one?"

"Vyrons were frist developed in a lab by Dr. Melborne Vyron. He-"

"No, no, no, Mei! She duhn't want ah history lesson! An' Adri wasn't made in ah lab!" At least Pilot maybe understood what I was asking. Maybe. Mei groaned.

Pilot cleared his throat, "Go up to th' balloon-ie bit of th' ship." I had almost forgotten I was supposed to be doing chores not just out for a joy ride er... flight? "Vyrons are like uh... human dragon hybrids. But th' bond is stronger and more magical-y than that. Vyrons are th' children that were raised with er by dragons, not born by 'em. Fly up to the top." He added the last bit very casually.

"Though they were originally created in a lab," Mei chimed in, defending her story.

"Yeh, they were originally made in ah lab. We called those artificials... What do yeh see?"

"Um... I see... a big balloon made of scraps and messily tied together with crappy string." I got close to the balloon, not sure what I was supposed to be seeing. I had been listening to their explanation of what I Vyron was, but really didn't care much. If anything I was just annoyed that it actually had nothing to do with me.

"Young lady! Don't yeh insult meh beautiful balloon! Mei is already so mean to it! There is a whole in it somewhere though, I need yeh tah find patch it."

"Some training this is, I don't have anything to patch it with! This sucks! I'm coming back in!"

"You have thread in your pack. So, your mom..." Mei was talking this time. That freaking manipulative jerk.

"Nah! I don't want your lies! Just let me back in!" I said, approaching the airlock. I felt a small tug at my shoulder and spun around, rage and tears burning in my eyes. I was so over this. I half expected them to send out Felix, but I was face to face with a feathered woman. "I'm going back in! I'm tired of the lies! I just wanna go home!" I wiped tears from my eyes, surprised at the change. Was this woman with the Committee?

"Adri! Get out of there! Get inside n..." Mei's voice ebbed off into static. The woman's hand, which I noticed was missing a finger, was wrapped around my metal jetpack.

It looked like her finger had rotted off. And she smelled like death. I froze, the smells reminding me of the dungeon. Then I felt a pull as the woman ripped off the jetpack. I ripped myself out of the trance "No! I don't have- I can't- you-" I couldn't get a full sentence out before my pack was falling out of the sky, and I was too.

The feathered woman waved cheerfully at me as I fell.

I grabbed for my pack, trying to get ahold of it, but it stayed out of reach. Tears still stung my eyes as I saw another form diving for me. I would have actually been happy to see Mei, but it wasn't her. It was the harpy woman diving after me. What was she trying to do? Make for certain there was a big SPLAT when I finally hit the ground?

Raw tears stung my eyes I was so tired of feeling hopeless. My sadness turned to rage. "Listen, lady!" I roared, hearing an odd CRACK! from behind me. Was there another one? "I'm so over this! If I'm gonna finally die you better come finish me off! I ain't going this way!" Rage filled my veins like fire. The woman got closer and closer, the ground started appearing below me. Finally, she reached me, a wicked smile across her face.

"Oh yeah, dearie?" She asked, a rotting hand raising to cover my face and a powerful kick to my gut shoving me back up. A trickle of blood came from my mouth and there was another CRACK! I thought it might have been my bones, but I felt fine. I was falling still, but I felt fine. I balled my fist and punched her as we fell.

Things sped up.

We fell closer to the ground. Finally colliding with it. 

It was her turn to bleed.