The carriage continued to move along the dirt then it made a turn to the left where it was revealed that the remaining path was just an edge.
"Wow…Easy now…" The left stagecoach cantered his horse as it slowly clopped along.
"Damn we should just turn back now." The right stagecoach said while he looked back at the path.
"The air here feels too thick." He continued while his nose breathed as if it fought against the air from clawing into his nostrils and later down to his lungs.
"It's already too late, not enough room to even turn or do anything." The left answered while his hand slowly trembled as it gripped the reins while sweat dropped down his face.
"Only to keep moving forward." He said as he drumed his fingers on the reins. Then instead of going down from cheek to the bottom, a lone sweat ascended upwards but this went unnoticed by the left stagecoach.
"Hmm…" The right stagecoach just looked at the left with his head lowered and a hum of doubt while though for a split second, he saw himself from behind.
Why do I feel like my own eyes are watching me?
He scratched the back of his neck while he blinked rapidly to steady himself.
Meanwhile inside the carriage itself, Jorel just sat there, glancing at the window while his mind raced around.
Those bandits…
Don't even know why they were allowed to prance around as part of the government.
They just showed their ungrateful true selves.
He scoffed.
Now look at what happened, my uncle is probably dead and it's definitely going to involve my clan.
Won't even relax and have enough time to spend with Zara when I get back home.
He turned his head up, looking at the ceiling.
I even wonder how she's doing…
He let out a slight smile that was followed by the thought of a young girl with long red hair and a smooth face that housed her beautiful cat like eyes.
That's true beauty…
He sighed as he looked at the window once again.
This time, just off in the distance, what seemed like a tiny dot was increasing in size with much speed.
Huh? What is that?
Jorel wondered while his face wore a confused expression. The dot soon increased in size as it became apparent that it was a person---people in fact.
What?!
Jorel surprised by what he's seeing, he shuddered back from the window.
From the sky, but close, Kacis flew in while Acis was still strapped to him as she carried Marichi and Blutsatchel.
"Seen them! They're just up ahead!" Kacis shouted while he still flew head on.
"Blutsatchel! Prepare yourself, we do this quick without warning." Marichi said.
"You got that right." Blutsatchel nodded her head while she readied her hand in a straight line at Jorel's carriage. Red shards then penetrated from the glove with blood all around them. She then aimed her hand at the stagecoaches, the right one to be exact.
"Blutsatchel, please reduce your movements, it's not easy." Acis groaned while Blutsatchel moved her body slightly which strained the threads around them.
"Hmph." She grunted while more red shards penetrated her forwarded hand. She then took a short momentary breath with her eyes deadlocked on the right stagecoach.
Red!" Blutsatchel roared, shards bursting from her hand, a fine mist of blood spraying in their wake. They shrieked through the air with impossible speed. The right stagecoach barely managed to turn his head.
"Wha—!" The scream died in his throat as the crimson projectiles tore into his face and neck, erupting in a geyser of blood. Other shards punched into the lead horse, its shrill neigh abruptly cut short.
*Neigh!!* *Nneigh!!*
The two horses, eyes wide with terror, bucked violently, their manes whipping in the wind. The left stagecoach, still on his rearing horse, watched in horror as his partner's lifeless body slumped to the ground, the right horse thrashing wildly.
The carriage lurched forward a few frantic yards before the wounded horse collapsed, tangling the left horse in its fall.
"..." The left stagecoach's eyes blew wide, and he, along with his horse, pitched violently over the edge.
"What the hell is happening outside!" Jorel shouted as he braced himself against the chair. The carriage, dragged by its momentum, plunged over the cliff edge and straight for the ground below only leaving a dust trail and splattered blood behind.
"Yeah!" Blutsatchel cheered, pumping her fist as more blood splattered from her hand.
"No, Blutsatchel!" Marichi's voice gave off a sharp crack.
"That was too much! You'll kill the noble inside!" He shouted, struggling against Acis's threads.
"I wanted to kill him myself!" Marichi snarled, grinding his teeth as he lunged a hand out towards the falling carriage.
Everything inside rattled as Jorel was suspended midair within the carriage, plummeting down to the hard ground below.
What happened?!
Did we fall over?!
Those stupid stagecoaches!
"Ahhhh!" Jorel shouted while he waved his hands around, his thoughts seemed to be stagnant as time looked still.
The particles in the air, slowly regained speed as the carriage neared the ground.
THUD!
Jorel hit his neck and back on the wall of the carriage behind him, which knocked his consciousness out cold. But the carriage didn't collide and shatter on the ground—Instead, it passed through it!
It seemed like the carriage with the corpses of the horses and right stagecoach were sinking through it, like as if the hard ground had turned into a loose viscous liquid which appeared to have claws made out of the liquid ground that surrounded the carriage
"Kacis, fly us to them now!" Marichi ordered while he threw his hand in the direction of the crash as Acis grunted.
"Right." Kacis nodded and leaned his body closer as the wind seemed brushed against his face but not directly touching it.
As he flew through the air, he suddenly lost control of his flight, he seemed like he slipped on something in air which seemed to have some sort of restriction to him.
"What is this?" Acis exclaimed while she firmed her hand's grip on both Kacis and Marichi with Blutsatchel.
"Kacis! What's happening?!" Marichi groaned while he slowly slipped from Acis's threads.
"I-I don't know!" Kacis, his throat strained to release words.
"It's like the very air itself isn't air anymore." He huffed while they all tried to breathe, but the air around their noses just dragged, feeling like rubber.
"I can feel one of you slipping!" Acis said, glancing down at Marichi and Blutsatchel as Kacis himself struggled.
The whole group moving around in the air like a headless chicken with Blutsatchel and Marichi holding tightly onto Acis's threads.
It can't be…That I've forgotten how to fly right?
No…That's not possible!
Kacis thought while still trying to center himself.
Marichi looked at the ground below him and then looked back up at a confused Kacis and a groaning Acis. He sighed as he grabbed the threads around him.
"W-What are you doing Marichi?" Acis asked, her face full of sweat that flowed sideways.
"I-I don't understand what's happening…But what I do understand is that it looks grim for us." He replied with his head bent down.
"Especially for you." He looked at Acis once again as he was steadily slipping from her threads.
"What are you saying?! Don't be like what's happening right here!" Blutsatchel said.
"No…" Kacis struggling to even stay airborne as they slowly descended as the air around them suddenly went from slippery to solid.
"I'm not going to let you guys die because of me." Marichi quickly said then he moved himself out of Acis's threads.
"No!!" Acis let out a soft scream.
"Bastard…" Blutsachel's voice shook at what she saw.
"Why do you guys feel light---" Kacis was about to speak before he looked below, he saw Marichi's falling body through the solid air as his body seemed to hit invisible obstacles.
"Leader!" He then shouted as he readied himself to fly down to get Marichi.
"No! It's already too late for me!" Marichi waved his hand back as his legs hit the air. His body then falling at a sloth's pace close to the ground.
He then slowly went through the liquid ground while it formed claws around him as he sank.
Just try to survive without me…
Marichi thought while he was already deep within the ground, with the last thing he heard being Acis's scream.
---The end of chapter 22---