A Song for Winter: Avangard, World of Skies

    The portal appeared before William as he traveled across the frigid tundra planes. It shimmered and rippled in a vaguely hexagonal shape. A strange wind blew from the open portal blowing around the young folf as he stared curiously at the opaque translucent white surface of the portal. William stood transfixed for a moment wondering if he should step through it or not. Its sudden appearance could be a sign as to where his journey was to lead him or it could be sent from someone that wished to delay his quest for vengeance. Either way, nothing was going to get solved by just standing there frozen in place. Finally, after a few moments, William took a deep breath and stepped through the portal.

 

    The world around William went hazy and his sight blurred as his equilibrium gave out causing extreme vertigo. Once his vision and balance returned William found himself not standing on the frozen ground anymore but on wooden planks in the sky. As he looked around he realized that he was on some sort of ship in the sky. Clear skies overhead with clouds below him William didn’t know where the portal had brought him but there had to be something here for him to discover.  

 

    William spent a lot of time exploring the different airships in this new fleet he found himself aboard. Eventually, he found himself aboard the capital ship, Soujel. The red and gold capital ship stood out against the blue sky as it soared through the air. Lights along its hull made it visible from anywhere in the air city. When William arrived at the capital ship he was not expecting the hustle and bustle of a city. People of different species and races moved to and fro as they went about their business. A pickpocket tried to swipe William’s coin pouch but he grabbed them and with a stern glance and a growl the thief returned the pouch.

 

     Amongst the usual, the many different species on the airships were mixed in constructs of all shapes and sizes. For the most part, they went about their business without interfering with William’s wonderings but occasionally one would get in his way. Mechanical shopkeepers were impossible to haggle with as they didn’t respond to fear or charm like their organic counterparts. Flying mechanical beings buzzed about delivering letters or blasting various advertisements for shops and services. William did not trust any of these soulless automatons especially after he heard the rumors about how they occasionally go haywire and attack civilians. Whenever they were around William had one hand on his witch knife and the other ready to draw his sword.

 

    Almost daily people would gather around the edges of the Soujel to watch the airship races. Captains piloted augmented to go much faster than the standard airship. Airships soared by at high speeds as watchers placed bets on who would win to make some extra money. Growing up constantly training to be ready at any moment to defend himself and his clan made William find the whole concept of these airship races to be a frivolous waste of time. He didn’t understand how anyone could afford to live so free-spirited like this.

 

    William found himself lying in a hammock that he had rented for the night wondering why he was in this world. He had been here for a month at this point and had yet to find anything to continue his quest for vengeance. There was no war here, evil tyrants enslaving people through fear, or mystical beasts terrorizing the populace. William drifted off to sleep wondering if he made a mistake walking through that portal in the first place.

 

    As William lay sleeping he was suddenly awoken in the dark by bells ringing out across the Soujel. Quickly strapping on his sword and ax, William thrust his talisman dagger into his belt as he rushed to the red and gold deck. Looking around he could see other confused people starting to gather when a purple streak of lighting struck several constructs that had been on the deck. The mechanical beings whirled and smoked for a moment as purple energy crackled across their metal forms. Without warning, they started to lash out at anyone that was nearby as more automatons crackling in purple energy joined the newly converted ones from further down the deck.

 

Thinking quickly William grabbed his dagger and whistled several notes of the Winter Song while making a sweeping motion with the dagger. A quick sharp blast of wind knocked several of the lighter constructs off the deck while the heavier ones managed to hang on. This caused the haywire constructs to take notice of William en masse. As they started to move on the folf he drew his bearded ax with his right hand and flipped the dagger in his left hand to a reverse grip. With a mighty roar, William slammed his ax into the vaguely humanoid construct tearing open its metal shell as it was slammed into three of its other corrupted cohorts in being swept off the deck by William’s mighty swing. A metal being tried to flank the folf from the side only to meet a dagger being thrust into it. A series of whistled notes caused the automaton to burst apart at the seams as it air-filled its body beyond capacity.

 

As the battle waged William began to tire out however the number of corrupted constructs had dwindled to only a handful left. Pushing back the mechanical man on him William hung his dagger in the air as if suspended from a wire. Whistling a whirling note repeatedly faster and faster causing his dagger to spin in the air. The dagger spun slowly at first picking up speed as the whistled note came quicker. Finally hitting the pinnacle of speed William grabbed his witch blade from the air while motioning like a conductor before a symphony he summoned a cyclone. Carefully controlling the whirlwind picked up the remaining corrupted constructs tearing them to pieces.

 

Breathing an exhausted sigh William was prepared to go back to sleep when a new portal opened before him. This one looked the same as the last one. Celebrations rang out behind the folf as he stepped through this new portal. Was this his destiny now? Going world to world, portal to portal being a hero then disappearing into a new portal? If it was to be this way, he knew one thing for sure. He was going to need a nap when he got wherever this new portal took him.