The sky lit up with more color than Red had ever seen before, even as the island burned. The sound thundered across the island, sounding the depths of a storm. The force was so strong it nearly blew him off his feet.
"Everyone down," Zara yelled.
Despite the thunder in his ears, he managed to hear her and flattened his body against the earth. A gust of powerful hot air plummeted past them, shaking the entire jungle. Red felt the air in his lungs go hot. For a moment, he couldn't breathe. Then, there was silence.
No one moved.
No one dared to move.
The taste of electricity still mixed with the air. Red wasn't sure if that was from the previous series of explosions or another wave about to come. None of that mattered, though.
His mind had gone blank. All he could think of was the thundering as the world shook. That was one volley of the gearborn ship. One volley. What if their entire fleet had been here?
"Should we stay here?" Derrin asked through gritted teeth.
No one knew what to answer.
Beside him, Vizim shuddered in fear. Red nearly did himself. There was no mist to cover up his fear. He was faced with the simple fact of death. There was no way to outrun death. And death had found them.
Zara grimaced. "No. I'm not sure what they intend, but if they are going to level the island, then the outskirts will not be hit immediately."
What she didn't say was that the outskirts would inevitably be flattened as well. There was no time for any more words.
Thunder shook the sky once again. Heat wafted over them as the entire ground shook like an earthquake beneath. Red held his face to the earth, praying to Guardian that for once they would get his protection.
He couldn't believe that he had been so happy with his bombs only a few weeks earlier. Their explosions had rippled across the island, and they had thought them powerful.
These were no bombs that currently threatened them. It was simply the end of everything.
Red tried to control his breathing, but it came out in panting, ragged breaths. The taste of electricity continued to fill his nose and mouth. However, beyond that, he noticed something else.
The smell of smoke.
The island was burning.
"What do we do?" Derrin coughed slightly. "We can't stay here indefinitely."
Zara's face had gone slightly pale. "I don't know… Nearly a third of the island is simply smoke. I don't dare send Iris too close, or the cannon fire could potentially kill her. It's so powerful."
There was nothing they could do. If they attempted to flee back into the caves beneath the island, they would simply live a slow death as the island crumbled around them. If they remained, then at least they would die instantly as the explosions fell.
They had experienced this same cannon fire against the fort a few days earlier. However, Red had a feeling that the gearborn hadn't been going all out. They had been probing the defenses of the island. Now, they simply didn't care.
"What do they hope to gain from this?"
He regretted asking it the moment the words came out of his mouth. The island rocked, and he took in a mouthful of sandy dirt. The thunder shook once again. Closer this time.
Of course Red knew the answer to the question.
The gearborn were making a statement. A statement that they were still just as powerful as they once were. Choosing to fight them was a suicide mission when they could level an island whenever they felt like it.
No one responded to his question. They were all too preoccupied with their impending demise. Red hoped that at the very least it would happen instantly. There was nowhere to run in the death trap. Nowhere to hide.
He shut his eyes and waited for the next iron rain. The punishment that would end them. He held his eyes closed with all his might and waited… and waited… and waited…
Electricity still filled his mouth and nose, but he didn't feel the explosion hit. Nor did the sounds of cannon fire cover the island. It was silent except for the sounds of crackling fire somewhere further up the island.
Red slowly opened his eyes and looked up. The distant gearborn ship remained unmoving. Smoke slowly billowed from its cannons, causing the vessel to be obscured by its own killing dust.
It didn't take a genius to realize they weren't preparing another volley. On the contrary, the ship seemed to be turning away from the island entirely. It was as if they had given up on leveling the island after only a few shots.
"What are they doing?" Derrin grumbled, "Why don't they just fire the next volley already?"
Zara grunted, "Perhaps they're just trying to savor the moment."
"Savor the moment… why can't they just get it over with? That would be the honorable thing to do."
"Don't you even…" Zara cut in.
"Noooo…" Red yelled.
Derrin laughed, "I'm kidding."
Everyone laughed, even Vizim. Red had no idea why the joke was funny. They had nearly died, and chances were that death was still coming for them. However, the simple fact of Derrin making jokes about honor and being sarcastic was, for some reason, so funny.
However, their laughter was swiftly cut short by the rising taste of electricity. Red took a long breath. Even if he were to die, he had at least done something with his life.
The smell grew stronger, and they all waited for the inevitable thunder that would be the end of them.
The thunder came.
Except it never struck the island.
The cannons on the far side of the ship roared with outrage as they fired a barrage outwards. No one spoke. What was there to say? The gearborn were firing off into the distant sea? That didn't make any sense.
All of their questions were answered a moment later.
In the far distance, beyond the gearborn ship—just a smidge on the horizon—sailed a ship with an enormous blue sail.
It was a sail that Red recognized.
It was the sail of Torrent.
The roar of cannonfire echoed across the distant battle. Blasts careening back and forth from both ships slammed into their shields. Each explosion sent ripples of light that spread back to them.
"That bastard," Zara muttered. "He just had to wait for us to nearly die before showing."
Red would have laughed if he hadn't been so exhausted. He slumped back to the ground with a groan. It seemed that they wouldn't be dying after all. The battle continued to echo behind him, but he no longer cared.
There was zero doubt in his mind that Ayjax would win the battle. Without a herald present, there was no one aboard that ship who could pose a serious threat to him. If he could get onboard the ship, the battle would end in minutes.
How many people had died during the gearborn's terrifying assault? Had the sailors made it? Had any of the pirates made it?
Red didn't know, and that's what made it worse. He had moved the sailors to a distant plateau to keep them out of the fighting. Now they might all be dead because of that move. There hadn't been anywhere else for them to go, but still. Maybe they could have stayed with Vizim and followed them through the tunnels. Red didn't know; he just felt as if he could have done more to ensure their survival.
Ayjax's boat continued to close on the gearborn ship. Without backup, he had been forced to move in himself. They needed to get close enough for their men to board the ship. Even with Torrent's power, they wouldn't be able to break through the ship's defenses directly.
No matter how the battle ended, one thing was certain. His unexpected stay on Rim was coming to an end. Days of some of the worst and best experiences of his life were now over.
What would come next?
Red didn't really know. He had his finished prototype, of course. But that was a problem just as much as it was a success. With it done, he didn't have anything big to work on. He was ending his stay on Rim with far less going for him than at the start.
A thunderous roar shook the world.