Not everyone would make it.
But his family still could.
The skies were relatively clear, most ordinary citizens of Sacred Valley not having access to a flying vehicle, so Lindon soared easily over to where Orthos and Little Blue waited for him.
Kelsa paced next to the turtle, Jaran crouched on a stool and impatiently juggled his cane, while Seisha adjusted settings on her drudge. The hovering brown fish bristled with sensors and detectors; Lindon’s mother was clearly trying to figure out more information about what was happening.
All four of them stood on Windfall’s blue cloud base, and Lindon immediately recognized why. They had been directed to the right place, but they couldn’t open the door.
Lindon tried to reach out with his madra, but failed. Though he had left the suppression field, his spirit hadn’t fully recovered yet, and his pure madra dissipated only a few feet from his body.
Orthos had been watching Lindon fly up, and at his words, Lindon’s mother and sister looked up.
Lindon landed in front of them, his left hand resting on the door to his fortress. At the touch of his madra, the door slid soundlessly open.
The ramps to the nearby Akura ships were clogged, blocked by crowds of people trying to fight their way on, though the Akura Golds easily prevented any unwanted stowaways. A few of those waiting to board noticed Lindon’s fortress opening, and some groups began to run for his wide blue cloud.
“Where were you?” Lindon’s father demanded.
From her seat atop Orthos’ head, Little Blue whistled concern for the others.
“Get inside,” Lindon said, his voice low. He tried to give them a reassuring glance, but his eyes were locked on the golden horizon to the west. “Eithan will be joining us soon. Yerin got away on her own. Mercy and Ziel, I…I don’t know.”
“How are we going to carry everyone?” Kelsa asked. She had a huge backpack strapped on, but she was shifting from foot to foot, as though she longed to toss it aside and go find some people to save.
That first group of people had almost reached Lindon’s fortress, running desperately as though they thought he might take off at any moment.
“I don’t know,” Lindon said again. “We need more time. Get inside.”
His mother looked uneasily at the people clamoring to reach the fortress. “How much room do we have?”
“Enough for these, at least,” Lindon said, and Kelsa let out a sigh of relief. Had she expected him to turn away people for no reason? “We don’t have to carry them far.”
A crash deafened the world, and screams rose from the nearby crowds. Rocks and ice tumbled down from Samara’s peak. Lindon wondered if Mount Venture was still intact.
With a spiritual effort, Lindon commanded the fortress’ cloud to lower, forming a ramp to allow the fleeing Sacred Valley citizens access. The closest batch was from the Li clan, he noted, with their fancy badges and elaborate jewelry.
Not that clan distinctions mattered now, but that made him hopeful that Mercy was here somewhere.
Orthos led Lindon’s family inside, with Little Blue giving directions. When the first family reached the top of the ramp, Lindon held out a hand to stop them.
They tried to barrel past him, but the gray-haired Iron Enforcer at the front crashed into Lindon’s extended arm as though into a steel bar.
“No fighting while you’re in my home,” Lindon said quietly.
The Ruler behind the Enforcer bobbed her head while holding a green-wrapped infant girl on one hip. “Yes, yes, whatever you say.”
She was echoed by all the fifteen or so members of the Li clan, who all cried either agreement or begged him to hurry.
[Eighteen,] Dross corrected. [You didn’t count the baby ones.]
Lindon moved his arm and stood aside, letting them rush onboard, while he conversed with Dross. How many can we hold?
[Well, the aura is still thin here. It depends on how many belongings they have, and how much space they take up on average…]
More and more people had noticed that his fortress was wide and relatively open, so they had begun rushing for him.
[…at least two hundred, easily. No, a hundred and eighty. Say one seventy-five, to be safe.]
A roar sounded out, causing the Irons and Coppers and Jades to scream and clap hands to their ears. Lindon thought some of them might be deafened.
[I, uh, hate to waste calculations, but I don’t think storage space will be our limiting factor.]
Time. They would have to take off before they were full. He looked at the mass of humanity pouring out of the Heaven’s Glory passageway, knowing there were hundreds of thousands of people still inside.
Was the Titan in there already? Had he crushed the Wei clan to rubble?
“Prepare to leave,” Lindon ordered, and Dross materialized, drifting off into the network of scripts and constructs that formed the organs of the cloud fortress.
Eithan’s hopping golden cloudship came to a rest by Lindon, and a number of shelter-seeking families ran over to him as a ramp extended.
Lindon looked up to Mount Samara, where a white ring was forming. He didn’t want to see the truth on the other side, but he had to know.
He called his Thousand-Mile Cloud again and launched himself into the air as fast as he could.
Mount Samara, seething with people desperately seeking safety, fell away beneath his feet. He shot up and up, past thin clouds, above the circle of light ringing the peak. Up close, Samara’s ring was thicker than he had ever realized.
Finally, Lindon looked down upon Sacred Valley.
Mount Venture was gone.
Reddish rocks were scattered all over the center of the valley, crushing trees and buildings as far away as the Wei and Li territories. The Kazan clan was…buried.
A monster crouched on their former home. The Wandering Titan was hunched over once again, feeding, but this time it wasn’t wrist-deep in the ground.
Mount Venture had been cracked open like a shell, revealing a golden treasure within.
A beacon of yellow light shone in a pillar up to the sky. Even suppressed by Sacred Valley’s formation, it gave off a sense of power that felt completely out of place here.
The source of that light was covered in the Wandering Titan’s hands, and it fed deeply, drawing with hunger madra. As he watched, Lindon was struck with how similar the two felt. It was like the Titan had been reunited with a piece of itself.
But second by second, the light began to flicker. Almost imperceptible at first, but it wouldn’t be too long until the Titan was done feeding.
[It’s not…it’s not getting stronger, is it?] Dross asked nervously. He was still inside the fortress, but he could share Lindon’s thoughts anyway.
Hard to tell. The Dreadgod gave off the impression of overwhelming power, but inside the suppression field, the Titan was certainly weaker than it was outside. Though Lindon thought perhaps it did feel a little stronger than before. Then again, he was having an easier time sensing everything in Sacred Valley. It must be an effect of leaving the formation behind himself, and having his former power slowly restored.
Dross’ mental voice was high-pitched. [Ready, ah, ready to leave!]
Go! Now!
Under Dross’ control, Windfall lifted off even as Lindon streaked down to meet them. One Li family was halfway on, and two members tumbled off the side.
He swooped down and caught them by the backs of their collars, hauling them up to the rest of their family.
He could do nothing for the others.
The ones left behind screamed and begged for him to return, but he had already landed on the house. There was a hatch on the roof, and he used his power as a key to prove his identity and slip inside.
Dross was launching the fortress now, but his madra wouldn’t be enough to fuel it for long, with the aura here as thin as it was. Lindon took over as soon as he entered the control room, letting pure madra flood out to the scripts.