“Oh, and I forgot…” Gotha smacked the machine right between the orbs with a smirk, then took a step back. Gründ, not expecting the surge of energy that immediately went through the thing, could barely hold on and close his eyes while he was propelled through one, through two walls. He came to a crashing stop at the third, to the distant sound of his friends’ unstoppable hilarity.

“I’m fine! Nothing hurts more than usual!” came the flying apprentice’s muffled voice from deep inside the closest building. He checked his nose: still the same length. Good. Haylir might not smack him too hard when he came back.

“One more try!” said Gründ, trying to turn the machine around without slipping off of it. He slapped it between the orbs as Gotha had done, and… KBAM! “Well, at least he’s out of the building now…” said Baruf. “You mean the building is gone!” replied Bared. He was deeply annoyed by its destruction, not having yet been able to check it out.

“It’s all right, there was nothing in this one! I checked” Gotha had a slight look of shame on her face: she hadn’t intended for Gründ to hurt himself nor destroy anything, she just wanted to pull a joke on him… Thankfully, the machine was unscathed, Gründ wasn’t too badly hurt, and the only thing destroyed had already been in ruins.

“All right now, let’s try it again, but first let us point you to another direction. No more destroying things today, is that clear?” Bared motioned the other two to help him direct the uncontrollable machine towards a safer spot. “There. These trees are sturdy enough, they shouldn’t be too damaged if you…” BLAM!

The trees were, indeed, able to resist the impact. “I got it! The orbs are the control system!”

BLAMBABOOM!

“And this is how you get up or down!”

KRRRACK!

“I’m all right! The tree is fine! It’s just a branch! Please don’t tell Haylir!”

Bared was starting to get worried, but the next attempt seemed to go better. Gründ managed to remain floating around at a decent height for a few moments before a very small crash on the ground. Progress!

“All right, I think I got it now!” Gründ said triumphantly, despite the signs of his multiple failures all around the clearing. “The Ancients were insane! This thing is too fast!” Baruf exclaimed from behind a giant Bocti. He had decided that hiding was, in those circumstances, the best way to make sure all his limbs remained attached to the right places of his body.

“I think” answered Bared slowly, examining the machine before it took off again, “that the Ancients didn’t ever imagine something like Gründ existing…” Gründ looked slightly offended by that last statement, and waved the elder away.

He decided to show them that he was more than a walking catastrophe. “Hmf, stay hidden, I’ll try one last time. There. Easy now…”

“Steady paws, we got this…” The machine took off slowly this time, gradually getting higher under the Töskr’s careful directions. Was he going to make it? Could he really control that thing?