The city of Nighbrook was quiet in the dead of night, filled with towering buildings and a constant haze of smoke blocking the dark sky. Scattered lanterns illuminated the cramped cobblestone streets; specks of metal in the cracks between uneven stones glimmered where the flames shone. Shadows pooled between the faint circles of light, and I shivered as my gaze searched them, stomach in knots as I tried to shake the feeling that I wasn’t alone on the empty street.
In all the realms of Aeras, I had to end up here.
My breath was fog in the cold night air as I pushed it out slowly, trying to calm my racing heart. My eyes were drawn to a gap between buildings, an alley barely large enough to squeeze into. I glanced behind me, tense with a fear that something would move in the darkness which consumed the city.
Swallowing hard, I hurried to get off the main street. Moving too quickly, I didn’t notice the scraps of metal and broken gears thrown out around the alley until I tripped over them. The sound of clanging metal echoed as I caught myself against the building.
My heart was in my throat, my wild gaze turning to the street again. A new light appeared, a lantern burning in the hand of a figure, which had cold dread crawling down my spine. The silhouette paused for a moment, before it moved toward me.
Fear jolted through me, and I abandoned the attempt at stealth as I ran down the alley.
I felt like a rat trapped in a maze as I raced through the backstreets. The roar of my pulse in my ears made it hard to tell how far I had gotten from my pursuers. All I knew was I couldn’t stop, couldn’t risk them catching up, even as my lungs and muscles screamed in protest.
I froze for a moment as I hit the edge of the city, hesitating. I knew I’d be running across open ground as I headed for the cliff with its sprawling airship port. The sharp wind coming off the precipice pulled at my leather coat, whipping its hem against my thighs; I pulled it tighter across my chest, shivering as the bite of the air cooled the sweat from my skin. My goggles had fogged from the heat of my face as I ran, and I pulled them down to hang loosely around my neck as I paused under the shadow of the buildings. I lingered, conflicted, knowing there was no going back if I stepped out of the protection of the densely gathered buildings.
A shout from behind me spurred me into motion again. My fingers were tightly clutched around the satchel tied to my belt as I left the towering city behind. I couldn’t hide in there forever, so I had to stake my survival on finding an airship that could get me away from Nighbrook.
My lungs and throat burned as the wind blew smoke from the airships and port machinery, sending it toward the city. I was grateful for the shift in the wind, as the steam provided me some cover as I headed for the harbor… just as I’d planned.
The harbor was busy even at night; lanterns every few feet illuminated the decks and walkways that spanned out over the cliff in spiderwebbed branches of metal and wood. The thin docks were suspended over a deep chasm by copper and gears, with nothing beneath them but a sharp drop into the smoke and steam of factories far below. They felt dangerously fragile as I noticed them sway with the gusts of wind. The vessels were anchored to the docks with lengths of heavy chain, darkened by time and smoke, and slim bridges extended with a mesh of gears that spanned the precarious distance to the airships.
Glancing back, I saw figures moving in the darkness. With my chest tight, I slipped into the crowd of workers moving across the decks, weaving between oil-stained men too focused on their jobs to pay me any attention. My gaze searched over airships hazed by the smokestacks polluting the air. There were passenger ships refueling for the morning, but they were carefully watched and secured– too much of a risk. Slipping into the hold of one of the cargo ships being loaded on the other side of the port, where there were fewer lanterns and the guards were scarce… That would be my best chance at escape.
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