A vampire.
He swallowed.
What kind of insane situation is this…?
He had spent most of his life trying very hard not to die. That had always been the goal—simple, clean, predictable.
Avoid danger.
Stay alive.
Somehow, through a series of catastrophically bad decisions, he had ended up piloting an airship for people who treated existential horror like casual conversation.
He stared blankly at the controls.
And now they're discussing if I should become one of them.
His eye twitched.
Once you're a vampire, what do you even eat regularly?
Blood?
Only blood?
Can you still eat normal food afterward?!
The mental image alone made him look faintly ill.
Absolutely not.
No.
He refused.
Aldric glanced sideways at him.
"…Why do you look even more disturbed now?"
The pilot pointed weakly at the console.
"I'm processing my possible future."
Aldric took another sip.
"Unfortunate."
The pilot ignored him completely.
And another thought followed immediately.
What if becoming a vampire changed him into something like them?
The idea hit harder than it should have.
No.
Absolutely not.
He preferred being normal.
Relatively normal, at least.
His thoughts spiraled further—
until one of the mana displays suddenly flickered red.
The pilot blinked.
Then frowned.
"…Hm?"
His exhaustion sharpened into focus as he leaned closer to the panel.
Another warning rune flared.
Then another.
His expression changed immediately.
"…Oh, that's bad."
Aldric looked over lazily.
"Huh. What now?"
The pilot straightened slowly in his chair, all earlier panic replaced with something much more serious.
"The fuel reserves are dropping faster than expected."
Silence.
Kaelira sat up slightly.
"What does that mean exactly?"
The pilot kept his eyes locked on the readings.
"It means this ship burns through absurd amounts of mana during sustained high-altitude flight."
Another rune flickered sharply.
"And after two nonstop days…"
A brief pause.
"We're running low."
That got everyone's attention.
Even the cultist looked up from the artifact.
Aldric's expression tightened slightly.
"How low?"
The pilot hesitated, then answered carefully.
"…Low enough that if we don't resupply soon, this thing will eventually fall out of the sky."
Kaelira blinked.
"…That's important information."
"YES," the pilot snapped instantly. "IT IS."
Aldric stood slowly, irritation sharpening into focus.
"Can you stabilize consumption?"
The pilot rubbed both hands down his face slowly.
"Yeah. Temporarily."
His voice sounded like it was one bad breath away from collapsing entirely.
"I can lower altitude, reduce external shielding, reroute nonessential mana flow…"
He gestured weakly toward the glowing displays.
"But that only buys us time."
A warning rune flickered again.
Red.
Persistent.
"We still need to refuel the core."
Silence settled heavily across the control deck.
The steady hum of the engines suddenly felt louder now that everyone understood what was at stake.
Aldric stood fully from his seat.
"Already handled then."
The pilot blinked tiredly.
"…What?"
Aldric rolled one shoulder lazily, then pointed toward the controls.
"Do the stabilization adjustments."
His gaze shifted across the room.
Slowly.
Until it landed on Kaelira.
The wolf girl immediately narrowed her eyes.
"…Why are you looking at me like that?"
Aldric smirked faintly.
"Because congratulations."
He tilted his head toward the exit.
"You're useful again."
Kaelira stared at him.
"I don't like the way you phrase things."
"Get moving."
Aldric ignored her complaint entirely.
"We need to refuel the engine."
Kaelira blinked once.
"…We?"
Aldric took another drink.
"Yes. We."
A pause.
"Well. Mostly you."
Kaelira pointed at herself slowly.
"Why me?"
The pilot answered before Aldric could.
"Because engine refueling means handling condensed mana crystals directly."
He looked like he had aged another year just saying it.
"And if I stand up right now, I might actually die."
"…That seems dramatic."
"I hallucinated a staircase singing to me three hours ago."
Kaelira paused.
"…Fair enough."
The pilot slowly pushed himself upright from the control seat.
The moment he did, regret visibly crossed his face.
His legs nearly gave out before he caught himself against the nearest console.
Kaelira stared.
"…You look awful."
"I am surviving through hatred and momentum," the pilot replied weakly.
Aldric snorted once.
"Pathetic."
"I'm literally keeping us in the sky."
"And somehow still doing a disappointing job."
The pilot looked too tired to properly retaliate.
Instead, he dragged himself toward one of the glowing mana displays embedded along the control deck wall.
As his hand touched the panel, rune-covered diagrams flared to life in midair.
A three-dimensional projection of the airship unfolded above them, rotating slowly.
Different sections glowed in varying intensities of light.
Kaelira leaned in slightly.
"…That's actually kind of cool."
The pilot pointed weakly toward the center of the projection.
"There."
Deep beneath the ship's structure, a massive chamber pulsed faintly crimson.
"The primary mana core chamber."
Thin branching channels extended outward through the vessel like veins.
"This entire ship runs off compressed mana circulation from the central core."
Aldric folded his arms.
"And the ore?"
The pilot tapped the glowing chamber.
"Direct feed slots around the core stabilizer."
Then he glanced at Kaelira.
"You basically insert refined mana ore into the intake pillars."
Kaelira blinked.
"…That sounds simple."
"It is dangerously simple."
The pilot pointed at her again.
"Don't touch the core directly."
Another finger.
"Do not step inside the central ring."
Another finger.
"And if anything starts screaming—"
Kaelira frowned.
"Why would it scream?"
The pilot met her eyes dead on.
"Leave immediately."
Silence.
Kaelira slowly turned toward Aldric.
"…You people keep saying things that make this ship sound worse every hour."
Aldric smirked faintly.
"You stayed voluntarily."
"That keeps sounding like a threat now."
The pilot dragged a hand down his face before continuing.
"There should still be reserve ore stored near the lower cargo vaults."
He pointed at the projection again.
"Take the eastern lift shaft down two levels, then follow the maintenance corridor."
A pause.
"You'll eventually reach a reinforced blast door."
Kaelira stared.
"…Of course there's a reinforced blast door."
"Behind that is the core chamber."
The pilot looked between them both.
"Refuel manually. Slowly."
Then his expression darkened slightly.
"And if the core becomes unstable—"
Aldric cut in flatly.
"We know."
The pilot looked unconvinced.
"No. I really don't think you do."
Aldric ignored him.
Instead, he pushed himself lightly off the floor.
Mana lifted him upward, floating a few inches before he drifted lazily toward the exit doors.
"Alright then."
He gestured forward without looking back.
"Let's go."
Kaelira blinked once.
Then pointed at him.
"…You're flying again."
"Yes."
"You do that way too casually."
Aldric sounded completely uninterested.
"You talk to me way too casually."
Kaelira clicked her tongue before standing.
"Fine."
She stretched once, then followed him toward the exit.
"But if something down there actually starts screaming—"
Aldric replied instantly.
"Then scream louder."
Kaelira stared at the back of his head.
"…I can't tell when you're joking."
"I usually'm not."
"That is deeply concerning."
The control deck doors slid open with a low mechanical hum.
Aldric floated through first, one hand in his coat pocket, the other still loosely holding his bottle.
Kaelira followed behind him, her earlier playfulness dimming slightly, tail flicking with a quieter tension.
Because despite all the sarcasm and arguing—
even she could feel it now.
Something deep inside this ship was alive.
Or close enough to alive that it mattered.
The doors sealed shut behind them.
Leaving the exhausted pilot slumped against the controls once more.
The cultist returned silently to her artifact.
And somewhere deeper within the vessel—
Aldric and Kaelira descended toward the heart of the ship.