Dimensional Descent

Leonel sat in silent meditation, his legs crossed. To his side, Aina rested her cheek on his shoulder, her eyes in a peaceful state of closure.

The ship they both sat within moved silently through the depths of space, but not a single person seemed apt to say a word. The silence weighed heavily and seemed to be anchored by the four elders that followed after Head Hutchin.

Of course, there was another hidden layer beneath this. The youths that followed couldn't help but steal glances at Aina. But, this time, it only had a small part to do with her beauty, especially since she wore her mask, covering her enchanting expression.

Rather, the true reason behind their sporadic glances was because of a deeply ingrained inferiority that had been marked into their soul during their Zone entry. Shockingly enough, though, there were even some youths who hadn't participated that had this same look in their eye.

Valiant Heart had brought along a bit over two dozen youths. The number that would survive this was unknown, but they all seemed to look toward Aina as though she was their light of hope.

The truth of it all made Leonel's lip curl into a smile. It seemed that he had made an excellent choice in Queen.

Though she tried to hide it, it had taken Aina a long recovery period to feel as though she could battle again. Maybe even now, she wasn't quite back to 100%. But, with Leonel's support, and help from her resources, she was quickly recovering.

Unfortunately, Valiant Heart didn't have the luxury of pushing back the date any further. The result was a lot of their geniuses being stuck at about 70-80% recovered.

In this sort of ironic situation, while all the youths looked toward Aina as their light of hope, Head Hutchin and the four mysterious elders who followed after him kept looking toward Leonel.

…

food apparently prepared ahead of time by Magnaril personally, there was no

was on the fourth day that Leonel sensed the ship slow. It was only a fraction and was imperceptible to most. But, it was more than enough for him to open his eyes, a dull glow shimmering

felt his primitive

be as

Leonel was more sensitive in several facets, including this one. He immediately put up

be the first of his steps

always told him that the moment he truly gained something he wanted to fight

…

it was easily a thousandfold larger than Earth. Usually, within the Third Dimension, such a planet would

vantage point, it was possible to see a swirl

large size, was completely covered

atmosphere, the harsh winds and natural death traps began to make their presence known. The vessel, which had

"This is Planet Vincero."

night. Though it was nowhere near as abrasive as a

a world with a Disaster Rating of