With his bloody claw, Arthur dug his fingers into the wooden layer of the plane. It instantly gave him a way better grip against the violent wind. Step by step, Arthur approached the flying orb.
Looking up, he could see it from up close swinging around everywhere. He was barely a few meters away and yet the distance was so far at the same time. It was frustrating as he knew that he didn’t have much time left.
At that moment, Arthur noticed a small yet horrifying detail. As the orb swung around, it was still linked to three wires that held it from flying away. However, when he looked up again, Arthur noticed that those three wires became two. Then, before he can even react, the two wires become one.
‘Oh no.’ Arthur sucked a small breath. ‘It’s going to fly away! I need to hurry!’
With that in mind, Arthur started moving as quickly as he could. He didn’t know how much time he had left before the aircraft falls and yet now he had to hurry even more because he might lose the engine of the aircraft.
“Come on…” He grumbled as he fought the pressure with all his power. A normal person would’ve been crushed to pieces under such an intense environment. Luckily, Arthur’s body was strong enough to bear that pressure well, but his strength was barely enough to fight it back.
“I’m close… Come on!” As the distance turned into a few inches, Arthur extended his arm forward, trying to grab the broken shard. But, because it was still swinging everywhere at a rapid pace, this small task proved to be harder than he expected. Meanwhile, Isla and Danny watched the scene with flabbergasted expressions.
‘It’s ok, don’t panic, Arthur. There is still plenty of time… Who am I even kidding?! we’re all about to die!’
Following the trajectory of the shard with his own eyes, he aimed for the wire. He was in a completely focused state at that moment as everything became a mere echo in his head.
‘Left… Right… Up… Right… Left…’ Reading the movement of the shard, Arthur waited a moment. Then…
‘Now!’
Quickly, he lunged his arm forward to grab the shard. At the same time, the last wire finally succumbed to the pressure and detached itself from the orb. Instantly, the object flew back, getting blasted by the intense wind.
“No!” Danny yelled when he saw that, thinking that the orb was lost. For a second, his heart stopped.
However, then, he saw Arthur lift his arm slightly and at the tip of his fingers, he was holding the orb. Instantly, he felt relief wash over his body. He didn’t even realize that the nerve-wracking situation was making him react in ways he didn’t even know he had in him.
“Fuuh… That was close.” Arthur muttered as he lifted the orb and quickly grabbed one of the wires that was close from him and looked at the shard. There, he saw some iron sockets welded into the shard. The tip of the wire fits the socket exactly which made Arthur feel relieved.
He was afraid that he wouldn’t understand how to get those wires back into their proper spots.
With that in mind, Arthur hurriedly placed the wire where it was before. Then, he grabbed another wire and did the same for it. His eyes kept moving up to stare at the trajectory of the aircraft.
Much to his bad luck, Arthur could see glimpses of the land beneath them approaching at a horrifying speed.
‘Hurry, hurry, hurry…’ He moved his arms as fast as he can while trying to keep his calm. In a matter of four seconds, Arthur fused several wires back.
“Did the energy come back?!” He asked in a loud voice, trying to get Danny’s attention.
“… No! It didn’t!” The latter replied as he approached the control panel carefully. He tried to tap several buttons or move the wheel but, the energy didn’t come back yet.
‘Goddamit. Where is the wire for this shit?!’ Arthur started panicking when he realized that there was only a few seconds before impact. Beneath him, he saw a giant mountain peaking at them through the clouds. It was completely covered in a thick layer of ice from top to bottom.
The aircraft was moving straight toward the peak of the mountain head-on. It didn’t take a genius to understand the disaster that was about to occur in the next several seconds and Arthur was certainly not an idiot.
“Arthur!”
‘Come on, this one? No, this one? No, how about this one?’ Arthur’s arms moved so quickly that he didn’t even care if he flew off the aircraft or not. After all, at this point, there was really no time to worry about his safety, the aircraft was going to hit the mountain and they were all going to burst into pieces.
‘I need to at least stop it from fully colliding with the mountain!’ Arthur grabbed another wire as he prayed in his heart. ‘Please, we can’t die here, please! Just give me some luck this time!’
Then, he shoved it into the socket. That was when Arthur noticed the orb flashing with a bright light. Then, that light traveled to the wires as they spread everywhere. At the same time, back inside the cockpit, the control panel suddenly lit up again.
Seeing that, Danny’s eyes widened before he quickly tapped a few buttons and grabbed the steering wheel. “Hold on, Isla!”
Then, he pushed the wheel to the extreme as fast as he could. The propellers of the aircraft started moving again at full-throttle and the plane changed direction again, barely a few dozen meters away from the collision.
Even though Isla was aware of that, she still didn’t think twice and started pulling Arthur’s rope with all her strength. “Arthur is still out there!”
She knew that if she left him outside, he was going to be in huge trouble. But, when she tried to drag him back, the violent air smashing into his body made it extremely hard to pull the ropes back.
Her arms clenched as she channeled ‘Gravity Swap’ into the ropes trying to lessen the weight. But, alas, it was too late.
“Get ready for collision!” Saying that, Danny closed his eyes.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM*
The aircraft collided with the mountain with a loud explosion. The entire world shook from the sheer power of the impact. The ice clusters on the peak of the mountain burst into the air as large chunks of rocks broke and started falling from the mountain in large masses.
Meanwhile, inside the aircraft, it was chaos. The entire plane shook as if it was hit by a large earthquake. Nobody was able to stay on his feet. Isla fell to the ground, covering the two kids with her body as a last attempt to protect them. She didn’t care if she died, but the two dwarves must not die as their death was a real one while hers was temporary.
The spot of the impact was the lower parts of the aircraft. The sharp peak of the mountain tore a massive hole across the entire plane, leaving a massive gaping hole beneath.
The aircraft slid up the peak and flew in the air again only to start falling again. All the propellers burst into pieces along with large chunks of wood. The aircraft slowly descended down the mountain, smashing into its slope.
The ice avalanche falling down made them slide down rather than explode into pieces. At a rapid pace, they went down the colossal mountain, drowning in the ice and the large shards of rock that broke.
Meanwhile, outside the aircraft, Arthur struggled for dear life. After the impact, he was sent flying off the aircraft.
“AAAGH!!”
The only thing that stopped him was the rope tied to his waist. Swinging down, he smashed violently into the side of the aircraft, almost knocking him unconscious.
‘Godammit!! I’m not lucky at all!’ Looking beneath him, all he saw was a nightmare of imminent death. But, Arthur didn’t give up as he used the claws to grab into the side of the aircraft and pray that he didn’t get blasted into the distance.
All while the aircraft rolled down the mountain, slowly breaking into pieces.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3