Chapter Text
An endless sky above. A sea of clouds below. The two vistas stretch out beyond the horizon and meld together in the distance, a vast, almost incomprehensible mass of swirling blues and whites. Within that endless expanse, two massive beings lumbered toward each other. Titans, wondrous creatures who carried the literal weight and figurative will of entire nations. For most residents of Alrest, life on the backs of these creatures would be all they knew, and all that they would ever know. This is not their story.
These are the stories of those who inherited the skies above and the clouds below. Those who abandoned their cradle, and are forever cursed to fly.
Rex stood at the bow of the Maelstrom, his gaze transfixed by the two Titans looming in the distance. War was coming, just like it always had. Soon, the Maelstrom and the rest of Argentum’s junkers would dive into the crossfire like a swarm of piranhax, ready to feast on the scraps of war.
It would be Rex’s first outing as a salvager. It would be a far cry from the fantasies of his childhood.
His thoughts drifted back to the orphanage at Fonsett, and Corrine’s history lessons. Thinking back, It was inevitable that man would be drawn to the vast unknown, the siren song of blue and white that called out to them every time from every direction. Soon, their societies blossomed, their technology evolved, and they constructed vessels that could withstand the awesome pressure of the Cloud Sea. With pioneering spirits and black iron hulls, the First Expedition broke through the cloud barrier and took the first plunge into the unknown.
Nothing could have prepared them for what they found. Beneath the Cloud Sea lay the ruins of a once great civilization, their collapsing megastructures still standing defiantly against a cold, barren wasteland. The First Expedition quickly became the second, and then the third as they rushed to collect and catalog every artifact they could get their hands on. They discovered that this land, which they had dubbed Morytha, was once inhabited by humans much like them. Their technology, however, was far beyond what any Titan-state on Alrest was capable of at the time. It seemed that around every corner there was some device capable of performing miracles, whether it was processing more information than entire governments or allowing communication over vast distances.
There were even machines that produced images that someone could change with the press of a button or a twiddle of a stick. No one ever did find a practical use for them, though.
The crown jewel of it all, however, was the aircraft. What was initially dismissed as some sort of misguided attempt at a land vehicle was studied relentlessly as the Titan-states of Alrest placed all of their efforts into reverse engineering it. Unlock the secrets of the aircraft, they thought, and surely they would be able to leap from the cradle of their Titans to explore the second frontier, that wide open sky. If the Cloud Sea had hidden away such wonders, they could only imagine what could be beyond that endless blue.
So it was that the Salvager Corps was born from those first pioneers in a joint effort by all of Alrest to unlock the secrets of Morytha, and expand the horizons of humankind to skies unknown. The stories always left Rex with a glint in his eyes and an overwhelming wanderlust. They all took place 500 years ago, of course. Today, he could only dream of such enterprising adventures.
"Hey! Hey, kid!"
The boisterous voice of his team leader stirred Rex from his thoughts. "Vandham? What’s going on?"
"What in the Architect’s name are you doing, kid, we’ve got a briefing in ten!” Vandham replied. He looked back up to see what had Rex so entranced. “Hm? Oh, the Titans?"
"Mor Ardain is advancing, isn't it?"
"That's why the Guild is calling us over," Vandham explained. "The Emperor's moving faster than anticipated, probably trying to catch them off guard. If we're not ready by the time it starts popping off with Gormott, there won't be any loot left for us!"
"Y-yes, I understand, but..."
"What, are you scared?"
"No it's just - I was just wondering.” Rex lowered his gaze toward the clouds below them. "Do you think we'll find anything new down there? I mean other than wreckage?"
Vandham frowned. "Ah, you and I both know the answer to that one, kid."
Rex nodded. It was a foolish thought, but even a fool’s hope could be worth something. "Sometimes I wonder what it must have been like for the First Expedition. Uncovering the mysteries of Morytha and all that."
Vandham frowned. "Hey now, don't give me any of that 'born in the wrong generation' crap. You know what you signed up for."
"Yeah, of course."
The Salvagers had already unlocked all of Morytha's secrets. Within the ruins of its cities, they discovered the Core Crystals, mysterious stones within which slept the Blades, sentient machine servants who had once served as Morytha's custodians. It was through the guidance of the Blades that the secrets of Morytha's technology were laid bare. With the construction of the first aircraft developed on Alrest soil, it seemed that the ultimate dream of mankind was finally about to become reality.
Instead, they used that technology to kill each other.
The halcyon days of cooperation only managed to sow the seeds of distrust between the peoples of Alrest. The dream of the unknown gave way to the dream of uncontested air superiority as they fitted their aircraft with weapons of unimaginable destructive power. The Blades, once valued partners in the pursuit of knowledge, were now the catalyst that fueled man's twisted desire for conquest and subjugation.
War became a given, a simple fact of life. The Salvagers of today served only to pick up the pieces.
"There ain't no more secrets down there, kid. Only corpses and cold steel."
Rex sighed, but before he could respond, a thunderous boom echoed from high above. Jet engines. In the distance, three planes could be seen departing from one of the Titans.
"Fighters," Vandham surmised. "Probably scouts from Gormott. There’s already been a few minor skirmishes in the last month."
"They're not headed for Mor Ardain, though." No, the formation was heading in the complete opposite direction.
The slightest grimace crept onto Vandham's face. "Deserters, maybe? It would be the smart move.”
Rex was still a child when Mor Ardain had begun its conquest of the neighboring Titans. One by one they fell before the onslaught of the legendary Ardanian Air Corps. Gormott, with its comparatively meager army, seemed doomed to suffer the same fate.
“How do you think Uraya’s going to respond?” Rex asked.
“If I know anything about countries? Poorly.”
Uraya and Mor Ardain, the two superpowers on Alrest, had been political rivals for centuries. For now, Uraya had tolerated Mor Ardain’s conquests in the interest of avoiding all-out war, the scars of which were all too familiar to the people of Alrest.
But Uraya had had their eyes on Gormott and its abundant resources as well. The Ardainians knew that the Urayans would not be able to overlook this conquest. This attack wasn’t simply to secure another province for the Empire. It was a statement to Uraya and any other nation who dared to stand against Mor Ardain: challenge us, and see why the Empire has never known defeat.
“Are you worried about your comrades back at Garfont?” Rex asked.
“No.” Vandham’s reply came almost automatically. The Garfont Mercenaries made up a not insignificant part of Uraya’s fighting forces. Vandham used to be their leader, until he suddenly decided one day to step down and become a freelance salvager.
“They’re no strangers to war,” he continued. “None of us are. We’re all touched by it, molded by it. Soon, we’ll all be consumed by it.”
More planes took off now, in the proper direction this time, to intercept a group of Ardanian scouts. Another skirmish. Rex followed their contrails as the fighters engaged each other. In a way, there was a kind of beauty in their maneuvers. Attackers and defenders matched their partner move for move, flipping and rolling and criss-crossing one another until one was able to seize that perfect opportunity. An ether missile fired and streaked toward its victim. The fleeing plane couldn’t evade in time, and burst into flames.
At this distance, it was easy to forget that someone had just died.
“Heh. Pretty good show.” Vandham muttered.
Rex watched the defeated fighter fall, wreathed in deadly orange, spiraling and tumbling down toward the clouds below. The plane crashed and went under, consumed by the Cloud Sea. Consumed by the war.
It was a common sight these days. When the planes took to the skies, they would inevitably fall. They fell, and people like Rex would pick them back up so they could do it all over again.
He looked down. The Cloud Sea continued on and on to unimaginable depths. Would this endless white consume him too?
“Briefing’s probably over by now, kid.”
“Oh, uh, sorry about that.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll fill you in once we set off. First time for you and Tora, right?”
“Yeah. And thanks for that.”
“Sure. Sure, no problem, kid. Let’s head back.”
Rex took one last look down at the clouds. How much would that fool’s hope be worth down there?
The pair got up and returned to their cabins. Behind them, the sky and the sea continued on.