We walked from the square back to Ayse’s family home in the Riven district. It was considered the upper echelon of the village, with homes that were once the home of ancient overseer and his ranks. They would take turns firing shots from the upper towers, striking down any villager within range. Ayse, and myself at one time, lived in one of the towers and every morning we would look out the window, and I would describe the bright colors I imagined were above the never-ending cloud cover.

“Were they looking at us?” She asked as we steppe into her room.

“We can’t stop them, Ayse.”

“I know that…I just-I wish it could be normal. The only reason we’re still alive is my family’s status.”

Tragically, that was the main thing keeping me alive too. I was master mechanical engineer, but the Wysocks were master mania engineers. I bit my lip that I played right into their power play. I allowed Cedric to goad me and the more I thought about it, the more I should have cut the line and allowed him to fall.

“I don’t want him,” Ayse whispered. “I want you.”

“You’ll always have me, Ayse,” I replied as I kissed her cheek.

“We need to beg father to talk the overseers before Cedric can.”

“I think he knows, Ayse.”

I looked out over the village and took a deep breath as my time living there would soon come to an end. Pyotr was correct, the overseer’s only concern was the output of Chordata ore, anything else was a distraction and they wave everything off to whoever promised higher totals. That, and bribery—something the Wysocks took pride in.

“I was serious, Ayle. I would rather fly through the clouds with you than be forced to be with Cedric.”

“It won’t come to that, I promise.” I wrapped my arms around Ayse’s waist and leaned my head on her shoulder and released the deep breath I had been holding.

A violent explosion broke the silence, and we looked out the window.

“What is it?”

Plumes of smoke rose into the air in the short distance, followed by the scream of an AG engine failing.

“Gotta go!” I whispered as I kissed Ayse.

“Be safe, Ayle.”

The staccato of my running combined with the sounds of a dying engine to form an untimely melody. The AG engines used in Wycliff were designed by someone who had been long forgotten. The knowledge of how they worked existed only as oral history until my grandfather took it upon himself to transcribe the words of the elder engineers. The town elders and engineers balked at my family’s knowledge and for the longest time the Wysax family would sweep in at the last moment to save a falling district.

Those engines stayed operational, combined with the multitudes of tethers holding each district, and the buildings stacked on their plateaus. Drills were carried out every few months—at least when the town elders deemed it to happen. Pyotr had been overruled to allow the tests to occur. Th grim thought of the population of the Wyland District panicking and falling to their deaths was becoming a reality.

The engineering guild—the one that my family had been barred—rushed from dying engine to dying engine.
“There not going restart!” I yelled over screaming. The guild members ignored me, causing me to get in front of the engine. “Ignore me all you want, wyquios, but everyone stil on the district is going to die!”

All of the men averted their eyes and continued ripping at the systems.

“Wyasath!” I screamed as I turned to the district. It had fallen a few inches. I ran along the edge of the district to the west side entrance, the widest one, and stormed past a man who was there to lead foot traffic, but his face and eyes were filled with fear.

“You can’t go in there, it’s going to collapse!”

“I’m going to fly to my death one way or another!” I shouted back while running across the crumbing firmament.

The Wyland district was one of the older parts of Wycliff. The buildings were made of stone and wood. Very little Chordata was used—hence the overworked engines and tethering lines. The district’s inhabitants were of the poorer folk, not that anyone had any money in our village, but they were low in society’s eyes. The buildings showed structural damage, with cracks fingering their way through the mortar.

Maybe everyone had been evacuated.

A man’s voice broke through the chaos: “Help us!”

I scanned the area, trying to pinpoint where his voice was coming from. The screaming of the collapsing couplers was not helping.

“We’re up here!”

My eyes darted up to see a man, woman, and child standing on the upper floor of a crumbling building. I did indeed run into the building, dashing down the halls and up any staircase still in existence. The structure rumbled with every second.

I turned onto the floor and could see the family huddling together against the stone wall.

“Come on!” I yelled as I waved for them to follow me.

The man and woman stood up just as a cable groaned and snapped, the heavy metal cord flew over my head.

A sickening scream filled the air as I saw the torso of the woman fly against the wall, her skull cracking against the stone.

The impact launched the man over the side of the building; a four story drop onto a stone and steel plateau.

I stood in shock as the woman’s body slid down with her head landing next to the boy.

“Are you okay?” I asked him

The boy could only scream.

“I agree with you,” I whispered to myself as I scooped him up and ran back the way I came.

The ground rumbled beneath my feet, throwing my balance to the side. There was no time to look around for an exit, I simply chose to run as far as I could, hoping not join my parents that day.

There was a crowd gathered around the falling district, most of them able-bodied men…and none of them would come across to help us. I felt my body working against me, not wanting to continue running.

The ground then fell, several feet below the rest of Wycliff.

“Wyda,” I whispered to myself as I threw the boy up and into the crowd above, hoping someone would catch him as the entire district fell into the clouds, leaving me to grab onto a frayed cable, holding on for dear life.