Sanctuary

In Central Command, Atlas had been informed of a large, and fast moving object, that was on course for Sanctuary. The city had been placed on high alert, with several laser cannons pointed in the object's direction.

"It's about to enter the light, Uncle" Roisin said as she looked at the large monitor on the wall.

"Do not fire the cannons until we know what it is" Atlas ordered.

"Yessir" An operator shouted over.

From the darkness, a large Dreadnought sized airship appeared, it flew the colours of Disceath.

"Looks like a false alarm" Roisin smiled.

"No... wait" Atlas said, as he looked closer, he had noticed a creature sat atop the airship. "What is that?!" He panicked, as he was about to give the order, the creature stood up and opened its wings.

"That's..." Syl said, as he walked towards the window.

"It's Arranthian..." Atlas nodded.

"Arranthian?" Roisin asked.

"The dragon who saved you, yes" Lumina nodded. Roisin was taken aback by the appearance of Lumina, who was not permitted into central command. Everyone else was too busy watching as the dragon flew over the city, before landing in a spare bit of ground on the far western side of the city.

The Dreadnought flew over the walls of the city, its size prevented it from landing anywhere, so it just hovered close to the shipyards.

"Sir, incoming communication" The operator informed Atlas.

"Put it on the big screen" Atlas nodded.

As the screen turned on, Atlas found himself face to face with Rychard.

"Atlas Luna, good to see you again" Rychard smiled.

"Don't pretend we're friends Rychard, not after what you did to Roisin" Atlas frowned. "I don't care if it was 'for the good of Crystalla', you had no right and I will never forgive you for that" He added.

"I... yes, you're right" Rychard nodded, and sighed.

"Why are you here?" Atlas asked. "Shouldn't you be on the Disceath front?" He added.

"The shadow came to Disceath too, our Crystal must not have been powerful enough to repel this... darkness" Rychard sighed. "The whole population is aboard this Dreadnought, luckily we'd been fixing up one that was damaged when our new dragon friend broke through the barrier around the city" He explained.

"Seems we have a mutual friend, I know of Arranthian too" Atlas nodded.

"As do I" Lumina butted in.

"Uh... why is she here?" Rychard said, as his eyes widened.

"Long story" Atlas shrugged.

"So, the western continent is lost..." Roisin sighed.

"Aside from Terrana and hopefully Ishtall, yes" Rychard nodded. Dex stormed up to the viewscreen, Rychard backed away from his screen in shock at the sight of him.

"You... didn't you die?!" Rychard shouted.

"I did" Dex nodded. "Now I'm back, and I have a few words for you" He said, as his fist clenched. Roisin walked over and held his hand, Dex looked at Roisin, who shook her head. Dex sighed and smiled at her. "But maybe we'll talk about that another day" He nodded.

Atlas looked out of the window at the city.

"This place is becoming the melting pot of many cultures, Rychard" Atlas sighed.

"I understand, we can go to Terrana and set up there..." Rychard said, sounding downtrodden.

"No, we have space, I just wanted to say..." Atlas said, as he turned around, looking from side to side, before approaching the screen. "I just wanted to say, we need your help" He reluctantly admitted.

"Hmm, my expertise for the asylum of my people sounds like a fair trade" Rychard nodded.

"Okay" Atlas nodded. "Morale is okay right now... but the endless dark, it's getting to people, you can no longer see the moon, or the stars..." He explained.

"So, what you are saying, is you need a sky?" Rychard pondered, as a sly smirk appeared across his face.

"Is that something that you can make happen?" Atlas asked. Rychard paused for a second, as he typed something into the computer, he adjusted his glasses as he scanned whatever he was reading. After a few awkward minutes of silence, Rychard turned to Atlas and smiled.

"I can give Sanctuary a sky, I'll put my idea on screen now" Rychard smiled, as he uploaded a hastily drawn picture, of a bubble over Sanctuary.

"What is this, some sort of dome?" Roisin asked.

"Hmm, wouldn't that block out the light from the city? It'd make it hard for any survivors to find us" Atlas suggested.

"Okay, so, basically, the idea is one-sided holographic glass, in a dome over the city, to the citizens of Sanctuary, they will see a blue sky, or a starry sky over the city" Rychard began explaining. "To those on the outside, it will be a simple glass dome, with even more light pouring from the city" He concluded.

"That's so cool!" Roisin shouted.

"Okay, calm down, Rozzer" Syl teased, a few others chuckled.

"Right, I'll work on finding homes for the Disceath citizens, and you can begin work on Project Blue Skies" Atlas agreed.

"It's a deal" Rychard nodded.