I float from one foot to the next, exerting minimal force with each hop as we speed down the dirt road.

"Slow down, there’s a detour coming up soon." Rainel yells through the roaring sound of wind.

"I can fight. Some small groups of soldiers aren't a big deal especially with the three of us." Celestia says after we slow down enough for an audible conversation.

"War is a battle of information as much as it is weapons. If they know we’re coming they can prepare for us." Rainel says as he steps off the path. "Come on, through these trees."

We follow him, ducking under and running through a dense cluster of vegetation before arriving at a small lake. "Isn't it best to get there as soon as possible rather than take these precautions?" I ask.

"This route also doubles as a shortcut as long as you don't mind the rugged path, I know this road, trust me." Rainel says before taking off full speed once again. Celestia and I glance at each other before we follow him.

I flinch as branches come close to whipping against my face, the path was rocky, uneven, and overgrown with vegetation as Rainel said.

I look at the sky and imagine myself sailing across with a wind sailor. Maybe we’ll find some at the south capital? The design was simple enough. Fiao likely commissioned the creation of a couple for personal use.

"Having a hard time? I could take the front." Celestia calls out from behind me.

"I'm fine but thanks." I respond curtly, I could brush all the debris and small branches aside with a pressurized pocket of air, it wouldn't make sense for either of them to take the front.

The three of us fall into silence once more.

"So... You guys excited? After being cooped up in that castle for so long this must feel refreshing right?" Celestia says…

"Mmh." Both Rainel and I grunt at the same time.

"... How about it, want to have a contest? See who can take down the most people when we get there?"

"Mmh." This time I grunt and Rainel doesn't respond at all.

"Alright, what do you wanna bet? Money? Maybe the losers have to eat Yesenia's cooking? That overcooked but also raw chicken, you know she really turns the heat up way too high when she's at the stovetop, forgets to season or dumps way too much salt, man, does she even know that boiling things wash away the seasoning?"

Neither of us respond.

"Hey did you hear me?"

"I hate meaningless conversation, please stop." Rainel says annoyed.

"It's not meaningless! I mean her cooking is really damn bad, poor girl is trying to learn it all by herself rather than have a teacher. It's kinda cute." Celestia looks at both of us. "What? Are you guys not interested? Especially you Cain, I'd thought you'd be more interested in her personal life." She runs up next to me, holding her forearm across her face blocking all the pebbles and branches flying out of our way.

Rainel sighs and looks at the mountains in the distance, trying his best to ignore the girl.

"Why would you think that?" I respond back.

"Come onnnnn, I know a young romance blooming when I see one, when are you going to confess?"

"..." I keep my head forward and think about her words.

"Yea, I think I do like her." I say monotonously.

"Oh really? You don't sound embarrassed though?" Celestia says.

I haven't been able to feel anything in months, which is what I wanted to respond with but... "There are more important things we have to deal with, I can't get bent out of shape for selfish reasons." I choose to respond instead.

"Aww you little rascal..." Celestia tries to slap my back but gets hit by the recoil of my air pressure barrier. She then goes quiet.

"... You know, pretty unfair you get to float across the ground like that while we have to run like mad." She says softly.

Gotcha, I’ll make sure I’m born differently next time. I wanted to say this but decided not to indulge her any further. Which is what would have happened until…

Celestia grabs a handful of dirt and throws it at me. I follow the particles with my eyes as they bounce off my shield and shoot straight into Rainel’s face, more specifically, his eyes.

Rainel stumbles and slows down as he's immediately blinded. "Ah, what the fuck are you doing?!" He sputters and blinks rapidly, rubbing his eyes furiously.

The two of us slow down alongside Rainel.

"Feeling tired? You've been showing signs of wear for the last hour, we can rest if you want." Celestia says. I guess this is her way of showing concern.

"What? No! Keep going, we can make it there before daybreak easily." The sun was beginning to set and the moon was rising, we've been traveling practically the entire day already.

"Easy for us, maybe not for you. Otherwise you probably would have been able to avoid the dirt, aren't I right?"

Rainel gets the rest of the dirt out of his eyes and sighs. "Yes, you're right. I am a little tired, so you know what I'm doing?" He spreads his arms out sarcastically. "I'm pushing myself, I'm not a child complaining about having to exercise, I'm fine. Thank you for being concerned for my well being though." He says that last part with a heavy layer of even more sarcasm. "Now let's get moving again." Rainel begins running again.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Celestia and I match his pace; however, Celestia begins holding her fingers to her chin.

"You know you've been the one dragging the two of us down right?" She utters the unspoken words that had been brewing between the three of us the entire day.

"I'm the only one who knows the route to the city, believe me, I'd rather travel by myself too." Rainel responds in kind.

"I mean... Isn't that the mountain of stars up ahead? Which means that the capital is just southwest of that, correct?"

"Yes that's right... Why?" Rainel says confusingly.

"Just think it’s a good chance to let loose a little. An opportunity to have some fun. I will see you there." Celestia speeds past both of us before we have a chance to react.

"What the hell is her problem?!" Rainel exclaims.

I look back and forth from Rainel to Celestia rapidly fading in the distance. "May I?" I then ask politely.

"Yea, make sure she doesn't get lost." Rainel nods.

I lighten my body to the weight of paper, tearing forward with even more speed than she had shown.

Whoa! I whip my head to the side before it would slam into a tree branch. Luckily I won't get injured because of my light weight, but things were moving too fast for my regular human reactions to keep up. Not to mention, visibility was getting worse and worse as the sun set.

"Wait for us!" I shout at Celestia as I take her rear. There’s no way she could hear me though. The wind was too loud for anything except a deafening howl filling my ears. I couldn’t even hear myself.

I fly up next to her and open my mouth. Slow down! Slow down! Slow down! Slow down! I mouth repeatedly to her to no avail. She barely acknowledges my presence. It was like communicating to an animal. She was just staring at the mountaintop entranced.

Why are you like this? Why do you have to do things your way every single time? With no consideration for others?

I’m suddenly hit with a wave of guilt. After all, this is exactly how I acted coming to Lyster. In no reality was I not a hypocrite for lecturing her about this, but mixed in with those feelings of guilt… There was a feeling I had long thought to have erased…

"Just think it’s a good chance to let loose a little. An opportunity to have some fun. I will see you there."

…

"You know you've been the one dragging the two of us down right?"

…

I turn to Celestia. Oh, I’m not the one trying to communicate to you. You’re the one trying to communicate to me. A small laugh escapes my lips. Finally capturing her attention for the first time as she turns and smiles.

Then without a word.

A crack could be heard resonating across the land as both of us cross the sound barrier in a single step. My shoes get utterly blown off my feet exposing all my limbs to the outside air. The trees around us crack and get tossed in the air from the sheer wind pressure I was exuding.

With the first step, I fly into the air, barreling through any trees and obstacles that stood in my way, displaying a level of Tetsu intensity on par with Fiao's. One, Two, Three, Four, it was as if a demon took over my body. In less than five steps I manage to plant my feet at the base of the mountain.

My head hurt, my nose was bleeding, all classic signs of mental fatigue, and for the first time in a while, I could feel where my mental limit now stood, and it was not even close to the level I was on previously.

What?... Happened to me?

This was just my mastery of wind. Before my wind was pitiful compared to Fiao, now…

I stare at the ground, suddenly becoming fearful of my power, my body, my own mind.

What if I go all out with my fire now? How many people could I kill at once?

As I'm distracted, a figure zooms past me, leaving a trail of carnage straight up the mountain. She looks at me for a miniscule amount of time, but I could still feel her gaze regardless, and with that gaze, all of my thoughts melted into goo.

I lean down on all fours like a frog and blast into the ground, creating an intense updraft, uprooting the grass and trees around me.

I then orient my body parallel to the ground and do a wild and clumsy kick off the air, heading straight for the peak of the mountain.

Before I even have a chance to turn around and look I land on the ground, tumbling and rolling through the dirt, too disoriented to stabilize myself properly. Am I at the top? What happened? Where the hell am I? I cover my eyes as a branch nicks against my cheek drawing blood. Oh no, I may be immune to blunt force, but if I hit something sharp…

As the world spins around me, I feel two hands grasp my shoulders, lodging me down to a firm stop.

"That was fun wasn’t it?”

I slowly uncover and open my eyes to Celestia looking down at me from above. She pats my shoulders and backs away. I draw in breath, my eyes widen, for the first time in a while I felt something, the greatness of the world around me, it was an undeniable sense of awe.

The night sky expands before me, stars flecking every single corner of the sky, little pinions lighting up the ground, aglow with tiny little twinkles far off in another world. The sharp darkness contrasted beautifully with the multicolored stars, galaxies and clusters that seemed to merge together like a mist of light.

"Beautiful.” Celestia says softly as she falls lightly on the shimmering grass beneath our backs, gazing at the twilight sky, the stars continuing to grow more pronounced as the sun sinks below the horizon, casting a darker and darker violet hue through the sky as the lights become more pronounced.

“Yea.” I say. I couldn’t process my feelings at the moment, not knowing whether to thank her or to be upset. At the very least, I now remember the person I was. The excitement that came with it, but also the frigid blade of self-doubt, still plunged into my heart.

So for now, I think I’ll just appreciate the view before me.

“You don’t have to be so disagreeable all the time you know? Couldn’t you do things… With a bit more standard?” I say after a minute.

“I’m not a contrarian if that's what you think of me.” Celestia responds. “I just do what I want. Sometimes it has a purpose, sometimes it doesn’t, that’s just how I do things, the only thing that matters is that it’s what I want to do.”

“Then… Do you really want to be the strongest in the world? Is that reputation important to you?” I ask hesitantly.

Celestia grows quiet "I mean, what really determines strength, you know? The Rift could be considered 'stronger' than me, no one has ever defeated old age, a stab to the back is stronger than me, there are probably Tetsudo out there on the other side stronger than me, the masked people are definitely stronger than I am, an army of well trained soldiers could kill me, hell, even two decently strong fighters with a sneaky plan could beat me down.”

Celestia reaches out to the sky, her hand grasping at the stars. “So all I’m going to do is climb, keep going and going and going until I finally reach the peak of my own mountain, wherever that is, and then… I’ll watch the stars forever, so I’ll never have to look down again.”

The two of us share a quiet moment together, she then looks to the side and smiles. “Made me pour my heart out. Yesenia isn’t going to be too happy.” She goes back to her old teasing self.

“Un huh, sounds like you just wanted someone to vent to and everyone else was too scared or annoyed of you.” I say with a slight grin on my face.

“That’s true, I am pretty scary and annoying.” Celestia hops off the ground back on her feet, not bothering to dust off her clothes. She lends me her hand which I grab and get up as well.

“If you ever want to talk to someone, just know that I’m open.” She grasps my hand firmly. This girl, Celestia, she’s always smiling for one reason or another, but for some reason… I look back in her eyes. This smile feels a lot more real than the others.

“HEY!” I’m startled by the sound of Rainel yelling.