image [https://i.postimg.cc/rpsB7WQ5/ch-80-vol-3.jpg]

“Where am I?” I looked all over the fantastic sky, trying to make sense of the three petals of land rising on the horizon, or the beams of light they each shot to produce a star like object above. All this while still allowing the true stars to twinkle, even in the azure atmosphere.

I was accustomed to strange skies, ones where continents wrapped around the whole thing, while a moon gave light to it all. But this was even stranger still. And why was my home a highlight of it all, hovering over that lake?

The large star being projected above my home, it was warm, even though it was very small compared to the sun. The brightness was impressive too, enough to keep everything well lit. I was drawn to it, taking a few steps toward the beach just at the end of the grasslands. It wasn't simple curiosity that drew me closer. I just wanted to be nearer to its light, to take in as much of it as I could. It just felt natural to bask in its radiance.

When I reached the beach, I took off my shoes and let my synthetic feet touch the gently ebbing tide. The splashes and bubbly sounds as the water brushed past me and over the sand caused me to close my eyes and lift my head up.

I couldn’t explain it, but my eyes being closed made me feel even more comfortable in this place, like its beauty went beyond what I could see. Only by having shut off my sight could I really know the truth of why.

“Mana…” I uttered, understanding why this place was so calm. That star was blazing pure life energy, more than I'd ever felt in my short time. It was so pure that I wondered if it should’ve even existed, yet here it was, even against my query. “Where am I…?” I drew away a tiny amount of attention to speak those words, quickly returning my focus back on the living star.

What is this place? What was I doing before this?

My memories felt incomplete, unable to recall the moments before I arrived here. But it didn’t worry me in the slightest. It could have been the dense mana flooding the air, or something else about this place, but I didn’t feel stressed about forgetting at all.

But that didn’t mean I had no sense of purpose being here. An intuition grew in my chest, telling me that I'd been called here for a reason.

*Vwwoom*

A soft sound off to the right drew my attention. A beam of light, not very different from the three shooting out of the petals of land, had appeared somewhere not far away. It was either in or beyond the evergreen forest.

Almost leaving my shoes, I started marching in that direction.

Not too deep into the pines there was a clearing where a white building stood. It had a very similar design to the structures in Elysium, but something about it seemed lively. Maybe it was the beam of light that was casting out of its roof, or the silver shine of its edges.

As I pressed forward, there was rustling in the shrubs next to me.

The shaking leaves startled me.

“Yeep!” I skipped away.

The shaking continued until some brush came down. A blond haired man was there, laying in a hammock and lazily looking at me with rich, sparkly blue eyes that rivaled my own.

“At last, you've arrived.” He laid his head back down and shut his eyes.

“Do you know who I am?” I asked the mysterious man.

“You could say I do,” he answered in a tired tone. “It was…?” he stayed silent.

“I'm Yalda,” I told him.

“Yalda.”

“That's right,” I nodded. “But, who are you?” I asked the lazy looking man.

He reopened his blue eyes and looked at me with a sleepy gaze, then gave a weak smile.

“I’m just someone looking for a place to rest. That’s all. But it seems that my nap will be cut short.”

He rolled over on his hammock and stepped out of it, hobbling toward me until correcting his posture. He didn't look hurt, but really tired and weak.

“Where are we?” I asked him.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Hmm…” he hummed as he lightly tapped his forehead with the thumb of his fist, as if it would jog his memory. “I can't seem to remember. I think I'll need to work off this cursed sleepiness,” he yawned, stretching his arms out in an almost obnoxious display. “Actually, why was I here again? I can't remember.”

He might have had the same problem I did. Our memories were clouded by something, but whatever that was still wasn't clear.

“I'm not sure why I'm here either,” I told him, shrugging. “Maybe we can help each other?”

His lips twisted, then he turned to the structure just a little ways down.

“Yes. That sounds just fine. I could use someone's help.”

Although he was a little weird, I didn't get the sense that he was a danger. Even if he was actually against me for any reason, he looked too exhausted to try and put up a fight.

The sleepy man started to lead the way to the structure with the beam coming out of it. We searched the whole base of the building, but neither of us could spot an entrance.

“There's no way in,” I commented. “Are you sure we're supposed to be here?”

It's possible that the structure had an entrance underground, but I wasn’t hopeful that there'd be any easy way down there, especially without a shovel.

“No, there is a way from here…” he claimed, “...a way where men cannot walk.”

*Fwoosh!*

Wings, fluffy and white, parted out of his back. A big gust of wind and sparkling particles followed, pushing me a little.

He raised up into the air, waiting for me to do the same.

Just like him, I spawned out my wings and took to the sky.

“Woah!” I cheered when I caught up to him. “Are you…are you a real angel?!”

“Yes, that's right,” he yawned, then held a hand over his chin. “Could that have to do with my purpose here?”

If he was an angel, he was totally on my side. Or, I was on his. We were both on God's side, how about that?

“Mr. Angel, did God tell you to stay here and find me?”

He snapped his finger, then pointed to me with an eager face.

“Yes! That was it… But why?”

I couldn’t give him that answer, but I did remind him that we were still trying to find a way into the structure. He seemed to forget that part.

He pointed out that the entrance was on a platform that resembled a landing pad. Now I see why he said men can't walk there. Obviously, they'd need to fly, like we could.

“I believe the answers we seek are deep within this building,” he said as we landed. “Now, how do I get this door open?”

The door was of silver metal and marble. Six different gemstones decorated it in a circular pattern, all surrounding one final stone that looked like a simple rock.

He tapped his fingers on the stones a few times, but nothing happened. Then he started knocking on the door. When both those things failed, he gave up and sat against the wall and folded his arms.

“Well, that’s about all I can think of.”

“Seriously?” That had to have been a joke. He was giving up so quickly that it made me feel ashamed to be a synthetic angel. “There's gotta’ be a way to open this.”

“If there is, I can't think of it.” He closed his eyes and began to fall asleep. “I’m sure you can figure it out…”

Excuse me?

I gave him a few minutes to actually start taking this seriously, but when he let out a loud snore, it was time to take action.

“Wake up!” I shouted between my hands. “Rise and shine! We have to find a way inside!”

His eyes shot open and darted all around. “Where am I?”

Oh for goodness sake…

There's no way this was a real angel. He was pathetic! Angels are supposed to be special and perfect at everything. He was just lazy and forgetful.

Since he wasn’t helping, it was up to me to find a way inside on my own. My first thought was that there had to be some sort of mechanism or magical item that would get this door open, but a bright event pulled my attention.

A pulse of light shot up from the energy beam of the structure. Undoubtedly, that beam of light was mana, but what exactly was emitting it? If it was like the structures back home, then there had to be some sort of emitter attached to the top, or maybe a glass pane covering one over.

There certainly was no glass or emitter passing all that energy through when I flew up to look. Instead, a small pool of glowing water was rising upward, like it was a thin river that fed the great blue void of the sky.

Both I and Mr. Angel landed next to it, careful not to get too close until I could confirm it was safe.

I dipped my hand into the water, cupping it up and taking a sip.

“It tastes normal.” I could definitely say it was refreshing. Even just that sip gave me a ton of energy.

“Let me try some…” he reached forward to put his hand in, but immediately flew backwards in a panic. “We've been tricked!” he shouted. “There's a demon in the water!”

I quickly looked in, but saw no demon.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Did you not notice? His eyes were blood red, hair black as coal and his skin was gray as stone. Horns even decorated his head!”

Mr. Angel walked over and pointed into the water, finally revealing to me what he was referring to…

But that demon wasn't in the water at all. It was actually in Mr. Angel's reflection.

----------------------------------------