The wheels struck the runway, though so gently that Ingrid could barely feel it. Dusk had settled over the snowfields and forests outside of the manor house. From the sky, the entire structure appeared to be a narrow ring around a courtyard containing the library tower. The windows reflected the red glare of the sun.

The Falling Leaf fighter jet slowed to a gentle rolling and Ingrid taxied to her hanger. Natasha's fighter jet, along with the Emperor's private business jet, were still parked in their hangar. Only a few hours had passed since the revelation that Ingrid was in fact distantly related to nobility. She felt that this, while interesting, was less impactful in practice than Vaska's news that a new fighter jet had been created, one which does not require crystals or sacrifices.

She parked her fighter inside the hangar, and opened the canopy. A single soldier was present to give her a ladder. Ingrid closed the canopy to the fighter jet and descended the ladder. The soldier pulled it away from the fighter and stowed it along one wall. "Do you need anything else, Lady Ghost?" the soldier asked.

"No, you are free to retire," she replied. She ran her hand along the belly of her fighter jet, smooth and shining. "I just want to be near these beautiful machines for a little while longer."

The man saluted and turned away. Except for her Elementals and Ashe, she was completely alone. Ashe sat on her shoulder in her smaller winged form.

The runway and hangars were empty. No servants wandered so far from the manor house. She regarded the fighter jet. A nose, metal perfectly shaped into a gentle cone. Two air intake ports for the engines, like distorted rectangles. Stiff wings, sturdy landing gears, two near-vertical tails angled slightly outward. A glass canopy that reflected the light of the setting sun.

Soon it would be too dark to walk back to the manor. She would need to summon Titania. Her other Light Elemental, which she picked up at the workshop in the Plane of Fire, had already been given to Natasha.

Just before turning to walk away, she regarded the sack of crystals in her hand. Contracts, dirty and unfair contracts that exploited the ignorance of the sacrifices. A subtle form of slavery of which the victim had no knowledge or imaginings. But Vaska... Vaska had created a new type of airplane. One that did not require the contracts. It had limitations, yes. However, it was better than the alternative.

"To dream of flight is to dream to be free," Ingrid said. "It is not a true dream of flight, to fly upon the shattered dreams of so many innocents, to take away their freedom."

You speak with honor, Titania said, but this honor is hollow. Your use of the crystals proves this.

"I know," Ingrid said. "Titania, you can tell when a person is lying, right? Can you also witness oaths?"

To whom?

"Well, I'm not sure. I suppose to you."

That does not make sense, I know your mind Ingrid, and I hear your every thought. What purpose would there be, in swearing an oath to me? If you break your oath, then nothing happens. It will not change our bond, and I will not think less of you.

"Ashe!" she said. "Can I swear my oath to Ashe?"

"I don't want to hear your stupid promises!" Ashe said. "My highest ideal would be for you to lie and break your oath! Remember, I'm supposed to be evil."

"Fine!" Ingrid said as she looked at her fighter jet. "May I swear an oath to the dream of flight?"

You may, though I know not the consequences.

She closed her eyes. "Many times in my life, I had no idea of the consequences of my actions. I had no idea of the chance of success or failure. Many times, small decisions changed my life forever. And in this war, many times, I took huge risks, and I have failed in many ways. But I am not afraid! This oath may forever exile us from winning the war, or this oath may doom the Queen of Light to eternal corruption. However, I must trust my heart. And so..."

She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and pointed her finger straight at the fighter jet.

"I swear to the dream of flight that I will never use a contract ever again!"

I have witnessed your oath.

"Um, Ingrid," Ashe said. "What did you just do?"

"What do you mean?" Ingrid asked.

"Titania!" Ashe screamed, panicked. "What are you doing?"

I cannot stop it, Titania said, as the world was consumed by magenta and cyan mist.

The familiar black line of Vaska's portal appeared. Vaska lunged through and embraced Ingrid. "Ingrid what have you done?!"

"I don't know!"

The mist thickened, obscuring the world. Only Vaska was close enough to see. Her eyes were filled with fear. The ground vanished, and with it gravity. The mist darkened and began to fall, or perhaps Ingrid was being pulled up. A platform began to materialize below, made from intricate interlocking cyan and magenta crystals. Eight more platforms appeared all around them, floating in the dark space. Portals opened, and the Elemental Queens stepped through. Ashe floated just above the ground near the edge of Ingrid's platform.

Gravity began to return, and with it a sense of direction. Massive shapes began to take form in the sky, flowing like clothing. Ingrid craned her neck around to get a better view of the sky. It was, in fact, a woman the size of a planet, gracefully drifting through a midnight sky, with flowing, filmy clothing and hair as long as the sky itself. All around the eight Elemental Queens stood regal on their platforms.

The familiar form of the Queen of Lightning, her blonde hair and pure white dress, stood directly ahead. The Queen of Metal, with her silvery chrome dress and black hair, stood opposite. There was a woman with a black dress and bright red earrings, with a woman wearing a cute bathing suit and sandals opposite to her. One woman was mostly nude with the exception of body paint and small garments made of furs, her opposite wore a dress made of shining stars and galaxies. Finally, one woman wore a filmy turquoise dress, and her opposite wore oversized cloth garments of a style Ingrid had never seen, blocky and layered.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Titania and the Firstborn appeared at their sides, the Light Elemental with her spear and the Dark Elemental with her twin daggers. Vaska grabbed Ingrid's hand as the goddess in the sky oriented herself and drifted down to face the nine Queens, the two Elementals, and the two mortal women. She reached out with a hand the size of a continent, which drifted below the platforms, and she pulled the platforms towards her face without breaking their relative positions in formation.

I see now, the goddess in the sky projected into Ingrid's mind. Vaska winced. I see now the flaw in your world. These two creations make the power available to the frail mortal minds. The whims of mortals can shatter gods. And you, child of the Queen of Light, why have you summoned me thus? Your mother is yet consumed with madness.

"She had no choice," the Queen of Lightning proclaimed.

One of the original three, you speak thus, but what of the others? Do you speak for them as well?

"I do, for I have contemplated many things through my daughters and their creations. The beings known to the mortals as Colored Orbs have aided me in this deep contemplation. The First and Second-born daughters are the Twin Fates of Dark and Light. However, these Fates introduce their own inner contradictions. Only mortals need to fear them."

They are flaws nonetheless.

"And yet you envy this world, in spite of its flaws. Your inner simulation contains only hollow, lifeless puppets with only superficial semblance of mortals. You entice the mortals into your dreamland so that you may study them, but no matter how long you develop your simulation, it will never be true. You will never understand."

In spite of its enormous size, the goddess in the sky did appear to be genuinely disturbed by this observation.

"This is not what I anticipated we would be doing tonight," Vaska said.

"That thing can probably hear us," Ingrid whispered, pointing at the planet-sized woman in the sky.

"Undoubtable," Ashe said as she glided toward them. "This is your fault Ingrid! Your stupid oath made Titania do this!"

"What oath?" Vaska asked.

"She promised to never use contracts again!" Ashe replied.

"What!? Ingrid, the war isn't over. We are going to need to use those contracts to keep you safe while flying. What happens if you turn too hard? You'll knock yourself out!"

I do not understand the thoughts and words of these mortals. Of what do they speak, third-to-join?

"Ask her," the Queen of Lightning said. "The one who calls herself Ingrid."

Mortal, the fragment of the power you carry in your heart has tapped into powers reserved for the Queen. I am the Goddess of Dreams, and you have sworn an oath before a High Daughter of Light, an oath to the dream of flight. Speak to me of this dream, mortal.

"Maybe Vaska can answer in a way she can understand?" Ashe asked. "When it comes to mortals, this one seems to have the intelligence of a toddler."

"Fine, I will answer for Ingrid," Vaska said. "Goddess of Dreams! My people walk upon the ground, but there are other creatures who live and hunt in the sky. Do you understand this?"

"I shall aid you outsider," the mostly-nude woman said. Ingrid assumed she was the Queen of Life. "Look upon my works, the birds that hunt in the heavens. Those creatures push their children from a great height, and if they fail to fly they perish."

I understand this creature, the Goddess of Dreams said.

"We mortals look to the sky, and we see this creature, and we are filled with envy," Vaska said. "This powerful envy led ambitious mortals to invent a tool to allow them to fly. When a mortal uses this tool, they fly faster and higher than any bird. But we live on the ground, and soon we must return home. Those who have used the tool forever turn their eyes to the sky, filled with a deep longing. This longing is the dream of flight."

The Goddess of Dreams said nothing for a long time.

"I think you got the idea across," Ashe said.

"There are going to be consequences for this," Vaska said as she glared at Ingrid. "Swearing such an oath, bringing us to this place, with this outer goddess? Ridiculous."

Never before have my creations ever looked to the sky.

"You have been deceived," the Queen of Lightning said. "The only mortals who visit your realm strongly, are themselves imprisoned. They know nothing of the true world of mortals. They have never seen this tool fly through the heavens."

So then you must show them, so I might know of it.

"We have!" Ingrid said. "We show them, then they stop visiting you!"

"Mortals are unpredictable," Ashe said. "However it is through their unpredictability that we learn and grow. Our project has been a success, I am certain of it. Look upon us all gathered here. We have grown so much, and even now you look up on our creation with envy. Even if my sister has gone mad, her mind can be restored with the help of the Queens of Fire and Water, and with the help of these mortals."

"I agree with the Queen of Darkness," a cool voice said. The woman wearing a dress like the night sky raised both arms toward the giant goddess in the sky. "Those mortals who visit your realm intend to deceive you and steal your power."

"You must join us," the Queen of Lightning said, "your simulations are sterile and predictable. You will learn nothing from them. The Queen of Heaven speaks true. The trickle of mortals who find their way to your realm, through the place where you have touched the world, will never allow you to grow."

Your arguments are convincing, as they have always been, even in the time before your world began. But there is a contradiction here as well, for I will never understand the hearts of mortals so long as I decide for myself.

The goddess began to shrink, slowly at first, but more rapidly over time. She also floated closer, shrinking to the size of a mortal woman. Half her body, the half near Ingrid, began to glow a dull magenta. The other half, closer to Vaska, began to glow a pale cyan. Her legs landed upon the platform, and she held out both hands. The woman in the black dress, as well as the woman in the swimsuit, leapt across the void and landed on the platform as well.

"I am the Queen of Fire. With my daughter, we will help you, mortal."

"I am the Queen of Water, will help this one."

The two High Daughters appeared, the Fire Elemental appearing beside Ingrid and the woman in the black dress. The Water Elemental appeared by Vaska and the woman in the bathing suit.

"Nothing good can come of this," Vaska said.

"I will decide for us then," Ingrid said. "Take her hand."

Ingrid reached out and grasped the dull magenta hand of the Goddess of Dreams. She looked to Ingrid with surprise, her face appearing somewhat childish. Vaska grasped the pale cyan hand. The Queens of Fire and Water, as well as their High Daughters, reached out and added their strength as well.

"Pull them apart," the Queen of Fire said. Ingrid began to step back, and pulled hard. Vaska saw her motion and began to do the same. The Goddess resisted. Her colors shifted, appearing as two overlapping beings of different colors, and then both Ingrid and Vaska fell back rapidly, ripping the two aspects apart. Absolute darkness consumed Ingrid's vision, and Vaska vanished from sight.

She began falling. The Queen of Fire, as well as her High Daughter, vanished as well. Weightlessly, noiselessly, and without a sense of time, Ingrid fell through an empty universe. Dull magenta mists began to swirl around her.

I am the High Daughter of Spirit, the voice of an old crone said in her mind. Will you bond me and my sister?

"I will," Ingrid said.

It will be some time, but Mother will develop a sense of aesthetics, and she will transform this pace. Look up on this place, mortal, and see an Elemental Plane, look upon it and know that none other shall see it thus. Return to us, and we shall show you a new sky, a new dream.

The ground appeared around her, and her vision returned. She was lying in the snow, covered in a very thin layer of fresh powder. She shook it off and stood up. Vaska did as well. Ashe materialized from shadows, landing with a soft crunch. The sun had set, and shadows began to consume the snowy runway.

"Well," Ashe said, "it's not every day that you meat puppets get to rip a goddess in half."

"Ingrid," Vaska said. "We must go inside and celebrate!"

"Titania! Light the way!" Ingrid said. Brilliant light began to shine from the Elemental as she appeared. The path forward was clear. Ingrid could not possibly imagine what Titania had done to cause this little adventure, and she suspected she would never find out.