Previously, right as the two seraphim left Vastoria's sky island...

"Vastoria..." Throne grunted, "It's better this way."

"I know, it's just..." She hesitated, throwing frequent glances at the angels below, "Migu, it feels wrong how she just suddenly left."

"Does it? Because from her perspective, it was the only option that made perfect sense." Throne explained, "A girl wakes up without any memories in an unfamiliar world with scribbles on her chest. She follows the instructions on it until it leads her to people who understand what the scribbles mean. She did her part, and knows that she has no place with us on this mission. Really, I'd say this was the smartest thing she's done so far."

"How, though?" Vastoria still refused to believe it, "Does she not care about the things she may have stumbled across? Certainly, just hearing that she's trapped in a loop should have made her want to break out, no?"

"No." He coldly shot back, "Not everyone has to be painfully curious."

His brisk yet truthful words cut Vastoria deep. For a man like Throne, pragmatic and efficient actions take precedence over emotions, hence his aversion to taking Migu with them to see the Gods. Granted, that wasn't where they were headed anyways.

"How long has it been since you became a seraphim?" Throne asked.

"...13 cycles." She muttered, "Old enough to get used to it."

"Whoa, you're quite young!" He smirked, "As for me... 364 cycles."

"Eh?" She raised her Eyebrows, "Has Heaven 2.0 existed that long?"

"Way longer than that, I assume." He explained, "But if you were to convert the cycles into days, then you could say I'm just about to turn 1 year old."

"One whole year..." Vastoria repeated, "It's pretty hard to believe. Wait, you've spent this long with your memories intact, and yet you yourself have never bothered to talk with the Gods?"

"Who says I didn't?" He turned to face her, "They however just really dislike angels pestering them with questions and requests. Tch, damned idiots—If they're so annoyed by us, then they shouldn't have chosen an easily accessible house to settle down in."

"Yes, I've visited them once before too." She giggled, "But they did change one thing recently that really surprised me."

"Ah, you're talking about the initials." Throne checked his own, "Yes, I do have to wonder what force drove them to finally make a worthwhile improvement. Guess they do sometimes listen to the community."

"I hope they hear us out too, then." Vastoria prayed.

"Right, about that." Throne flew straight past the Gods' Abode, "We're not gonna be going to visit them."

"E-Eh!?" She yelped, stopping her horizontal movement due to the sudden confusion, "Wait, what do you mean by that? Hey, come back here!"

"No, rather—Don't go stopping now!" He shouted for her to keep moving.

"But...! We told Migu we'd go see them!" She reminded him.

"Who cares about that girl, I got a better plan!" He pointed to yonder, "Have you heard of the Shrine, perhaps?"

"The Shrine?" She raised a curious Eyebrow.

"Surprised you don't know about it. I've even heard some angels find out about its existence during their measly day-to-day research." He laughed, "There are rumors that if you go to the very end of the residential area, where no more houses are made for the denizens of Heaven 2.0, you will find a Shrine containing the secrets to revival."

"Whoa, there exists such a place?" She excitedly listened in.

"Oh it exists. In fact, I've seen it hundreds of times with my own Eyes" He then ruined her expectations, "But whether or not the Shrine allows for resurrection still remains a mystery."

"Eh? But if you've been there, then surely..."

"I've seen it, but I've never entered inside it." He corrected her, "That's the issue—Every time I tried getting close to it, the golden parts on my body would get pulled back to my home, stringing me along with it."

"Oh."

"Like a magnet, I'd get sent hurling back the way I came." He sighed, "Which is why this time I'm gonna hope you'll make a difference."

"Me?" She tilted her head, "Why am I so special?"

"Our wings aren't attached to our bodies." He pointed out, "So they don't necessarily string you along with them. Rather, they're the ones magnetized to you, so to speak."

"I'm... still not following." She admitted.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Sigh, really? Nothing's clicking yet?" He rolled his Eyes, "You have no naturally gilded parts, Vastoria. That's what makes you my golden ticket, ironically enough."

Vastoria was still left dazed by this reasoning. To begin with, she did have golden bits, two of them in fact. One was on her right toe, though it was rather small, and the other—which was far more scary—Her entire heart. Every time it pumps, she feels it like a loud drum. She's grown accustomed to the vibrations caused by it, and though the heartbeats are loud, they do in fact do their job to make her so full of life. In fact, one could argue her golden heart makes her more alive than the rest of Heaven's residents. Still, if there exists such a strong force that propels such a vital organ as her heart back to her house, then...

"I'm sorry, but I can't go." She stopped, "Please, find someone else to do it, I'm not the one you're looking for."

"Vastoria..." He turned to her with an annoyed tone, "I've been waiting for almost an entire year for someone as perfect as you to come along. There is absolutely no way I'm waiting for another chance to arise as good as this one."

"No, but you don't understand-"

"No, YOU don't understand!" He flew over and grabbed her by the hair, "You're gonna fly with me to the end of the road. And when you do, you're gonna enter that Shrine and tell me what's inside."

"Gah, s-stop!" She begged.

The sudden attack made her heart rate skyrocket. Her mind was in total disarray from all the loud drumming going on from within her, and Throne himself could tell something wasn't right. Nonetheless, he had done something that cannot be undone. If he lets her go now to check on her, she will undoubtedly fly away.

"Vastoria." He instead tightly wrapped his arms over her own so that she could do nothing to fight back or escape, "You have no reason to refuse."

"Let me... go...!" She yelled as he took off with her, "Migu, somebody! ...Help!"

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They flew through the air at alarming speeds. Try as she might, Vastoria was simply too weak to free herself of Throne's iron grip. She was both impressed and terrified of the speeds at which he maneuvered with his wings. Unlike her, a fletchling in comparison, he had practically an entire year to train with them until he knew what every single gear tiny minute did. Though she at first figured she'd have plenty of time to find a way out, she was no longer so sure.

"S-Stop! You're gonna kill me!" She tried wiggling herself free.

"No one dies in Heaven 2.0. The Gods made it an impossible feat..." He recalled a past event, "Our skin cannot be peeled, our hearts cannot be stopped. We feel nothing, barring our gilded parts. Trust in me, what I'm doing cannot and will not harm you."

"But I have golden parts!" She tried explaining.

"Hm, unless my Eyes deceive me, maybe." He joked, "Listen, the Gods want us to remain in the dark until the end of time, how do you not realize that!? You have to admit, even if you did have golden parts, there might be no one else willing to go to these lengths but us!"

"My heart's golden!" She shot back, still struggling to gain her freedom, "Please, Throne! I don't want to consider a friend of Migu's my enemy!"

"Her friend? You do understand she'll forget all about me in just a couple of hours from now." He raised an Eyebrow, "Not to mention all about you as well..."

"So what!? She's still a friend!" She argued back, "It doesn't matter if she forgets, because I still remember! And if there ever comes a day she calls me down from my island again, I'll gladly welcome her back!"

"Hm, how sweet. Truly, you've proved you have a heart of gold." He mocked.

"What!? No, I didn't mean it like that...!" She bit her tongue, "Throne!"

By now, they had already passed the gate between G district and H district. In fact, they were already nearing the border to the next one after that. She was steadily running out of time, so she had to summon all her might for one strong flap of her wings.

"Stop that." He course-corrected so that it wouldn't make much of a difference, "It's not doing anything, just annoying me."

"That's the point!" She flapped once more.

Though her body was being restrained, her wings were not attached to said body. In other words, they could move as they pleased, so to counteract his forward flaps, she flapped backwards. This caused them both to fight over where they were headed, and the counterforces acting on one another led to them stopping their horizontal movement completely—Merely flapping tirelessly against one another in a never ending row-off.

"What are you trying to achieve?" He asked.

"I don't want to go somewhere I know will harm me." She retorted.

"Well excuse me. I didn't realize I was in the presence of the international wimp champion." He glared, "You're not gonna believe this, but sometimes the good things in life require a bit of sacrifice."

"And I'm saying I'm not willing to go through with it!" She shouted, "Unlike you, my golden parts are internal, y'hear!? You don't know what might happen to me!"

"...Say that again?" He stopped flapping, which briefly propelled them backwards a few hundred meters.

"You heard me, my organ is-!" She stopped talking the moment she took a look at his mouth, "Ah."

Having stopped fighting with her, he grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her up so she could peer right into his mouth. Inside, a golden tongue sat uncomfortably, twitching at every drop of saliva that hit it. Previously, he had no visible golden parts on him, but Vastoria naively assumed it was just somewhere hidden away, like under his hair or behind his ears. This was The Dethroned's secret he kept hidden from everyone.

"Every sentence I utter, every word I speak makes me want to die all over again." He explained to her clearly, "Did that stop me from earning seraphimhood though?"

"To earn the rank of seraphim, you'd have to do a lot of talking..." She realized as well.

"Sometimes, not all times, but sometimes." He said with honest, tired Eyes, "You have to grit your teeth and bear with it. I don't want to bear with having to deal with this stupid tongue, so my wish is to go to the Shrine. Vastoria, if there is even the smallest of chances that you'll make it inside, would you please...!"

"Stop!" She shushed him, "Don't speak so much, it must feel horrible."

"...Then?"

"I'll do it." She nodded decidedly, "I'm sorry for doubting you, Throne."

"Vastoria...!" He smiled, "Then, you can fly on your own."

"Mn, I dunno." She teased, "It was actually pretty fun going that fast without having to flap my own wings for a change. It was totally like a rollercoaster!"

"A roller... Huh?"

"I see." She sighed with an awkward grin, "So you're older than me as a seraphim, but I'm older as a human. Geez, Heaven's time system is messed up..."

"Finally, we agree on something." He joked as well.

Thus, though their journey got off on the wrong wing, so to speak, they had successfully managed to work through it in order to hopefully reach the Shrine and uncover the secrets that lie within it. For just a small amount, she thought, Vastoria had gotten a better understanding of the type of character Throne was.