Gods, now Gale left too! Then again, we did get Throne in return, so maybe this way was for the best... I feel bad for those two leaving, but we can't afford to let personal feelings get in the way of our goals. There's also that—The possibility that Gale really is headed back to find Sab and bring him over to us. He sounded extremely sarcastic, so the chances of that happening are low, but on the other hand it's Gale we're talking about. He's a team player, a go-getter leader who only wishes his friends the best. If we interpret his speech like that, then there's a very real chance he's doing this for our good.

"Migu." Vastoria snapped me out of my trance, "Migu? What's got you so holed up in your thoughts?"

"Wah, sorry!" I shook myself off, "I was just thinking about something useless. Don't worry."

"...I'm sure it'll work out on their end." Sheep reassured me, "Gale and Sab are both capable in their own rights, and given we haven't traveled that far from our starting point—I'm sure they'll find each other."

"Yeah, but finding Sab in the endless sea of angels and seraphim would be like picking out a needle from a haystack." Vastoria figured.

"You're forgetting who Gale's trying to track down." Sheep chuckled, "Knowing Sab, he's probably—no, definitely—behind the same shelf we found him last time."

The humorous reasoning gave way to all of us bursting into laughter. Everyone except for Throne, that is, which is probably because he didn't understand quite what we were talking about. He wasn't there to witness the scaredy cat Sab shivering his timbers behind the shelf in his little shack house, so to him we were probably just uttering some nonsense. Nonetheless, he decided it was time to get moving.

"The time we have is limited." He took the rope from the ground and tied it around his own waist, "I believe you used this to fly under one pair of wings. Crafty."

"Thank you!" Vastoria enjoyed the praise before her bubbly smile soon turned sad, "A-Ah, it was..."

"What?" He tilted his head in response to this, "What's wrong?"

"It was hers and Gale's idea." Sheep informed him.

"Is that so... Remarkable, you two are just incredible." He didn't hesitate to compliment the guy who opposed him even one bit, despite our expectations, "...What now?"

"You...?" I cocked my head back, "You really don't have to prove yourself anymore."

"I don't get it." He shrugged.

"What she's basically saying is that Gale's no longer here, so there's no need to sing his praises anymore." Sheep added, "Besides, he was being an ass to you, so having you incessantly saying all these nice things about him is weirding us out."

"And we mean that with no offense, of course." Vastoria chimed in too.

Despite what we had told him, Throne just wasn't going to budge on this. Crossing his arms with an almost childish pout, he firmly stood his ground as he stated that smart people deserve their flowers. I can understand that, of course, but when the smart person in question was cussing you out just a moment ago, I kind of feel like you really ought to lose all respect for him in that scenario. Regardless, it was almost as if he had gotten offended at our reasoning this time.

"Honestly, what's wrong with you guys?" He asked with furrowed brows, "GaLi volunteered to go find Sab and explain everything to him without us so that we could freely go on and explore the Shrine. It's a smart move, and he did this with our best interests in mind."

"R-!" I bit my tongue, "Regardless, he could've phrased it better! If that's really all he wanted to accomplish, then he shouldn't have made himself sound like such a douche!"

"Not everyone's good with words." He warmly smiled, "People like him are hot-headed, but that doesn't mean they're hot-tempered as well. He acts rashly and doesn't think about his words all too much. But actions speak louder than words, and his actions were clearly made for our sakes from the start."

...Wow. Throne really is incredible. Calling him a saint would be too much, a person with his level of patience and tranquility can only be called a God. Of course, we all knew even before that Gale wasn't exactly all too good with words, but that shouldn't excuse him from just blabbering on without caring a single bit about potentially hurting the people around him. Honestly, if it was anyone else in Throne's place instead of him, I'm sure Gale wouldn't be pardoned for his flashy exit. Maybe... Maybe Throne's the better leader after all?

"Then, now that everything's cleared up..." Throne tugged the rope a bit to give us the signal, "Can we get going now?"

"Aye aye!" The three of us shouted in unison.

The ropes were tightened on both ends, he kindly gave us a countdown, and... liftoff. We were in the sky within the blink of an Eye. Not only that, but we were at the same altitude as with Sab, except it took him minutes to reach this high, and his flight was way more shaky. Just goes to show you how much more experienced Throne is with his wings. The difference is just unrecognizable!

"At this rate, we'll reach the Shrine within minutes!" Sheep excitedly grinned.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Wait, that's bad!" I recalled, "Vastoria, how are you holding up!?"

"A-Ah." Tears began to gently glide down her cheeks as she viewed the comforting sky visage in front of her, "It's been... so long... since I saw the sky like this."

"Vastoria?" We turned to her.

"I wish I could do more for you." Throne's voice echoed from up front, "Your wings, I did try and search for them, but they were gone without even a trace to their name. For now, this is the best I can do."

"Throne." She nodded knowingly, "Thank you, this is wonderful."

He's patient, understanding, kind and above all—He exhibits incredible levels of humanity. Unlike Gale, who had to rely on Sab to fly, Throne can do all that and with the added luxury of comfort. No more getting motion sick, no more shaky, insecure flight. Of course, I feel guilty in saying this—But I am glad that Throne's back on the team. Now, if only Sab and Gale could understand that...

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***

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At the speed we were being tugged along at, we couldn't exactly see the scenery all too clearly. Unlike with Sab, everything around us had dissolved into only but a blur. Vastoria explained with great glee how this is exactly what seraphim see when they soar through the air at their regular, breakneck speeds. No wonder she got motion sick while Sab was flying—For her, this must've felt like going from watching a 60fps animation to a 5fps one just like that. It'd be jarring for anyone, really.

"Alright, we'll be landing shortly." Throne circled around to pick us all up in his embrace before slowly descending down into a graceful landing, "Here we are."

Here we are, he says, but I couldn't quite see anything just yet. My Eyes were still in blur mode from the inertia, so it took a while for them to readjust and finally see clearly once again. Quite literally, the structure had appeared out of thin air in front of my very Eyes.

"Woahhh..." Sheep couldn't believe it, "This place is huge."

"Yeah, but is it just me, or did I expect it to look a little bit different." I added, "Y'know, something that more so resembled an actual Shrine?"

In front of us was nothing more than a light Blue-ish, semi-transparent ice wall. It was cold just to stand close to it, which is odd because our White bodies don't exactly allow for us to feel temperature. I can understand why Vastoria and Throne were so fascinated with it, at least. This certainly is unusual.

"The Shrine is within the wall." Vastoria giggled, "What you see in front of you is the barrier that blocked Throne's access the previous time we were here."

"Eh? But it doesn't look like it has a top side..." I glanced up, "Why didn't you just fly over it?"

"It's best I demonstrate why." Throne swooped in with his wings again to pick Sheep and me up and fly us a couple hundred meters up. Looking below, we were surprised to only see a lone Vastoria standing in the empty field with a Shrine-like stone structure where the wall was. Did we fly to a different location by accident? No, but that girl is definitely Vastoria... What the hell is this?

"It's a mind trick of sorts. An optical illusion." Throne explained, "So long as you're touching the ground, the barrier is visible and physical. You can touch it, it's solid."

"So then, why isn't it the same now that we're in the air?" Sheep inquired.

"That's where the optical illusion comes in." He answered, "If no parts of your body are touching the ground, the solid barrier becomes almost like a magnetic force field of sorts. It's no longer there physically, but the moment you try and fly or otherwise drop in, it stops you in mid air before launching you back to the residential area."

"That far back?!" I yelped, "How is that even possible?"

"It's possible." He sighed before revealing, "...It pushes you away by the golden parts of your body. So far, my theory goes that the only ones who can ever gain access to it are those without any external gilded parts."

External, he made sure to emphasize that part specifically. In other words, this was because Vastoria could still enter despite having an internally golden part—Her heart. For now, his theory holds up fairly well, as even Energy was said to have entered with only a golden brain. Key word, "was"...

"You're afraid that Vastoria lost access to it now that she has that wound on her chest." Sheep looked down.

"It's not guaranteed to be the case." Throne tried to remain positive, "Nothing is certain just yet..."

"...But?" I followed his train of thought.

"But... It's all but proven." He let out a long, disappointed sigh, "Let's go back down to where she is. And please, not a word to her."

Suddenly, he hit us with something unexpected. An oath to secrecy. Then again, we were more surprised to find out that Vastoria didn't know this. In hindsight, it's the only logical conclusion that made sense as to why she could enter and he could not, but at the same time, neither Sheep nor I knew before he explicitly told us.

"Why not?" Sheep tilted his head, "Shouldn't she know?"

"What good would it do for her to find out?" He asked a rather realistic question, "If she's ignorant to the supposed impossibility of the task, then she might have a better chance at accidentally reproducing it after all."

"Right. But if we told her she won't make it no matter how hard she tries, she'll only get discouraged." I nodded in agreement, "Throne's right, we should first ask her what her thoughts are on passing through the barrier. Once all our methods are exhausted, then we should tell her what we think."

"Gale didn't tell White lies..." Sheep made a difficult face.

"Gale isn't the leader anymore." I retorted, "At least not for now. Please, Sheep, we need her to try with motivation, not indifference."

Gale's departure is still plaguing everyone. Damn, it's not like he died, what the hell... A White lie here and there isn't a bad thing, and at the end of the day it's just as Throne said—What good would telling the truth all the time do for us if the truth is bitter? At that point, you might as well just actively start critiquing the plan until we all opt to give up.

"Oh, you're back." Vastoria greeted us at the ground, "You took your time."

"Just enjoying the view." Throne smiled back at her before gently putting Sheep and I down, "Now, shall we get cracking?"

"Aye aye! I'll do my best to remember how I did it last time!" Vastoria saluted proudly before running up to the barrier.

"..." Sheep only stared blankly at the girl's useless attempts.

"This is for the best." I uttered quietly so she wouldn't hear.

"This..." He shook his head, still opting to let us do it our way however, "This is cruel."

And so, with another companion's relationship somewhat being put on the fence, we watched on from the background as Vastoria tried all sorts of moves and methods to phase through the wall as she supposedly did last time. Cruel, he said—It'd be cruel if we shattered her hopes and dreams at the start without even letting her attempt this once. That's cruel.