As Lilith and the others were packing up to head back, Lilith looked up outside of the caves. She looked at the morning sky and the specks of clouds above, and remembered flying over them. Then, she remembered not being able to breathe there.

She ran back inside and picked up one of the scuba systems. “Ethen,” she called, “can you get the pump and the other scuba system?”

“Sure, why?” He asked.

“I want to try something later!”

---

It was still the weekend when they got back to their dorms, and Lilith was now taking off her wings and scuba system near where Ethen put the other scuba system, eager to finally get the weight off.

“Ahh…” Malena layed back on her bed away from Lilith. “Aside from the part where you almost died, that was really fun!” She smiled. “Thanks for taking me.”

“Of course!” Lilith smiled back, struggling to fold up the second wing and take it off. “You've been… kinda stressed recently, so I’d feel wrong if I was having fun without you.”

Malena frowned. “You don’t have to feel bad about having fun without me. It’s not as if it’s your fault. Really, it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Lilith frowned as she finally got her other wing off, the scuba system coming along with it. “Could I help though?”

Malena paused, thinking. “I’m not sure how. Maybe some of your inventions could smooth things over with Voldia, but I doubt it.”

“What’s their deal?” Lilith asked as she put the scuba system that just came off back on and picked up the other. “Can’t they just be our allies without forcing some gross guy on you?”

“It’s a test of our loyalty, I guess,” Malena said.

Lilith raised an eyebrow. Why would they need to test loyalty? “Aren’t allies like friends? Since when did friends need to test each other?”

“Maybe it’s more than friends,” Malena said.

“So Voldia is marrying Solis?” Lilith asked, raising an eyebrow.

Malena shrugged. “Maybe. Being allies means we send our army when Voldia needs it, and they send theirs when we need it. It’s a bit more sacrifice than sitting around and eating lunch together with everyone.”

Lilith thought about it for a moment. If it was about who would help, then apparently even though Jatte and Ethen were both powerful mages, Ethen was the one that did the most work saving her when she needed it. “Is it like when Ethen was going to risk his life to save us when we were stuck in the underground river?” Lilith asked, inching towards the door with her scuba systems.

“Hmm.” Malena thought. “Maybe like that.” She nodded. “Before I heard about Ethen saving your life after your first adventure teacher, I might’ve been more surprised, so maybe that would’ve been the test.”

“I’d prefer a less painful test,” Lilith said. “But you weren’t a… a princess, until recently.” The fact was still hard to wrap her head around. “Couldn’t that guy just find someone that actually wants to be with him, and then they can be Princess?”

Malena shook her head. “That would mean Voldia gets to completely decide how Solis is ruled. It’d be worse.”

Lilith frowned. Then she remembered an old story Wispy once told her, a kind of ‘at least you don’t have it that bad’ story. She wondered whether she should speak her mind, but eventually just went for it. “Aren’t you basically a human sacrifice?”

Malena blinked. “What?”

“I heard some old stories about ancient cultures that would sacrifice people to old gods. Aren’t you being sacrificed to appease Voldia?” Lilith asked.

Malena thought, then shrugged. “I guess I am, kind of. It’s not like I’m being sacrificed as in killed, but I have to be with someone I don’t want to… So what happened to the sacrificing people? How’d it go for them?”

“Not well,” Lilith said. “Some people came from overseas and brought plagues and horses, and killed most of their population.”

“Sounds like their sacrifices didn’t work,” Malena said.

“Or they were just unlucky,” Lilith said. “But they were corrupt and their empire was going to collapse anyway.”

“Doesn’t sound good for Solis and Voldia either way,” Malena said.

“Yeah,” Lilith said. “Maybe they’ll collapse too and we could just leave.”

Malena shook her head. “I’m Princess now. I can’t be wishing for the collapse of either kingdom.”

“You don’t feel like some Princess, you feel like the same Malena I’ve come to know and like,” Lilith finally walked over and opened the door. “I’m gonna go see Jatte now.”

Malena nodded.

…

Lilith walked over to Jatte’s door and knocked.

“Hi,” Jatte opened. “What’s with all the crazy leather and metal?”

“Scuba!” Lilith said. “Remember when you flew me above the clouds?”

“Ah huh,” Jatte said. “What does ‘scuba’ have to do with that?”

“I’ll show you!” Lilith pointed down the hall.

“Does it involve us flying?” Jatte asked. “Because we could both just go out the window?”

Lilith blinked, then turned back. “Oh yeah.”

She walked into the room and smiled at Hana leaning up against the giant egg as she did some homework. That egg seemed to be Hana’s favorite thing now.

“Here we go.” Jatte opened up the window. “So, what’s this ‘scuba’?”

“Here,” Lilith said, handing her the spare scuba system. “Put it on like a backpack.”

Jatte did so.

As she did, Lilith explained, “Then, the regulator here goes in your mouth once you're high enough and you can’t breathe.” Lilith put her own regulator in for a moment before taking it out. “And then the gauge will tell you how much air you have.” She took it out. “I refilled it, so it should be full.”

Jatte looked at her own regulator and gauge, her smile growing wide. “We’re going high, aren’t we?”

Lilith grinned and nodded.

“I’m jealous,” Hana spoke up. “I wish I could fly.”

Lilith blinked. “Can’t you learn other types of magic?”

Hana nodded. “I’ve been practicing gravity magic, but I could maybe lift a small pebble.”

“You’ll get it eventually,” Jatte said, before stepping up on the window sill and floating out.

“Yeah!” Lilith gave a thumbs up before following.

“Oh, I just realized,” Jatte said, looking around Lilith. “You didn’t bring your wings this time. Why not?”

“They’re just extra weight if I’m not gliding,” Lilith said. “And I just wanna go straight up.”

“Ah.” Jatte nodded. “Let’s go up then.” She started drifting up, quickly floating above the top of the school.

Lilith followed, her rings glowing as light purple bands around her.

She looked out at the kingdom for old time’s sake as they flew up. She was faster than before. Back then, she’d taken a while to fly up, but now she was rapidly ascending, soon above the church towers, then the tallest towers. She turned and watched the birds and mountaintops become eye-level, before she flew up even higher.

It took a while as they flew up over everything and the air grew colder and more windy. They were already above the height most birds flew, and it was starting to get harder to breathe, but it wasn’t time for the scuba system yet. They’d have to wait until they passed over the clouds for that.

Lilith saw a cloud come up, then started feeling moisture and seeing the grey all around her. The moisture messed with her rings a little, but she was able to stabilize herself as they both flew up over it, finally appearing above it with the grey below them. Now it was especially hard to breathe, so Lilith finally put her regulator in, pressed a button, and enjoyed the fresh air that came in.

Jatte took her own breath from her regulator, then took it out. “Oh this is good.” She smiled wide. “Wanna go higher?”

Lilith nodded and looked up. Above them were thin strands of clouds. She wanted to see if she could get above those. So, she kept rising alongside Jatte.

…

For some reason, even though they were breathing in through the regulators it was still hard to get enough air. Pressing the button helped, but they were still winded enough that they had to go back down to just above the lower clouds. They could go a bit higher, but not that much.

“I guess it kinda worked,” Jatte said.

“I don’t get it,” Lilith said, looking at her regulator. “We’re breathing the same air we were on the ground. It should be easier.”

Jatte shook her head. “The pressure from the tank helps get some air in my lungs, but it’s just not enough up here I guess.”

“Pressure.” Lilith blinked, then descended, beckoning Jatte to follow.

They both descended through the clouds, then fell further and levitated about halfway between the ground and the clouds.

“There we go,” Lilith said after slowing down. “Pressure huh? We need oxygen to breathe, but I guess since it’s lower pressure up there, we’re still getting less oxygen.” She blinked. “I can pull oxygen out of water. I could just increase the oxygen, couldn’t I?”

“Oh, how long would that take?” Jatte asked.

Lilith shook her head. “A while.” She’d need to prepare all the gas that would go in the tank in that case. A roomful of air went into the tanks, so she’d need a room full of air, preferably one that could expand. Maybe if she could make something partially out of leather, that could work, but that much leather would be expensive. Metal might be cheaper.

They both descended closer to the school. Jatte looked for her window, but Lilith looked down at the ground, spotting Malena and some young guy in red and gold.

“You coming?” Jatte asked.

“Nah,” Lilith said. “I wanna meet someone. I’ll see you later.”

“Oh, okay,” Jatte stepped into her window.

Lilith flew off, then drifted down, until she was sitting on a roof near Malena and the Prince, both of them none the wiser.

---

Malena walked alongside Keith as he grinned and bragged, much to her disgust.

“Four days!” He said. “We’re getting married in four days, can you believe it? I talked it over with the King here and he said it would be perfect: we officially reveal to everyone that you’re the new princess and do the marriage ceremony at the same time. It’ll really start things off with a bang!”

Malena nodded. “Mhmm.” She knew her being Princess meant she’d eventually have to marry this guy, but she didn’t have to be happy about it.

“Are you excited? I read that women usually wanted their weddings to be perfect. Well, it’ll be on the same day as a mage tournament! So you could look out the window and see something awesome, and it’ll be in the castle, in the center of everything!”

“Sounds nice,” Malena said.

“Doesn’t it?” Keith said. “Your wedding’s gonna be awesome!”

Malena felt her shoulders sag at that. It wasn’t her wedding anymore, it was his. She would never be able to have a real wedding after it either. And at that realization, it was hard to keep walking. In fact, she almost wanted to cry.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Hey.” Keith turned back, then grabbed her arm and pulled. “Why are you stopping?” He yanked her along.

Malena raised an eyebrow. What was the rush? What was the problem if she stood then? Could she not have a second to mourn the loss of something many women called the best day of their life?

And why was she hearing static?

“Hello!” Lilith landed in front of them, waving and smiling cheerfully, but Malena could see right through that fake smile. It was like a mask on a predator. “I’m M-- Princess Malena’s friend Lilith. I assume that means you’re the prince?” She extended her hand to Prince Keith.

Keith looked down, but didn’t take the hand. He looked back up instead. “Are you trying to be a third wheel?”

“Sure,” Lilith said. “The more the merrier, they say.”

Keith just blinked at Lilith’s weird response, then frowned. “Can you not take a hint?” he asked. “We want to be alone together.”

“We?” Lilith looked at Malena.

Malena gave a weak nod. It was nice that Lilith stood up for her, but it was better if she didn’t get herself in a fight with the prince.

Seeing that, Lilith’s shoulders sagged. “Really Malena? You hate this guy. You complain about him constantly.”

Prince Keith turned to Malena, gritting his teeth. “Is-- Is that true?”

“Nnn...” Malena froze. All she had to do was say ‘no’, but she couldn’t bring herself to. The weight of that lie, carrying her entire future, was too much for her.

“Wait, why are you lying?” Lilith asked. “I thought he was forcing you to go along with him.”

Malena grit her teeth. “It’s about the fate of all of Solis! I have to, okay? If I don’t marry him, Voldia goes to war with us! I already told you that!” She almost yelled.

Prince Keith’s shoulders slumped.

“See?” Lilith turned to Keith. “Maybe go after someone else.” She practically kicked him while he was down.

“I already knew,” Prince Keith said quietly. “It sucks to hear it out loud, but that changes nothing.”

“Huh?” Malena turned. “You did?” She thought she kept her feelings hidden pretty well.

“Yeah,” Keith said. “And we’re still getting married.” He grabbed Malena’s arm and held it up. “Two kingdoms brought her to me! We’re bound by fate! She’s mine now!”

Lilith raised an eyebrow. “She’s not ‘yours’. You don’t own her.”

“You know what I mean,” Keith deadpanned.

“No, I don’t.” Lilith stepped forward. “She doesn’t like you. She’s being forced into this. What exactly do you mean you’re going forward with that?”

There were a few Voldian knights around, some of who were staring now.

Malena looked between them. This was bad. If the Prince annoyed Lilith enough that she fought back, both kingdoms would be after her. She’d have to make sure that didn’t happen. “Lilith, it’s fine.”

Lilith paused for a moment, staring back at her. Then, her eyes grew cold, and her posture changed. To Malena, she occasionally seemed otherworldly, and this was one of those times. “It’s not fine,” Lilith said. “Why do you even want this, Prince? Is it for your Kingdom or something? Were you forced into this too?”

“What? No?” Keith shook his head, bewildered. “I like Malena. She might not like me back, but she’ll learn to like me eventually.”

Malena watched Lilith visibly gag, and almost did the same herself.

“It’s unrequited love then,” Lilith said. “And ‘she’ll learn to like you’? You mean, ‘you can change her’? You can’t.” She wasn’t smiling anymore as she stared directly at Keith. “The problem is you. No one’s going to like you when you force yourself on them.”

Malena stared at Lilith. It was disturbing seeing her usual bubbly friend so oddly serious.

“What do you know?” Keith said. “No one likes me because I’m the Prince, and they want to be the Prince! They’re all just jealous of me! Well too bad! I’m the Prince, so I get the Princess!” He squeezed Malena’s arm enough that it hurt, a lot.

Malena winced.

Lilith casually moved her arm forward and zapped Keith with a tiny spark. “You’re hurting her. Stop that.”

“Gah!” Keith yanked his hand back. “You attacked me!” He looked around. “Guards! Seize this girl! She attacked a Prince!”

“What?” Lilith blinked.

A few of the knights froze when they saw Lilith, their runes glowing. Malena might’ve been a Princess now, but she knew Lilith had her own fame as the only electric flight mage in Solis. Those were probably knights that watched Lilith in flight class and knew they were going up against a mage. However, a few still rushed forward.

“Stop!” Malena yelled out. “She didn’t mean to harm anyone! She was just trying to protect me!”

More of the guards hesitated, their runes flickering red.

Keith’s eyes widened at all the knights around him failing to carry out his order. “You can’t disobey me!” He yelled. “I am your Prince! You should be arresting this girl by any means necessary!”

Lilith looked back. “You’re not seriously going to arrest me for smacking his hand, are you?” She turned to Malena. “Look, she even has a bruise!”

Malena tried to hide it with her hand, then grit her teeth. Lilith was about to get arrested. How could she turn this around? He said he was Prince, so maybe that mattered? “As the Princess engaged to Prince Keith, I order you to stand down,” she said.

Several of the runes powered down.

“What, no. That shouldn’t work, should it?” Keith asked. “She’s not Voldian royalty.”

Their runed started glowing red again.

“I am,” Malena said. “As I am engaged to you.”

The runes flickered.

Prince Keith glared at Malena for a while before shaking his head. “Fine!” He grabbed her arm again. “Keep your stupid friend out of jail! Just make sure she doesn’t interrupt me again.”

Malena looked back as Lilith stood, glaring at Keith as they left. She was worried Lilith might chase after them again and get into a fight with the guards, but she just stood there. Eventually, she turned to the guards around her.

“None of you are flight mages,” Lilith said. “I could kill all of you before the mages here knew what happened.” She jumped, covered herself with her electrostatic rings, and quickly rose to the top of a nearby building.

Malena barely heard, but that wasn’t good. She might not be arrested now, but saying that to the knights made her a clear threat. It was touching that Lilith stood up for her, but she almost got herself killed, and ended up just painting a target on herself in the end. Did that girl not worry about her own life?

---

After she left, Lilith stood on top of the building and practiced her ball lightning once more, fueling her magic with all the hate and fury she just felt. She could see it now, somehow, the way it bent back and forth as one ring interacted with another. It was like a dance where one person would eventually trip. Now, she could see just where she needed to move the rings to stabilize each other, at least for a while longer, and how much power she’d need to pour into each one.

She held the bright white ball in her hand, fueling it with the microwave device until it grew to the size of her fist, then letting the fuel slow to a trickle, just enough to keep it the same size.

Then, she let it go, no longer fueling the rings with her magic and microwaves. It drifted off slightly with the wind, so she frowned. It was still a pretty poor projectile if she couldn’t launch it, but how could she do that? Her telekinesis and air magic were still too weak.

She blinked. She didn’t fly with either of those magics. She flew with electricity. Could she do the same here?

She moved her hand back to the still stable ball lightning and started to form a couple rings of static to move it like it was a normal object, but before she could fully form them, it shot back at her, towards the ring she was pulling electrons from. She barely had time to dodge, then watched as it flew off.

Then she ran to the other side of the building, watching the ball twirl around in the wind, and jumped and flew after it, watching from a safe distance. It slowly drifted to the ground, like it was a feather falling in the wind, until it came near the top of a tree. There, it was pulled towards the tree by an invisible force, and once it touched a few of the leaves, it exploded. Branches tore off and fell down as the top of the tree lit on fire.

Lilith stared, wide eyed. That was powerful.

She quickly rushed forward and put out the fire with the air from her electricity and said “Sorry!” to the few people around. Then, she grinned and flew upwards. “I wonder how far this can go though.”

She flew up even further, making sure she could still see Malena from where she was, then tried making another. All she had to do was repeat it, so she could make a stable one more easily now.

She aimed it off, away from Malena and the Prince, and shot it out away from herself, using a few rings with as much force as she could.

The ball shot way off, passing several buildings, moving from the marble ones to the wood ones where it could actually do some damage, and then drifting forth further, until it was a speck. Lilith had to move to see it again, and it was drifting to some far off lake. There, once it hit the water, it exploded.

“Whew,” Lilith breathed a sigh of relief, thankful she wouldn’t have to put out another tree or apologize to someone for accidentally blowing up their house. “That might not have been the best idea.”

Lilith flew back to Malena and continued watching. Eventually, the Prince let Malena go, and she walked back on her own. Now that he was gone, she floated down next to her.

---

Malena looked over when she heard static. “Were you watching the whole time?” She asked.

“Maaaybe,” Lilith said, looking away.

“Well whatever. Why did you do that earlier?” Malena asked. “You were so close to getting arrested, or killed. You saw how murder happy those knights were earlier. Do you not care about your own life?”

“Hmm.” Lilith paused to think, then shrugged. ”You’ve been my best friend for the past year I guess. I think you even saved my life once or twice now. I don’t want you to get stuck with that guy if I can help it.”

Malena couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks, but you really need to worry about yourself sometimes. I don’t want you getting stuck underwater if I can help it too, or in jail.”

“Yeah, thanks for that.” Lilith grinned sheepishly. “I really didn’t think he’d call the guards because of a tiny spark. What a wuss.”

“Yeah,” Malena sighed. “I think it’s better if you don’t interact with him at all.”

“I could say the same to you,” Lilith said.

“If only,” Malena said. “No, the kingdom needs me.”

“Yeah, to stop an army.” Lilith glared off to the distance. “What if we just fought them? We have some pretty strong mages here.”

Malena shook her head. “Their army is three times ours, which is really just adventurers, and they have their own mages too. We’d lose.”

“I don’t think so,” Lilith said. “I can fly higher than all of them.”

Malena paused. Being able to fly higher was a huge advantage. One mage could aim up and would have to put extra force into their attacks, while the other mage could just drop things. “That is something, but if you’re the only one that can, then that just means you’re the only one that would survive the war. If they came here, their knights would be able to deal with everyone on the ground.”

“What if I just flew over there?” Lilith asked.

Malena shook her head. “You’re assuming no one can fly higher in Voldia, and you’d be taking on an army by yourself.” She glared. “I’m not going to let you get yourself killed.”

Lilith sighed, but continued trying. “What if we ran away then? I could hide you in the adit, and they’d have to find another princess.”

Malena smiled again, the idea of her best friend taking her away and hiding her in that strange lab of hers sounded appealing, but she shook her head. “They’d be searching for us, and Voldia would still see it as Solis failing their test of loyalty.”

Lilith’s shoulders sank.

Malena appreciated the attempts to help, but there really wasn’t anything that could be done. She would just have to marry Keith in four days, even though the thought of it was both disgusting and depressing.

---

The next day, Lilith walked into Rosina’s class, but she wasn’t happy. She stared at the projector as Rosina talked. She could write down key points, but her mind was on Malena. After school, the Prince would come and take her again. If Lilith intervened, Malena might get another bruise like last time. If she didn’t, everything would continue until the Prince married Malena, and she’d be stuck with him.

“Dr. Demetrios Varma was an interesting guy,” Rosina said, showing a picture of an old giant of a man in mining gear. “He made countless contributions to magic related to mining and processing.”

Lilith zoned out, thinking about Malena more before coming back and quickly writing a few things. She did that a few times before the lesson neared its end.

…

“In his old age, he had an unhealthy fascination with oil. He said we were wasting it, that it was even better than magicite. The last thing he did was gather a team to figure out the true use of oil. They didn’t return from that expedition”

Lilith wrote that all down, then exited the class with everyone else once the bell rang and came back to her own thoughts.

If she wanted to deal with Voldia, Solis, or both, she’d need to make that oxygen mixture, which meant she’d need a lot of leather and metal. She had a bit, so she could try something after school in the nearby river. But now that she thought about it, maybe she didn’t even need the leather. If she had something made of metal that could hold air, except for at its opening, she could turn it upside down and let its own buoyancy hold it up. The water below would then be the part that expanded or contracted.

Lilith went through her day as usual, but kept her inventions on her mind. Being out of range of attacks was good, the maneuverability her wings gave her was good, and the near infinite ammo her ball lightning gave her was also good. She’d just have to finish it all before the wedding happened.

…

After school, Lilith ran back to her dorm. Malena was gone, probably with the prince again. She was filled with hate at that thought, but there wasn’t much she could do. She could watch them, but that didn’t help much either. So, she just took her metal plates, welded them together with her heat magic and added a valve she designed earlier on, then took her scuba system and compressor and flew off to the river.

Once she made it to the river and found a calm point, she laid a box of metal with an open top upside down in the water and smiled as it floated. Then, she put a finger in and tasted the water. If it was too salty, it wouldn’t work. Luckily, it was still pretty fresh at this point.

She pushed the metal box down and let a few bubbles come out, until it was halfway out, then moved her hand near it and started pouring electricity into the water until oxygen came out under the box, and hydrogen bubbled up into the air.

Once the box was mostly filled with oxygen, she moved to her scuba system. There, she pressed the purge valve and let all the air out until the gauge read zero, then hooked up the compressor, hooked that up to the box, and turned her magic on until the box floated back down.

The needle didn’t move far before the box was starting to fall below the water. She’d have to repeat this several times.

…

It was sunset by the time Lilith had a nearly full tank. She eagerly put it on, put the regulator in, and sucked in the air. It was somehow fresher than the air outside, though it might’ve smelled a bit fishy.

Next, she jumped up and used her rings to fly into the sky, not caring to look much at the sights around her. The sunset might’ve been beautiful, but she had a goal. She admired it for a second before pouring her magic out around her to ascend as fast as she could.

Soon, she was over the clouds again, and it was hard to breathe. So she put in her regulator and took a breath. She could feel her mind clearing up, so she started climbing even higher. She didn’t feel light headed like she did when she was over the clouds any more. She could just keep climbing!

It took her three times as long to go over the next clouds, and she was starting to feel light headed again there, but she was able to make it.

Finally, she was over all the clouds. Only the stars were above her now. She might’ve been higher than anyone had ever gone. It was strange how the light winds rapidly batted against her here, but moved her less than half as much as they should’ve.

Instead of savoring the moment, she dropped down again. Her tank was near half, and it was never a good idea to stay around when she felt light headed. Still, she couldn’t help a wide grin as she fell. It didn’t matter if all of Solis and Voldia tried to attack her friends now. She was literally out of their reach.

Well, she could fly up to be out of their reach at least.

---

Three days later, a tournament was about to take place between the top mages in Lilith’s grade. However, for the first time ever, Lilith didn’t show up at school.