“The Lord of Air?” Kass, engaging in a tug-of-war with Ornis over Phos, let go of the Light Lord, who bounced back several steps. “You mean Aer?”
Ornis’s eyes lit up, and he nodded.
Phos pulled the front of his scarf, loosening it before he choked to death, and watched the two Lords before him. Kass appeared to know something about this Lord of Air.
“What do you need us to pass on to her?” He crossed his arms, a perplexed look crossing his face. “She’s very secretive.”
“And why would you ask us?” Phos cut in with a bemused expression. “Going so far as to even spread a terrible rumour.”
Ornis’s lips stretched into a thin line.
“The Lord of Nature, Nymph.”
At the mention of this name, both Phos and Kass perked up to listen.
“She is sworn sisters with Aer, no? And Nymph is friends with you.” Ornis’s eyes trailed to Phos, lingering, long and deliberate.
“Is Nymph not friends with anyone else?” Phos tilted his head, signalling for clarification.
“She has lots of friends! But they won’t talk to me…” A dejected glance down explained everything.
Kass, demoted to a third-wheel in the conversation between two, somewhat felt a pang of betrayal in Nymph’s closeness to Phos. The Light Lord noticed this, breaking off his eye-contact with Ornis to give Kass a hard stare.
You’re the one who stalked Nymph but never even tried to talk to her.
Accusatory and meaningful, Phos flicked a side of his scarf that had fallen over his shoulder back, then turned to Ornis again.
“So. What makes you think we would?” His expressionless voice whispered, disappearing into the blur of tumbling clouds.
Phos’s words never seemed to match his appearance. Delicate and luminous, he stood stunning among the land of white; yet his voice, cold and blunt, drained the colour from any beautiful surrounding. Ornis froze, taken aback.
“Well… Are you not…??”
“There was no need to spread a rumour. We didn’t even hear about it until today…. From you.” Phos wore a cynical smirk.
“But… aren’t you known for helping anyone and everyone you meet? Why are you so…” Ornis folded his arms to his chest, bewildered.
He’d once heard of a great Lord, one who had just begun existing but lent a hand to anyone in need. This Lord would volunteer to go down to Earth when no one else wanted to, taking on the role of other Lords and checking up on humans. Fixing what needed to be fixed, helping heal whoever needed healing, even planting new life in place of Nymph whenever she became depressed. Earth had changed a lot since just 50 years ago, yet the birth of this Lord made everything more bearable.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The Lord of Light, Phos.
However, when Ornis finally stood before this Lord, he realised that the news he’d heard compared to the being before him… seemed a bit different?
Phos’s eyes widened. He had no idea what other Lords thought of him, but hearing the words that spilled from Ornis’s dazed lips, he understood the meaning of ‘self-satisfaction.’ He took a step towards the Lord of Birds, a small smile forming on his face.
“Is that… what they say about me?” Phos inquired, a slight hesitation apparent in the furrow of his brows.
Yet his expression contained joy.
“Yes?” Ornis answered, wondering how the conversation shifted. “So, will you help me or not?”
Kass looked to Phos. He had no choice nor the option to interfere with Phos’s decision—if the Lord of Light so desired, he could blow the whistle again, and Kass’s mind would go blank. He didn’t want to wake up desolate like the first time that whistle had sounded… when Pyre controlled it still.
Pyre.
Where had he gotten that whistle?
Kass decided he’d look into it when Phos set him free.
When Kass realised he’d tuned out and looked up again, he saw Ornis and Phos holding each other’s hands, gazing into the depths of the other’s eyes with a firm promise. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he’d hallucinated some sort of nightmare, but he paled upon realising the reality of the scene before him.
“We’re going to go find Aer.” Phos broke eye contact with Ornis first, turning towards Kass. “My dear brother Ornis will guide us around the Summit for a bit and get rid of the rumours he made in exchange.”
Phos’s voice seemed to have gotten higher, almost like a girl’s at a sleepover or a playdate when she met with her friends.
Kass: “...”
Kass: “?????”
What did he miss???
Ornis’s lips curved into a gentle smile, revealing two sharp tiger teeth.
“Right then, follow me!” He grasped Phos’s wrist, pulling the Light Lord past the gates.
Kass forgot to move for a second, then picked his feet up and chased after the two.
Phos took just one step before the Sun blinded the three, transforming the empty and vast cloudscape into a city of gold. Streets hosted various forms of life, from the cloudling cat to the vendor Lords in their stalls, and blue lights hung in lanterns above them from the lined-up houses. In the skies, Lords travelled on clouds, leaving trails of wisps where they flew.
The crisp sound of a bell echoed through the Land of Clouds.
A series of light jingles followed, tassels of ringings forming a dissonant song.
Phos had only seen this scenery alone a couple of times in his life. Walking alongside acquaintances… had a delightful feel. He shook Ornis’s tightened grip off of his wrist, then retook the boy’s hand in his own, strolling side-by-side towards an unknown destination with his new friend.
Kass had black lines etched across his face as he watched Phos and Ornis interact. When had they become so close? But returning to the Nephele lightened Kass’s mood, and his eyes began darting about.
Ornis’s gaze settled on a Chinese Tuanshan fan. He tugged on Phos’s sleeve—the gesture similar to how a younger brother would ask for the older brother’s attention—and pushed up to a tiptoe as he whispered in Phos’s ear:
“Aer likes those. I’m going to go buy her one.”
While Phos didn’t understand how Ornis knew so much about the Lord of Air, he nodded his head and let the Lord run free. He turned to Kass after a long-awaited while, heaving a sigh.