A few days passed on the nauseating ship. I couldn’t sleep cause of the turning in my stomach, and I knew from the groans that Shiro and Xiao felt the same. It was odd knowing that all the people who could fly had motion sickness. With a groan, I toppled out of bed in the middle of the night and began cycling my Healing chakra to settle my stomach. But it only settled a little bit. Great. I can heal a missing limb but can’t heal motion sickness. Fucking wonderful.

I got off the floor and left the room, feeling like I would throw up any moment. Making my way up the stairs to the top deck, mostly by crawling on all fours. I went to the nearest railing and stuck my head over it, the only place I could feel the wind in my hair and rush past my ears. It helped calm my stomach. Luckily the ship doesn’t move very fast at night.

“Feeling unwell?” a deep voice said in my head.

I jumped at the sudden question and turned around to see the glowing form of Pike behind me. Sighing, I nodded, “Yeah. Motion sickness sucks.”

Pike chuckled, “I know the feeling all too well. I feel the same way if I ever touch this deck while the ship is in motion.”

I stuck my head back over the railing to get some more fresh air for a moment as I felt my stomach start to turn again. Then I looked back at him and noticed he was floating a few centimeters off the ship’s deck. I pointed at his feet, “How are you doing that?”

“It is a practiced ability of all sentinels. The effect changes depending on the core they use. But all sentinels start with the same root core as part of our lifelong military upbringing. A core of light and air chakra and is called the Feather chakra. It helps us float and practice channeling chakra.”

“How does that work?”

“What do you mean?”

“How do you channel your chakra to fly?”

“I simply push my chakra out through my wings to create lift. Why do you ask? I do not see how it would be of any help to you.”

I held up an index finger to make him wait a moment as I stuck my head back over the railing and took a few deep breaths. Once my mind cleared of my motion sickness, I concentrated on my back and recreated my wings. They rapidly grew from my back over the next few seconds, and I spread them to their full three-meter length. I took a moment to admire the blue and purple of my wings as I gave them a few soft flaps.

I then turned around again to see the wide-eyed expression on Pike’s face before he quickly schooled his expression and placed his hands behind his back. “That was quite the surprise, Ms.Zeana. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you? I thought you were kitsune, and I know you aren’t a sentinel. So, what are you?” Pike asked, not impolitely, but I got the same unsettling sense that the truth wouldn’t help me in this situation.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Clearing my throat, I answered in a half-truth, “I’m part of a very adaptable race.”

Pike scowled for less than a second before asking, “And how does your race have the wings of a sentinel?”

Annoyed by the sudden interrogation that I can’t get mad at, I counter with another question, “How does a sentinel that is supposed to be in the military for life end up on a ship hauling cargo and passengers?”

Pike froze at that and said, “By making many mistakes.”

“And I’m going to assume you don’t want to talk about those mistakes?” I asked, and after a moment, he nodded. “Exactly, and I don’t want to talk about my people. I do want to talk about – Buph ah – I’m not feeling good,” I said, sticking my head back over the railing to settle my stomach. After a few minutes, I turned back to Pike and continued, “I do want to talk about floating and not feeling motion sick.”

Pike considered it for a moment, then nodded, “Very well. What are your core compositions? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“My first two cores are force and lightning for Storm chakra and water and life for Healing chakra. My second two cores are earth and force for Shield chakra and ice, edge, and force for my newly created Ice-claymore chakra,” I explained.

Raising a non-existent eyebrow, Pike asked, “First and second two cores? What do you mean by that?”

“I can split my cores at will. The more power within them, the deadlier it is for me. So I split them as I get them. Still insanely painful, though.”

If Pike had eyebrows, I could’ve sworn they would be trying to escape his forehead. He shook his head quickly and schooled his expression again before continuing, “Very well. Judging from your wings, your very first core is the Storm core. Correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then that will be the only one you can use for the exercises. But you can only use a small fraction of your power with it. Even a level-one core with that volatile chakra could lose control of their wings and fly incredibly fast, destroying everything in their path below.”

“All right. We got this,” I said confidently while Fengbao snorted derisively.

“If you listen closely, we do indeed got this,” Pike said, “Now cycle your chakra to just your wings without letting any escape.”

Fengbao snorted again in my head. “That is far too easy,” Fengbao said as he cycled the Strom chakra to my wings. As the chakra rushed through my wings, they began to glow, and the light slowly grew in intensity. I marveled at the light my wings immitted and flapped them softly. My wings appeared to shimmer and shift as they moved.

Pike chuckled a little at my amazement and continued, “Now, slowly, let the chakra escape from your wings, little by little, along the length of two of your wings. I find that the lower wings are best for that.”

My chakra slowly escaped my hip wings. The wings crackled with energy as lightning sparked and struck the ship’s deck, luckily not making much sound, and I slowly rose from the deck. My feet dangling a few centimeters off the deck. I smiled and let out a small chuckle as I floated in place.

“Good. You are a quick learner. And excellent at cycling if this is your control,” Pike complimented.

I didn’t react to what he said as this was all Fengbao’s doing. Instead, I just focused on the lack of motion sickness. Reviling in the feeling of not being sick. I might even be able to hold down a meal. I slowly leaned forward and felt myself move forward. I leaned back and moved back. I tilted my wings in opposite directions and turned to one side and the other.

I smiled up at Pike and saw his approximation of a smile. Since he didn’t have a mouth, he could only smile with his eyes. And from what I could see in his eyes, he was grinning from ear to ear.

***