First Priority

When Camellia came to, her head pounded, throbbing with an awful headache. She opened her eyes. They were in the blackstone temple.

Are we still in that caldera?

Lynn and Damos sat slumped against the wall. Panicking, Camellia crawled over to them. “Lynn? Damos? You okay? Wake up, please,” she begged.

Her two friends stirred slowly.

“Wh… What happened?” Damos slurred.

“I don’t know. I just woke up, myself. We should get up and check,” Camellia said as she stood up shakily.

Helping Lynn and Damos to their feet, Camellia took stock of how she felt. The unbearable heat was gone, replaced by a biting cold. Her flimsy dress was far from adequate. She checked the brazier. Empty. No feather.

The three stumbled up the stairs and out of the temple. The sight that greeted them nearly knocked them back to the floor.

An entire city made of intricately carved marble sprawled out before them. Every building was detailed beyond belief, with gothic arches, spiral staircases, and stained glass adorning each and every one. In a manner reminiscent of The Bed, the whole city folded in on itself as it built upwards, sloping along a hill of… Well, no ground supported it — instead, impossibly fluffy clouds served as the soil upon which the city stood.

Damos looked down at the white surface supporting the basalt and obsidian temple. “It looks like steam. Is it really safe to step on?” His face was unsure, as if the city in front of him wasn’t proof enough.

Scanning the nearby area, Lynn added, “I can’t see anything beneath us, either. Are we really… in the sky?”

With a laugh, Damos said, “Where else would we be, Lynn?”

“Fair enough.”

Placing a tentative step on the milky surface, Camellia verified its sturdiness. When she didn’t fall through straight to the ground, the other two followed, and soon they set off on a path of darkened gray clouds winding toward the city proper. The unpaved cloud road slowly turned to ashen gray brick, arching in endless circles as they walked.

As they got further away from the volcano-temple, the cloud cover around the city cleared, painting a gorgeous backdrop of pure blue behind the whole city. It was bright, so very bright.

“Hold on, guys.” Lynn stopped them a little ways outside the city. “Look.”

Down a side path snaking away from the city, there appeared to be a small wooden hut vaguely constructed in the shape of a temple.

“Whoa, what is that? Looks like junk,” Damos said.

“I have a sneaking suspicion,” Lynn said. She spun around to address Camellia and Damos both. “When we went from sea to land, we received our ‘wish’ from the goddess of the sea, in that temple on those rocks.”

“Yeah, and?” Camellia asked.

“So wouldn’t it stand to reason that, going from land to sky, the one who would grant our ‘wish’ would be…”

“Ah, shit. I don’t want to talk to her again,” Damos whined. “She’s mean.”

Camellia sided with Lynn. “Yeah, but if there’s even a tiny chance she could bring Phoebe back, then we have to go talk to her.”

Reluctantly, Damos agreed, and they trekked down to the pathetic little wooden hut. Inside, they found a now familiar room: a small hall with a central brazier. Camellia snapped a twig off one of the strips of rough-hewn wood, and disrespectfully tossed it in the brazier. She clapped her hands in prayer.

With a creaking and snapping, the wood floor distended and took shape, forming the outline of Sylvia. It splintered, and she appeared in full, complete with an annoyed expression.

“Hello, you all. Congratulations on making it up to the sky, or whatever.”

“Hello, Lady Sylvia,” Lynn began. “We’re here for—”

“Yes, yes, I know. You want your request. What is it?”

I can’t stand her. Don’t interrupt them like that! They worked hard to get here. Have they not earned at least a shred of your respect, Sylvia?

“Can you bring Phoebe back?” Lynn pleaded.

Sylvia looked taken aback. “What? No. I’m a goddess of the land, not the dead. Are you insane?”

“Another bust,” Damos muttered under his breath.

Camellia felt a familiar anger simmer inside of her. “You’re the same, huh? Totally incompetent.” The jab at Sylvia was probably ill-advised, but man, did it feel good.

“Oh, I’ll show you impotent, you little—” Sylvia stopped herself, and loudly sighed. “No. You’re here for a request. I ought to grant it.” The goddess looked at the three of them. “So? Do you have requests?”

“Just one,” Camellia stepped forward, and put forth the same request she had made of Tethys: “Can you tell me who I am, and why I’m here?”

Sylvia put a finger to her chin in faux thought, exaggeratedly tapping it. “Uhhhh, hmmmm. Well, ah, no. I can’t. Sorry.”

Camellia scoffed. “Figures. Don’t know what I was expecting.”

“Hey, it’s a little different this time,” the goddess protested. “It’s not my place to say.” She stepped forward and peered out one of the windows of the rickety temple. “Why don’t you go ask Miss Genius up there, though?” Sylvia sneered, pointing outside. Atop the cloud-hill the city encircled, a giant temple looked down on everything, the exact same design as the one from The Bed. This one, however, was much larger.

“Wow, thanks. So helpful, Lady Sylvia,” Damos said, rolling his eyes.

“If you brats aren’t going to be grateful for all that I do for you, then fine,” Sylvia huffed.

“Do what? You haven’t done anything for us,” Camellia retorted, blood boiling. Just as Sylvia was about to shoot back a response, Camellia grabbed her friends’ hands, saying, “If you’re just going to sass us, we’re leaving. Let’s go, guys.”

Turning around to leave, they heard Sylvia mutter, “Brats,” before the sound of splintering wood told them she had disappeared back into the floor.

Back on the cloudy trail, Lynn looked at Camellia. “It was a little rough, but that was probably the right call, huh?”

“Yeah. We don’t need shit from her,” Camellia said with a scowl. “We’re gonna find this goddess of the sky ourselves.”