Celestia

My eyes were forced open by the shining rays of light. It had worked its way through my eyelids and had made me open them. I would have preferred to leave them closed for a bit longer as I was having a nice rest, but it seemed that was no longer an option.

As I opened my eyes, I saw Luna sitting next to my bed, also sound asleep. Her black hair absorbed the light and heat coming from outside. It seemed she was waiting for me to wake up, but at some point had fallen asleep herself.

“How careless of her.” I remarked.

I got up out of the bed from the side she wasn’t on and took the blanket off the bed. I walked over to her and wrapped it around her. It would be bad if she had gotten sick waiting for me.

While doing this, I remembered the first time Luna had gotten sick. It was such a hassle trying to figure out how to make her better. Magic wouldn’t solve it and I wasn’t sure what medicine would work. In fact, we couldn’t even find a doctor who would see her due to the black hair she had.

It seems the black hair which we had worked so hard to hide had once again made its appearance. We would have to get it dyed once again so we could avoid more trouble. I closed the open curtain, making the room darker. I had done this to make sure the light wouldn’t bother her and cause her to wake up.

Inspecting my wound, it seemed my apprentice had done a good job patching me up. It was even difficult to remember where the wound was. She may even be as good as I was back then.

Walking over to her chair, I took a portion of her hair into my hands. It was silky smooth and felt nice to slide my fingers across. However, it also reminded me of her overwhelming power which she had shown off yesterday. It was a power I had never seen before. The memory of its strength even caused me to shiver slightly.

Not only had it made her even stronger than she used to be, but it also made her far more cruel. Normally Luna would never go for such brutality, in fact, she even hated killing. But what I saw yesterday was completely different. She didn’t hesitate for a moment to kill everyone there.

It was like she had entirely lost control and instead of Luna, someone else was piloting her body. Yet it also seemed like it was Luna at the same time. What could it be? This problem may not be something I can resolve. It seems more and more evident that sending her to the school in Lores would be the best bet.

Maybe they would be able to teach her everything she needed to learn. There would also be a chance that they could help get that power in check, maybe even allowing her to control it.

She did refute the idea of going, however. There really was only one way I could get her to go, but it would require a bit of sacrifice. But this really was the only way. I didn’t think I would be able to help with such a difficult situation, not to mention the only way she will ever grow is like this.

Luna began making slight groans, foreshadowing she was about to wake up. Releasing the piece of her hair which I had been running my hands through, I made my way over to the new clothes I had bought just yesterday. They were still soaked in blood and also had the hole from the wound.

Using ice, wind, and fire magic, I slowly worked out the bloodstains from the clothing. The meticulous process had taken quite a bit of work and repetition, but after a while I had gotten the blood out.

I wonder how Requa used to take the blood out of my clothes. Actually, I wonder how Requa is doing now. I haven’t seen her since the day she left with Clauffer.

There was a chance she was still alive, but seeing that awful sight that day, it was unlikely she made it out. Realistically she had died in all the chaos and her body was one of those lost in the rubble. She may have even died protecting Clauffer. I have no idea if any of that is true however, just speculation.

Taking out the sewing kit we had been taking along on our travels for situations like this, I began getting to work on the hole. At first I had really hated sewing and was terrible at it, but after all this time, I was like a pro. The rapid improvement I had even started to shock Luna after a bit.

“Hraaaarh!” Luna let out a massive yawn as she stretched her arms into the sky.

“Good morning.” I greeted her at the sight.

She had been confused about who had spoken to her for a solid minute, even allowing the blanket I wrapped around her to fall to the floor while she was trying to process everything. Finally understanding it was me who greeted her, she quickly hid her face from me in embarrassment.

From the opening in her hands I could see her face was turning the colour of roses. The awkwardness about Luna had caused me to remember just exactly who she was. She wasn’t some killing monster, no, she was just an awkward girl who got easily embarrassed. The thought had even started causing me to laugh.

“W-why are you laughing?” She attempted to ask while still hiding her face.

“Oh, well, it’s nothing.” I tried to brush off my laughter while still laughing.

“Hmph!” She made a noise, revealing her face which was now pouting.

“Hey, Luna. Thank you for healing me.”

“Uh-uh-ah-uh-a-y-you’re w-w-welcome!”

“Right.” The laughter which had been slowing for a moment suddenly increased in intensity.

“So, how are you feeling?” She tried to change the subject while still pouting.

“Great! It’s all thanks to you. You’ve gotten really good at healing magic.”

“You know it.”

“Almost as good as me!” I added on, trying to humble her.

“Wha...I’m so much better than you now.”

“In your dreams maybe.” I responded to her declaration.

This had caused her to slightly relax from how tense she had been. It seemed she was really worried about me. I can’t believe I worried her so much. I should be more careful to avoid doing that, but maybe it won’t matter sooner or later.

“W-wait, my hair!” She suddenly exclaimed, realizing it was no longer silver.

“It took you that long to realize?” I questioned.

“Hey, cut me some slack here. I was a little busy.”

“How can anyone be too busy to notice something like that?”

“Ughh, whatever. What will we do about this?”

“Well, we’ll just get it dyed again.”

“Isn’t that only a temporary solution?”

“I’ll also teach you how to keep your calm more often. If you can do that, we should hopefully avoid this happening again.”

“But there’s no way I won’t get angry at some point, right?”

“We’ll deal with that when it happens.”

“How?”

“What, you think I can’t stop you?”

“But what if I hurt you?”

“Oh my, you’ve gotten awfully full of yourself. Don’t you remember I was the one who saved you? I can still easily beat you.”

“That was six years ago!”

“What was true then is true now.”

“C’mon, take this more seriously.”

“I am. I swear I already have a plan, but it starts with teaching you how to be more calm in situations.”

“Fine, I’ll just have to trust you like usual. So how do we start?”

“Well first, whenever you’re angry, sad, or even just panicking, I want you to understand the emotions you're feeling and take deep breaths.”

“Will that really work?”

“Well you’ll have to see when you feel those emotions again. But it should help you stay in control for most situations.”

“Okay, now what?”

“Now we get your hair dyed. Grab your things and come along.” I gestured for her to follow as I finished sewing up the hole.

Putting the piece of clothing on, I also grabbed the satchel I had carried with me all this time. In a panic she quickly got up, grabbed all of her stuff, and began chasing after me. Making our way through the hotel, the amount of stares we received was quite telling of their feelings towards us. Well whatever. We would be out of their hair by the end of the day, if not earlier.

Making our way to the hair dye shop, we noticed that even others on the street were glaring at us. It seemed the news travelled fast. Just in case, I should use wind magic to track any sudden movements around us.

In this new safety I had set up to protect us, we finally made it to the dye shop. Opening the door for Luna, I escorted her in. Thanking me, she stepped through the door and I followed after her. The shop seemed fairly run down and there was a woman at the counter. She seemed to be fairly surprised to see Luna’s hair.

She even started trembling at the sight of it. Seeing this, I realized just how feared this black hair had truly become. The rumors of the one with it had grown to an incredible amount. While most of them weren’t true, it didn’t really matter. No one was willing to tell the people spreading the rumors otherwise.

“Wait here.” I told Luna, trying to avoid conflict.

Making my way over to the lady, it seemed her shaking was slowing down just a bit. She may have been calmed down by how easily I had controlled Luna from approaching her. Hopefully when she was speaking to me we could get this request done quickly.

I was also hoping she wouldn’t charge a small fortune as I still wanted to keep some money to send Luna to school with. All these purchases were starting to add up. While we still had a decent amount left, it was shrinking at an alarming rate.

“Could you please dye her hair silver?” I asked the worker.

“H-h-her?” She fearfully questioned while pointing at Luna.

This display only embarrassed Luna and caused her to look away. While I didn’t want to subject Luna to more of this treatment, it was the only way to resolve issues for the future. If this wasn’t necessary I would have also much rather preferred to have waltzed right out of the store.

“Yes. Please do it quickly. I’ll pay as much as you want.” I tried to plead with her.

“As much as I want?” She wondered, a certain hunger appearing in her eyes.

“Yes, as much as you want.”

“Fine then, I’ll do it, but only for one hundred silver.”

Damn it! One hundred is way too much. I could even see her normal prices were around three thousand to fifteen thousand copper. Ugh, if we weren’t desperate I would have left this place so quickly it might have even caused a fire from how fast I would be going.

If I was to pay that much I would be just a bit short of being able to pay for Luna’s school fees. I’ll just make up the money from somewhere else. I think I have an idea how to, so I guess it’s fine.

“Okay, I’ll pay you one hundred silver. But you better be done quickly.” I relented to her schemes.

“Ha, like you can even pay that mu--” She had been cut off as I slammed the bag of one hundred silver on the counter in front of her.

“Hurry.”

“R-right!” She quickly agreed at the sight and took off.

She escorted Luna into a chair and began to use silver colouring. As Luna once again went through the dyeing process, I stood guard at the door in case someone else tried to do something. I noticed there was a merchant trying to sell his wares outside. It didn’t seem like he had anything specific, just random items.

“Luna, I’ll be right back.” I told her as I began to leave.

“W-wait what about me?” She questioned.

“I’ll be right outside, just scream if something happens.” I waved off her concern as I left.

Of course she wouldn’t have to even scream. My wind magic was still in effect and would tell me of something suspicious. It should make it simple enough to keep track of Luna in case something does happen. I walked over to the merchant where, at a glance of me, he began trying to look for an escape.

Quickly making it to his stand, I stopped him from being able to get away. At first he seemed to have a lot of fear, but seeing me standing in front of him and easily being able to block his escape, he resolved to put on a false bravado. All right then, it seems he knows who I am, but I may just want to check to be sure.

“You know who I am?” I asked him in a slightly angered tone to make a little fear come back to him.

“Y-yes. You’re the Mad Mage.” He whispered, trying not to make me angry.

“That’s right. How much would you buy this satchel for?”

“Umm, maybe one thousand copper at most.”

“What if I told you there was a book inside which documented the secrets of the healing magic I developed?”

“Isn’t it just standard healing magic though? It wouldn’t really matter, right?”

“Well not quite. This was healing magic that could even fully repair lost limbs. It would allow them to move.”

“Wait, so the rumors were true?” He exclaimed.

“That’s right.” I played along with the rumors I had never heard about.

“I-I-I’ll pay thirty silver for it.”

“Oh that’s awfully cheap. But if you’re willing to never mention me to anyone, then I’m willing to take it.”

“A-all right! I won’t tell a soul.”

“Okay then, it seems you have a deal.” I told him.

As he handed me the silver, I double checked to confirm all of it was there. Once I had made sure it was all there, I handed him the satchel which kept the fruits of my labour in it. While I didn’t want to let go of a book with such knowledge in this manner, at least now it would end up around the world and everything I had gone through wouldn’t have been for nothing.

With this amount of money he was willing to give me I could pay for Luna's schooling. Plus, since he had given a bit more than the amount I needed, it also allowed us some wiggle room when it came to expenses. This should come in handy, I think.

I began making my way back to the dye shop, but it seemed Luna was already waiting for me outside. Her hair now gleamed, reflecting the sun instead of absorbing it. The shimmering silver colour had once again returned to her.

“You look great.” I complimented her.

“T-thank you.” She replied.

“Ready to move?”

“Yes.”

“All right then. Follow me.” I told her as I took off into the sky.

Seconds later, Luna flew up to me. Looking at the map I had gotten from the bartender who had betrayed me yesterday, it seemed we needed to go west. We would reach the Capital of Lores where the school was. Taking off in the direction without any warning, it took Luna a bit longer to realize it and catch up.

We flew very quickly for a couple of minutes until it was finally in sight. The Capital was huge, and better yet, it overlooked a beach which looked even cleaner than the other. This one seemed far better than the beach the other town had.

The water looked like a pristine ice colour. The sands of the beach looked so white I had almost thought it was snow. The Capital itself seemed to be made of a sand-like stone. Its yellow and white colouring made it fit right in with the beach it presided over.

“Land there!” I pointed to an open area in the Capital.

Following my instructions, we quickly landed in the open area. It seemed not many people were there at the time, so it worked as a good way to avoid getting people's attention. Making sure this area was in fact empty, I started gazing around using wind magic to help detect if there was anyone there. It seemed like there really was no one here.

“Hey, where’s that satchel?” Luna had finally realized it was missing.

“Huh? I sold it.” I responded, still trying to make sure everything was really clear.

“What? Why?”

“Well, I needed to get rid of it. After all, it was getting pretty old.”

“But didn’t you cherish it?”

“I did, but it was time for me to let it go.” I replied, trying to end the conversation there.

Taking the hint, Luna stopped pushing the issue further, instead choosing to bite her tongue on anything else she was planning to say about the matter. While she may have wanted to say more, I think my tone had ended up making it pretty obvious I wanted to drop the subject entirely.

This had caused her to have a dejected expression. It seemed my tone may have ended up being far harsher than I had originally meant it to be. I didn’t want to make Luna feel bad, I just wanted to make her stop asking about it. Unfortunately it seems I failed at that, causing myself to feel bad in the process.

“Let’s go find a hotel.” I tried to get her to cheer up.

“Okay.” She agreed with a low tone.

It seems it didn’t really work. Hopefully when we start walking around the brighter parts of town she would cheer up. Making our way through, it seemed my hopes had worked out and Luna was starting to brighten at the sights.

Her mouth was practically held open at the beautiful view surrounding us. The sight of her amazement was all I needed. While the scenery around us did look amazing, her expression far surpassed them. I was having trouble even looking away from her to see where I was going.

I was able to pull my eyes off her face and look in front of me. Right in time as well, as I just avoided walking into a wall. Phew! That was really close. It made me check around to see if Luna had seen that as well.

“Heheh.” She had been snickering at the sight.

“Of course that was the moment you would choose to look at me.” I replied to her snickering.

This time I had been slightly embarrassed by what had happened. How could I make such a simple mistake in front of her? Whatever, I guess as long as she was feeling better it didn’t matter what silly things I ended up doing.

Seeing the hotel come into sight, I directed Luna towards it. Pushing on the door, it appeared to be made of wood. However, the wood had been very light coloured, being more white than brown. It perfectly matched the aesthetic of the place and had blended in so well I had at first thought it was also made of the odd sand.

If I had not touched the door, I would not have ever known it was actually wood. Entering through the door, we quickly made our way to the counter. As we approached, it looked like one of the busy women who was running around all over the place had made time to come greet us.

“Hello, will just the two of you be staying?” She questioned.

“Why yes. It will just be the two of us.” I answered.

“Perfect, we only have one room left actually, and it’s for two people.”

“Wow, talk about lucky.”

“You bet! Anyways, it will be fifteen silver per night.” She told us of the price.

Fifteen silver!? Staying in the Capital of Lores was no joke. That was enough money to feed hundreds of families for multiple nights. Well we should at least be able to spend one night here. That should be more than enough to get Luna settled. From there I can let her decide.

“All right, here you go.” I reluctantly handed her the fifteen silver.

“Enjoy your stay.” She welcomed me warmly after receiving the cold metal.

We quickly made our way up before she could convince us to pay any more money for extra things. This had already been such an exhausting day and the sun was still up. Entering the room I could see two large beds whose softness could be made out from this distance.

There was a large curved window that showed off the glowing beach we had seen when we were first approaching the Capital. With such an amazing room I guess I can somewhat understand why they charge so much, but still, it was way too much for only this.

“Hey Luna, aren't you tired already?” I checked, trying to see if she could empathize.

“What, are you crazy? It’s still so early!” She exclaimed at the remark.

“I’m old, cut me some slack!”

“You’re not even that old.”

I clicked my tongue at how she had shut down my excuse.

“Let’s go to the beach!” She demanded.

“What, but Lunaaaaaaaa.” I tried to argue.

“No buts! We didn’t pay all that money to just stay in the room.”

“Ugh, fine. Let’s go then.”

We placed our belongings in the room and made our way to the beach. We walked through the back of the main lobby of the inn and found ourselves on the golden shore. The waves were rolling in slowly but the sand was burning hot, so much so I had to keep jumping in order to make sure my feet did not burn.

Luna however, endured it easily and bragged about how she couldn’t feel a thing. Obviously I knew she was just acting tough but it still annoyed me nonetheless. Reaching the water, the burning feeling had gone away and I was finally able to relax a bit.

As I had finally found some peace, Luna threw water at me. The water was freezing the top of my body, causing me to jump around. While I was doing this, Luna could only laugh at my pain.

“That’s it!” I called out as I pushed a large amount of water at her.

“Hey, that’s way too much!” She spoke as she realized she had been soaked entirely.

At the sight I could only exchange back the laughter she had given me. It seemed she was not quite done yet though. She splashed me more to make up for how much I had ended up throwing at her earlier. This exchange continued until the sun went down.

We were sitting down in the water whose temperature we had grown accustomed to when the sun began to set beside us. We were both laughing and breathing heavily from how much we had played in the water. After a long time we were able to calm down from all the excitement.

“Why don’t you heal your eye?” Luna asked out of nowhere.

“It’s a reminder of something important.” I responded to her.

Accepting that as an appropriate response she quickly stood up. I tried to get up as well, but it seemed my legs were still numb from all the moving we had done today. Seeing this, she swiftly reached out her hand to help me up. Taking her hand, I pulled her back into the water.

“What the heck!” She cried out.

“Well, I still had to get even with you.” I laughed while speaking.

Taking that as the last thing, we agreed to a truce and got up. We made our way out of the water and onto the sand. Unlike earlier, the sand had cooled down greatly and felt far better than it had before. We quickly used magic to dry ourselves off so that we wouldn’t get sick walking around in wet clothes.

After we had finished drying our clothes, we made our way back to the room. It seemed this had finally tired out Luna for as we reached the room, she instantly hit the bed and fell asleep. The speed at which this had happened even surprised me who was with her the whole time.

“How come I complained about being tired yet you were the first to fall asleep?” I questioned her.

However, she did not respond as she was already fast asleep. How did she do that so quickly? Well whatever. I made my way over to her and stroked the hair out of her face so that she wouldn’t be bothered by it. I guess she wasn’t having dinner today then.

I guess this does make it a little easier for me then. Making my way back to the lobby, I looked around for two items I needed desperately. I was unable to just find them lying about so I instead decided to ask the lady I had met with originally.

“Hey, is there a paper and quill I could use?” I asked her.

“Why yes there is.” She responded.

“Great! Where is it?”

“Well, you will need to pay to use it.”

“Of course I would. Why wouldn’t I need to do that.” I spoke sarcastically. “How much?”

“One silver!”

“That much!? Fine, just take it.”

“Thank you! Here you are.” She handed me the paper and quill.

I’m starting to think this hotel just finds as many ways as it can to leech money from its patrons. I decided to head back to the room and write in there. Getting to the room again, I took a seat at the desk and began writing.

As I finished up the contents of the letter, I folded it four times and placed it on the table in the room. I then placed the rest of the money we still had on the counter in the pouch we normally carried it all in. I once again made my way over to Luna who was sleeping soundly.

It seemed that after I had moved the hair from her face, some had managed to return. Her soft breathing was just enough to push some of the hair forward and back. It was smacking her face and seemed to be causing her great difficulty by the way her expression was contorting.

“This is goodbye Luna. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.” I spoke to the sleeping girl for the last time and stroked the hair out of her face.

As I did this, a smile came to her face as she slept. It seemed stroking the hair away had removed her discomfort. I couldn’t bring myself to give her a whole speech, especially one she wouldn’t be able to hear due to being asleep. The letter should be just fine, but it was time for me to leave. I didn’t want to leave when she was still awake as it would just hurt her more.

Opening a portion of the window, a gentle breeze came flowing into the room, making the air feel much calmer. I swiftly leapt out of the window and took into the sky, heading for the destination laid out on the map. I was going to make good on the promise I made with Fae. Just hang on a little bit longer, Fae.

Flying in the direction of where I needed to go, I began to realize I was quite a distance from it. In fact, it seemed my destination was across the whole country. In addition to how dark it was getting, I knew I would have to take a break in between.

I had already gotten a pretty decent distance from the Capital of Lores, but compared to where I needed to be, it was almost negligible. Tonight, even the moon was so clouded that any light I had hoped I could get was taken away. It was very hard to see, and I knew using fire magic from up here wouldn’t really help due to how far I was from the ground.

As I was flying through the dark sky wondering what to do, I noticed bright lights in the darkness beneath me. Coming to a quick stop, I checked the map to try and make out what it could be. Based on the direction I was going, I should be right here on the map, I think.

I lit a small fire on the tip of my finger to help make out what was in the area according to the map. Apparently it was supposed to be a village. While the thought of staying in a village didn’t quite appeal to me anymore, there was also another issue. I left all my money with Luna, meaning I was completely poor.

At least I can rough it outside of the village. It should work well enough until morning and make it so that I don’t get lost in the darkness. Deciding this was the plan I was going with, I swiftly descended next to the village.

Landing on an open field of grass, I decided it was probably for the better to take a few precautions. While I could easily just fall asleep on the open grass here, it may have been better to protect myself. After all, if those few people had found out who I was six years ago, then it’s likely others may know as well.

Constructing a small dome of ice around myself, I quickly tried to settle into the grass. Another problem arose from this. The ice around me was freezing, and it was making the entire inside of the dome cold as well.

Using a mixture of fire and wind magic, I made the area I was laying in hotter. While doing this, I kept the cold air next to the ice to make sure it would not melt. This would only be a temporary measure however, as when I would fall asleep my magic would stop working and it would become cold again.

Hopefully I can just sleep through it though. If I can do that, then it won’t be much of a problem. Deciding this was the best it was going to get, I closed my eyes and attempted to sleep. For five minutes I tried to fall asleep, but couldn’t. In that time I was constantly readjusting myself and trying to find any comfort.

It seems I had taken a break from sleeping outside for too long. I guess it was not as easy as I thought it would be to just fall asleep outside. This was my last thought as I had finally drifted off into the darkness I had seeked.

Tap! Tap! Tap! A noise woke me up. I quickly pulled myself up, trying to look around for the noise. As I got up, I saw that there was nothing around and the noise had stopped. I had no idea what time it was or if the sun was even up yet, but I still felt tired and wasn’t ready to get back up just yet. I quickly laid back down in an attempt to fall asleep again before all the heat generated from sleeping dissipated.

“What is this thing?” The voice of a small boy sounded as I was just about to drift off again.

“Dunno’. Maybe it’s always been here.” Someone else responded, this time a girl's voice.

“No way you idiot! It wasn’t here yesterday. How could it always have been here?”

“Maybe you just weren’t looking hard enough.”

“How are you no use at all?”

“Well how long has it been here?”

“I only saw it as the sun rose.”

“Should we tell the chief?” The girl’s voice questioned.

After their long chat, it became very apparent to me that I wasn’t going to be getting any more sleep. Settling for what I had gotten, I got up. It seemed the rustling from getting up had caused the children outside to be quiet. While it was nice that they had finally stopped speaking, I would probably just cause more problems if their chief or whatever saw this.

Quickly taking down the ice dome, I was greeted to the sight of two children staring at me in amazement. I quickly put my finger to my mouth as a way to tell them to keep quiet. Unable to argue with what they had seen, they could only frantically nod their heads. Well it was funny to see and I would have liked to speak to them more, I needed to get going if I was going to make it today.

Inspecting the children, I could see that the girl had a scar on her face. As for the boy, he had cuts all over him. It seems children nowadays just get into too much trouble playing wherever they find.

I looked around trying to see where the sun was. It looked like it was still in the process of rising. This was good, I should reach there by the middle of the day. I quickly got my last stretches out of the way so that I wouldn’t have to do it in the middle of the air. This should at least help me be more aware of my surroundings in case I encounter another mage.

I had never seen any other mage except Luna in the air, but with how widespread magic was becoming, it was at least becoming more of a possibility each day. I could not wait until I finally found a stranger in the sky. I wonder how we would communicate or if we would even converse. Maybe we’d just fly by.

As I was lost in my thoughts, the kids were still there with their mouths held open. I finally broke out of my thoughts and looked at them once more. They really looked like they wanted to say something but I had already wasted so much time. Still, I do feel a little bad for just leaving them when they looked so curious.

“Fine, you each get one question and then I’m leaving.” I relented to their gleaming eyes.

“Who are you miss?” The young boy asked, leaping at the opportunity I gave him.

“Hmm who am I? I’m simply a mage travelling around looking for something important.”

“Why does your white hair have bits of purple in it?” The girl asked this time.

“Well, purple was its original colour.”

“Then why is it like snow now? Did you dye it like that?”

“Well, not exactly. Let’s just say it’s a consequence of my actions.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out when you’re older. It’s time for me to go now, goodbye!”

“Bye!” The kids spoke in unison, waving me off as I flew away from them.

But before I took off for good, there was something that was still bothering me. I raised my hand out and held it in their direction. As a warm emerald hue emitted from my hand, the scar and cuts on the children begin to vanish as they are wrapped in the same glow.

I gave them a few waves back as they could only stare at the miracle which had happened. As they faded out of my sight, I quickened my speed, trying to make good time to get to my destination. The man I had gotten this map and information from had said that it was very dangerous to get there. He even mentioned it was surrounded by an area where the monsters hadn’t been cleared out.

While he was most likely telling the truth, I guessed he didn’t know I could just fly over all the dangers. I mean I guess he didn’t know I was even a mage until a little bit after he had told me. Whatever, it should be a fairly easy journey from here.

I was a little bit hungry as I had not eaten in quite a long time, but instead of succumbing to hunger, I chose to use the feeling to fuel the determination to reach my destination. Today I will make good on my promise. I even left Luna to do this, I can’t turn back now.

I’m scared of what could happen when I get there. I wanted to go there with my mentor, but now I will be going there alone. Or maybe not. You’re with me, right Fae?

I saw an open field come into view as my speed started to wane. The field was coloured meaning it couldn’t just be grass. Could it be flowers then?

Checking the map, I wagered that I would be at my destination. Hopefully this was really it and I wasn’t tricked out of all that money. I began going downwards towards the meadow. As I went down, I noticed that the sun rays were reflecting brightly off of the meadow. It was even becoming hard to see due to all the light.

As I got closer, I could see clearly that they had now been flowers. While I couldn’t make out the exact shape of them, there was a feeling building in me. It wasn’t the excitement I had hoped would take over me from the sight, however.

My speed of descent started to slow even more than it already had been. My whole body had chills going through it and a constant shivering took over. I tried to warm myself up by rubbing my shoulders but noticed my hands had been shaking as well.

I stopped rubbing and brought them in front of my eyes to take a good look at them. They were trembling uncontrollably. I couldn’t do anything to stop them either. They kept going while my mind was telling them to stop.

A feeling was also building in my stomach. It felt like all the blood was being drained from my torso and left nothing. This feeling had caused the shivering from before to only intensify. It felt like I was going to be sick.

“This feeling was fear, right?” I talked to myself.

But why would I feel scared? I’ve done so much good right? There were some moments that were bad, but all my work will have helped so many people. If that is true then why do I feel like this? What was I even scared of? Was I scared of reaching the destination and completing the promise I had made with Fae? Was I scared of the feelings I would have when I landed? Or was it that I was scared of myself?

After everything that had happened, was I so different from my former self that I wouldn’t even be able to recognize this as something I wanted? If I was different then would that mean I changed for the worse or better? How would I even know all of this? Fae wasn’t even here to tell me anything.

“She’s gone!” I screamed out loud, trying to find any solace.

As the words came out, so did tears. They streamed downwards from my eyes and fell off my face. They had even reached the ground before I had. I was sad. I wanted to experience this together with her, but she was gone permanently.

Is being here what I had wished for all that time ago? Was being here really the only way to complete that promise? I made the promise with someone else, so why am I trying to fulfill it all alone? Will there even be any closure with this action?

I buried my face in my hands, trying to block out the view of the world around me. As I sobbed into them, a cold feeling emerged on my eyebrow. I checked to see what was causing it and could see the shimmering gold on my finger.

The ring glowed strongly as if taking it upon itself to comfort me. Seeing this had caused me to start to calm down. I see, while you aren’t physically here you can still take care of me like this. Isn’t that right, Fae?

Taking a deep breath in and exhaling it out after a couple of seconds, I once again continued my way down to the field. It seemed as though no person or thing was there at all. It was just the flowers.

As I landed, I made sure to land very slowly to avoid destroying the meadow. I examined one of the flowers more closely. These are the windflowers I was looking for. Their design matched entirely with the book I had seen with Fae so long ago. There was no longer a doubt about it in my mind. This was where I needed to be.

Taking in the air around me, for some reason it felt even fresher than before. From the ground it looked as though the flowers spanned until the ends of the world. I knew there was an ocean close to here, but looking at this sight right now, it felt as though the windflowers would cover up the ocean.

Relaxing my body, I fell backwards and landed in the bedding of windflowers. When I hit the ground, I felt no pain at all. It was as though the flowers had acted to protect me from the fall and hold me up. I stared into the cerulean sky which was painted with a few clouds here and there.

Their presence didn’t bother me one bit however. In fact, they even made me feel more at home. The softness of the ground was entirely incomparable to anything I had felt before. It felt superior to anything in my past.

I turned my head to look at my right hand where the ring stared back at me. Pushing it off with my thumb, I held it in my hand. I examined it for a while, hoping something would come to me. As I looked at it, I noticed that I recognized some of the letters on the engraving Fae had put inside the ring.

Pulling it closer to me, I saw that the text which I thought to be another language was now entirely legible to me. I see, it must have been a sealed script then. Fae must have made it so that I would be able to read it once I reached this meadow.

This must also mean she had likely visited this place before. This made me feel even more comfortable than I had before. I realized I was far closer to Fae now then I was just moments ago. I was in the same place she was when she was making a part of the ring for me.

Bracing myself for the words I would see, I felt the fear I had in the air completely disappeared. It was so far removed that it was as though it had never been there in the first place. I was ready to read it. I was as ready as I was ever going to get. So, tell me what your last words to me are Fae.

“Thank you for everything Celes. Stay strong!” I read outloud.

“Haha….” I started laughing in a low tone “...hahahahAHAHAHAHA!” The laughter gradually got much louder.

It was getting so loud that a part of me thought that the whole world could hear me now. With the laughter, the tears which had left me for a bit returned. The tears paired with the laughter was very unnatural, yet at this moment in time it felt like the only thing I could do.

This really was just something Fae would do. No one else would hide such short words of a goodbye in such a discreet manner. Imagining the sheer effort it took her to do this made me laugh more while growing more and more humble.

As my eyes grew more weary from everything that had happened, they started to close on me. As the darkness creeped in, I could see the sky, the sun, the clouds, and some windflowers. Finally, my eyes had shut, whisking me off to sleep.