The Sky Stanza

The Turquoise Demon was still there, and we had barely any time to think about before it started attacking again.

Ishaan raised both of his hands and a huge fireball appeared above him. It was much bigger than the one he had used before, but instead of throwing at the target, multiple thin heat lasers came from it hitting the enemy, with Ember Lascander following with a tower of fire that reached the Demon in the sky.

The two attacks hit the Demon at the same time, covering part of its body in fire.

“Keep going!” Raed shouted.

He hit his staff against the ground and the sand around us started flying into the air. In just a few seconds, a huge sandstorm surrounded the Turquoise Demon, making it difficult to even see its body.

The Demon screamed and its wings started flapping harder. The signature of Raed kept around they, but I was still falling uncontrollable with Raed losing control of my flight.

“Someone catch Nina!” Ember shouted.

I saw the ground getting closer and when I thought it would be over, someone grabbed me.

Hiyoku held me in her arms and used her alchemy to make the ground softer before we landed.

“Are you okay?”

“I think so.”

“Good, because you had a job to do,” she said bossy.

She put me down and immediately looked back at the battle, although her kunais would never reach the Demon with that much wind around.

The sandstorm was still there, with fire and explosions coming from inside it. Ishaan and Ember continued attacking the Demon with bigger and bigger flames, while Raed kept the sandstorm around it.

But not everyone was fighting. Nikolay was standing a little behind us, looking at the battle.

He wasn't doing anything. I could see the frustration on his face as he watched everyone else use their powers.

“I should be helping them...” he said quietly.

Hiyoku looked at him.

“You can be helpful.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“You don't have to fight to be useful.”

Nikolay looked at his hands.

“But everyone else can do something. But how can I be free while the rest of the world can’t? It’s very easy for a prince to have that much freedom.”

For a moment, nobody answered him.

Another explosion came from the sandstorm. And we heard someone reciting the Sky Stanza.

The cloud

Goes with the wind

Wherever it wants to go

Here or there

In storms or in rain

Being solid, liquid

Or air

Sometimes the clouds are lonely in the sky

No friends around

But the price of freedom is low

Like seeing the wind blow

The last words of the poem echoed through the battlefield. Shuuja was the one who said it.

He was standing next to the other nomads, his hands together as the sand started moving around them.

Raed smiled.

“So, you finally decided to show us what you can do?”

“I was waiting for the right moment.”

The sandstorm became even stronger. The nomads moved together, and I could feel their Stanzas getting more powerful. Even Shuuja’s power was spreading between them, making everyone he considered family stronger while they fought.

I looked at the sky. The clouds were moving without stopping. To where? They themselves didn’t know. They just moved. And maybe I understanded something.

I had spent so much time thinking about what I was supposed to be… having other tell me what I was… I still didn’t have the answer, but I knew something. I wanted to be free to choose it myself.

I took a step forward, and my foot didn't touch the ground.

“Eh?”

When I looked down, I saw my foot standing in the air, with small turquoise wind waves around it.

“What?”

I took another step and it was like there was an invisible floor beneath me. I was walking in the air!

“Hiyoku! Look!”

She stared at me with her mouth open.

“You can fly?!”

“I don't think I'm flying. This is more like... walking.”

I took another step. Hiyoku looked at my feet and then at me.

“That’s not fair.”

“Why?”

“You copied the Stanzas and signatures of the others and now you have created your own?”

For some reason, walking in the air felt completely natural. Despite my happiness, I was still in the middle of a battle zone.

I looked toward the Turquoise Demon and started moving through the sky.

Even with Ishaan's flames, Ember's attacks, Raed's sandstorm and the strength of all the nomads, it wasn't enough.

The Demon broke through the sandstorm and spread its enormous wings again. And even if I used the Void Bubbles again, they would just reform again.

Another hurricane was about to hit us.

Nikolay watched everything from behind.

He looked at Shuuja, then at his own hands.

“The price of freedom is low...”

He repeated the last line of the poem.

“I know what I have to do. Freedom is only true when it is shared by everyone!”

I could feel the air moving around us, but it wasn't just the wind anymore, it was coming from him.

Everyone around Nikolay suddenly became faster, just like the sand around for Shuuja’s signature, but now it was wind. Raed's sandstorm became even more violent as he moved his staff faster than before. The nomads ran through the battlefield like the wind itself, attacking the Demon from every direction.

Ishaan and Ember together consumed all the winds with their fire, and the way was clear to me.

With the power of Nikolay, my body moved almost by itself.

“What did you do?” Hiyoku asked.

“I think I found my new signature.”

They both smiled.

“It’s not as flashy as teleport, but I’m not the only one who should be free. As future king of Reinaria is my duty to make every citizen, no! Every person in the world free!”

The Turquoise Demon tried to attack us again, but this time, we were too fast.

Raed's sandstorm surrounded its wings while the nomads attacked its body. Ishaan and Ember combined their flames and struck it from above.

I walked through the air and created Void Bubbles around its body once I was close enough.

They growled in rage and our attacks hit it all at once. The entire battlefield was covered in fire, sand and wind.

For a moment, everything was silent and once again there was no more Demon in front of us. We had done it, but this time we knew it wouldn’t be enough.

“Wait!” Hiyoku screamed. “It probably needs to be someone connected to the Sky Stanza to grab the Original Poem! With this we can stop them for good!”

She pointed toward the center of the battlefield. The turquoise light was already starting to shine brighter, signaling to us that the Demon would reform.

With the speed I gained thanks to Nikolay’s signature I was sure I could get it before the Demon reformed again. It was strange though. We needed a Sky Stanza user and at that moment it could be me.

I didn’t see, however, the man approaching at high speed below me.

“I’m sorry, Nina, but I have more Stanzas powering me up than you!”

The crazy Raed, powered by both Shuuja’s sand and Nikolay’s wind grabbed the Original Poem of the Sky, and the threat of the Demon was no more.

All the nomads were celebrating and even Ishaan dropped their elegance a little to congratulate the others.

However, I was focused on a place with less people, but way more important. Hiyoku hugging the prince, and Shuuja by their side also smiling.