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Air.
That’s what I needed.
I shot out of the chamber, wings flapping with fervor. Cool air filled my nostrils, engulfing my chest. I breathed deeply, trying to calm my nerves, as I rushed out to the open balcony.
I flew into the skies like a torpedo, inhaling large gulps of the brisk air, losing myself in the clouds. I floated, sighing with contentment. A measure of tranquility settled in my bones. My racing thoughts slowed. As did my draining ethèr.
Thank the Alpha for the clouds.
How many times did I need to come here to remember who I was? To remember my fôrs? The measure of my ethèr? To remember not to give in to the mental depravity that could cost me the Ellelights?
I leisurely spun around myself, soaking in the light touch of the billows as they brushed against my arms. My locs danced in the wind as puffs of cloud clung to their strands, weightless. I flipped backward and forward, swimming through the air, refreshing my spirit, and strengthening my restraint.
The Temptress would not outwit me.
Attractive, and tempting, as she was, I’d been locked away in this tower for too rotting long to fall for her tricks.
“I should’ve never taken the assignment,” I whispered to no one.
A gentle wind swirled around me. As if the skies heard my confession and came to soothe my wounded spirit.
I originally came to this cosm as a Judge to Domenents, a defender of the faeretheth. The angels had taken their liberties with the alluring species in the kingdoms under the heavens. It wasn’t long before the cries for justice from the fae reached the Judges and I was commissioned to come.
A lot of good that did me. By the time I realized what was happening, the Sky Watchers had my ethèr drained. I’d been chained and locked away in this tower, never to be free of Urien’s clouds again.
I looked down, my vision cutting through the clouds upholding Urien, to reveal Avari down below. It was easy to look down on my angels. On my home. Each dawn I watched their endeavors. Saw what they built, and how they cultivated Avari to greater splendor. How life carried on without me, as if scrubbing me from memory was a light thing to do.
A special kind of hells.
I stared through the clouds, making note of new glass skyscrapers that left me impressed. So much had changed. So much kept changing. Another lofty tower. A new sky bridge. New ships taken out to sea. An entire generation of Domenents had been born that would never know who I was or why I had to come. Memories were being made and I could have no parts in them. Longing suffocated me.
I wanted to go home.
This punishment was bullrot. I could never figure out how the Sky Watchers, who I trained, tethered me here for an entire rotting lifetime. Nothing I did could break the tie of my ethèr to the tower. That didn’t mean I would stop trying to escape. The moment my ethèr fully replenished, I’d attempt again.
I floated down from the clouds, landing in the plush, glassy grass blades of the garden perched next to the tower. Flecks of starlight lit up the petals. The same starlight littered the ground, covered the trees and danced along the river streams.
I took in the celestial beauty of the trees, flowers, rivers, and fountains. This garden had been my haven since the start of my sentence. Bending down, I unlaced my sandals, trudging through the grass barefoot. I relished the feel of soft grass brushing the pads of my feet, tickling my ankles. I looked around, brows furrowing.
What was I going to do about the fae?
I bent down, brushing my fingers through the flowers and their stems. My muscles strained. Streaks of something dark and unknown peeked beneath my skin. Aging in the tower with my imprisoned ethèr was taking an alarming toll. I had to get out of here.
And I’d use the conniving Temptress to do it.
You know what to do if you wish to leave this tower, High Prince Zhèmrazraèl the Strong.
I frowned at the voice that surfaced at the core of my hearts. It was as quiet as it was loud, capturing my full attention. Guilt pinched at my fraying nerves, but I shook it off.
“I’ve been wrongly imprisoned! I’ll punch my way out if I have to.”
Don’t be foolish. Repentance doesn’t require all of that. Confess and be free.
I snarled into the open air.
“Ei ole mitään pou konfese!” There’s nothing to confess.
I violently slammed my wings into a nearby tree. The roots surged from the ground, recoiling from my temper.
