Chapter 149: The Sky Island

"So… We're back here." I looked around and we got teleported right back at Izgoy. "Zeta, let me see the compass."

"Here." Zeta then gave me the compass.

"It's amazing." The compass had a marking engraved on its back, a single right wing, the case itself is colored white and the arrow inside the compass is glowing in a bright white and exactly pointing to the north. But it's slowly moving towards the west. "As Lam told me… The sky island is moving."

"We need to make haste."

"I know. Let's intercept them and head straight to the west for faster traveling."

"Got it."

We left Izgoy once again and headed straight onto the sky island. We discovered hundreds of kingdoms and villages along the way and a bunch of monsters terrorizing them. Though we wanted to help so bad, we had a goal and we shouldn't be distracted by it.

We flew to the west when we thought it'd be just minutes because of our speed, but it then got longer and longer until we searched for hours, then it turned into hours, and as of now, we've been flying to east for two days now.

We weren't tired or anything, but both of us were frustrated. We have searched and searched to the point that we passed Izgoy twice. TWICE. We circled around the world headed straight to east and we still couldn't find it. But the compass is still pointing to west.

"Is this thing broken?" I asked out of frustration.

"I don't know… Damn it." Zeta looked down.

"It has been two days since we left… I contacted Precia and it seems to be right. The time where Greta is awake became increasingly smaller. Day one being her awake for eight hours and this time she was only awake for three hours."

"I'm so annoyed… Where the hell is this sky island!? Does it even exist!?"

He's losing control, "Zeta, calm down. We'll find it."

"Find it? When!? Next week? Next month? Or next year? Or maybe never!" Zeta raised his hand while holding the compass.

"Hey! WAIT!"

"DAMN IT!" Zeta then smashed the compass on the ground breaking it into pieces. "Hell… I can't even save a single woman."

"…" Our quest is becoming even more hopeless and hopeless. There was no sign of the sky island. But it seems that there's still hope. "Hey, Zeta… look at that."

"What…?"

We were both perplexed, the broken pieces of the compass lit up. We didn't expect this. At all.

The compass rose into the air and began to reform itself. The broken pieces began to stick together and form a key.

Then… a door was suddenly summoned to where we were.

"This… is the entrance to the sky island?"

We were both amazed at the sight of the door.

"We just have to try." Zeta picked up the key from the broken compass and entered it on the door lock. It clicked. Zeta then turned it completely revealing the wonders beyond that door.

"Woah." We were both in awe.

It was just as I imagined, hundreds of houses, thousands of people, walking around on clouds. It seems to be incredibly magical.

Every people here had wings on their back and it seems to be a natural thing for them. There are fairies everywhere and other magical creatures such as dryads and stuff. This seems to be a peaceful place.

Snapping back to reality, it seems that the guards were wary of us seeing how their spears were aimed at us. I looked down on where we were and Zeta recognized it, "It's a summoning platform."

"I see." That's all I could say. "What now?"

"Tell them our reason for coming here."

"Can they even understand me?"

"We can understand you humans. My name is Jarvis Huddle commander of the Elite Guardians troop, what's the purpose of your visit and why aren't there any notices of your arrival?" One of them suddenly spoke up.

I was the one to converse with this person, "We are here for the Flower of Zaratria."

"What… did you say?" Jarvis suddenly released a lot of killing intent. I'm guessing he's trying to pressure me.

"We need it for someone."

"Hundreds of years ago people come here at the sky island looking for that particular flower. And everytime we gave it to someone, tragedy fell down on the ground beneath us. The Flower of Zaratria is a sacred treasure bound to the sky island, we have now put limitations on those who can receive that flower."

"Then… what should we do to get that flower?"

"Prove your worth."

"What do we do to prove our worth?"

"Enter the Land of Judgment and complete all trials. That's the only way we can give the Flower of Zaratria to you."

"Is that an event? If so, when?"

"It is not. You can challenge the Land of Judgment anytime you want."

"Then, tomorrow. We will challenge that place."

"Challenging the Land of Judgment without even knowing what it is? Don't you look down on that place. But you do you. I'll enjoy seeing you fail. Like the other people who have come here. For now, you're free to traverse the island. Just be ready for tomorrow."

"Fine."

We were let go by the knights and we were free to explore anywhere. Zeta is impatient and he wants to try it now but with my persuasion, he agreed to take it easy for now.

We walked around the island trying to find a decent inn and we entered this shabby inn called, Heaven's Bed. I walked up to the counter and ordered some food and drinks. I know that I don't need it but I still want it.

After a while, the waitress gave us our food and drink.

Although Zeta was hesitant to eat, he was forced to later by me. It seems that he's still uneasy.

He was the one to start the conversation. "How long… do you think the Land of Judgement will take?"

"Jarvis said it would be just trials so I'm guessing that it'll be just one day."

"I see…"

"You need to let loose. If you keep acting this way, you're going to tense up for tomorrow."

"Got it."

No you don't… This guy… "Remember that we're going to face an unknown challenge tomorrow. So we don't know how difficult it would be. Just let loose for now, drink whatever you ordered."

"Grape juice."

"Gra-" I didn't know that he was interested in that stuff. "Uh…" Here I am drinking a beer though I know it won't affect me anymore. "Well, just be yourself for now. If we lose tomorrow because of you being too tense, we don't have any way of getting that Flower of Zaratria."

"I'm just worried… For the second time in my life, I don't know the answer for this problem or even have a backup plan. The first time was my master dying on me, I didn't know what to do and this time… Greta dying. I couldn't imagine her not being a part of my life."

"Why… do you care so much about her?"

"You don't?"

"No, that's not what I meant! I meant like… uh… how do I explain this…"

"I have a guess on what you want to ask but it's simple really. I like her."

"Ah-" I couldn't help but be speechless. I didn't know that he had feelings for her or she had feelings for him. "What about that woman that's always with you?"

"Yurid? She's a creation of my master. I treat her like an adoptive daughter or maybe a sister. I don't feel anything for he- OW!"

"What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing haha, Yurid just hit me. But yeah, there's that. I really like Greta."

"When?"

"Did I realize? I don't know. Have you felt like your heart is aching when you saw someone you like get near another guy? Have you felt like you only want that person to be yours only? Have you ever felt this way?"

"Well… in my early years, yes."

"But have you felt like you'd be happy to sacrifice everything for that person?"

"…Not… yet."

"Well, that's how I feel about her. It's as if a part of me wants to be with her forever. I don't want her to be with anyone other than me. Because the thought of that really hurts."

"Then you have to tell her. When she wakes up. Everything, about what you feel."

"What if she says no?"

"I may have never felt what you feel right now but I can kind of understand a simple part of it. It's a leap of faith. You just jump in there thinking of every path you will take and she will take. If she says she likes you back then that's a great thing, if she doesn't, that's a lesson that you'll have to learn so that you'll know that you can improve and change who you are without truly changing yourself."

"Heh. What are you a poet?"

"I don't know."

"But thank you, Zieglind. For all of this. Thank you, for rescuing us, from a dark place we thought we'd never escape."

"That's what family is for."

"Yeah. That's what family is for."