Rey De-Heavens (English)

Chapter 10: The Return of the Bounty Hunters

Rey, like someone saying good morning to someone who had slept a pleasant night, said:

"Oh, you're awake at last."

Taking a breath, he looked around as if enjoying the scenery, to add.

"I have kept my promise. If you use your power, you can break through this stop and get to where you wish....".

Edith was being held by a single hand, her feet dangled in the air and she felt the strong, firm embrace of someone smaller than her. Lifting her gaze, she also noticed Rey's transformed hand wedged within the solidity of the platform. She also saw the wings still burning like glowing coal embers and the pale face of White, who, despite having his mouth open and tongue out, was even breathing.

"Are you out of your mind!!! What if this isn't the Tartarus?" he asked tearfully.

"No, oh, oh oh oh... Don't play with me Edith." The grip on the ceiling loosened a little. "It's not like I'm staying long. This is the only chance I can give you as a friend. Face your problems and take responsibility for the consequences, it's the only way. It's better than wandering around lost. Looking into your eyes, I reflect back at you. You made me realize that the only way out is to go through the situation I was trying to escape" The grip loosened a little.

Edith, with tears in her eyes and denying:

"I don't want a friend..." She paused and hid her gaze. "To fulfill my purpose and hold me accountable afterwards, I need us to be something more....."

Rey, almost unsurprised, said:

"Umm, that is something I may take into consideration in the future. But for now, this must be goodbye between the two of us." Edith asked worriedly:

"With those wings, will you be able to survive the fall?"

"Will I be able to survive the fall?"

He flashed a haughty, wide, confident smile of someone even more arrogant.

"Are not our strings intertwined? Is not your name Edith Laquesis? Have more faith in yourself and don't make me laugh anymore. Our life has many more options than those shown to us by simple strings; we need to see them and have the power to take them...."

"But, but..."

"Edith, I wish you well..." interrupted Rey.

The sound of the grabbing and the crumbling of the stones in the area he used to hold on took place. The three little ones fell into the void; however, using his hands, Rey threw the Parcae's body as hard as he could, forcing him to make himself non-tangible, if she didn't want to crash into the stones.

Edith, with her saddened eyes, stopped seeing the little one without a surname and the whole red environment. Crossing the earth, all was darkness. She could remain intangible and fall back down, but she would waste the precious opportunity someone had given her through her sacrifice.

"No," she answered.

Emerging above the surface of the Tartarus, she wiped her blurry eyes to make out more than a dozen figures wearing long black robes with silver buttons and gold ropes. Tall and imposing, endowed with slight curves that only the female body had, with black hands, they covered their faces with hoods. They, who could be perfectly distinguished by their dead eyes, said the following words:

"Oh, little one. We have been waiting for your arrival. Come on, you're late for your ancient language class" as if nothing had happened.

Edith stopped floating, fell to the ground and, with her eyes twisted and her fists clenched, followed the guides with the airs of rigorous instructors, with whom she was well acquainted. The Parcae knew they were strict because, no matter how much she learned or how much she demonstrated her talents, none of them ever gave her a smile or a nod of approval. But something struck her as odd, for every time she made a mistake, she received a stern reprimand. More than a hundred times she had had to go to sleep after a good thrashing. "Won't I be punished even though I escaped?" she wondered. "Why were they waiting for me in this exact place? Was this among their plans?", questions that neither came out through her lips, for, if they had, perhaps they would interpret it as wanting to receive punishment.