storm - a sky cotl au

chapter 5 - vale

I blink, and then suddenly, I'm back.
What even was that?
"Vale...?"
I look around to see Moon, holding an iridescent crystal in her hands. Somehow, it has all the colours of the Isle of Dawn, and yet none at all.
"Is that the...key?" I ask softly.
She nods slowly. "He...he just agreed to give it to me."
I hesitate. Oh. So it's all done?
For some reason, I kind of liked going outside for once.
I don't want to go back to the caves.
Moon hesitates and mumbles to herself as she places the crystal in her bag, "One down, four to go."
Wait, what? Four to go? "What do you mean, four to go?" I ask awkwardly, trying not to sound too hopeful.
"Four more keys to open Eden," she says, looking at me curiously. "Why?"
I look down for a moment. "Don't take this the wrong way, but...can I come?"
"You...want to come...?" Moon pauses for a moment. She hesitates, then smiles and nods.
Thanks.

Moon softly places a flower before the shrine and bows, before her gaze turns to the walkway behind the shrine. It leads to a door, as huge as the windows, that opens out to the sky.
The two of us walk curiously over, and soon we find ourselves on a huge balcony, with no railings. "This place definitely doesn't pass safety standards," Moon whispers under her breath.
"There's nothing here...maybe we should turn back...?"
"Wait," Moon stops me. She takes a deep breath, then yells out something unintelligible. A call. The faint ringing of bells in the distance answers her. She hesitates, then turns back to face me. "The Prairie Kingdom is that way."
"The Daylight Prairie...?" I ask slowly. That's one realm I haven't visited. I've heard it's a peaceful place, with rolling hills and towering mountains. It would be so nice to see it for myself...
Moon looks out over the edge. It's all cloud below.
"I think we can jump," she says slowly.
"How do you know for sure...?" I ask nervously, shifting my weight from side to side.
She shrugs. "Just a hunch."
Then she jumps off the side of the balcony.

"MOON!" I yell, finally feeling the same as everyone who watched me jump off the cliff back then.
There's an awkward moment of silence.
No. She can't be gone, right?
I see a figure shoot back up and turn around to face me. "It's okay, you can jump," Moon says calmly, like she didn't just jump off a balcony.
I nervously step off the balcony, and I feel the wind rush against my face as I fight the urge to scream. But soon enough, I shoot back up into the air.
"Okay...," I say shakily. "Let's fly."

We adjust our direction to catch the wind, and soon enough we're gliding amongst the clouds.
This is oddly beautiful. I never thought something I had done so many times before could be so perfect. Maybe because I was freely flying, instead of being trapped within those rock walls.
How had I missed this?
Moon flips and twirls in the air as she glides forward to join me. "This is great, isn't it?" she says enthusiastically.
I nod softly.
Suddenly, we hear a huge call behind us.
"A manta!" Moon exclaims as the massive creature passes by us. It's as white as snow, and there's golden markings on it. I look at its glowing core, and it seems to twinkle, like the manta is smiling at me.
"Wow..."
And moments after, I hear Moon call in excitement as about a million birds fly past us, following the manta as it dips and dives. I hold out my hand, and I can feel the feathers of the birds as they fly past us. They chirp musically as they continue flying.
Then, the Daylight Prairie appears before us.

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Hi :D
I don't know how I've managed to write until the Daylight Prairie. I genuinely thought I would give up at the Isle of Dawn :)
I'm probably going to get burnt out soon. But at least I'm fine for now!