storm - a sky cotl au

chapter 11 - vale

I open my eyes to see the temple again. This time, a lot more people are seated around us. Moon and Fox get up quietly and softly walk over to a corner. Moon is looking nervously at Fox, while Fox is avoiding her gaze.

I awkwardly get up and step as carefully as I can so as not to disturb everyone around me. Eventually, I make my way over to them. "Hey," I murmur quietly, looking at Fox.

They look at the ground. I can see something glistening in their eyes. Moon inquires, "Fox...you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine!" Fox says, trying to force a smile, but it falls halfway and they look down again.

Moon hesitates and mutters, "Don't take this the wrong way, okay," before wrapping her arms around Fox for a hug.

She lets go fast, but I can see Fox hesitantly smiling. "Thanks," they murmur, before wiping their tears and trying their best to seem as normal as possible."So...uh...where are you guys going? Eden?"

"Ah...well...," I explain, "We need to open the doors to Eden to unfreeze the spirits."

"Oh...the spirits," Fox says thoughtfully. I can see the gears in their brain turning for a moment, before they smile quietly, "I'll come with."

"Oh! Yay!" Moon exclaims happily.

I smile and pat Fox on the back gently. "Thanks."

They shrug. "No big deal. We're friends now."

The three of us turn our gazes to the open door above the shrine. It's so high up...even four wingflaps wouldn't be able to get us up there.

"What's past there?" Moon inquires curiously.

Fox murmurs, "Should be the Hidden Forest."

The three of us move to the middle of the room, and we see butterflies flitting around. Moon holds her hand out, and one lands and turns pink. They're pretty, but I don't see how they could help us.

Fox, however, does. "Hold my hands." I hesitantly take their left hand, while Moon grips on to their right. They smile and take a deep breath, before letting out a call.

Suddenly, I feel the three of us start to be carried up. The butterflies fly in rapid circles around us, generating an updraft that carries us up. It's a blur of colour and light. I feel my breath catch in my throat.

I had really missed a lot.

The three of us land gently on the ledge before the entrance. Fox smiles knowingly at the two of us, while Moon seems just about ready to burst with excitement.

Still holding our hands, Fox walks towards the ledge. Without warning, they jump off, dragging both of us with them.

I instinctively scream, like any sane person would after being dragged off a ledge, but I soon realise we're perfectly safe. Fox spreads their arms, and we glide softly down.

A cloud soon covers up the sky like a carpet, while wooden tree trunks climb up to reach the cloudy canopy. The grass seems damp and soft from up here, and birds dance amongst the trees.

Fox lands softly on the ground, before a huge gate. "Thank you for flying Fox Airlines, we hope you had a pleasant flight."

Moon cheers, "That was so cool!"

I smile gratefully to Fox before taking out my candle to light the diamond beside the gate. I don't know why I'm doing it — I guess it just seems logical.

Soon, we hear a huge creaking noise as the gate opens before us. The three of us walk through, emerging on the other side at a campfire.

"We should rest here for a while," Fox suggests. Moon nods cheerfully and sits down on a log.

"I'm going to look around for a bit," I inform them, before walking to the end of the ledge.

Before us lies the Hidden Forest.

—————
hi :D
I hope you guys are excited for the Hidden Forest :) There's going to be a lot of drama here hehe