the glass ángel

16. eureka!

"Hold onto me." Oliver looked down at me with a smirk.

"I'm sorry, what." I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"We need to get out of castle, unless you want to ride one of the fenrir to get to the oricals.." i rolled my eyes and opened my arms.

Oliver lifted me up and held me bridal style. I felt nervous and clammy from the sudden closeness. I looked up at Oliver's face as he adjusted me in his arms, he was seriously gorgeous.

I soon heard cracking, as if someone was stomping on branches, and then as fast as i could blink, on Oliver's back two massive wings had sprouted. I looked at him, and then to the wings and repeated that twice until he chuckled.

"You have much to learn." He muttered. He readied himself into a crouching position and then launched off of the patch of land we had been on. I quickly flung my arms around his neck and shut my eyes tightly.
"Open your eyes, flower." His thumb brushed my check softly and i slowly opened my eyes.

Since he flew out of a castle suspended in the sky, i couldn't even see the ground from where we were at. Oliver's wings flapped every so often and let out a swooshing noise.

"The sunset looks beautiful." I hadn't realized we spent a whole day around the castle grounds until i saw the once light blue sky turn a soft pinkish yellow. I felt a piercing gaze on me, and of course it was Oliver. As we spent the day together the more comfortable I've gotten with him. Ive barely noticed his advances towards me.

Oliver suddenly began moving and i forced my eyes to stay open, i was scared of being dropped. I tightened my grip around his neck and squirmed in his arms. He reassured me with a light squeeze. "We aren't going very far," he spoke loudly over his flapping wings, "just over the mountains, they gather in the runes."

As we traveled over a short stretch of land we reached tall mountains topped with a light pink covering. Oliver said it was soft and cold, probably similar to snow on earth. He told me the sand on their beaches are also pink toned.

This mountainous biome was garnished with long rope bridges and hole entrances inside of them. Oliver informed me this was one of the entrances to the ground cities, which confused me greatly.

"Ground cities? There are civilizations underground?" I asked, puzzled.

"Yes. There is much for you to learn about this realm. Here, let's make a quick stop." He began to lower onto one of the mountain tops. This one had a small house atop of it.

Before we even landed rock like creatures began to sprout from the surrounding boulders. I let out a confused sound and Oliver snorted in response. He set me down on the ground slowly and then grabbed my hand once again.

The rock people looked down at us from their tall stature, "Greetings my King. What have you graced us of your presence for?" The one on the left spoke in a gruff almost groaning way.

"I have found my dilectus. We are on our way to a different realm and i decided to stop and educate her on the ground people." The rock creatures seemed confused as to why i needed to be educated, but he didn't question Oliver.

"Very well. Enjoy your stay." The rock people's bodies dropped and turned back into piles of boulders. "King Oliver has a nice ring to it." I said with a teasing grin. He looked down at me and ruffled my hair. "Queen Delilah will sound just as nice." I furrowed my brows but didn't ask further questions. I'd just ask the oricals along with my long list of related questions.

We made our way a little down the mountain to a wet cave opening dimly lit by torches. It was a hop, skip, and a jump before we saw any civilization. As we walked down the winding pathway i began to see the lights of the city. It also became increasingly warm.

"Holy crap." I said aloud. The city was strangely gorgeous. The roof was extremely tall, with colors like green and blue courteous to the mosses and vines atop of it. The lively rooftop was lit by glowing plants and bugs. The houses, shops and flooring were variations of black and brown tones accented with vibrant glowing flowers. Lava falls adorned some of the walls giving off an orange-yellow hue. The underground area seemed to go on forever and the bustling underground didn't seem to halt.

"You should see the other realms, they're just as glorious." Oliver said turning to me. I bit back a smile, "There's more areas like this?"

"Not like this, but unique areas with unique creatures. Let's make our way down." He said softly while adjusting his grip on my hand.

We didn't spend much time in the realm as we had a place to be and the sun was quickly setting but i was amazed by the diversity of this planet. This was just a small part of a big community. Many different types of creatures lived underground. I met a few different type of rock people similar to the ones we saw on the mountain top, i saw people without legs and a slithering tail right in its place. I even met creatures with eight legs and eight eyes.

Earth was never as diverse and peaceful as this planet. "My main goal as king is to assist the oricals in maintaining harmony within the realms," Damian scooped me up into his arms once again and we continued on our flight. By now it was getting a little chilly as the sun had already set. "There was a war long ago but since the oricals assembled a pact it was resolved with little bloodshed."

Before i could respond Oliver began to fly downwards into an area with old decaying structures. Again, as we began to get close, some creatures arose from the ground. This time they spouted out of the small lava pools residing outside of the entrance.

Even though these creatures were intimidating, as their body's were made of fire and molten rock, they were quite small. Only rising up to about 4 feet tall, they still look like they could do very much damage.

"We're here." Oliver murmured to me while pulling me towards the creatures.

"State your purpose." Said the fire person on the left.

"Your king and queen are here to meet with the oricals." Oliver stated proudly.

"Very well. You may enter." They then fell apart mixing back into the lava pools.