The ones closest will eventually slip away, whenever their soul feels it's the right time to go. All we can do is sit there and watch, and enjoy the moments we have with them, before our last memory together becomes them going to heaven.
Location: Astralla Clan Airship beside Battlefield - 1 Month ago, After the War in the Late Afternoon
Smoke drifted like ghosts in mourning through the broken halls of the NTG ship. The hull groaned under the weight of its wounds, metal curled and fractured, like a beast gasping in its final breath.
Abstra mentions how the airship isn't able to function much longer.
With the Stasis-Pod losing its power, they take her out of stasis and give her to Rikushi.
Rikushi walked over and stood at the far end of the room, the orange shimmer of his wings faintly glowing against the dim overhead lights. Kite lays still in his arms, her breathing shallow, her warmth fading by the second.
"She doesn't have long," Gem whispered, her voice cracked from long day without rest. "Maybe hours."
A silence answered her. It was the kind of silence that even magic couldn't cut through.
Then Jin stepped forward.
His white robes fluttered like curtains caught in a breeze that didn't exist. His presence seemed too still, too quiet, for the chaos that had just passed. His silver katana hung from his side, untouched. Those eyes--time-worn and endless--scanned the group as he spoke.
"There is one place left," Jin said. "One chance."
Everyone turned.
"A holy site nestled beneath the stars, hidden within the mountains near the Academy of Astral. The energy there... it is pure. It can mend even the most broken of bodies. It might even bring her back."
With a slight echo behind his voice, Jin states.
"We have to get to there before nightfall, or else we won't have enough time."
No one asked questions. No one hesitated.
But the ship, ragged and half-dead like the rest of them, sparked and stuttered in protest. Valentine swore and slammed his fist into the console. "She's not flying."
Then they didn't wait.
Rikushi picked Kite up in both arms. She stirred only faintly, her fingers reaching toward his face. One hand gently touched his cheek. "...I love you."
Then her arm fell limp. Her head tilted. Her fire dimmed.
Rikushi didn't cry--but the red fire from his wings exploded. With a burst of wind, he took off, launching through the ceiling of the ship in a flash of heat and feathers.
"Wait--!" Jin called, before vanishing in a blur of light, trailing behind.
Blaidd grabbed Ceri and Gem in both arms, his eyes hard with focus. He didn't say a word. He just nodded and shot into the sky behind them.
Valentine wrapped one arm around Sori and the other around Kandy, gripping tight before rocketing upward. His Void magic spiraled like galaxies beneath his feet as he rose.
Toku flexed his arms and soared forward on gusts of swirling wind. Glonk floated upward, black hole magic crackling behind him like gravitational thunder.
LuLu rose with wings of ink-stained feathers, her eyes narrowed, carrying Abstra with effortless grace.
The sky over Eagle City lit up with meteors of power as the NTG soared toward the mountains.
25 Minutes Later.
The mountain stood like a giant monument to the stars. The air around it shimmered with ethereal threads, starlight dripping down its ridges like plasma veins. High above, nestled near its peak, was the tower--black, ancient, and seemingly untouched by time. The only structure carved from Anti-Magic Stone in the known world.
Rikushi landed first, skidding across the snow-covered path. Kite's body was still warm, barely.
Jin appeared a moment later beside him, barely winded.
"This way," Jin said. "Take her to the top of the tower. I'll meet you there."
Rikushi stepped through the gate at the base of the tower. The air inside was dead. No wind. No sound. Just stairs. Hundreds of them. His wings dimmed--magic was useless here.
Step after step, he climbed in silence. The only sound was his boots against the stone and the soft, ragged breath from Kite in his arms.
At the top--finally--a balcony opened to the sky. The floor was a shallow pool, reflecting constellations that didn't exist in the real sky. Crystals hummed along the perimeter, the energy in them soft but unearthly, as if they were in a cave in the high-altitudes of the endless-sky.
He knelt down. Laid her in the water.
"Kite... please..."
Jin appeared behind him moments later. "No more words. Time is thin here, as time flows differently in here unlike the rest of the world."
He lifted his hands, speaking in a tongue that sounded older than the stars. Magic circles--unlike anything the NTG had seen--began to appear. Layer after layer, a cathedral of energy formed around Kite's still body.
"Through the times of space and time...
The echoes of the future, past, present, aligned...
Beneath this star, I draw the thread...
To wake the soul not yet dead..."
Down below, the others began arriving. Blaidd and Glonk landed on the balcony, their eyes wide--not at the ritual, but at the realization.
"This works once," Blaidd muttered. "Only once."
Glonk didn't respond. He just stared.
Behind them, footsteps began echoing. LuLu ascended, her wings folding behind her. Then came Ceri, Gem, and Toku--Gem already complaining halfway up.
"This place better have treasure at the top..."
Valentine, Kandy, and Sori were still near the base, just entering. Abstra watched from below, unsure if she should follow.
Back on the balcony, Jin's chant ended.
He turned toward the group--eyes dark and voice barely above a whisper.
"This ritual is a one-time ritual. Once it's done... we must leave. This is sacred ground. In a few years, this place will be used to revive something far worse than any of us: the Daemon King."
A chill swept the air. Blaidd's fists clenched slightly, but not from surprise.
From realization.
From hesitation.
Rikushi held Kite's hand tightly as the crystals began glowing brighter, bathing them all in a star-born light.
And from far below, somewhere among the shadows of the NTG, a new choice was already being formed. Quiet, bitter, and born from loss.
But none of them saw it.
Because right now, they only hoped that what was broken could be made whole again.