Well, I'm not too bad with heights. But this… isn't what I expected, at all.
"How are you guys enjoying it back there!" Renji yelled, fully focused and bent looking forward with his Koru.
No whip, no belt tightened, no seats, just fur, and even more fur.
Emilia was tightly clinging onto me as we road on top of Renji's newley tamed Koru.
I'm grabbing on this soft dark purple fur as hard as I can, but the wind from all the way up here is too much, Emilia, being afraid of heights, couldn't hold her head high while hugging me from behind. Her fear of heights is a memory I gained when the Chris's memories from this world or universe or whatever it may be came attacking me.
In all, I now understand Emilia much more as a character.
"Yeah…" I paused for a split second, "We're doing just fine!" With the most sarcastic voice ever.
The wind kept attacking my face like missiles, the beautiful night sky darkening the forest below. We've been on here for thirty minutes, but yet to have seen anything else but the forest Vly's cabin habits. While all this is said, the wind keeps pushing my hair back, if I were in my physical body from back then, only the man ruling the skies above would know how far sent I would've been.
We're also about ten thousand meters high, airplane level.
"Yeah!" Renji yelled, turning his head fully back. "Only one more hour." He grinned, "enjoy the ride!"
One more hour… I can survive tha-
"What?!" I yelled, into the unknowing lights that lid up ahead, which was, I believe, a village, or maybe even a small town, but finally. Something other than the greeniest void behind.
"Hey, Chris!" I guess Vly told him my name. "What…"
Renji started, flipping his hair backwards, grinning. "Are you the type to steal the kings crown, or…" He paused, smiling with clear grimace, hair flying in each direction, "Are you the type to steal the cook's secret recipe?!"
He asked the question, leaning back with a huge smile on his face…
I'm slightly confused, is this a test? Well, if it is… I'm not unmoral, as it wouldn't fit into my ideals. But even so, why not… why can't I just steal the…
"Hey, Renji!" I yelled towards him, as he gripped himself forward right behind the Koru's head.
"What's your answer?!" He yelled back, questioning me.
"Why can't I become my own king, while being my own chef!"
I could tell, he smiled. I know he did, I felt it. So does that mean-
"Yes! Great answer! You talk as if you've got tomorrow's script in your pocket!" He stopped, now fully bent forward, ready to move faster with his Koru. "Just like me!"
Just like that, the Koru started going twice the speed it was originally. How will I handle this for another hour?
On top of all this, I need to hold Emilia tightly or she'll fall, not even one voice came out of her during this whole ride. Fuck this.
"Fuck me!"
A while later…
"Here we are!" Renji yelled, the Koru slowing down fully.
Now, as the tamed beast only flapped its wings in the air to keep it afloat, everything below looked clear.
"Check it out! The royal capital." He continued, Emilia taking herself off of me.
"Wow…" Her first words, which followed by nervous breaths.
Below, everything… literally everything, became apparent.
Arenthale.
I whispered as the Ko soared past tall mountain peaks.
Lands upon lands, and rivers upon rivers.
A mighty, great wall stood on the grass plains. Farms of corn and wheat—guessed through the vast yellow 'paint-ish' sight near the wall's obsidian gate.
My eye caught shadows of... ships? Frigates maybe. Only saw some golden masts and silver ropes. The hull was overbearingly sturdy; the air trembled ever so slightly.
I saw less soon. Too much mist blocked the capital's eastern horizon.
Magic possibly.
"Are people staring?" Squinted toward the wall's cobble, and to very weathered parapets—some watched. Saw a farmer's boy wave. Oh, bakery aunt too.
I smiled a little more as we flew in.
The houses were beautiful. Little toys from here; so many red roofs, so many vast streams of blue smoke in those clay chimneys.
Beasts, few of them magical beasts, slept in cracks and crevices of the roofs. The fire ones had clear luck and could keep themselves warm. I noticed some were dead.
I began to frown.
Began to notice dark, decrepit alleys. Began to notice thatched huts soaked in water and wind. Began to notice red stains on the trash.
Began to see corpses on closed roads. Began to see men devour stone, paper, and bags. Began to see children fight over bread.
I began. I began. I began.
Eventually, in my morbid confusion, I finally saw the damned royal palace.
A fortress; countless crenels and merlons were guarding it. Many guards, too, those armors together shone brighter than the sun. Many runes on the silver wall. . . High elvish. Very old High Elvish.
Protect, protect the motherland.
Surrounded by a tiny forest all around, with four paths at each edge of the square carved through the forest, calmly went to four entrances. Each had a sign, '1A, 1B, 1C, and of course, 1D.'
As the Koru began to decline just behind the Forest, the sun began to set. It looked even more beautiful now that I was so high up.
"Land." As Renji gave the order, it slowly but surely began to come to a complete stop, just at the path leading to the door, '1D.'
Renji started to pet his Koru gently, his Koru's mouth shaped into an ugly smile, "Thank you, Renro."
"You even gave it a name?" I asked, smirking, "And you're even worse at naming than me. Just switch the last two letters of your name. Wow."
"I would go back and forth with you, but for now. Let's go ahead… to the royal capital!" He calmly spoke as I, Emilia, and he began climbing off of it.
"Contract procedure acceptance: Disperse."
And with those couple of words from Renji, his Koru began dispersing into shadow particles, dark purple color, slowly but surely.
"Well, what are you guys waiting for? Let's go!" Emilia said, which had me confused, as she didn't say anything the whole way here, but she looked to be the most excited out of all of us.
Renji looked at me, and we both nodded at each other, a sign of mutual respect, as we followed Emilia.
Around us, trees, bushes, and grass surrounded the paved, smooth stone path. Colored in grey, with tiles shaped so symmetrical to one another.
As we continued to walk, the sun, now almost fully set, placed light on a gate that started becoming more apparent every step we took… '1D.'
A tall sheet of black iron covered the castle's front garden entrance, its bars thick and spaced like a giant jail cell.
Behind it, the real gate gleamed, but the iron lattice was the first thing we seen. Two guards in polished armor flanked the barrier, spears resting easily in their hands as they watched the road.
"Open the gates! Few have already arrived!" The guard standing on the right of the gate yelled as we stood ten feet away from it.
The gates began to open up, slowly but surely, each guard still standing.
I guess our uniforms gave it away. But… "Hey," I went up to the left guard, curious, "How do you know we aren't spies?" I asked, smirking, Emilia and Renji looked at me like I'm the epitome of idiocy.
"How dare you manipulate the royal guards!" They stuck their spears forward, both pointing at me.
I put my hands up, in surrender, smirking, but I wasn't planning on surrendering at all… "And what? What'll you do?" I leaned into the sharp spikes, their anger growing.
Their thinking that I'm trying to manipulate them is completely wrong. I'm honestly curious, what if this uniform was just put on by a spy trying to infiltrate the royal capital? Anyways, who cares, if they want a fight, I'm up for it.
"I'm so sorry for my friend over here, he's a very silly guy." Emilia interfered, protecting me, but I didn't need protecting.
"Tell your friend to have some shame! Dirty cleaners are always ruining Aeranthia."
"Yo-" Emilia covered my mouth as I was trying to spit something up.
"Yeah, I'm so sorry for my friend over here, he just has a disease which makes him manipulative." Emilia said, clearly trying to hide a smile.
"Oh, I see," one of the guards replied, "It's that new illness that's been spreading around town, what was it called again…" The guards both took their spear down, the one on the right tappin his chin in thought, "The Mancitus curse. Yeah, that's it." Both guards looked at each other and simply nodded.
"They may proceed!"
As I looked back at them, both of them had smiles right under their metal masks with holes only for the mouth and the eyes.
"I would've fought them if I were you," Renji whispered in my ear as he jogged slightly forward.
Emilia took my arm and began dragging me with her.
But it was time…
As the three of us began walking past the gate, we entered…
Paradise.