This is not treachery.
This is freedom.
In the middle of Heaven and Hell, the days of rain and mist are long gone. Now, the Gap World is a kingdom of light and darkness, goodness and evilness, sunshine and clouds. When clandestine forces weave toget...
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IN THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER, nature was dressed in her finest gown---the one that was colored the deepest shade of emerald and seemed to have captured in its countless layers of fabric the secret to freedom. The dense forests we flew over invited every living creature to take the hand of the world's greatest force---hope---and dance with it until they had won the final battle against destruction.
We flew over remote paths, forests and grasslands that weren't inhabited by humans but wild animals. We avoided every city and every town, and whenever we couldn't achieve something as ambitious as that, we chose to soar above the ocean.
The further away we moved from the capital, the more the Castle of Sunlight became nothing but a dwindling sparkle amongst the countless other buildings that created a mosaic of grays and whites. Wrapping my hands tighter around Denfer's body, I let my head rest on his back and focused on the way he was breathing---steadily and slowly.
I wasn't planning on falling asleep. But I did. And when I woke up, everything had changed.
One moment there had been endless blue crowding my vision---from the sky and the ocean to the Nefern's massive wings---and now there was only green. And an ethereal calmness.
Accepting the hand Denfer had extended to help me jump off the Nefern, I stood still for a moment, taking in what was around us. And I was left mesmerized by the loveliness of the place he'd chosen to bring us. The gravel path the Nefern had landed on was flanked by wildflowers, brushes and oak trees that had spread their long branches over the road and prevented the evening sun from illuminating it. But it was all right. For the first time, the sunlight wasn't needed to make something look beyond beautiful.
Denfer next to me murmured something to the mane that I was way too caught up in the observation of the green oasis that surrounded us to hear, and the next moment the Nefern was lost in the sky again, flying forward, its golden skin gleaming in the sunshine.
"Welcome to the least-populated village of the Gap World," Denfer said, the tone of his voice upbeat, his arms wide open. "Welcome to Kiparissi."
I was sure that I wouldn't be able to recall the name by tomorrow, but I nodded like I would. Flipping my hair over a shoulder, I started walking next to him, and the way the trees from each side of the road had their branches connecting over our heads made it seem like we were sneaking in the village through its secret gates.
"This is where you've been all these months, right?" I asked when the first houses appeared and broke the continuous pattern of green and trees and flowers.
He chuckled. "Actually not. But I do like to come here every summer. Sadly, I wasn't able to do that for the past few years. But here we are now."
