Justice For The Fallen ✓

13. Sannarah

A surprised scream escaped my throat when we soared hundreds of feet over the city with just a few beats of golden wings. I clung to Golden Boy for dear life, digging my claws into his skin, but his only reaction was laughter.

How could he laugh when we were going to perish any second now? I glanced down and immediately felt dizzy, so I closed my eyes and pressed my face to his chest.

"Not a fan of heights?" Melkyal asked conversationally.

"I don't have fricking wings!" I hissed. "I'm not a fan of splattering on the ground like a pancake. I like pancakes, but it doesn't mean I'd like to be one!"

Golden Boy laughed again. It was a pleasant sound. Honest and joyful. I wasn't used to hearing genuine laughter. His arm tightened around my waist.

"Don't worry. I've got you."

Don't listen to him. He will let you fall, the voice whispered in my head. To my surprise, I found it surprisingly easy to ignore. When I was near Melkyal, everything seemed possible. He was foolish and naïve, yet I wanted to believe him. It'd been so long since I trusted anyone. There was only a handful of beings I called friends, but somehow, this ridiculously guileless angel weaselled his way into my heart without me even noticing.

It wasn't a bad feeling.

The air was getting colder, but Melkyal's body shielded me from the most vicious winds and kept me warm. I could even call it cosy if I ignored the fact that we were soaring a thousand feet over the ground now.

Suddenly I felt a gentle, humid touch on my skin, and when I opened my eyes, everything was white. It took only a moment, and before I blinked, we pierced through the clouds leaving a fluffy white plane beneath us. The moon looked huge, ruling over the vast blackness full of myriad twinkling stars.

An awed gasp escaped my lips. I'd never seen the sky so clearly. Back in the slums, we didn't look up much. You had to keep your wits about you and your eyes on the ground to catch the incoming knife to dodge it.

But here, over the clouds, it seemed like another world. Everything was silent, and the air was crisp. There was no stench, no screams, no mortals. This place was pure and untouched by corruption.

"Do you like it?" Melkyal asked, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

"It's beautiful. I envy you those wings now," I admitted. "I wish I could just jump into the air and fly away, leaving the whole world behind."

"I'll lend them to you if you want," he murmured.

I laughed. "I'd like that."

"Anytime."

Melkyal made a sharp turn, and suddenly, I saw a colossal floating... something in the distance. It looked as if some giant grabbed a part of the ground and ripped it free from the surface, but instead of soil and stone, the mass was made of sparkling, transparent crystals. It soared high over the clouds like an icy mountain, with its peak downwards instead of up.

Although the form alone was a marvel, what was built on top took my breath away. The closer we flew to the floating city, the more details I could see, and it was such a bizarre and wonderful sight I didn't know where to look. The buildings covering the platform were white marble, transparent glass and crystals of all possible colours, catching the moonlight and dispersing it into a thousand smaller beams.

"Welcome to Heaven," Melkyal said, not trying to hide his grin. "What do you think?"

"That's..." I looked for the right words but found nothing. "You angels surely like sparkly things, eh?"