Ria
I laid on the snow for a while, watching the sun moving up in the sky.
Once my muscles stopped screaming and the cold settled in I got back up again. Time to run.
I didn't give myself enough time to look down at the bloody dagger before pushing forward. I wanted to run, I didn't want to have to think about anything.
I was so out of it, running forward without looking anywhere else that I didn't see the figure looming in the sky until something grabbed me by my hip. The ground disappeared little by little as I was lifted into the sky.
" Ahhhhh!" I begun screaming, clutching the solid mass that was holding me.
I closed my eyes in fear. My whole body was shaking so much I barely managed to hold on, clawing onto the first soft thing I found. I panicked and held on for dear life.
I didn't want to die!
" Did you have fun stabbing me?"
What the fuck?
I opened my eyes with surprise when I heard that familiar voice and saw the person I was holding onto, the one that had raised me into the air was Arsheus.
" How are you alive? Didn't I stab you?"
" You'll need something better than a flimsy dagger if you want to kill me"
I stared at him, dumbfounded. Did demons live forever? Were they imortal? I thought they could die. If they were immortal they wouldn't have died so easily during the great war. My head was a windwhirl of thoughts as I stared at Arsheus's chiseled jawline. I was so out of it that I didn't even stop Arsheus from taking the dagger away from me.
" This'll stay with me until you learn how to behave"
His words snapped me out of my trance enough to remember where I was. I was in the middle of the fucking sky!
" Put me down" Once I became conscious of where I was the panic rose again.
" No. I'll do it once we are in the castle. It isn't far away"
" I thought flying was dangerous!"
" You said that, not me" Crap, that was true.
" Can't we just walk?" I made my best puppy eyes and looked at him hoping he'd take pity on me and put me on the freaking ground once and for all.
" Have you never flown before?"
Fuck, he had me. I hadn't expected him to answer that.
I closed my mouth and eyes and clung onto him tighter, too aware that only some flimsy black feathers separated me from an awful death.
" We'll be there soon"
I didn't believe anything Arsheus said, but I had no other choice. I just shut up and held on for dear life.
From my back I could hear Arsheus chuckling every time a strong gust of wind tried to drop me to my death. I was seriously going to stab him again. Pity I didn't have my dagger with me.
I opened my eyes slightly and glanced at the dagger, tucked away on Arsheus's pocket. I had no way to get it unless I freed my hand and I wasn't going to do that. It was better to live without a dagger than to die from the drop.
We were so high up that if I fell all that would be left of me would be some flesh smush on the ground.
From this height all the trees that had seemed gigantic from the ground were nothing more than white specks in a white landscape.
For as far as I could see everything was white. The only thing escaping the white landscape was the glass castle. It stood strong on the horizon, showcasing the ruler's power to everyone watching.
It seemed as if the whole thing was made out of glass, but that was just an optical illusion. I knew at least that much. Illiana had told me it was really made of clay with reflective mirrors on the outside to mirror glass. It was a cheap trick, but it definitely worked. It seemed as if it had been made by a divine hand if you didn't know any better.
Around the whole structure tiny white specks could be seen flying around. From this far away I couldn't tell what they were, but they had to be the guards patrolling the structure.
I just hoped they hadn't seen us from their posts. A white speck among all this white wouldn't be anything important, but a speck of black.... they were sure to check it out. That was one of the reasons why I didn't want to fly. It wasn't the most important, not at all, but it was a decent enough reason. Arsheus should've listened to me. If the guards caught us and killed us it would all be his fault.
" Are you not afraid anymore?" Arsheus's tone was mocking as he spoke.
I flinched when I felt his breath on my ear, touching my head with his chin.
" It's....." I had no words to describe it. I was still afraid, but it was also awesome. You could see everything at a glance. Everything that seemed so big from the ground was tiny from up here. I was still afraid of dropping to my death if Arsheus let me go as revenge for me stabbing him, but I had to admit that it was almost worth the risk.
" I know" From the first time since I'd met him Arsheus wasn't wearing an angry, pissed expression or a fake smile. His eyes looked truly in peace as he glance at everything down below us. He seemed to be smiling genuinely.
I diverted my eyes from his face. It truly was a magnificent sight. As the snow covered mountains draw closer by the second the sunlight hit the snow and got reflected on the white surface of the mountain, coming back to us and making it look as if the whole thing was shining from within.
" Wow!" I hadn't noticed until now just how beautiful everything could be from above.
My fear disappeared a little more with each passing second. Arsheus still needed me, he wasn't going to let me drop and kill me, at least not for now. I let my whole body relax in his grip and tried to take my hand away from his back, where I was sure there'd be scratch marks from how hard I had held onto him.
I let my hand drift slowly with the wind, touching the clouds surrounding us.
" We're here"
I was so focused on the clouds and the view that I didn't notice we had flown over the mountains until Arsheus pointed it out.
Looking down I could see the white snow and the few trees that refused to die, fighting with everything they had to survive the cold one second longer, but there was no castle in sight.
" Where's it?"
" You'll see"
Arsheus's answer infuriated me, but there was nothing I could do. He was the only thing keeping me from dying after all.
We flew over the mountain range, further and further away. The mountains became bigger the more we flew.
I looked all over, but there were no signs of any houses, much less of a castle.
I kept looking down, trying to find the location of this misterious hideout.
The mountains came so close that if I had wanted to I could've leaned down and touched the snow. At that height the air was scarce. Even breathing was hard.
I was panting, one hand on Arsheus's back and the other one on my chest. Arsheus, on the other hand, looked as good as new. As if he wasn't flying so high up that there was no air left. Not for the first time I wondered what he was made of. How could he get killed and then live with no air? Just how powerful were demons?
As we rose higher and higher, trying to fly over the highest peak I begun to feel dizzy. All the strength in my muscles disappeared. I could barely breathe, much less hold onto Arsheus or move.
With another flap of Arsheus's powerful wings we flew over the highest peak. The air got even more scarce. I felt the urge to breath, but had nothing I could place inside my lungs.
I gapped like a fish out of water and then everything went white.
When I opened my eyes again I was laying on the snow, Arsheus looming over me and looking at me with amusement.
" Come on, my castle is near"
I took a deep breath. There was air at last!
I used my arms to prop myself upwards and got up with some effort.
My mouth hung open when I saw where we were.
All the mountain range was visible from where we stood, and it wasn't just the mountain range. We could see the glass castle sprouting from the ground and even the forest where I had brought Arsheus back to life. All of them looked so tiny that if you didn't pay attention you'd miss them.
" Where are we?"
Arsheus smiled at me and grabbed my chin.
" You don't need to know that"
I gritted my teeth. That motherfucker. I wanted to know where we were, was it that hard?
I stomped my feet, angry.
Arsheus didn't pay any attention to my little tantrum as he spun around and walked to the other side of the peak, which was exactly the same as the side we were on.
" What's there?"
Since Arsheus didn't answer me I sighed and walked up to him.
Just like I thought, more snow. Only difference was that from this position we could only see the mountains. The castle and everything else was hidden on the other side.
While I looked Arsheus crouched down on the snow and took out his dagger. The metal shone on the light before it was tainted red with Arsheus's blood.
The bleeding wound on Arsheus's hand dripped onto the snow in a slow drip.
I watched as he harmed himself and then cleaned his dagger on his pants as if it was nothing.
Now his perfectly black pants were ruined with a red stain. I just hoped he wouldn't ruin his shirt too. Although he was way taller and bulkier than me I still kinda wanted to try out his clothes. They seemed more comfortable and warm than my own. He could wear the thin chemise.
Although I wasn't cold, not much anyway, I would still rather wear sturdier clothes.
I watched as Arsheus begun humming and drawing a weird symbol on the snow.
The symbol was very similar to those engraved on the dagger. Just what was that about?
" What are you doing?"
I walked forward and crouched down near him, looking at the symbol scribbled on the snow.
" Back away"
Arsheus focused on me for a second and pushed me back.
I fell onto the snow. Whatever. I wasn't interested in it anyway.
I got up and took as much snow as I could from my body.
I ignored Arsheus and walked away. I wasn't interested in him, not at all.
I went back to the other side and gazed at those tiny specks of green among the snow. To thing those were big ass trees.
I kept looking at them, enamored by the sight. It was so peaceful. All my problems seemed to disappear as I looked down at everything. It was all so small. It was so calm. No one could come here. They wouldn't have the air needed to survive.
Now that I thought about it how was I alive? I had lost consciousness and then I was suddenly fine?
The number of questions increased, but the answers remained the same.
A big gust of wind came out of nowhere and made my lose my balance. I saw myself falling over the edge of the mountain and dying. Fear gripped me, my brain short-circuiting. What should I do?
In a split second I threw myself to the ground, almost kissing it when I saw I was no longer balancing over the edge.
From the other side of the peak weird sounds could be heard. Just what was going on now?
Not trusting myself to get up and not end up in the snow with this wind I crawled to the other side, where a massive castle had appeared out of nowhere.
What the fuck?
I stared at the massive white structure. It was the same as the glass castle, with spires sprouting from the four cardinal directions. Everything was made of glass. Even the gates were glass. It looked frail, as if a strong gust of wind could knock it over. Despite it's appearance it was surprisingly strong. Despite the wind it didn't even move a little bit. It just stood there.
" Impressive, right?"
Arsheus appeared on my right out of nowhere.
I closed back my mouth and got up with some difficulties now that the wind had somehow calmed down. I had no doubt it was Arsheus's fault to begin with. It was always his fault. Demons were evil, it was in their nature.
" Not much"
" Not much?" Arsheus's eyes gleamed with emotion as he looked at me. " Wait until you see the inside"
" Why would I want to do that?" I crossed my arms over my chest. I hated him, I wasn't going to give him what he wanted without a fight.
" You want to sleep out here?" Arsheus pointed to the desolate peak, where not even a single cave where I could hide and protect myself could be seen. Sleeping outside was out of the question. " Be my guest then"
I did my best to ignore Arsheus's mocking tone and clenched my fists. I was not sleeping on a chemise outside with this temperatures.
" Fine" I walked up ahead, not hesitating as I approached the glass castle.
Arsheus smirked behind me.
Asshole.