4 – The bottom of the sky

Amor fell.

And fell.

And fell…

His body battered.

His wings broken.

His spirit crushed.

He had fought with his whole heart.

Expressed feeling even he didn’t know to have.

And yet he still lost.

Not even worthy of being devoured by the tyrant Leviathan.

Now he falls.

To the bottom of the skies.

A place for the wingless.

Those who lost.

Those who gave up.

An endless fall.

The hopeless descent.

Amor figured this would be his fate after leaving the island.

Yet sprouting wings – dark as they might have been – and even facing the Leviathan was already more than he had expected.

To face the monster in battle.

And to learn of Libertad’s condition.

Libertad…

Her star-forged rapier was still in his hand.

If only he hadn’t picked it up from the Leviathan’s scales.

Now a fate worse than wandering within the beast awaits.

To fall.

And fall.

And fall…

Outside of the chaos of battle, amidst the silent descent, the blade is caressed by the chilling wind…

And hums.

A melody created by the pure starlit ore.

A requiem for its master.

The new?

Or the old…?

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Libertad.

Trapped inside the Leviathan, there is still time to save her.

But what could he do now?

Even after giving everything he had, he was still no match for the monster.

And now, he falls.

His broken dark wings…

What shape did they even had?

Amor refused to look at them before.

And even now…

At the end, the beast found the answer and refused to eat him.

What sort of evil desire could be as hideous to the point not even the Leviathan would dare to consume it?

Wigs of envy…

Envy of Libertad’s wings.

Envy of how adored she was by the islanders.

Envy of her sweet smile as she dreamed of the endless skies.

How the wind flowed through her hair, as she described the most fantastical wonders waiting for her discovery.

How the air hummed and sunlight flickered in response to her candid voice.

Her warm hand as she brought him to the sky.

Her glimmering eyes as she looked forward to fulfilling her dreams.

If only just once she would look at him with those same eyes…

Wings of envy.

But not at her.

For her.

Always for her.

“’Easy to notice, yet difficult to define.’”

However, any realization is pointless now.

As he falls.

And falls.

And falls…

But even the beast was unable to understand his wings at once.

Wings of wrath.

Wrath against the girl who flew towards her doom.

Wrath against the beast who devoured Libertad.

Wrath against his own powerless wings.

Against the selfish islanders.

Against the dreamed sky.

And all of those who had any connection to the girl’s fate.

Devoured!

How his heart burned as he thought of what happened to her.

Mocked by the beast, her opposite.

Trapped in a dark place with no hope of escape.

Waiting for a slow end.

The dreams she envisioned, robbed.

All because of that monster!

How much hatred could he feel for his own prepotency?

Wings of wrath.

At her, for her, against all those who may harm her.

Even he as well.

“’Contradiction of contrary.’”

“’That which burns infinite, but not endlessly.’”

How can he continue to fall, when she is still in there?

However, his wings are unmoving.

So he continues to fall.

And fall.

And fall…

But he has fallen before.

And the bottom of the sky is not for those who fall, but for those who stay.

So as long as he knows what shapes his wings, the boy won’t fall there.

The Leviathan in their arrogance has provided more than enough clues.

Now all that remains is for Amor to understand himself as well.

To break the fall, and help Libertad!

Wings of obsession.

Obsessive embrace.

Obsessive jealously.

Obsessive control.

To protect her is to break her dreams.

To break her dreams is to destroy her wings.

To destroy her wings is to kill her.

Overwhelming possessiveness.

To have my world overtaken by hers.

And to ruin hers in turn.

“’What you seek is opposite to what you are.’”

Intense desires by themselves.

Conflicting feelings as a whole.

“’To act as you feel, when feelings are but sparks.’”

All parts of me, which can never come close to represent the entirety of who I was.

Of who I am.

And who I want to be.

Amor Finally grabs hold of his wings and looks at them.

“’Perfect imperfection.’”

Amor fell.

And stopped.

“So that’s how it is…”

For his wings spread and took flight once again, the bottom of the sky could never have been further away. Not dark wings, not an evil desire. Now he knew the purpose of his own wings.

“My wings are my own, as is my heart, to do with whatever I decide.”

His small plot of land at the edge of the island. The islanders who shunned him, but that he grew up with. The calm breeze over the wet grass. His only friend and her irreplaceable dreams.

And the greedy tyrant that terrorizes all of the sky.

Amor grasps his friend’s irreplaceable sword, and the metal hums in response, preparing for the last battle.

“I now know my purpose, and not even the Leviathan shall stand in my way.”

A broken body, charred wings and a tattered flight. But his wings finally shone as the stars in the sky.

Amor cuts across the skies, into the dark clouds, making his way towards the Leviathan.

As the clouds part along his path, the darkness is dispelled. And the endless blue sky reveals itself, beyond the control of the monster.