The world reassembled around them with a violent lurch.
Isaac tumbled across smooth marble, not burning, not boiling, and landed on something blessedly soft.
Isaac: "Oh thank god... this ground isn't trying to murder me."
Kael (face-first in grass): "AHHHH—UNITY'S SWEET MERCY! IT'S COOL! IT'S COLD! I'M ALIVE!"
Helena sat up slowly beside them, blinking.
The air was crisp, thin, and fragrant with something ancient. Soft winds brushed past them in spirals, lifting dust into tiny glowing vortices.
Then Isaac looked up, and his breath caught.
The sky wasn't a sky.
It was an endless open expanse filled with floating islands, enormous airborne ruins drifting like broken crowns. Waterfalls cascaded into the void and evaporated into clouds before touching anything below. Bridges made of cracked jade arced between suspended fragments of temples.
Everything glowed with pale turquoise sigils that flickered like heartbeat pulses.
Helena (softly): "It's… beautiful."
Kael: "And it's COOL. I want to live here forever."
Isaac took a step toward the edge of the platform and froze when he saw there was no ground beneath them. Only swirling mist and a fall straight into infinite open air.
Isaac: "We're… we're in the sky. These islands… they're floating."
Helena touched one of the turquoise cracks in the marble.
Helena: "It's old. Ancient. Older than any dimension I know. Something kept this place alive."
Kael sniffed loudly.
Kael: "Wind magic! Strong, refined, tasty!"
Isaac: "Wind magic is… tasty?"
Kael: "To demons, everything dangerous is tasty."
⸻⸻⸻
Ancient Guardians Awaken
A deep vibration rippled across the floating ruins.
The air twisted, condensing into spirals of pale mist. From those spirals, shapes began to form, humanoid silhouettes with hollow chests and masks shaped like bird beaks. They wielded spears made entirely of compressed wind.
Helena stiffened.
Helena: "Guardians."
The first guardian stepped forward, mask tilting, its voice echoing like a flute played backwards.
Sky Guardian:
"Intruders of flesh. Identify your intent."
Isaac froze.
Kael panicked.
Helena stepped forward and bowed instinctively.
Helena: "We mean no harm. We were… thrown here by an unstable rift. We seek someone, a human girl….. named Lucy."
The guardians murmured, their hollow chests glowing faintly.
The lead guardian raised its spear.
Sky Guardian:
"The name you utter… is known."
Isaac's heart leapt.
Isaac: "Lucy? She's been here?! WHERE?!"
The guardian's mask twisted slightly — perhaps a frown.
Wind pressure suddenly intensified.
Sky Guardian:
"She passed. But she was not alone."
A cold shiver crawled up Isaac's back.
Isaac: "Who was she with?"
The guardian paused, as if remembering.
Sky Guardian:
"A being of red flame. A slayer from the Infernal Barrens."
Kael's eyes widened.
Kael: "Red flame…? No… that can't be…"
Isaac: "Kael, what does that mean?"
Kael swallowed hard.
Kael: "It could be a high-rank demon hunter. Or a mercenary. Or….."
He hesitated, face paling.
Kael: "Or someone from my mother's legion."
Isaac felt the weight of those words settle heavily in his chest.
If Lucy was taken by someone with the power to traverse the sky dimension…
She was in even more danger than he feared.
⸻⸻⸻
TRIAL OF THE WIND
The lead guardian turned, pointing its spear to a massive floating temple far above them.
An inverted structure, a palace upside down, hanging by chains of light.
Sky Guardian:
"If you seek the girl, follow the wind-paths to the Temple of Echoes."
"But only those who can walk the winds may proceed."
Kael scratched his cheek.
Kael: "Uh, what?? How? Are you crazy?… we can't walk on wind."
The guardian tilted its head.
Sky Guardian:
"Then learn."
A sudden gust struck the trio.
Isaac stumbled, but the wind caught him, gently, like invisible hands pushing upward.
For an instant, he saw something, Irithel standing atop a sky throne, wind swirling around her like serpents, blades drawn, eyes blazing.
Irithel's Echo (whispering):
Wind is freedom. Wind is hunger. Command it, Isaac.
The vision snapped away.
But Isaac felt it….. faint wind currents responding to him, swirling around his palms.
Helena's eyes widened.
Helena: "Isaac… you're—"
Isaac: "I… I think I can learn this."
Kael groaned.
Kael: "Great. Perfect. Isaac learns wind magic. Meanwhile I'm going to fall to my fiery death."
But even he looked awestruck.