A large, raging river reached all the way to the setting sun while leaving a foggy trail of vapor behind. The water tides were so intense that anyone standing nearby would not see the opposite bank of it.
“This is a river?” Tulu uttered. He saw many storms and monsters as a former sailor, but he had never seen a river that was so continually deadly. They had been moving along the water for quite some time, but the torrent never ended.
Tulu was naturally sensitive to water elements, so he immediately noticed the increase in elements upon stepping out of Thewis’ plane passageway. The elements were exceptionally uncontrollable and vicious near the river they were looking at.
Even Vonman and Guina were slightly shivering when hearing the roar of nature.
“This is the Shanube River that connects Yaley Principality and Parmigi Highland. It’s a small distributary that branched off from the Parmigi Glaciers,” said Angor.
“A small distributary? Then how big is the main stream?”
They suddenly saw something shining across the misty gloom above them. In the distance, there was a giant floating island slowly moving among clouds. They couldn’t tell the exact size of it, but the forests and cities built on top of it were enough to signify its immensity.
What surprised them most was a group of winged figures patrolling alongside the island. The light they saw earlier was reflected from several strange-looking chariots that looked like light bulbs in the sky.
Whereas Vonman and Guina were too astounded to speak, Tulu, who was somewhat used to seeing such things, asked a question, “Mister Padt, those people, they’re like—”
He meant to ask why the flying figures looked similar to the Demeter in Padt Manor, which also had a pair of white wings.
“They’re related in certain ways but not much. The Demeter you saw is closely related to other winged folk clans, but not this one.”
Angor knew about a group of winged people that called themselves Parmigi Winged Folks, and they lived not far from Brute Cavern. And because of this reason, wizards in Brute Cavern agreed not to trade Demeters. At least not in the open.
Although he was wondering why they showed up here. They were still within the boundary of Yaley Principality, which was some distance away from Parmigi Highlands.
“Someone’s coming to us...” Tulu pointed to the sky where several winged men were moving toward the ground like falling comets.
Soon, three winged men hovered in front of Angor, shedding some velvet-like down around them that gave them quite a marvelous look.
The one with a square face and a stern expression and was probably their leader spoke, “We detected dimensional disruption and came to check. You are...?”
He glanced at the three mortals behind Angor.
“A wizard used a plane passageway to send us here,” explained Angor.
The winged people looked at each other.
“I see. I thought it was—never mind.”
When they moved to return to their formation, a female member in the rank spoke to Angor using an almost melodious voice, “You carry the scent of nature on you. A Demeter?”
The other male members looked back at Angor and frowned.
The speaker was a blond lady wearing a soft white robe. Added with her wings, she looked a lot like an angel told in mythology stories.
Tulu, Vonman, and Guina all had been looking at her with a look of admiration.
“Gabriel...?”
Hearing Angor, the other two winged men quickly moved in and shielded Gabriel behind them.
“You know me?” Gabriel asked in the same, beautiful voice that would undoubtedly charm anyone without mental fortification.
“I was lucky to see your grand presentation during Twilight Auction.”
Angor remembered her being one of the “slaves” being sold at the auction. It was Gabriel herself who offered to be there. However, no one bought her because her price was rather unusual.
“There was a Demeter from where I just came. But rest assured that it has nothing to do with your clan.”
“I see.” Gabriel gave Angor an inquiring look.
“Miss Gabriel, we should return since there’s no anomaly here,” her guard reminded her.
Anomaly? Angor suddenly got a bad feeling.
“Hold on.” Gabriel slowly landed on the ground and approached Angor’s position.
Under everyone’s shocked look, she suddenly went down on both knees and put her head in front of Angor’s feet.
“Miss Gabriel?!” Her guards couldn’t believe what they just saw.
Gabriel ignored them and spoke to Angor with a pleading look, “Will you take me as your slave?”
Tulu’s legs almost gave in when seeing the woman’s alluring aura. Just when he believed that no men in their sane minds could reject such an offer, he heard Angor’s quick and firm answer.
“No.”
While Gabriel’s face turned somber, the guards behind her glared at Angor in rage.
“Why, if I may?” Gabriel insisted.
“‘Lord of Night’ Moodick, is it?” Angor mentioned another name.
“You’ll become capable of the task before long.”
“I will not do it.”
Gabriel stood up and removed some dirt from her clothes. “I apologize if that looked too abrupt. Safe travels.”
She headed back into the sky with her confused guards.
Angor shook his head in frustration. He just wanted to ask what “anomaly” they referred to when the woman interrupted him.
“Mi-Mister Padt! Why did she... and why did you... ” Tulu fumbled with his words.
“Come on, Tulu. You should know by now that gifts and prizes are all accompanied by risk in this world. She’s pretty, yeah. But what if she asks you to kill a truth-finder in the next second? That’s what she wanted.”
Gabriel already mentioned that during Twilight Auction, and none of the participating wizards made a sound.
“She has such a dangerous business? I would never know...” Tulu scratched his head.
“Done enjoying the view? Let’s move.” Angor took out Gondola and asked everyone to get on.
As the boat steadily moved in the direction of the Parmigi Highlands, Guina suddenly asked in Vonman’s arms, “Mister Padt? Why did that... Gabriel, talk to you like that? She said something about ‘you’re capable’. What does that mean?”
...
Meanwhile, Gabriel’s partners were also curious about the same question.
“That young one?” Gabriel looked below after a guard asked her who Angor was. “A growing little star... who’s going to get even brighter than the sun if more time is given. Angor. Surely you heard about this name before?”
...
After silencing Guina’s curiosity by some dishonest answers, Angor fell into his own thoughts.
It was Thewis who directly sent them to Yaley Principality using a plane passageway so that they did not have to cross the sea. But there was a problem—Thewis meant to open up the exit of the passage at Parmigi Highlands, but failed to do so after several tries, so he had to transport Angor’s group to somewhere farther instead.
An anomaly, winged folks moving their island away, and an unstable plane passageway. Angor got a feeling that something happened at Fey Continent that caused these.