by RAVENC JAMES
I stared at Fide, who was a few steps ahead. His strides were unhurried as if he did not want it all to end.
CHAPTER 3
The Nursery was a giant maze much like Emerald’s garden. Its walls looked like twenty times my height and were covered with glowing shrubs and flowers. Here, Fide left me. As I watched his back retreating farther and farther from me, I felt a pang of loneliness. Would I ever see him again?
“He’ll come back. He always will. He’s the caretaker of the Ortus of Calx, and he delivers fledglings to the Nursery.”
I stared at the speaker, who had yet to introduce himself. He was about a couple of inches taller with a pair of blue eyes. His wings were glowing with yellow light, which was strange, as most of the fledglings in the Garden, though we all glowed a little, did not have glowing wings. What made this one different?
“My name is Orieumber,” I said, extending my hand to him in greeting. I did not know where I got this gesture.
He stared at my hand, confused.
“I’m Venir,” he replied. He, too, extended his hand the same way I did.
I reached out for his hand and shook it. I had no idea why I did it, but it just felt like the most natural thing to do.
Staring at his wings, I said, “Why do you have wings?”
“Because I’m ready to leave. I’ve accumulated enough navi to be able to fly over the wall.” He bent down to pick up the glowing fruits that looked like berries. He gave some to me and ate the rest. “That will provide you more navi, though it’s not permanent. The more questions you ask, the hungrier you’ll become.”
I stared down at the glowing shrub on the ground and grabbed a handful of its fruit. And without much hesitation, I put them all in my mouth.
“Slowly,” he said, chuckling.
While chewing the berries in my mouth, I said, “They’re delicious. I could eat them all the time.”
“But you need another source of nourishment. One that is permanent.”
I swallowed and said, “And how can I get that?”
“Easily,” he said.
I tilted a little bit toward him to show how excited I was for him to continue explaining. He stared at me with a smile. I smiled back to prompt him to continue. When his smile turned into a grin, and his lips remained mummed, I frowned.
“All right, then. Tell me how easy it is to get the permanent navi,” I said; the impatience on my face slipped through.
Looking thoroughly amused at my expense, he giggled. “All right, here it is. Are you ready?”
“Yes?” For heavens!
He leaned forward as though he was about to tell me a great secret. “You can get the permanent navi through learning,” he said. I gave him a confused look. “Just learn whatever knowledge the garden offers you, and your navi will increase.”
“Then why are you making it as though it was a big deal?”
He raised his brow at the irritation in my voice.
“Because you should have figured it out yourself. Living in Ether is learning your way around.”
Oops. He broke the rule for me then.
“I apologize,” I said, mustering any sincerity I could get.
He smiled again, and I felt better.
Fledglings with no wings were everywhere—running around, bumping into each other, falling on their asses, and struggling to get up. I was able to help two who mumbled a ‘thank you’ before running again like everything was fine. Others were busy making wreaths out of flowers, or leis, or anything they could think of that would look pretty with it as long as they were doing something. But there were a few who were merely staring at the flowers as though they were in a trance.
“They learn by playing. Your energy increases every time you learn and experience something,” Venir explained. “Even when they are merely observing, they are also infusing the information their sense of eyesight provides.”
When Venir left the Nursery to go to the academy, I started to explore the place all by myself. I felt the grass, the soil, and studied them. Although no one yet told me the name of the energy fruit, I found myself spending more and more time deciphering its components. Where was their energy coming from? How did they grow? I did not meet another like Venir who was willing to share his knowledge, so I settled with studying the fruit’s usual location, their different colors, sizes, and texture.
“Fuzzy!”
I turned to where the voice was and found a little girl with white hair looking at me with her adorable eyes. The little girl was holding a glowing ball of light the size of a tennis ball. She kept saying ‘fuzzy.’ I assumed that was the name of the ball of light in her hand.
“Hello. That’s so pretty. Where did you find it?” I asked.
“Over there, behind that wall. It’s hiding under the Musa tree.”
“So, what are you planning to do with the fuzzy?”
“I’m going to take care of it so it will grow bigger.”
Hold up. Fuzzy was a real creature?
“What’s your name?”
“Hannah.”
“Hannah, can I see it?”
She nodded and gave the fuzzy to me. It was light and smooth in my hand. I squeezed it or tried to, as my fingers merely sank into the supposed flesh of this ball of light. It looked like fuzzy had no core. If there was no core, what pulled the light together? It obviously had a mass no matter how feather-like it felt in my hand. So? And how? Interesting.
“A fuzzy is a rare species of plant,” a familiar voice said. “They’re usually found in Secundarium rather than here. Fuzzy is also said to have been created by God himself.”
I smiled upon hearing the voice. Venir was back.
“So, the academy is so scary you ran back here?” I said, teasing.
“It’s a little intimidating. So I figured I should hang out here for more navi.”
Hannah tugged at my skirt and raised her arm forward, palm up. Understanding the gesture, I handed the fuzzy back to her. She giggled and started running away from us and disappeared into a corner.
“I think you just need a companion. I’ll volunteer if only I’m allowed to go.”
“No one is holding you here but yourself.”
My ears perked up. I was both intrigued and confused. Why was he making it sound like it was my fault I was stuck here?
“So, what if I stop holding back, start full-blown ready, as in now. I’m ready. How do I do that? Please tell me it’s not a secret?”
He chuckled a little. Pointing at the flower-filled wall, he then said, “That wall is about the same height as the step in the academy. You will practice flying until you are able to reach its top.”
I tilted my head back to see the top of the wall. It was so high that my neck started aching from being stretched that far. I say it was super high. But the thought of being able to fly outweighed my fear of heights.
“Well then, show me how to fly.”
He grinned, and his wings fluttered. Show-off. He spread his arms and shot up into the air, up and up, and landed on the top.
“How is it going down there?” he asked, waving.
“Pretty awesomely grounded. How is it going up there?”
“Breathtakingly high.”
I gazed up as far as my eyes could see. Someday, I said to myself. I would fly up there and touch the sky. And so, I began my quest for a pair of wings.
Venir took me to every corner of the garden where I imbued the beautiful sights around me: the vivid colors of the flowers, the clear and smooth texture of the stream flowing from the cascading water fountain, the glowing animals and fruits, the vibrancy of the surroundings. These stimulated my senses, making me feel like there was a surge of energy growing inside of me.
I never had any idea how long I stayed in the garden, as there was no time in Heaven. The sky was forever bright white. Where was the light coming from? Was there a star nearby? I also rarely saw anyone sleeping except for the infrequent resting where they sat on the ground with their
legs crossed and their eyes closed. This must be how they slept. Or let me change that. This must be how we slept. Venir later confirmed that this was, indeed, a manner of sleeping. We only felt the urge to sleep when a significant amount of navi was achieved. And when it happened, our wings would grow as well. This interesting tidbit excited me and made me long for a nice long nap.
But when it happened, I had no recollection of it. It was only Venir who told me that it did happen. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known. He said that I abruptly dropped like a dead weight on the ground. It did sound like I actually passed out rather than slept.
Regardless of how embarrassing my manner of sleeping was, I woke up with a new pair of wings. I expected them to look green like my eyes or pink or yellow like most of the fledglings. What I got instead was a pair of bright white wings that Venir described as extraordinary.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Because it resembles an archangel wing.”
A spike of energy spread into my body and made me feel lightheaded.
Venir grinned. “You look excited.”
“You just told me that my wings resembled an archangel. So, of course, I’m excited!” But… “Can I fly with these? Now?”
“Why don’t you try it?”
I fluttered my wings and spread my arms, imitating what Venir showed me when he flew. When nothing happened, I jumped up and up until I began floating and then hovered oh-so-unsteadily. Venir, however, was grinning ear to ear.
“Go ahead, go up higher.”
I looked up and propelled myself up, higher and higher. I was too close to the top when I wavered and fell back to the ground. Ouch, indeed.
“Ah, your wings are deceitful. They look strong, but they are not. You need more navi,” he said, offering his hand to help me get up.
And so, we spent more time together. We played hide and seek, eating more of the energy-fruit, creating a song where Venir seemed to be skillful.
“Is there really a god in Ether?” I asked randomly. When I realized that I just asked a question, I put a couple of berries into my mouth. I learned to always carry a bunch of them with me.
“I don’t know. I don’t know much about Ether. I’m a newborn angel like you. But they say that the academy holds all the answers. That’s why everybody goes there.”
And that’s why I had to go there too. If only I could fly high enough to escape the wall.
My wish came true when I was not even practicing to fly. This happened when Venir and I had found a heap of red, blue, and green gemstones. They were rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. I picked two of them and rubbed them together. We were thinking of making it glow because we discovered that there were items and objects in the garden that glowed more when being smashed together.
The stones emitted a purple glow. I mixed up the rocks and created a different color. I was so thrilled and excited that triggered another burst of energy inside me, so strong that I was beginning to think I would self-combust.
“Ori!”
I did not know how it happened, but one thing was sure—I was way up above the ground, higher than the wall.
With my mouth opened wide and my eyes bugged out, I stared down at Venir.
“Ori, you’re flying!”
CHAPTER 4
Venir took me to the palatial house of gemstones that was so high I could only see two of its vast steps while the rest was covered with fog.
“That is the Academy of Light where the answers to all of our questions are found,” Venir said, looking excited himself.
“I would assume the only way to get up there is to fly,” I said. “So, have you tried it?”
“I did, but the moment I reached the top of the first step, I wobbled.”
“Which scared you, and you decided to run back to the Garden.”
He shrugged. “Something like that.” And without much of a warning, he shot into the air and landed perfectly on the first tread.
“You said you wobbled,” I said, huffing. I had to raise my voice so he could hear me.
He merely chuckled. “Now, your turn. Fly, Ori!”
And I did. I first hovered several inches above the ground, and then I gingerly fluttered my wings until I got the hang of it and started propelling myself upward. I could see the pride on Venir’s face as he watched my approach. It wasn’t instant, but I made it to the top. I could never really do Venir’s manner of flying.
“How were you doing it?” I asked, now standing beside him. “You shot up, and boom, you’re here.”
“I’ve had a lot of practice. Believe me, sooner than you think, and you’ll be flying faster and better than me. You have the wings for it.”
“Aren’t you two coming in?”
Venir and I both turned around to face the owner of the voice. A male angel was standing in front of a giant door made of gold and emerald. Carved on the door was, I supposed, ancient angelic writing, but since it was unintelligible to me, it appeared more like beautiful strokes of hoops and loops.
The angel who spoke to us was a few inches taller than Venir. His hair was golden and his wings were bigger, brighter, and breathtakingly red. His gaze fell on my wings, and he frowned.
“I see. You have the archangel wings.”
“That’s what I told her,” Venir said. “I’m Venir.”
“Truquus,” he said. “And you?”
“Orieumber.”
“Nice meeting you both. Good luck on your first day.”
Truquus’s wings expanded, and it was magnificent to behold. Then he flapped them like a bird and zoomed into the sky until we could no longer see him.
“Wow,” Venir said. “So that’s how it is to fly.”
“I thought you got this one down to perfection.”
“Not really. I can’t hover like you.”
“Are you kidding me?”
He shook his head and laughed. “C’mon, let’s get inside.”
The first level of the academy was a huge chamber with the ceiling so high it could no longer be seen from below. And lined up in a row were five high walls made of marble the color of a cat’s eye. The front and back of each wall had several small squares that looked like plates carved in the stone. The plates were in different colors, and their colors changed as they went higher. The first ten rows arranged horizontally were green.; the next ten, yellow; then the next one, blue; and the last, red.
Fresh from the Garden, Venir and I knew nothing about what the plates were for, so we observed the fledglings around. They would touch the plates with the palms of their hands, and the plates would glow and then would turn into a book in the shape of a tablet. To flip to the next page, they would touch the front cover, and the words would appear.
“Can I start up there?” I said, pointing at the plates in a much higher location.
Venir shrugged his shoulders. “Go ahead.”
I started flying with much excitement and enthusiasm, but when I reached the height where the yellow row began, I hit an invisible wall and fell hard on the pristine floor. A few angels saw it and sniggered.
“You didn’t warn me,” I said to Venir while getting up from the floor. “You’ve been inside before, haven’t you? I thought angels don’t lie.”
Venir looked hurt. “You think I lied? Never. I didn’t really know what would happen, but I figured it would be the same principle with the Garden wall and the academy steps. You won’t be able to fly higher unless you have enough navi.”
It made sense, so I offered an apology. “I thought you were playing a prank on me.”
Venir shook his head, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “However, I may have been trying to prank you by encouraging.”
All was forgiven then, I supposed.
“I’m glad I got you smiling a little.” I stared at the first row of plates. “There are like millions of them here. It will take us forever to read all of these lower books.”
“Good thing we live forever here in Ether,” Venir said.
“I don’t really want to spend my whole life in Ether reading books.”
“That means we’d better start now.”
We approached the first few plates from the door.
“Are we going to read the same book?” I asked.
“There are like thousands of these plates here. I guess it’s better if we read different books. That way, we each have different knowledge we can share later.”
We then implemented our system. I came to stand in front of the first wall from the right while Venir started at the last wall. The vast distance between plates was enough to provide a reader a semblance of privacy. I touched the plate with my palm and a book was dislodged. This one had the words The Academy written on the front.
The book gave information about the ten houses of the Academy of Light. Each house had a specific type of knowledge. The first and the second were about the Celestial Knowledge; the third, the Terrestrial Knowledge; the fourth, the Trial of Knowledge; the fifth, Arts and Science of Medicine; the sixth, the Arts and Science of Communication; the seventh, the Arts and Science of the Elements; the eighth and ninth, the Arts and Science of Creation; and the tenth, The Great Ordeals.
The book also discussed the origin of the academy and who built and designed it. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed reading it. And after I returned the book to its shelf, I felt the drowsiness that signaled the increase of my navi. This time I was ready for it. I sat cross-legged and hovered a few inches above the ground. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
When I woke up, I felt light and energized. I went to the last wall to check on Venir, and he said that he was still reading the very first book he chose. He told me to go ahead read at my own pace to accumulate enough navi to reach the books on the higher level.
“Don’t wait for me,” he said, and ruefully added, “I read slow.”
I picked up my next book at random, and, just like the last one, I finished it early. I proceeded to get my third book at the third wall when I heard a melodic voice behind me.
