To the Clouds

"I feel like. . ." Should I say it?

"Feel like what?" she asks, eager to know.

*Sigh*

"I feel like our love. . . isn't real."

She turns her face to the side to chuckle. "What?"

"Never mind." I let her go and turn around. "Forget what I said."

"Not real? After all we've done together—"

"It's just that. . . you wouldn't understand."

"Why wouldn't I?" she scoffs, hugging me from behind.

"Because I'm from another world, and it's not clear to me if all of what's going on and what I'm feeling are all real."

"Well, for me at least it's real. I love you. You're everything to me. Without you, I'm as good as dead, I would have never had hope to carry on with life, I wouldn't have found my purpose, and I wouldn't have felt like a real woman. I don't care if you think all of this isn't real because, for me, it is."

Her words. . . feel so real. What she feels for me is real, yet I'm disrespecting it by saying mine. . . is not.

I'm such an idiot!

"I'm sorry," is all I could say.

Even if I think those words aren't enough, she's still holding me tightly. "You're all I have in this world, okay?" she sobs. "I want you to know that."

I'm so terrible, I made her cry. I turn around and hug her back. "Then I'm all yours," I say. "This is why I don't want a harem. I want you to be selfish and have me all by yourself."

There is no doubt behind my words. I do want to give her all of me because she gave my life a purpose. This world is real, this world is real. Even my mother loved this world. How could something be fake when it fosters love?

I'm abandoning the notion that this world is fake. All of this is real. What I'm feeling is real. Nisha is real. Helena is real. My love for them is real. I won't forsake them.

Later, we leave the Domain, only to see Helena sleeping on our bed. She's exhausted from all that training with Zuriel's clone. Look at her, she's a mess. Her hair is full of dust as well as her skin.

"She's adorable," I say as Nisha cleans her with a damp cloth.

"Do you think she's training a little bit too hard?"

"I don't know. You?"

"I think, ye— Never mind. As long as she loves doing it. That's all that matters. I think she's gonna be so strong when she grows up."

"She will because you raised her."

"That's. . . I didn't—"

"You did well as a mother." I wrap my arm around her shoulder as I sit on the bed beside her.

"I'm not even her real mother."

"No, I don't even think that her real mother would do a better job than you. Don't you see that she loves you so much?"

She sighs smiling. "Thank you."

I kiss her head and I yawn. "I'm going to sleep now."

"Go ahead."

"Okay. Love you."

"I love you too."

It's so easy to sleep. I feel so secure as Nisha just sits there, watching us. Sometimes I wish I could watch her sleep too. That she'll sleep so fine because she knows I will be watching her. But I guess that will have to wait and I should not ask for it. Because she's gonna be sleeping for hundreds of years. I will miss her if that happens. I don't know. . . if I can bear to wait for that long. . .

<>

**

Nisha looks at the two people she loves the most. Her every breath is a sigh of relief, glad that she's still breathing just to see them sleeping so well like this. She wonders if they'll feel the same to her when she enters a deep slumber that could take hundreds of years. Looking at the man she loves, there is no doubt about it. She's sure that he will miss her so much. But that also worries her. She wishes she doesn't have to sleep to be with him forever.

She'll miss Helena as well. She's like a daughter to her after all. It wasn't easy for her to raise Helena with all the trouble and time she sacrificed. Kai doesn't know how much she tried to make it seem to him that raising this troublesome little girl was that easy. When they discovered that Helena unleashes her powers whenever she gets upset, it never left Nisha's head to find ways to avoid that. She was successful and even proud of that feat. But now, Zuriel is training Helena how to control her powers and is doing a good job at it. It's like a part of Nisha's purpose has been taken away. She couldn't help but feel conscious. However, she knows that Helena's well-being is what matters the most. Her selfishness is definitely not important.

"I wish for the best for the both of you," she whispers, kissing Helena's forehead and then Kai's.

**

<>

It is over now—our time in this building and on this island. I leveled up to 104. It is very significant. Zuriel said he leveled up by only 2 levels since it gets harder to level up as your Level gets higher. He told me before, his Level was 2249. So now, I guess he's Level 2251. Although it's still far from Zaori's 4000+ Level. Not only that, she said she's gonna reach 5000 by the time we battle. That's gonna be an extra Legendary Skill that we won't know. The odds are against us. How can we even win?

No, stop worrying about it. That's at least 90 years away. Focus on the now.

Helena can use her powers so well now that she can spar against us. Her barriers are so OP as she can change their shapes, sizes, and aura at her will. Unlike before, her barriers can change from pure Daemon essence to Angelus and both. So, you need to be fast and aware of which kind of attack you must use at the right moment. And that is the problem. She is good at reading the essence of our attacks. Nonetheless, I think it is a good thing. She can protect herself now but that's not enough. I need to be watching her all the time when we start our journey. She grew a little taller, now that she's six. Her chubby cheeks that I love are gone because of all that training that burned her fat. Now, she's a striking resemblance to Zaori (But she's still the Helena I love, of course).

We packed the things we needed for the long journey into our inventory. Most of our things are stashed inside Helena's Domain which is called "Crystal Domain" where everything is made out of pink crystals. But Zuriel said it would be risky to put dangerous items in there as it could affect Helena's health. And if she fights—that I wish she doesn't have to, her enemies could steal them. So, we only stashed the necessities there like food and water. Also, some extra clothes and armor.

Zuriel crafted a lot of equipment for us. Light armor for my Frames and Heavy armor for Nisha since she's built for that. For Helena, he made special pink robes that he said will amplify her magical abilities. I saw what it looked like when she wore it and she was like a flower. I mean she already "is" a flower for me but the long fabric subtly look like petals. It's oversized but it'll do and she'll only use them if needed. Hopefully, she doesn't have to and I'm gonna make sure of that.

Am I worrying too much?

"So, is everyone ready?" Zuriel asks as I open the door on our way out of our room. He was waiting outside our door the whole time.

"What's with your clothes?" I ask, looking at him wearing a brown hat, long-sleeved brown polo, and brown boots then a huge backpack behind his back.

"We're traveling, remember?" His smile is annoying as ever.

"You don't even need to wear—"

"Uncle Zuriel!" Helena exclaims as she passes below my armpit. She hugs him and asks, "Where are we going?"

Why didn't she ask me that?

"To the clouds!" he declares, pointing at the ceiling. "Where the next kingdom ripe for the picking, sits!"

To the clouds, he means that we're going back to the surface and take over this kingdom in the sky. I had mixed feelings about this because we're gonna take it by force, claim it as ours, and take all of the EXP and gold it will generate just like what we did to this island. He says it's the only way we can level up faster. I had no better ideas so I agreed. Also, it's a good idea to let these two see the view on the surface. Nisha has been dreaming about this after all. The enthusiasm can be seen on her face as we ride down the elevator.

I can't wait for their reactions.