Night Sky

The trio returned to the palace after spending the whole day exploring the kingdom, with Pagui always on Luna's shoulder. They were heading towards Quetzal's room when they encountered Shiina leaving Raymond's room.

"Is Raymond here?" Luna asked, worried about what she had seen earlier. "Is he alright?"

"Oh, yes. You can be sure that I made him feel very good..."

"That's good, thank you for taking care of him." Luna gave a pure smile, unaware of the malice behind Shiina's words.

Sariel, Quetzal, and Shiina looked at the princess with disbelief etched on their faces.

"What is it?" She wondered at those looks.

"Nothing, let's go!" urged Quetzal at the same time as laughing a little.

"What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing much." Sariel was also smiling. "Let's take advantage of the clear sky and use the telescope."

"Okay..."

The three left and soon arrived at Quetzal's room. Along the way, Luna tried to understand what had happened that was so funny that she didn't understand, but she couldn't think of anything.

Upon opening the door, Quetzal ran to the window and looked up at the sky.

"Wow... It's even better than usual! We hit the jackpot!"

Pagui, who had been with Luna the whole time, flew to the window and landed beside the instrument.

"Come see! In honor of your name, I'll show you the moon first."

Luna approached the window and looked curiously at the telescope.

"What do I do?"

"Wait a moment, I have to put it in the right position..." Quetzal concentrated as she adjusted the instrument. "Ready, you can look here." She pointed to the smaller lens of the object.

"I just have to look?"

"Yes, feel free."

Luna looked through the hole with suspicion and was immediately surprised by the sight of the moon, large and majestic.

The surface could be seen clearly. It was all silvery and full of craters. Furthermore, it was so close that the princess felt like she could touch it with her hands.

The image she had seen was so impressive that she was startled and moved away from the telescope.

"How-How? It was so close!"

"Haha! Cool, right? I felt the same way the first time I saw it. Look again!"

Luna approached again and looked once more at the moon, however, what she saw was something completely different.

A circular, yellow object, the same size as the moon, had replaced what she had observed earlier. Strangely, this object was dark in the center and completely devoid of light.

She observed this object for a long time, wondering if she was seeing things, until this object vanished completely for a second and then became visible again.

"What?" Luna moved away from the telescope, confused by what she had seen.

That was when she noticed Sariel and Quetzal smiling and holding back laughter.

"What is it?"

The traveler simply pointed to the other end of the telescope.

Looking again, she saw Pagui with his head resting against the lens of the instrument. The bird was stretching, standing on tiptoes, and despite the difficult task, was able to remain completely still.

Upon realizing that Luna was no longer looking at the telescope, Pagui moved away and winked at her while flapping its wings, emitting a sound similar to a laughter.

"Hahaha!" Both Quetzal and Sariel failed to contain their laughter and roared at the same time.

Luna looked at Pagui again. After finally understanding what had happened, she smiled and did something she hadn't done in a long time.

"Pff... Hahaha!"

Luna didn't even remember what this feeling was like or even the sound of her own laughter, but thanks to Pagui, she remembered it.

Her laughter was almost like that of a child. Pure, sweet, and gentle, exactly like her nature.

Sariel and Quetzal fell silent the moment they heard that. They both knew about the terrible things she had had to hear about herself, so hearing her laugh was a happy surprise.

As they both looked at her with smiles on their faces, Luna continued to laugh and even shed a few tears. She didn't even know why she was laughing so much or if it was really as funny as she thought, she just kept laughing.

"Haha... ah..."

After a while, her laughter finally ceased, making her feel tired from laughing for so long.

"So, it was you I was seeing," the princess approached the window and stroked Pagui. "I thought I had done something wrong."

"He always does that when I use the telescope, and he even plays hide-and-seek."

"Now that I think about it, how did you two meet?"

"Oh, one day I was walking through the forest and heard a bird crying. When I got close, I saw Pagui, still a chick, and looking depressed. He told me his mother had died, so I adopted him and took care of him ever since. We've been together for almost ten years."

"He was very lucky that you found him," commented the traveler. "He would have died in the forest without your help."

"Yes, that's why we're inseparable!" Quetzal also approached and stroked Pagui.

"Well, since you've already seen the moon, let me show you something else interesting." Sariel approached and began to adjust the telescope. "Where are you...?"

He was having a lot of difficulty finding what he wanted, until he finally spotted the right place.

"Here it is! Look." The princess approached and looked through the lens. This time, what she saw was not the moon or Pagui, but a green and blue planet. There were also two moons orbiting around this object, one of them visibly larger than the other.

"What's that?"

"Maon, the world of the angels."

"Really!? Can I see?" Quetzal asked.

"Oh, of course, the telescope is yours after all," Luna said as she stepped away from the object.

Quetzal approached and looked through the telescope, letting out an audible 'wow' at the sight of that world.

"It's similar to ours..."

"How do you know?" Luna asked.

"Oh, the angels observed our world through theirs, painted what they saw and showed us, look over there."

Quetzal pointed to a painting next to the window that had a painting of Vilon, the human world, which was very similar to Maon.

"So, they can see us too..."

"Well, of course! If we can see them, then the opposite is also true. Who knows, maybe there's someone there looking at us right now..."

The trio remained silent as they observed the vast starry sky before them. The idea of being able to see the world of the race that had almost exterminated them was strange.

"Oh, you said they taught us astronomy, right?" Luna asked. "Can you tell me more about that?"

"Oh yes, well..." Sariel began.

*****

In the beginning, when the Angels came through the Astrum Lux, they taught and helped humans. They taught agriculture, metallurgy, medicine, alchemy, and much more, which propelled humanity to evolve centuries in just a few years, and thanks to this, humanity grew exponentially and occupied almost all places in the world.

Because of this, Angels and humans became inseparable friends. Marriages between both races were extremely common, and no couple felt sad if they had a human or Angel children.

However, decades after their arrival, the Angels launched a sudden surprise attack and destroyed hundreds of human kingdoms in the first hours of their offensive.

Despite the despair they faced in the first hours, humans resisted and survived the initial impact. It was at this moment that Ardos, an Angel, rebelled against his own race and joined the humans, helping them coordinate battles and fight against them.

Thanks to Ardos, humans were able to start gaining territory in certain places, and after a century of hard battles, they were able to expel the Angels through the Astrum Lux. The portal closed and remained so to this day.

After that, Ardos founded the Council, a group that contained the ten most powerful people in the world of each element, in addition to the Vigil, an army trained to deal with angels.

*****

"So, they taught us almost everything we know?"

"Basically."

"So why did they try to exterminate us?"

"Nobody knows. Many believe they did it to gain our trust and catch us off guard, while others believe they were sent by Kura to exterminate us, but I think both theories are wrong," Sariel explained.

"Why?"

"Well, the second case is totally unlikely because Kura guided humanity even before the arrival of the Angels. As for the first, if the intention was really to gain trust, then they didn't need to teach us, because that would make us stronger and make it more difficult to exterminate us."

"Not to mention, if they had intended to exterminate us from the beginning, they wouldn't have had children with humans. But they really considered us friends, so much so that even during the war there were still humans and Angels having children, like Sariel."

"I understand..." Luna remained silent as she digested everything she had heard. "Wait, Sariel never said he was a descendant of angels and didn't even show his brooch, how did you know before that he has angelic descent?"

"By his name, of course! Every name ending in 'el' has angelic origins, and it was very common for humans to give their children angel names, even if they were born human."

"That's right, but I find it hard to believe that either of my parents was an angel, since I was born very close to the end of the war. It's more likely that I have some distant descent, like Quetzal."

"Oh, I see. But you have no idea who your parents might be?"

"Well, I think..."

Toc! Toc!

"Excuse me, Your Highness." A knock on the door and a servant's voice interrupted Sariel. "His Majesty wants to know if you've had dinner yet."

"Oh, actually not."

"Would you like us to bring you your meal?"

"No need, I'll go get it."

"Alright, Your Highness."

Sounds of footsteps could be heard as the servant walked away.

"Well, it's getting late," said the traveler. "I'll return to my room now, see you tomorrow!"

"Okay, see you later!"

Sariel left the room and headed to his chamber.

"You know what, you haven't bathed yet, have you?" Quetzal stared at Luna, who shook her head negatively. "Hmm, then you can use my bathroom while I go get our dinner." She pointed to another door in her room.

"Are you sure? It won't be a bother?"

"Of course not! If you want to wear one of my clothes, it's okay," Quetzal smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll be right back!"

With that, Quetzal left her own room. Pagui, noticing that she was leaving, flew and landed on her shoulder.

Luna walked towards the door and opened it, finding a room with a bathtub the size of a pool on the floor of the room. Hot water flowed constantly from a fountain and several taps.

She approached the water and touched it with her hand to test the temperature. It was pleasantly warm.

Without delay, she took off her clothes and got into the large bathtub.

The warmth of the water around her body and made her feel relaxed. Cold was not a problem for her, so bathing in cold water was entirely feasible, however, of course, hot water would always be better.

Luna submerged herself for a few seconds and completely wet her head. When she emerged, she leaned back against the walls of the bathtub and closed her eyes.

Her mind wandered as she remembered the dream she had had earlier. That was definitely her father, but what place was that?

She continued to think about what had happened when she remembered a certain name: Elise, a name she had never heard before.

"Elise... Wait! Raymond might know something about this!"

Of course he would. Raymond was the closest person to the king in recent years.

"How did I not think of this before?"

Toc! Toc!

Two almost silent knocks sounded on the door, startling the princess.

"Quetzal? Are you back yet?"

There was silence for a few seconds.

"It's me, Aegreon."

"Aegreon? What are you doing here?"

"I came to tell you something."

"What is it?"

The Pillar remained silent for a few seconds.

"I came to apologize."

"What?"

"I lied to Yaxun about why I wanted to go to the Astrum Lux. If I told him the truth, he wouldn't help us."

A great relief washed over Luna upon hearing that.

"Oh, it's okay." A smile appeared on her face. "I thought you really just wanted to use me... I apologize for doubting you. I think Sariel was mistaken..."

"Sariel is not trustworthy. Do not believe his lies."

"But he saved me twice already!"

No answer.

"Aegreon?"

Once again, no answer. The Pillar had already left the room.

"Ahh... You two are so complicated..." she sighed.

*****

Sariel returned to his room, bathed quickly, and changed his clothes.

When he was finished, he noticed that his belongings had been placed on a small table. Everything was there, or rather, almost everything.

The traveler opened the door to his room and looked for a servant. There was no one, so he approached a nightstand that was next to his bed, picked up a small brown Alteration stone and pressed it.

A few seconds later, the sounds of footsteps could be heard. After stopping at the door of his room, a knock sounded.

"Excuse me, Mr. Sariel. Do you need anything?"

The traveler opened the door to talk to the servant.

"Yes, I saw you brought my belongings, but you forgot something."

"Hmm, allow me to come closer to check?"

"Yes, feel free."

The servant entered the room and carefully observed the traveler's belongings.

"Hmm, everything is here, Mr. Sariel. All the items that were given to me are here."

Sariel looked at the servant carefully, approached the table, and looked at his belongings again.

"Oh, you're right. I apologize, I missed it."

"Okay, I'm glad everything is in order. If you need any more help, you can call me."

"Alright."

The servant left the room and closed the door. The traveler looked at his items again with a mysterious look. Then, he approached the window of his room and observed the beautiful capital, illuminated only by a few torches and the moon.

"I knew there was something suspicious about you..."

His gaze continued to scrutinize the streets of the capital, searching for something, or rather, someone, attentively.