9 The World of Fleis

"Hey, hey, let's run." Kara said, motioning her chin towards one of the balcony doors high up the throne room.

As Flo stared at the bewitching beauty of the radiating figure behind him, he was irked back to his senses with a clap. "Hey!"

"What?" Flo muttered in slight annoyance, although seeing Kara's serious expression, he kept it to himself.

"I said, let's run." Kara said, pointing to the high doors where the line of black knights and clockwork soldiers were in deadlock. "Those monsters are coming."

As Flo was about to open his mouth and ask, he felt a weakening sensation starting to drown his thoughts and senses. His legs felt like noodles, his heart rushing like never before -with his face dripping with sweat, his hair strands like prickling needles.

"S-Someone's coming." Flo stuttered and mumbled.

"That's what I said." Kara sighed, sweeping Flo off his feet and carrying him like a princess. "Let's go yeah?" She said as she bloomed her white wings once more, giving them a flap once, twice, then lept, carrying with her Flo, who was deeply embarrassed out of all of this.

"Yirbol'fa!" A ball of fire grazed the side of Kara; however, she didn't stop. It appeared that the decorated hag was the one who invoked the spell.

"Kara!" The hag's bellows resonated along the inside walls, although the screech turned to muffled noise as they zipped past the small doors of the high balconies and into the outside of the castle, hundreds of feet high above the land, flying into the cold embrace of the setting sky with nothing but rugged shorts, whore's clothing, and robes to keep them warm.

Flo's eyes burst open as he treasured the sight of the sun setting in the far horizon, just behind a wall of colossal mountain ranges stretching all the way as the eye could see, the sun flaring majestic orange rays through the mountains with tens of grand floating isles and great sky whales dotting the coming evening firmament.

The colossal moon, encompassing about a third of the sky -more massive than the sun, peeked through the other side of the heavens with a gigantic silhouette of a hand apparently holding both the moon and sun in place in the setting sky.

"Gigas." Flo muttered, pointing at the faint massive hands holding the two celestial bodies in place. "He's still alive."

Flo then leaned to face the buildings underneath him, looking like flickering stars from up above as the magic lanterns and bulbs on city lamposts turned on for the first for the long, long night ahead, cherished as company by the humans wherever they go.

As Flo celebrated the sight of the city below him, it seemed as if the city grew closer and closer to him. No, that wasn't the case. He was the one drawing nearer and nearer to the city, apparently falling in a fast descent along with Kara, like a pair of birds suddenly having their ability of flight taken away. "Kara!" Flo shouted -being a few meters away from her, Kara's hair dancing madly in the evening sky.

She was unconscious.

Flo's life unfolded before his very eyes, his consciousness shutting on then off every second or so. The comforting smile of his mother flashed, gentle and caring, having two curved horns adorned on her forehead -with him cuddling between her warm embrace.

"Not now, mother!" He squealed, bracing himself.

Something broke Flo's descent into hell, feeling the firm grip of a hand -no, not a hand, more like... talons. Yes, a massive pair of talons that held Flo in between that kept him from passing away to the other side.

Talons.

It was Kara, flapping her wings groggily as she tried to make sense of what just happened, gliding only a few meters off the ground. She tried to steady herself, although she couldn't bear the burden anymore as her eyes closed once more and fell, only a few meters above the human-made railroad, landing with a thud on the concrete floor.

"I'm alive." Flo stared at his hands, perching on all fours as a clockwork train passed by beside him along a metal railway. He felt wounds and bruises all over, but nothing too immediate for him to worry.

Flo steadied himself as he tried to stand, surveying the heavily quiet neighborhood as he then turned to face an alleyway between two worn-out brass-emblazoned buildings, looking over to Kara, who was leaning against a wall. "Kara." He muttered, seeing her left side absolutely butchered by the fireball the hag threw earlier, her right palm gently resting against the heavy wound.

"You okay-" In a blink of an eye, her right hand radiated a red light as a bloody figure flashed behind her, something that had appeared before inside the castle, albeit this time smaller and has only about eight-sides. Bloody, tentacle-like beings grew over where the wound previously was, mending it.

"Disgusting." Flo muttered quietly as he watched in disdain at Kara, the fleshy tentacles on her stomach patching up her insides -blood spilling all over the cold floor with the smell of it so heavy it seemed to radiate its own grim aura.

The gurgling of blood didn't help.

"Yeah." Kara replied. "I know."

Flo squirmed, knowing Kara heard him. As Flo looked downcast and gazed at the floor without thought, a hand perched upon his, tugging on him firmly. "I don't care what you think." Kara said, her face seemingly hidden behind a mask, emotionless. "Let's go."