RE:WRITE

36.0 Grayscale_Chapter 11: Porpoise

"Wow, I can see the sea from up here!" I exclaimed.

"...we're above the clouds," mumbled Zoe, holding the ground tightly while peering over the edge.

"It really is amazing isn't it?" said Kai as he sat down next to Zoe and dangled his feet over the empty skies below.

"Don't sit so close to the edge Zoe," said Amy.

Seeing her refuse to budge, Amy walked over and picked her up before sitting on the edge and putting Zoe in her lap.

Zoe struggled for a bit but eventually relaxed as Amy stroked her hair and smiled at her. Amy was good with kids, that's for sure.

I noticed Runir standing on the road and called out to him. "Hey Runir, do you think that's the town we came up from?"

"Probably, sure, whatever you say," he said, shading his eyes with his hand while looking down the road.

"Come on over and see the view Runir, it's quite the spectacle," said Kai, leaning further over the edge.

"No thank you. We still have a long way to go until we reach the shrine. We need to start moving or we'll be late," replied Runir.

"Late for what?" asked Amy, without turning around.

"Breize Labs will be holding their annual exhibition at the Air Shrine in a week. It's open to the public so we'll be able to get into the shrine by mingling with the crowd. We can use the opportunity to sneak into the tower, get the goddess's blessing and ask her for a way back to Earth," he answered, finally turning around.

I sensed something weird in the way he was looking at me while I sat on the edge of the floating island. Was he worried I might fall off? Or was he...

"Are you scared of heights, Runir?" I asked, snickering.

"What? Hell no!" he said, flustered.

I didn't believe him at all. He was standing way too far away from the edge. He should at least have been curious about how high we were, shouldn't he?

Amy chuckled too, and Kai gave him a pitying look.

"You're surprisingly pathetic, Mr.Demon Lord," said Zoe, with a disappointed expression.

Runir frowned. "Who told you I'm the Demon Lord?"

Of course it was me. He'd said he was fine with it, so what was he complaining about?

"The annoying one," she replied, pointing at me.

"The annoying one? What the-"

"Aptly put, kid," said Runir, cutting me off.

I glared at him. He smirked before turning around to face the road again.

"Let's get going already," he said, before starting to walk away.

I kept glaring at him as I stood up. I followed him down the road but stopped immediately.

Someone screamed behind me as I turned to see Amy leaning over the edge with her hand outstretched. Kai jumped off with a serious expression on his face. He shot past Amy's hands and disappeared behind the ground.

I rushed forward just as he floated back up again with a struggling Zoe in his hands.

"Let...me...go..." she grunted, kicking and clawing at Kai to no avail.

Kai landed on the ground and flung Zoe into my arms. I reflexively crossed them to hold her tight as she continued to struggle.

"...damn it...let...go..."